What do you think of knock off consoles?

[Venonat in Space]

So here's an experience I had with one. This girl is trialing at my day-hab this week, and she's really into Sonic and Shadow like me. But she also has this neat little console known as the "Retron Pocket." I was lending her my Switch just to play the thing cause it literally had a whole bunch of retro games. However, the games didn't save (with the exception of Super Mario 64). Also, some games had a little lag. And a couple of controls are messed up. But recently she's been acting weird. She's like "I'm gonna keep it" "I'm taking it" And it scared me. I just...don't trust her. And her Retron Pocket isn't THAT impressive now that I had time with it. I was informed NOT to bring my Switch in tomorrow because she cried when I told her I didn't feel like lending my Switch to her, Like literal sobbing. I know she likes Shadow Generations a LOT but I can't trust her because she gets me nervous. Tomorrow is her last day I guess.

Needless to say, I'm not spending 100 dollars for the little thing.

So any stories anyone have to tell?

 

[gimmepie]

I'm not really sure what you're asking.

As far as knock-off consoles go, I don't have any issues with them in theory. You get what you pay for though. You're probably better off just using a familiar emulator.

 

[Megan]

They're ok. I tried one out a couple years ago. I don't like how they're still feeling very much like a computer. That probably also comes down to retroarch just being...servicable on such a device. I vastly prefer that software on a regular PC, though.

Also, the one I had had a very poor battery that died sooner than later. I also didn't end up using it as much as I hoped I would. So, in the end I think I'd just rather stick with using my Switch for any sort of gaming, tbh.

 

[Hands]

The Retro Pocket is a sick bit of kit, a lot of these small emulation stations are. My mate has the tiny Miyoo Mini for bringing to the pub and for the size and cost it's amazing. It's like a £40 unit, has respectable battery life, plays a lot of systems flawlessly and it smaller than a modern smartphone. Very cool bit of kit.

For a while I was also lowkey obsessed with Dendys, which are these early post soviet era Russian Famicon knock offs. I've always liked Famiclones and the Dendy line had some of the slickest externals. I kicked myself when I missed out on a complete boxed Dendy Classic II for under £100 shipped.