Anbernic RG353M First Impressions: My first 24 hours -- Installing ArkOS and roms

Here are my first impressions of the Anbernic RG353M after just 24 hours with it.
The sleeve I am using is from Retro Modding: www.retromoddi...
You can find the Anbernic RG353M on Amazon: amzn.to/404mthi

[@briantran3791]

Wow great video! And a great color

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

thank you! yeah i thought the blue was a bit too much. the purple is a happy medium between flashy and understated... as much of a paradox that might be :P

[@mrorange159]

Would you still review it as a great unit in 2024? I just bought one... Which might sound stupid with the newer models out but I think I was attracted to how it fits in your pocket and the design overall being metal and compact etc. I know it's not so powerful but it seems amazing. The 505 seemed way too big and the 405 or whatever is wayyyy too expensive and honestly doesn't look as sexy as this model. Do you think I made a bad choice?

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

I don’t regret purchasing this at all in my opinion just because there’s a new device that comes out it does not necessarily mean that it’s better. Most of the games I’m playing require a device 20+ years old and it can still play anything that I need to play so a new powerful device doesn’t necessarily mean anything for me. The thing I love about this device is the overall quality and the build, the unit itself is fully metal and I love the feeling of having it in my hand and I love feeling how cool it is to the touch, this device does anything and everything that I need to do which is to play a retro device and allow me to carry wherever I go and whatever games I need to I don’t regret this at all. I think it looks amazing and every time I pop it out anywhere I go people always ask me questions about it, and I it does exactly what I needed to do so I do not regret it at all.

[@mrorange159]

@@MoonRoomOfficial thanks for that this makes me feel a lot better about the decision. I was really looking forward to getting this and then I started seeing I could have paid another $75 on eBay and got the 405m. But then I realised it's marginally bigger and doesn't do HDMI out... And honestly that's a deal breaker...so I think I'll just bite my tongue and be happy with what I have purchased thanks!

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

@@mrorange159 i mean it depends on what u want. the 405m is bigger but its not as pocketable imo. if u want a bigger device then u get the 405, but then u will always want a bigger and better screen lol. at that point u start to even consider the steamdeck. i am playing mostly SNES games, rarely even ps1 games so the 353m is perfect for me. i play it on the go on subways so i want to be able to quickly pull it in and out of my pocket and thats why the 353m works for me.

[@raulvito6246]

The 353 series is better than the current generation; the ergonomics and performance is simply fantastic and Ark OS turns it into the ultimate portable retro machine

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

I think for what I use it for, it's perfect. I mostly play retro games up to ps1 so having the D pad on the top position is ideal. The metal hardware is a GREAT feel in hand and amazing weight. Doesnt feel cheap and light like the plastic versions. The OS continues to get updates and the wireless over the air updates is great. I also use the wireless file transfer so it's been so convenient. Im in love with this device still after a year!

[@SamSparks88]

Great video! How did you scrape images and videos for the rom hacks you featured?

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

thank you. i googled the images and then changed the file names to be able to match the from file. you can google how to do that. its very easy

[@mrorange159]

Hmm, I think you probably could have benefited from backing up your original games somewhere so that you don't have to go through the hassle of downloading them all again, but yeah. Fair enough. Great review though! :D

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

i mightve mentioned i downloaded the games again because the games it came with were not all fully working properly. i have my own game files

[@mrorange159]

@@MoonRoomOfficial fair call, cool

[@Cheripie506]

I love mine!

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

Yah I haven’t put mine down since I got it. What r u playing?

[@Cheripie506]

@MoonRoom A little of Kirby, Sonic, Toe Jam, and Earl.. easier games. I'm 59, so these games are more my genres.

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

@@Cheripie506 nice. yeah as much as love newer games, i miss the older games that you could finish in a few hours. i don't think I've finished many games lately because they are all so long

[@diablolaquez2751]

How did you scrape the Pokémon unbound art?

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

i did it manually and uploaded the jpeg into my SD card. scraper tool doesn't scrape romhacks from my experience.

[@DialgaMarine3]

I’m honestly just looking for a guide on how to download more games onto this thing. Mine came with zero games I’m interested in. Anyone know a good guide?

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

a quick google search will help you. its fairly simple. the sd card itself has a folder for ROMs too you just drop the files in there and play it.

[@dateintokyo]

@@MoonRoomOfficialI found one at a thrift store for very cheap without an SD cart inserted. Any tips? Can I just buy one and download some ROMs onto it?

[@Jellocheck]

Why does no one show a explicite step by step video of how to connect the RG535M to TV? That really doesent work well with out of box like plug ans play! Starting on Linux can not be connected to TV but there run a lot of games like Dreamcast or N64. When i start with Android i can connect it to TV but all N64 and Dreamcast games jerk and the sound is extremely bad.

[@murderdoggg]

Why is the screen not centered on the Y-axis?

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

not sure. its just a design decision made to move things slight up

[@zohaibhassan4011]

Is it worth an upgrade from RG 350m ? I already have psp and ds

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

sorry i never had a 350M

[@MrBrownGuy95]

Have you tried to add any gamecube games?

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

i have not

[@NotAnotherTim]

Do you know how to get it to go to sleep once you changed to ArkOs? I cant figure it out and it drains battery much faster.

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

Pressing the power button one time should put it to sleep

[@NotAnotherTim]

@@MoonRoomOfficial Yes it turns the screen off but the little greenlight stays on and it still drains battery. Ive made sure to turn Wifi and Bluetooth off. On the Stock OS the single press would turn the screen off and the little green light would turn off and battery would not constantly drain.

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

@@NotAnotherTim No. if you have ArkOS, its true sleep mode where the device stops all background processes. Light stays on to show its in sleep mode but its not using up battery.

[@madamx7422]

​@@MoonRoomOfficialthanks, I wanted to know that too 😊

[@genecicordeirodossantosjun5037]

Is the RG353M Screen better than RG35XX?

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

i believe the actual screen is the same

[@TheRoger1978]

Does it come with an Os out of the box?

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

no the ArkOS does not come out of the box. There is an OS that comes out of the box that's totally usable but I installed ArkOS on it.

[@Ryan-ru6qz]

is that sleeve the gba version?

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

Yup, the GBA size/version.

[@EliasPfaiffer]

take a look at amberelec!

[@SomeOne-wr1wr]

I'm pretty sure Amberelec doesn't support the RG363M yet

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

as ​ @Some One said, amberelec isn't supported on the 353m yet. it looks great tho and excited to try it out when it does get released

[@akirastorm7313]

No sega saturn 👎

[@MoonRoomOfficial]

lol too many games on backlog. ill get to saturn games eventually!

[@akirastorm7313]

@@MoonRoomOfficial now your talking 👍

[@madamx7422]

FYI, I got ArkOS on my 353M and i had a couple of Saturn games, they worked very well

[@Hisoka22361]

It does support Saturnm N64 and Dreamcast games. Not all of them, not perfectly, but a lot of games from those platforms can be played without any problems on this device.