Anbernic RG556 - Full Review - Best Upper Mid-Range Handheld

[@PhyrexTechs]

The Anbernic store's 6.18 Sale is coming up and will be from 6/16 - 6/23. Site-wide 10% off + Code "618SALE" = $161.50 for the RG556 which is a great deal anbernic.com/products/rg556?sca_ref=4642154.1EBR1Xvwcb Thanks to @CellPhish for bringing this to my attention.

[@AsabaEnuel]

I've watched like 10 reviews of this thing but this is by far the best review. Keep it going mate

[@PhyrexTechs]

Wow, thanks! That is high praise.

[@Fruitarian.]

Hows the joystick and dpad?

[@zazzau]

I ordered the 556 from the ambernic website and it was delivered in under a week, since it come from china i was shocked on shipping because i got lucky.

[@PhyrexTechs]

Yeah, that is quite fast!

[@Griscasio]

i genuinely bought that just to play psp and ps2 games with custom texture

[@davidsapir3764]

Wow what an extremely helpful video, thank you! I found my PS2 capable retro hand held soul mate with the RG556. I freaking love this device, its control layout, its perfect size and how comfortable it is to hold. I actually look forward to playing it the way I looked forward to getting home from school to play SNES. I curl up with this thing the way people curl up with a good book, it really is that enjoyable to play, especially with the massive number of GooglePlay, retro console and arcade classic games it can play and store. The bang for the buck is insane. I'm not a fan of see through so I got the black version. it looks so much better to me and there's no light bleed which really makes both the thumb stick light rings and drop dead gorgeous AMOLED screen pop even more. I don't know squat about setting these up, so I went with the variant pre loaded with over 4400 games. The factory loaded front end is easy to navigate and works perfectly fine, and the game library is very deep and well rounded.Then I picked up a 480 PS2 game library SD card that never leaves the slot. The RG556 runs them beautifully and perfectly auto mapped all the controls. The PS2 emulation is way better than I was expecting. Such an all around fantastic hand held, and in my opinion your best choice if the best in class Odin 2 is a bit outside what you want to spend.

[@cozzy1350]

Hey man, where did you get the PS2 loaded SD? I need one too 😁

[@davidsapir3764]

@@cozzy1350 I picked mine up on AliExpress, and it arrived here in MA 9 days after ordering. They offer several SD card game libraries for the RG556. If they're sold out ebay has them too. I figured if I only loved 25 or 30 of the games it was worth it. But I was stoked to see it's a really good library of RPG's, sports, shooters, action games, racing games, AAA titles, all kinds of good stuff. You can just delete the titles you don't like and it frees up space for you to download PS2 titles you do like and save them to the SD card. I did that for MOH; Frontline.

[@jonathont5570]

Too bad the Amazon tax will get you on this purchase. Any device that requires adding a enclosure to add width for playing is too small lol.

[@theosalam1458]

There is one ps2 game that I am curious about most, that was not on the compatibility sheet, but maybe someone has tried out. It's a Transformers Armada game on the ps2, I was curious if anyone knew if it's a game that works okay for this

[@mephistophelesknivez]

If you want a lot of subscribers I recommend reverse what you are uploading, meaning start what would as viewers really want to see at the start, the handheld, and put those how to buy in the end of the video, dont put ads in the start, viewers will automatically turned off and leave the video, just a tip from me.

[@farhanvamp]

Is this worth it for cloud gaming like gforce?

[@PhyrexTechs]

If you have good 5ghz wifi coverage in your house it's great, at least what I tested. I was only able to test the Microsoft Gamepass for cloud gaming but I still use it and I enjoy it a lot.

[@CHICKENmcNUGGIESMydude]

sick ass one i have this with a see threw blue sp anbernic

[@cockybirdlover]

i agree,, i really like mine but like you said -not perfect-,,,,ty for this review

[@PhyrexTechs]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@NeedzRetroGaming]

I am going to end up divorced over these handhelds. I have searched for an OLED handheld for months, but for some reason, very few manufacturers are releasing OLED models.

[@PhyrexTechs]

Yeah, I know what you mean. OLED is just so great.

[@Chris-ls4nm]

This is a great handheld, I own one and it's definitely the best around it's price unless you're going to pay a lot more money I'd stick with this one.

[@davidonvergara6110]

Does the game Valkyrie Profile from PS2 work well in these device?

[@xtheslump]

Can you add games on there and google playstore as well? Or no

[@DarthPhillius]

Yeah the machine will happily play android games and you can 'source' your roms directly on the device using a browser.

[@memesky1014]

You can play elden ring on it?

[@PhyrexTechs]

You can stream Elden Ring to it from your computer but not play it on it directly. It works great when streaming it though.

[@turtlecoast1921]

can u install android game in sd card? since hoyoverse's game will eat all of internal storage.

[@GeraldDonovan]

Absolutely excellent review. Best I've seen to-date. Looking forward to catching up with more of your content on this device.

[@PhyrexTechs]

Thanks! I will be releasing more content for the RG556 in the next few weeks.

[@jrno93]

The AMOLED is making my finger twitch

[@LeonP-nf3on]

Worth or got other better than this?

[@PhyrexTechs]

For this price point your other options are going to be the Retroid Pocket 4. RP4 has better performance but you loose the OLED Screen and the ergonomic comfort. For me I like the RG556 but I'm a sucker for OLED screens. You may also want to wait to see how much the RP5 is going to be. It was just announced and will have an OLED and looks great. But I have a feeling that it will be a lot more expensive.

[@Mames5537]

I've also had that squeaking with the dpad, comes and goes. I've also swapped the sticks. But I didn't really notice a difference, just that they are a little bigger. This device is really awesome though.

[@PhyrexTechs]

Yeah, I have really enjoyed it. What sticks did you use when you replaced them? GuliKit?

[@CellPhish]

Why so expensive? Anbernic has the 556 for $161 on their site right now?

[@PhyrexTechs]

When I recorded the video that sale had not been posted. Also I don't think that sale starts until 6/16. But yeah when it does that will be a great price. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I'll add it to the description.

[@rmndvdgzmn]

Regarding the USB-C to HDMI and the fact that you can't charge it, can you use a USB-C Hub with USB-powered instead? Just asking because I am close to buy this but want to know this first.

[@PhyrexTechs]

If the USB-C hub is just for charging you should not have an issue. If it is being used like a dock for charging and for HDMI output, I have not tried this myself but I don't think it will work. I have recently learned that for the USB-C to HDMI to work it needs to be a non powered cable.

[@republicofu.s9642]

Thanks for the review. so if i don't get the SD card, how will i add games to the console? SD card has 4k plus games, im sure its hard to add all those. and also i heard if i downloaded my own games, i can update them to the newest version? also can i have the SD card and also have the option to download games if i wanted to? Thanks!

[@PhyrexTechs]

You can add your own roms by either getting an SD card or by connecting the RG556 to a pc and dragging them over to the internal storage.

[@thiagoaraujos]

A well-done review! Thanks

[@PhyrexTechs]

Glad it was helpful!

[@senydieng732]

Hi are tekken 3 and 4 on this device?

[@PhyrexTechs]

I forget if they come with the device, but it can run them.

[@senydieng732]

@@PhyrexTechs thanks, do you know where I can check if they come with the system? As I am not very good at emulating. I tried on my steam deck but only got about halfway and gave up.

[@stormk-1130]

Did you buy it from alli express? do you think the sd of their website good or is better to buy one and make your own emulation system?

[@PhyrexTechs]

This one was sent to me from a seller on Amazon. Most of the time the SD cards that come with the devices are not great and it usually a better idea to get a name brand SD card and use your own roms.

[@joelgrebinsilvestri]

if i play GBA games do they look good or bad? for the screen for example pokemon GBA games

[@PhyrexTechs]

I think it's great for the GBA. You can take a look at 10:15, where I show off Apotris. That is a GBA game, and even though it does not take up the full screen, it uses most of it. With the OLED screen, you don't notice the black bars on the side as much as they are completely black.

[@davidalvarado4445]

I would say the SD card is a must given that Nintendo has pulled their roms from most sites

[@PhyrexTechs]

Yeah, they need to chill out... but that will never happen.

[@Gotiz85]

When will you make the setup guide video?

[@PhyrexTechs]

I'm going to split it up into different parts. One for how to setup and use the stock OS front end. One for best android settings. Then also some for different front ends like daigisho and Emulation station. I should start releasing them by next week if nothing crazy happens.

[@mjelydan]

my 8bitdo BT lag on it. not sure how to fix it

[@PhyrexTechs]

Yeah there is some latency with BT for sure. If you are playing games in Retroarch you can enable "Run Preementive Frames" and this will reduce latency greatly To do this: While running a game open the Retroarch Menu Go to Settings > Latency Enable "Run Preementive Frames" Increase the "Number of Preemptive Frames" option until you do not notice the lag anymore. This number may change with different systems and games. I'll keep my eye out for other ways to reduce the latency for things that are not in Retroarch.

[@jh38949]

i saw on reddit ppl saying that replacing gulikit sticks dont completely fix the problem, but makes more subtle movement easier.

[@PhyrexTechs]

Yeah, I think I'm going to have to try it myself.

[@drumyogi9281]

I didn’t notice any difference after installing the GuliKit

[@jh38949]

​@@PhyrexTechslooking forward to it!

[@jh_dances2221]

I want one but only if i can play old dragon ball games

[@PhyrexTechs]

It can play many of them. Any ones in particular you would want me to test or check out?

[@jh_dances2221]

@@PhyrexTechs DBZ Tenkaichi Tag Team (psp game), dbz shin Budokai 1 and 2 (psp game) also if it plays 3DS games? There was dragon ball fusions. Also thanks! Dude😁

[@PhyrexTechs]

They all ran with no issues even at 4x resolution for psp games and 2x on 3DS games. I only recorded a short clip of Tag Team streamable.com/nzowj0

[@t1go]

Does anyone have any recommendations on sites to go to to download ROMs? And games?

[@Yusei255]

so how does it handle the other android games, mainly honkai star rail.

[@PhyrexTechs]

I was able to play Honkai Star Rail and it was running pretty good at medium settings as long as you turn off "TAA" anti aliasing. FXAA was working fine. At low settings I was able to run it in 60 fps mode and it still looks pretty good. Something to note is that because combat and overworld movement has buttons in different locations if you are wanting to be able to use the controls you will want to invest into an app like Mantis Controller Pro. It costs like 10$ but it has ways of setting multiple controller layouts and swamping between them with a hotkey.

[@Yusei255]

@@PhyrexTechs honkai star rail has native control support anyway. so wouldn't it auto pickup on it thus not having to remap them.

[@PhyrexTechs]

I know it does on PC and I think it might on iPhones but I don't think it has that on android yet.

[@Yusei255]

@@PhyrexTechs tossing up between that or the steam deck, cos i want my emulation and steam stuff in a single form factor, but also need something that can replace my phone. but can't really afford anything above the price point of a steam deck.

[@STR82DVD]

I'm team Retroid 4 Pro with the grip. I do have to admit I like the OLED screen on the RG556 but the plastics used and the analog sticks are just a bit of a show stopper for me young lad. Great content lad.

[@PhyrexTechs]

Thanks for sharing! Yeah, I can totally understand your view point.

[@ScroteRot]

I was thinking of getting this, but the screen size doomed it for me. I ended up going with a second hand Samsung Tab A9 (128gb 8gb ram) for £120 and buying a telescopic controller for £16 with the aim of emulating games from N64 to GameCube, as well as playing native Android games. Unfortunately, my internet speed sucks, so game streaming is out of the question, for now.

[@PhyrexTechs]

Yeah, I can see that. I also have one of the Tab A tablets and could see that being a pretty good setup.

[@donovanmyers6313]

You mention updating the emulators, how easy is that process? Would that process be part of your next video?

[@PhyrexTechs]

For some of the emulators it's as easy as just looking them up on the app store and running update when needed. The ones not on the app store (PS2) can be a little more involved. I will be putting out a video in the next couple weeks that will over how to update those.