Anbernic RG556, RG Cube, RG406V & RG406H Starter Setup Guide (Emulators, Roms, Tweaks)

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Note: I've updated the title and thumbnail to include the Anbernic RG Cube, RG406V & RG406H, since it's the same processor and exactly the same setup steps and everything. So if you're here after and confused why the video only shows the RG556, I just avoided having to create a whole new video for no reason.

[@Mbuna92]

Is the nethersx2 install the same? I can't seem to find what being shown in this video

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

@@Mbuna92 Yep, it is. But here's a dedicated Nether video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnKTkpdumsSYgtk

[@Mbuna92]

@@JoeysRetroHandhelds thanks i finally got it installed! 👍

[@scottbellamy8043]

My hotkey of L3 never registers and kicks me out of RA. Any ideas?

[@i-k-a-y]

can you show how to get similar screen layouts to the default anbernic for ds and 3ds games (for rg cube)

[@Ducklordess]

Just ordered my 556 and came across this video. OMG! Thankyou. I feel so much more confident doing this now. My first emulator and was worried I might mess it up.

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Glad I could help!

[@CHICKENmcNUGGIESMydude]

this man has been happy gaming ever since

[@SunspotGallery]

Mine arrives tomorrow; How's yours now, 4 months later?

[@BASSstarlet]

Is it worth to buy the bigger SD card or the 128 is just fine??

[@SunspotGallery]

@@BASSstarlet Buy a card. Just make sure it's a good brand. I got a 512gb one, and it's been perfect. Depends what you want to do, really.

[@Eil47]

Great tutorial, you are the only one that provide comprehensive details on how to setup this console.

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Glad it helped

[@craigbfd1]

Agreed, I finally got mine after being on the fence and Joey's videos were the deciding factor because he really uncomplicated the setup. It came today and I'll probably start using the included roms until I get my personal sd card ready to go.

[@TDuy-0607]

@@JoeysRetroHandhelds Hey man, I just got this handheld a few days ago and have some questions. I have a Dolphin emulator installed on my PC with modded games and my settings (controls, graphics mods, etc.), How do I import all of them to the device? I think connecting the rg556 to my PC and copying all the files to it would work but I'm not sure.

[@Precedex-Files]

Ridiculously helpful video! Got my RG556 without an SD card. Followed this video step by step to set it up from scratch without bloat and things just worked. A few places I hit snags it was invariably because I didn’t pay close enough attention and you had already addressed those potential pitfalls. So far whatever games I’ve thrown at it have run fine. Many many thanks!

[@anthonystyles]

Setting up my first device, the RG406V, and using this guide made it super simple. Thanks.

[@bn7451]

Fantastic video, thanks so much. I got the 556 without an sd card and had a million questions. God bless you for this!

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Glad it helped!

[@hannahmandrews]

I've been trying to decide whether to get an RG Cube but was pretty intimidated by the set up process. My only other experience with this was GarlicOS on the RG35XX Plus which I managed to do and love that thing, but I'm not confident in my abilities on anything else. BUT after watching this video, you've convinced me that I'll be able to do this. This is a really easy to follow guide and I appreciate you taking the time to go through each step. I've just ordered one (hopefully no light bleed), and I'll be reporting back once I've followed your walkthrough with the actual device. Thanks very much!

[@hannahmandrews]

Update: RG Cube arrived and I did it!! I followed everything you did step by step and it was all exactly the same. I still need to add some games, but got some key ones working. Thank you so much for your help. Time to get back into some classics!

[@TrancemasterOnyx]

@@hannahmandrewsDid your unit have the light bleed issue?

[@hannahmandrews]

@TrancemasterOnyx i didn't luckily, i think it mainly affected the initial batches on first release but could be wrong? Mine's all good though

[@TrancemasterOnyx]

@@hannahmandrews Alright, I'm waiting on mine to arrive and hope it's the same. About the issues only affecting the initial batches, I've heard about that as well but also heard it might still be a problem but maybe not as severe...eitherway I will have to wait and see

[@Grecobox]

I wouldn't normally take the time to log on to comment on a video - but this guide was SUPER helpful. Much appreciated!!!

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Glad it helped!

[@clm2071]

This is the only set up guide you need for the RG556, so easy to follow. Good work!

[@r0bertfrank]

thank you for this awesome, encompassing setup tutorial. especially appreciated the simplicity of the 'pull from github' and 'manually patch' process; was an absolute breeze.

[@AdvancedTENT]

I knew nothing about emulation and retro handhelds and after watching this video and the roms and bios video a few times over I set up my RG556 in no time. One of the best tutorials I’ve ever used. Now I’m trying to figure out how to get my switch pro controller to work, been having so many issues. Hint hint for another video 👀.

[@grantquiller4952]

My RG556 arrives on Sunday and now I know how to get started. After watching, I feel much more confident in getting up and running-thanks 💜

[@ironlionzion2265]

How is it going? Is it easy to download games?

[@trentontiggs9324]

I just received my RG cube, and this guide was perfect and easy to follow. Thanks for your time!! You gained another new subscriber.

[@CoffeeStreetWC]

I love that you guys have the RTFM Show back! I listen to the podcasts while I do things in my workshop. Thank you so much for taking the time to do it.

[@matteomorselli6877]

Once again i'm speachless!!i bought r36s and got the r556 agter selling it, you walk me trough both set up perfectly, this video was 1 hour and it flew thanks for your effort.

[@cho-v4n]

You're the man joey. Your set up guides rock. Im not even really grabbing devices anymore but I still watch 😂

[@AzgadianWolfWing]

Appreciate this video loads friend!! My rg406v just came in and I had your vid saved and ready. Got to testing games, and my ps emulator kept booting into the memory card/ disc screen. Freeze framed and realized I'd grabbed a different bios than yours. Looked for yours and it ran smoothly. Much love friend!

[@JaviPlayRetro]

Congrats on crossing the 20K milestone 💪 to more success to you. 🍻

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Thank you! You too!

[@mattdavis9601]

Great tutorial, as usual. One of the things I like about your Android tutorials is that, even if I don't end up buying an RG556, a lot of this stuff will carry over to the Android devices I do own and enjoy. When you were downloading M64 I noticed that your Odin 2 and one of the Retroids are listed as phones. I'd never thought to notice this before, but Anbernic also seems to be using a phone build of Android instead of a tablet build. Why? It's weird when you think about it. Retro handhelds will spend approximately 98.7% of their useful life in landscape mode. Stock "Tablet Android" has a number of quality of life improvements over "Phone Android" for devices that are primarily used in landscape. Older Android phones could be forced into tablet mode by going into Developer Options and setting the DPI to 600. Granted that was back when tablet mode was more or less a glorified flag to tell apps to give you a few more buttons and tabs. I'm not sure what would happen if you tried that with a newer phone or handheld, now that Google has put actual effort into the tablet experience. If it worked it'd be a nice little upgrade for the RG556, or any Android handheld.

[@azaleakamellia]

I'm going to echo alot of comments, but thank Lord I found your video! Like some here, this is my first handheld with emulator and I've only ever had a Switch. That was literally few months ago. Never even had a Tamagotchi so, thank you thank you thank you!

[@LoudMime]

I appreciate how this should have been a quick guide but it was so comprehensive. ❤❤❤ always love your content🎉

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Glad it was helpful!

[@max201016]

This is amazing thanks so much for your effort, took up most my afternoon but was well worth it, has completely transformed how much I enjoy my rg556 it's a lovely little device.

[@michaeldovale5523]

I just followed you step by step for my RG406H and it was such a smooth process the way you explained everything. It is awesome what you do because someone like myself really benefits from resources like your KZbin channel. happy holidays Joey :D

[@rickfeest4830]

Thanks for this bud, I got my device asbout a week ago and was worried about setting it all up, was easy to follow and really helpful, device runs great!!

[@joemarais7683]

This and the instructions for remapping the R key was clutch for the RG Cube.

[@jtw1821]

Amazing tutorial. Perfect set up in 1 hour or less.

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Glad it helped!

[@paulreynolds814]

I've just received delivery of my RG556, and it didn't take long for me to get pointed to this video. Thank you for making this. I'm going to go through all of the steps here and set it up from scratch - and learn a bunch of things on the way. Liked, subbed, commented!

[@tenet5858]

Thank you , I just did all these steps on my RG406V . Much better when it’s setup then with the built in stock anbernic version . 🎉🎉

[@Fran-jk1ts]

Many thanks for everything. Spectacular. I'm a newbie, I'm waiting for an rg556 and you've helped me more than anyone. TOP

[@sadsys]

Man you have a quality delivery...unmatched.

[@daisysRetroGames]

Absolutely spot on guide, i followed from start to finish, best guide for doing this on the Net, thankyou so much

[@ravelordnitto]

This took a lot of the stress out of setting up my RGCube for the first time, cheers dude, excellent guide.

[@travelonourmindsin4k]

Aloha Joey - Mahalo for the easy-to-follow guide! Made setting my 556 up a breeze :)

[@merrillwinstonph.d.bcba-d9149]

Thanks so much Joey! You did a great job and thanks to you a complicated setup was made MUCH easier!

[@flairthephenom]

Love my 556, had it for a week and you helped me alot with setting this beast up🔥🔥🔥

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Great to hear!

[@simonagusto5041]

@@JoeysRetroHandheldsyou recommend to buy it with a as card or withow it ???

[@tazmo2237]

Can’t thank you enough for this video, absolutely fantastic. Ordered my RG556 as my first android retro handheld and this video will help so much setting it up 👍

[@Hobbes22]

Just waiting for my RG Cube to arrive. This video is an absolute godsend, thank you.

[@DaringDomino3s]

Wow this video is excellent, can’t wait til my console comes. I feel prepared now

[@kowboys7]

You have the best and easiest to understand tutorials, thank you so much!

[@budverissimo1]

This is going to be my first handheld console since the GBA when i was a kid. Thank you for the great videos. Im excited to get this and follow your guide. Subscribed!

[@Pridetoons]

Want ROMs Google is you're best friend.

[@AshdonWWE]

Vimms lair

[@ilovemybeard3394]

Torrent

[@Exodia_Misogynist]

Nice try fed

[@Nickbaldeagle02]

your

[@ezg8448]

Google "ROM PACKS" saves a lot of single rom downloads. You can thank me later.

[@antiantifa886]

Just got my rg406V and will use this!

[@Teremei]

Thanks Joey. I finally am setting up my Cube and for the first time going big instead of vanilla. Gonna do ES-DE. having a guide to follow helps so you don't have to go in blind.

[@haritsfarabi]

Thanks for the video, I bought this device because of your video ❤

[@mafrank]

Thank you so much. I have the rg406v arriving tomorrow and couldn't find any other videos explaining how to format the new sd card from scratch.

[@JoeRadOfficial]

This guide was excellent. My RgCube is amazing now!!

[@Arturo317]

Thank you so much! You helped me so much with my new RG556 :). Love it!

[@jay_alraj8628]

I'm getting mine today. Thank you so much !

[@jmbosma8439]

Perfect starter guide! Thanks very much. Great channel btw; you have a subscriber!😊

[@isaac7030]

awesome man, just bought this device and discover your channel, like and sub for sure! thanks for the work!

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Enjoy!

[@psychomaniak666]

the fiery passion he has against the wii remote reminds me of a lost summer trying to get that shit to work xD. I feel ya..

[@wrestle_fl]

This guide is amazing! Thank you!

[@mattpreece2600]

Just ordered mine and getting it with sd card could i just copy the card over to a better quality one ?

[@jw2par]

Same question

[@ced668]

Great guide ! Thanks. But i have a question : Is it possible to remap the anbernic button ?

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Yep! joeysretrohandhelds.com/guides/anbernic-rg556-setup-guide/#Remap_R_button

[@j.r1478]

Your guide is amazing, thanks for taking the time, I subscribe your channel for the huge effort to make this, thanks!!!

[@alternativeopinion]

Thanks so much! Excellent guide!

[@emmettnorton1109]

really really well done informative video. Subscribed!! Thank you so much :)

[@jonnytom1982]

If I choose to keep rg launcher as my default frontend, is there anyway to add additional emulators? For example it doesn't even have game gear, I have loaded game gear roms onto the sd, but game gear still doesn't appear in the launcher. Any help would be appreciated.

[@MrSimplicity28]

just ordered one. Already have the rg35xx and kinda wish I would've gotten something bigger to begin with but oh well. Regardless. The main reason I got one is for NS games since my Steam Deck can't seem to run ryujinx properly. Being how much better Yuzu works (having already found the apk for it) I'm hoping this little console will play the games that I'm looking at playing. Also really glad I found this video because the stock front end looks horrendous and Daijisho looks a million times better. Thank You.

[@ElijahLukeMusic]

How can I turn off the joystick lights

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

I show it in the video, near the beginning.

[@argumert]

Sir, you are a good man!

[@Miggwilson]

How do I add new systems to the Anbernic front end? Added them to the SD card but no icon appears in the front end leading to the games. I must be missing something.

[@alexythimia23]

I too am having a nightmare with this thing, I’m pretty new to android emulation and bought an rg cube but I can’t find any guides other then people wanting a certain setup. For example how do you install emulators to the internal memory or ROMs to the internal memory?! I have been trying but I cannot seem to do it, I’ve also copied everything onto a bigger sd card as I got one with games on yet the ROMs I added into the games folders don’t even show up when I scan it. I’m on the verge of giving up for now and waiting for more people to release videos that shows things like this. I really don’t want to delete everything like this guy did I just want to add some extra games yet can’t seem to do it for the life of me. What’s weird is the psp ROMs I added show up but the ps2 and 3ds don’t show at all. Gutted

[@Miggwilson]

@@alexythimia23 Alex, I am here to help! After hours and hours and hours of tinkering and with the help of a variety of folks, my RG Cube is running perfectly. It's also my first Android device so I knew it would be work...and it is...but damn if I don't think its my favorite Anbernic device to date. Let's go back to the start....you have all the emulators that came on it installed or did you delete and put newer versions of it on? Are you using Dijisho as the front end? I recommend it highly. I can help get you there but you'll need to buckle up, take a breath, and we'll get it up and running.

[@emilianomontanari283]

se can do that whiteout deinstalling many apps, right? just installing retroarch and the preferred front end …. and we can deinstall single apps in the future if we want and need to

[@Fedz84x]

Default Home App keeps resetting when starting up Daijisho wont stay as the default, any ideas what the issue could be. Also Daijisho doesnt launch games from Citra mmj unless I click on the citra standalone app first then works fine

[@RetroDaddyPH]

You have to set daijisho as the default launcher in the android settings

[@Fedz84x]

@@RetroDaddyPH That is what I did but no matter what it will default back to the original for whatever reasons cant get daijisho to stay as default

[@pixel_army7432]

Great guide, thank you!!

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Glad it was helpful!

[@DONTBLINK]

very nice video, just what i needed, thanks so much. Subbed and liked. I ordered a 556 and should come next week. I' new to all of this, but I have just one quick question, how do you get the artwork for the games? Would I need to download special zip files that include the artwork? I have an older anbernic but that one is just as it came, not setupby myself and it only shows text, not as nice with all the artworks. Or are the artworks in the bin? and my old anbernic wasn't just setup correctly?

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Daijisho scrapes the artwork, so it's all automatic!

[@christianmercado5510]

Broooooo I needed this guide, I usually go for Adin Walls guides cause he goes into the weeds. But this guide is AWESOME is very detailed oriented, specially for a newbie like me hahaha Thanks man, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You f*cking rock 🙌🏽

[@thebobman69]

I'm sure this would have took days without this tutorial

[@wanwan3288]

Hi Joey Very good detailed guide. Thanks for the efforts. I have one question if you don’t mind. Can I don’t remove the Anbernic’s installed emulators? Will Daijishou detect the original emulators that are installed? I tried and notice GameCube, Wii and PSX games cannot be launched from daijishou.

[@austinreed.]

Question: if I bought aftermarket SD from Anbicer should I copy and past the data to new name brand SD for Anbicer front end. Or should I put in new SD and download from Anbicer website? I also plan on using emulation station so do i need to reinstall the Anbicer data if I don't want to use any of the SDs, I got a 64G SD and 256G SD for each device. I have 2 since I'm doing it for my son and I.

[@quichequiche1421]

how does one add box art for the stock front end?

[@MorbidlyMortuus]

What’s a good charger adapter for the ANBERNIC RG556? I don’t have a pc to charge with it since usb that came with the system box

[@lonewolfdaned8834]

Thank you for the guide ! For inserting the sd card, please help ! I had all my roms on a Sandisk 512 microSDXC card, when I put it inside so the logo/text was facing me, I put it until the end, no forcing, but it kept coming out, no clicking sound to stay in place. So I just maintained it by closing the lid. The device then tried to read the card, failed then asked me to format it. It seems I lost all my roms. My question: did I do a mistake while inserting the card ? I believe I followed the instructions. If I made a mistake, how should I insert it ? Thank you.

[@MorbidlyMortuus]

I’m having same problem as you

[@RieklinRideR]

for nethersx2 put auto-mode off and vents on cool, if you put auto-mode on high it will lag (probably throttling), if you put vents on auto they will not cooldown the system and it will lag.

[@nickb5091]

Do you have to have a Windows PC or will a Mac work too?

[@slenderman7123]

I have a problem with the sd card because I can’t insert it I don’t know why? Please answer me

[@austinreed.]

How current is this video for the RG406V? I am extremely newbie, never had an emulator before. Bought Anbicer top SD just to realize oh shit. Haha so now I'm trying to figure out what I can do to not rely on faulty cards. I've watched this 1 hour long video a couple times. 2x with only audio haha and another looking at it. I'm also following your step by step instruction on your website as well.

[@darko_0682]

Should I load all of my emulators separately or should I just use them all in emulation station? Also, Is it just as easy to install Redream, duckstation, and pcsx2 on the 406v? I’m using this video for that specific model.

[@AidinZolghadr]

When i launch games from ES my buttons are not recognized but when i run via RG Cube's own launcher (the R button on buttom left) it does. And in both cases i dont have a RA button.

[@scottames6905]

Is it possible to download the roms using the device with the wifi onto sd card that's already inserted. So without using a computer. I have an ipad tho if that doesn't work. I would just need a flash drive if I was going to use that?

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Yep, you can.

[@scottames6905]

I’m having trouble getting ps1, ps2 and GameCube to work. The roms, iso, bio file won’t open. I’ve tried getting them from different sources. I have no problem with n64 and lower . The GameCube games show up on the front end but won’t play. The ps1 and 2 don’t show up on the front end. What am I doing wrong?

[@silverbackhc]

great vid joey - if you had to choose one would you pick the rp4 or this anbernic - can you give a few reasons why - thanks

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

I don't like the RP4, so this. I'll share more in my review at some point later this week.

[@silverbackhc]

@@JoeysRetroHandhelds thanks joey - when you do your review can you say why you dislike the rp4 - it seems like everyone is favouring the rp4 - thanks

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

No secret, it's not comfortable and not a fan of the control layout or the screen. Pretty simple!

[@ohdaUtube]

Does Melon/Drastic and Citra/Lime for rg556 support portrait mode (basically TATE mode) while properly mapping the dpad to the lower right stick? If so, can we see what that looks like? Trying to see if it would work with 15:9 on top and 4:3 on bottom (for 3DS) and 4:3 top and bottom (for NDS) with a little gap in between like in a real 3DS/NDS to see if it can play with 2 displays as intended (sometimes there's videos or cut scenes that uses both screens together and so i feel this would be the best way to play it). Thank you!~

[@nathanixslade]

I prefer to use Bigbox as interface Have a limit for sd card size?

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Nope.

[@marquezduncan3560]

Is it exactly the same setup for the rg 406h?

[@Glitchyy07]

I just got an RG Cube XX, will this guide work for it? Also, will it allow me to play gamecube games on it, I can't find anything that confirms whether it can or can't

[@onlyjwalker4271]

hey man great video, love the detail! but im still confused on the rom and bios part, got my rg556 yesterday but it doesn't have an sd card... it does have the 128gb internal storage, can i use that instead of the sd card? or will i have to buy one separately?

[@samsungfan1982]

Awesome vid. Keep it up

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Thanks, will do!

[@arturolopezjr.268]

Question I just bought mine with the 256gb card and I wanna add some games of the ps2. Do you think I can just adde them to the ROMs file? Or most likely wouldn’t run it?

[@cananwilliams9081]

I am a newbie with newb questions. Recently got into the retro game lyfe. I have purchased a Raspberry pi 5 with pironman case, retro console from Ali express, just today recieved A 406V. First question, Do I HAVE to be near Wi Fi during initial setup on the 406V? Second question any possibility of getting these ROMs to work that were purchased with the retro console and Anbernic Android 406V migrated over to work correctly on my Raspberry pi 5? Or would the Retropie emulator not be able to recognize the android device files? Could the USB be plugged in and copy the files over to the Raspberry pi 5 from the 406V AND Hard drive console? Sorry for questions that seem like common sense answers to some that have been doing it for years.

[@MazenArafat]

Thank you, how can I switch the big buttons' light off?

[@kylelipka9133]

40:34 my dolphin emulator cant view my gamecube files even tho the files are .rvz format. How would i fix this?

[@Nickbaldeagle02]

Only the MMJR2 version of Dolphin can read .rvz files.

[@kylelipka9133]

@@Nickbaldeagle02 I figured it out. Turns out if you try to have the file directory point to the empty internal folder it cant play any games lol

[@MegothJagome]

I have a question. I would like to emulate PC Engine games which emulator do you recommend? I saw that there are a couple in RetroArch would they be okay to use or is there a better option? Thanks for the detailed tutorial by the way. It is really helpful and well explained!

[@ivxnrs7236]

So I did what you said I have a folder of roms and inside I have diffrent console folders with roms is it supposed to be a zip file ? Or a GBA / NDS file ? Bc I have it just as the gba and it doesn’t load up on the anbernic front end

[@DeathCIutch]

Question I just want to use the layout provided. But for some reason some games want to load. For example have game cube animal crossing working but if i load something else through my Sd card zip or unzipped wont read or acknowledge. Same for PSP got a couple titles working but not sure why any idea ? Also tested a game with my pc using emulator and it worked so im confused why when i transfer that rom to Sd over to rg556 it wont play file.

[@saltyyurio4934]

How do I set up and start playing games on rg406v

[@AidinZolghadr]

In the written guide you mentioned to use RA nightly instead. Which one is better? Great video thanks!

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

Either works, not a big difference.

[@ragnaboyragnaboy7659]

i cant toggle the retroarch menu in-game with the hotkey, why? how to fix, it says retro_gamepad not configured, even with hotkey its not working, i usually access the quick menu during game by pressing the home / back button, how do i return it to that function? this happened when i uninstalled the retroarch and installed a newer version just like you did

[@nakersum]

Great video! very instructive an easy to follow. I just have a question, Everytime I open NetherSX2 on my RG CUBE it loads all the games from the SD Card which actually from the path mapped. How can i avoid that issue? as it seems to happen as well while playing and it has to load another mission or something like that

[@Fanf378]

Thank you for the tutorial of nethersx!

[@JoeysRetroHandhelds]

My pleasure!