So I finally bought the R36S...

[@the_ben_keen]

I just ordered one and found this video to be very insightful so thank you for taking the time and effort to put it together. I'm like you in that I prefer to play 8 and 16 bit games when it comes to emulators so I'm excited to get my unit and try it out. Thankfully I now have this video to go back to if I need any pointers.

[@talashk615]

is it better than game stick gd30??

[@unrulydanny1932]

I just ordered on from Walmart for 28 including the 3 year warranty, can't wait to get it n bring it to work

[@jaedo71]

Just bought one today! Can't wait to get it!

[@twofour8790]

The last week I’ve upgrade twice. I am now currently waiting for this one. I hope it’s good enough to keep. So many it’s overwhelming 😂

[@baldlyrudy]

Haha! Welcome to my life. My wife sees a box come in and she's automatically assuming it's a handheld at this point. 😂

[@CharlsDeonJ.Segovia]

Best Handheld to modify! Adding heatsink and other stuff is fun on this device.

[@XNiFo]

It’s perfect i have it , has the best look but the problem is how the buttons feels like but it works

[@MiguelDeMarchena]

All the cons become easy to bear because of the low price (this thing can run anything up to ps1 flawlessly some sega dreamcast and some psp tittles but it can become better if they add bluetooth, wifi, micro hdmi and usb access to the sd cards, it can run other firmwares beside the arkos that comes included.

[@jowaynejdfcornwall1766]

Thanks for all the help

[@gordobot24]

I believe this also comes in a transparent orange. Also, some Amazon sellers offer this device with high quality memory cards which also offsets the costs a bit. Well done video! Thank you.

[@baldlyrudy]

Thanks for the information! I didn't realize there was an orange one. I was so disappointed by that SD card, btw.

[@wingsfromheaven8788]

​​@@baldlyrudyThe $2 Kodak branded 64GB cards on AliExpress has proven durable so far. I buy these handhelds by the dozen as gifts and haven't run into a single failure or slowdown with these cheap Kodak U3 cards. They're surprisingly fast. Faster than most of my real name brand cards including Samsung and Sandisk.

[@roxierodriguez2342]

I think that console works amazing I got mine

[@pierreplayfair]

so many to choose from lol, I went with the miyoo mini + & I'm loving it so far! No more steam deck falling on my face in bed lololol

[@baldlyrudy]

Hahaha! I'm guilty of the same thing from time to time.

[@WalterPlays162]

Bought mine off aliexpress 39$ pretty good have not got it yet bought it last week :)

[@grunge1677]

@@WalterPlays162 does it work well? have you had any issues? thanks for the reply.

[@WalterPlays162]

@@grunge1677 No issues at all man still have it with me and i love it

[@suhtangwong]

How do you know it's good if you don't even have it yet? 🤔

[@WalterPlays162]

@@suhtangwong i do mario 64 runs a bit bad

[@bobi794]

i like the way you elaborate this crazy console 😉

[@bRuHIsHere.]

Fun fact: If a game isn't running smoothly on the r36s, try changing the settings a bit to fix it. And if it still doesn't work, idk keep trying bc if you can make god of war run then I'm sure you can make most work too.

[@StarSoulMac]

For me, buying this console is solely dependent on how well it can run ps1, snes, n64, gameboy & ds games A device that can run gamecube & ps2 is perfect, so deciding between the r36s & rg35 plus is tricky

[@tomlion0116]

I got an RG351P used only for 40$ wich is INSANE! Because it's 3:2 screen I only use it for GBA and after I put ArkOs on it the device just feels like a dream because of it's Anbernic build quality.

[@humphreybogart2094]

This dude was like I don't have anything to compare it to and I'm thinking shit me either, then he pulls out 3 other consoles that look just like this one lol

[@baldlyrudy]

😅

[@henryblazer20]

Just got one and I have had the rg35xx and this is MUCH better gaminh experience with the IPS display it’s gorgeous

[@RobRidic]

Man gonna add this thing to my Xmas list such a cool little handheld to have in pitch

[@AeolusUX]

There is also Orange, Red and Blue colors ;)

[@Kooaid-9]

Ive seen the orange but red and blue!!?

[@AeolusUX]

@@Kooaid-9 Yes I have the red on my profile and OGTechnick has the blue

[@mikeyneeley]

I know a lot of people love the R36S. It is a good cheap option for the power it has. I just can't get over the fact that it looks like a toy. I think it is mainly the speaker holes. Also, can't play with sticks at the bottom of a vertical handheld.

[@baldlyrudy]

Yeah. I get that. Also, the sticks definitely mess with the balance of the handheld when I'm playing. I experienced the same thing when I was messing with the RG353V.

[@monyolay]

@@baldlyrudy ggg

[@rccl4487]

U need to 3d print the grip that makes it much more griper/easier to use the analog sticks

[@viacomsspy5439]

Well, it technically is a toy. I think it looks cool

[@RamKumar-cg1is]

@@rccl4487 that same I feel..make a hand grip down..then U can use it

[@DarthPhillius]

Yeah... I'll go ahead and stick with my RG35XXH. Shame as I love the look of the OS and the screen.

[@baldlyrudy]

That's all good. 👍

[@joesully0415]

Thanks for the video, I have one question as I am newish to emulators. Do you get all of the games preloaded on the SD. Card? How many games are there. Thanks

[@baldlyrudy]

Hi! In most cases yes. And it depends on the seller as far as the amount of games. Even then, I wouldn't recommend getting a larger card from them as there are usually a lot of duplicate games and some are in different languages. If you need a specific game, I recommend searching for it online. There are a lot of resources, but I can't share any here.

[@brianloov4805]

i got one for $0.83 works beautifully

[@sabertoothanimations2912]

I got mine on eBay recently, my unboxing was a little different though, it was in some kind of plastic textured bag, then the plastics and foam, so maybe it was just forgotten on yours anyhow have had no issues sides one game not working, its the old Starwars Arcade game on their, sides that been loving it and updated fine If you hook a internet dongle to it, you have to go into settings, WiFI and then push the plus in their to add it and it will show what your little internet dongle is finding, also your WIFI link has to be compatible with Linux to work

[@digitizer3627]

I got this a couple of weeks ago cause it was dirt cheap. I paid like 35 dollars for it. Its awesome for the price. I love it❤ especially after installing a prebuild by # mash tec which has a fairly recent ArkOS and all the settings for so mamy systems configured and ready for use. I highly recommend. N64 is not perfect but very playable. All other systems were working fine. Thanks for the review.

[@baldlyrudy]

Appreciate the comment! Thanks. 🙌

[@suhtangwong]

The budget 👑! R36S

[@Makons420]

So I finally watched ur video...

[@baldlyrudy]

So I'm glad you did...

[@Fancycreator273yes]

Ah the anbernic r36s is a good budget handheld

[@LaurenceReeves]

I just got this for £30 inc Tax and shipping! Can’t wait

[@baldlyrudy]

That's a heck of a deal!

[@paulg8524]

for the price it is amazing, got mine for £37 delivered, just add a new sd

[@ilkeryoldas]

If only it was horizontal

[@joshuayoung949]

flashing the file with etcher fales evey time and for some reason afterwards the sd cart gets split into 5 drives (16 GB Unused, 128Mb used, 8GB used, 1128 gb used, 116GB unused) im using a 128 GB Sd cart for this so it should devinitly fit. i ve put the drives back togehter using Create and format hard drive partitions but it just wont work even after countless tries Plz helpppp

[@joshuayoung949]

so i figured out the issiue: tunrs out it says on the offical github that u arent suposed to use balena etcher so i used rufus instead and it worked perfectly

[@someonespecial1525]

It costs twice as much, but I suggest a VITA. It does this and so much MORE!

[@minmogrovingstrongandhealthy]

For 80 as much as this cost I would just pick up a refurb PSP and be done with it ... Or source parts and a scuffy one and just and do a custom one myself roughly would cost the same. Would take more time to actually sit down and play but it is a nice project for those who like tinkering and fixing stuff. But yeah if I would have a bigger budget I would go for a Vita too. Sadly as of now I have no budget for any of these but just saying what I would do if given a chance, what would be a more logical approach and I will surely do it in the near future (hopefully so) aka when "life" allows it ...

[@xCandyMan]

@@minmogrovingstrongandhealthy vita is 🔥

[@djlaw56what]

The only thing i dislike is how the buttons feel! It feels tough i prefer a more smoother button but thats just me

[@mr_zrd2926]

Thanks for the review mate❤️ I already have one ✅ I've only one question i hope you can help out with! Can you name your wall drop paper (the orange one) on your review video!? Where can I find something like these please 🥺❤️

[@hankosanko]

i followed everything you did. its flashing red when try to it on. it works if i plug in the sd card after turn it on. is there some i did wrong?

[@steepfrugut]

Ok, so long story short, if you have an RG353v, this is not a replacement. Gotcha.

[@baldlyrudy]

100%. The RG353V is over double the price of this thing. You get more functionality, but at a higher cost.

[@ginagover4562]

I only have 1 problem with this device. For some reason my game keeps getting erased. I'll be 3/4s in and I go to bring it up and my saved game is gone. I'm not a hardcore gamer. I just want to relive playing Final Fantasy in All its forms but it's frustrating to have to start all over. Have you run across this and if so how do I stop it??????

[@baoly7614]

Try to save it manually by hitting the R3 button while in the game. There should be 5 slots available.

[@ToyKeeper]

I've seen the R36S selling brand new for $36... but given how poor the physical controls are, I'd rather spend an extra $15 to get something which doesn't hurt my hands. Hands are worth more than a few bucks.

[@cjjorge6636]

na i'ts good

[@reel_images]

I can't find a company in Canada that will ship aside from Amazon for over $100. Aliexpress will not ship to Canada.

[@9Coronas]

@@reel_images you need to hunt around a lot, check a ton of sellers. I just ordered one from Mizar Game Store. Sometimes they are available and disappear so you need to literally just check a ton of them

[@hotplugin]

thanks!

[@baldlyrudy]

You're welcome!

[@JayrosModShop]

I would rather have dual speakers over dual analog sticks any day.

[@familhagaudir8561]

Unless you go to your computer and clean-up the looooong lists of games on some platforms to only keep what you will play, it's a very bad experience to go through the lists on the console to find the game you want. Sadly that screen is too small for my eyes. There is no option near this quality/price with a 5.5+ inch screen.

[@leoliang7036]

r36s handheld game console for sale in sydney 15 thousand games for only 80

[@whitfieldbrewster]

So you just don't turn it on and it has games already I Hve to down load games..its supposed to come with some games installed Correct

[@baldlyrudy]

It does come with games pre-installed. I think the card that had the OS that came with mine was a dud.

[@93herrhirsch]

I'm having a hard time with flashing ArkOS onto my sd card. it says something went wrong when it finishes validating.

[@NocturnalRS]

They literally spelled "Game Console" wrong lol

[@Fr_Dae]

for change brightness it's no fn +/- volume, and save stat power off, may crash you r36s totaly ...

[@dr.chungusphd108]

Have you ever used any of the newer external GPU’s? I’d be curious to know if there’s any that could be used with the steam deck safely.

[@baldlyrudy]

Yup. I've heard of them, but SteamOS doesn't support eGPU, IIRC. It only works on WIndows. Unless Valve released some update for SteamOS that I'm not aware of.

[@aydendunne6051]

Anyone know how to save games? I haven’t played a game in 15 years when I played Pokemon sapphire. I bought one and played Pokemon and saved file but turned it back on and there was no save file. TIA

[@Noskcaj95]

@@aydendunne6051 I think that you need to specifically load it when the game is launched

[@cabaoofc]

the SO dowload come with games?

[@gothrocker369217]

So do we need to pack up the rom sd as well I want to buy one but I'm worried about the tf cards

[@baldlyrudy]

You can just transfer files if they work, but mine was a dud. So yeah....source your own stuff....just in case.

[@hope1owo]

Jesse we need to game

[@cinemacola6398]

Wait, it doesn't come with all of the 15000 games pre download and ready to play? I have to download them myself online to the SD card? Am I hearing that correctly?

[@baldlyrudy]

No. Not really. Usually they come with all those games, but my unit was a dud when it arrived.

[@n0username0n]

Yeah mine has just arrived and is stuck in a boot section so looks like its a common thing, Obviously due to the cheap Chinese cards provided. It isnt to hard to flash a new card though Be careful with suppliers though as mine has arrived with a system card but no game card lol

[@jackprice1328]

When I booted it asked for EmulationStation or RetroArch I selected RetroArch by accident and now im stuck how do I get it to boot from EmulationStation instead?

[@n0username0n]

Try pressing Select + X or L3 + R3

[@LaserPeow]

lol i never booted it up, i bought sd cards and put the newest OS on one and games on the other. threw the sd that came with it into the trash. I have read that sandisk does have slight problems with it, samsung works great

[@baldlyrudy]

Samsung cards are great and usually on sale.

[@joel5949]

Do you need wifi to play it?

[@baldlyrudy]

Nope

[@reynangan8746]

can it play shenmue in dreamcast?

[@oscarostling973]

does this come with games preinstalled ???

[@baldlyrudy]

Yeah.

[@oscarostling973]

@@baldlyrudy Like all the pokemon on gameboy ?

[@baldlyrudy]

@@oscarostling973 oh yeah.

[@MankunZilla]

Now the rgb20s

[@f0ssig]

Try moving the mic a bit for speech legibility. when it's below the chin it loses detail.

[@baldlyrudy]

Appreciate the feedback. I think I'm going to turn up the gain a bit next time.

[@zylarbartlett1155]

is this possible on chrome OS

[@cadderley100]

Sorry, but if it won't do PSP, PSX or DC games, then that's a resounding "NO" from me. For the system to be considered as a viable purchase, then it has to emulate PSX and DC games as an absolute minimum requirement.

[@MaskMan1Official]

Yes it can run psp, psx, and dc games, though it wont run those massive games for those consoles without slowdown.

[@_owenmc]

@@cadderley100 it’s $30 dollars bro what do you expect?

[@cadderley100]

​You did see the part in the video, where it said $40, right? I actually did end up buying the R36S, specifically because it does do PSP, PSX and DC games. I don't understand why you would buy anything less, considering the price? And, again, there are units out there, for the same price, that won't play PSX, PSP or DC games. The question is, then, why would you buy any of those units, when they won't do PSX games? The ability to play PSX games, I think, is considered the basic functionality for these types of retro gaming units, so, yes, even for $30, I would expect the retro unit to play PSX games, because, again, the question is, why would you bother with any of them, when, for the same price, you can get the R36S, which will play PSX games?

[@Susanmugen]

It plays that stuff. Mine I just got comes preloaded with those systems and classic titles ready to go. It's fantastic for the price. A better handheld than all the handhelds it emulates

[@joaoportela9731]

Unless you are not interested in those platforms and only want NES, SNES, GB, GBA, Sega Genesis, ...

[@jonowev]

So is this thing actually usable out of the box or is it essential to upgrade the SD card? Because I'm not going to waste time doing that, to be honest!

[@baldlyrudy]

It should be usable out of the box, but the one I got had a faulty SD card.

[@talashk615]

bad for eyesight, screen too small

[@jacobbaranowski]

Anolog Pocket is the only one people are taking about, and the SteamDeack, and a Evercade.

[@baldlyrudy]

Funnily enough, not in my comments section. No one talks about the Evercade or the Analogue Pocket, though I do own the latter. Edit: A good chunk of the comments talk about the Steam Deck as well.

[@chrismayer3919]

My God; you really gotta jump through hoops to upgrade that piece of junk! You’re better off paying a programmer to do it for you. 🤓

[@baldlyrudy]

Haha! It only took like 10 minutes. It's not a big job.

[@zakur0hako]

it's a piece of shit but i love playing snes and genesis on it

[@baldlyrudy]

Pretty much. 🤣

[@J0HnDq3]

oh mate, this device is really bad cause of its dpad, don`t recommend it to people! and buttons are bad too. even if you will do some mods, they are really bad.

[@rodrigocoronado5248]

Dpad has been upgraded on new models kinda, not as stiff, usable for the price.

[@J0HnDq3]

@@X91X-km7hp nope, even after those mods the dpad and buttons still sucks.

[@baldlyrudy]

@J0HnDq3 wait....so AFTER changing the D-Pad and buttons for better ones, they still suck? Sounds more like you're trolling than anything else.

[@J0HnDq3]

@@baldlyrudy oh not, I just mod it, not change. by instruction. It`s just my opinion. Better to buy miyoo mini plus and have smooth gameplay experience, but not this r36s. Tried both and anbernic rg35xx plus & h. r36s just have nice display, but in other aspects it`s sucks. And mate, r36s is too tiny to mod it with screwdriver, it must be good out of the box. any other variants make it fail product. Don`t recommend.

[@wingsfromheaven8788]

​​​The d-pad is sufficiently serviceable, particularly if you back out the screw slightly. At least for most folks, apparently. And there's no denying that the R36S is much better for 32-/64-bit gaming such as GBA, NDS and PS1 due to the analog stick on the left. And it offers some N64, Dreamcast and PSP with frameskip or other tweaks. So unless you're buying a device exclusively for the nostalgia of playing 8-/16-bit games on a vertical handheld, at the expense of comfort, then it's best to steer clear of the Miyoo Mini Plus.