Is the SJGAM M21 aka Mini R36S the Best Budget option? | Watch Before You Buy

[@hyperplayrpg]

Delighted I'm no longer the only reviewer with this crazy console now! I think the community can fix this. There's potential: HDMI is great, and PS1 looks srunning

[@CellPhish]

We’ll see what happens. I shared the SD card data tonight so it can be looked at. Also opened it up to make sure there actually is a N909 SOC…it’s in there.

[@wll1rah]

Maybe but this is going to need a lot of work and you have to get one it looks like to fix it. The Sd card that cellphish shared doesn't follow the standard that they've set out with the other four devices. I will give this though it was nice that they actually cleaned up the core folder, Retro_LIB , folder. Surprisingly though ES doens't make any calls to retroarch but it's somehow using the retroarch cores. Those are either on the possible eMMC or got skipped with the backup which is unlikely on that.

[@valerioturrini9414]

@@wll1rah it looks like the freezes are due to a really bad custom es implementation combined to a slow and full sdcard. looking at the sdcard (thanks CellPhilsh for sharing) it should not so difficult porting myminui to this device, I have to figure out how to get a working toolchain and (it's still a dream now) possibly understanding if opengl is supported.

[@wll1rah]

@@valerioturrini9414 Sweet I'm glad you saw something I didn't, can't wait to see your MinUI on here and hopefully you can keep the video out as well. Though I really don't like not being able to find this chip anywhere either.

[@kostasmpek]

I will buy this product it is okay but the SD card has a problem. Anybody knows how to download new please. I want everything not only the games

[@guardianbeardizer6361]

N909, it's a new CPU...immediately freezes. Sounds about right

[@Alphenord]

It is called the R36 Mini, but it has its own design and does not share the same firmware the R36S has, so i don't understand the concept. Definitely this device has an enormous potential and only needs a proper firmware with Retroarch UI access in the Menu button to release all the hidden power its chipset has. If the community really cares about this device, it can be a more than decent machine. The absence of the L3 and R3 buttons are not that important if we think newer machines have only one analog clicking stick.

[@CellPhish]

I’ve seen it called both but prior to launch people were fascinated with its design Comparision the Miyoo but with sticks. When I reviewed it was before release so hopefully some things have been updated like my right stick had a broken ribbon cable and I had to use a screwdriver to power it on. I don’t think it’s such a mess anymore

[@iamnotyourbuddyGUY]

The buttons color looks great. That is the only good thing I can say about it

[@CellPhish]

That’s fair

[@mikenewtype]

Thank you for your service 🫡

[@CellPhish]

😆 you are welcome

[@wll1rah]

Now if they had only made it easy to get the m19 and m25 with the controllers they could have skipped this device entirely. I still kind of think it could just be the software being really messed up like it was on the m18 at launch. I'll like still pick one up but when it's at a reasonable price and only if I can get it with the controllers most as I was interested in having this as a low-end console that I could play mame on the go. the trigger buttons in one of the reviews I watched to seem to help with the game selection as well. The only real reason I could see to pick this up was emuelec and that you could plug it into the tv/ monitor for big screen gaming and if the price was at $30 for the option with the controllers. If it's not hitting those two it's a hard pass and even then, we have the v10, R36S, and m19/ m18.

[@CellPhish]

Like I said at $30 I think that is its price point. I haven’t been so stressed trying to film a review in a while. I cut an hour of frozen screens out of the review. I am however going to mess around with it a bit and see if I can’t make it a bit better. I might even have a membrane laying around to fix the DPad. It say cause the M19 was good I do t get why they didn’t use components from that.

[@wll1rah]

@@CellPhish I was only adding that it needs to have the controllers at that $30 rpice point as well at least from the performance I've seen out of it so far. I've tried to contact a few of the sellers but haven't found one that is will to carry them that will be affordable to order from just stores that are located in the Euro zone so shipping to the US is just kind of crazy high from my experience.

[@GAMER_NATO]

Hi, greetings from Argentina, very good video! I wanted to ask if this M21 has the D-pad and A B X Y buttons larger than the R36s

[@CellPhish]

They aren’t bigger. They are the same face buttons used in the M19. The D-pad is ok

[@MonsterPartsRc]

With the menu so limited, how do you upgrade it? At least with the R36S and ARKOS, you just go to the menu and click "upgrade" (If you have the WIFI dongle)

[@CellPhish]

You can easily do an update on these if it becomes available. You just load something like ArkOS to the memory card and it will boot/install off the card the first run. Then you can do OTA. Not sure a build will be made for this to allow that but we’ll see

[@MonsterPartsRc]

@@CellPhish I took my ARKOS card from my R36S and put it in and it didn't do anything... LOL... I might try to experiment with some other options and see what I can do

[@UnsavedTrash]

I heard someone mention the "R36S mini" that is "an upgrade since it has an HDMI out" this honestly looks kinda abysmal compared to the r36s in most factors, maybe if there was enough community support backing custom firmware and bringing arkos to this device it wouldn't be so horrid but all these r36s clone devices tend to not get much love and care and fall between the cracks of community support. Also the ABXY being a Y-top A-right layout shows just how little care or effort went into this machine, at that point just leave the button glyphs blank.

[@CellPhish]

Yes I agree. This turned out to be a pretty sad handheld. It would take a lot of community work to get this the best worth it.

[@Ni5ei]

R36S Mini? Why? It's the same size.

[@CellPhish]

Not sure why. To be fair it is smaller

[@Ni5ei]

​@@CellPhish Yeah I've seen that now. But only by a very small margin. Not enough to call it an R36S Mini in my opinion 😂

[@CornyPuddle]

Glad I didn't pull the trigger on this one

[@CellPhish]

Who knows maybe someone can make it not suck

[@LogosGaming]

PORTMASTER? no Ark OS? God Damn it

[@CellPhish]

Right

[@LogosGaming]

@@CellPhish really tought this was going to BE amazing. That complexity of issues OMG, meanwhilenR36s Ark OS, Portmaster, awesome GBA,NDS and overall a great console with the shoulder buttons mod and D Pad mod

[@StkMobile-jb8bh]

😅

[@CellPhish]

😂

[@yoshimansxl]

Sjgam is a horrible name lmao it sounds like scam.

[@CellPhish]

😂

[@wll1rah]

True but some how they've been the least likely of the budget handhelds to scam you this year and put out a usable product this year with the exception of the R36S Anbernics offerings as well.