Miyoo Mini Plus Review: 1 Year Later | Still the Best?

[@GoatSlaps]

Solid review! I got a miyoo mini plus as my first handheld emulator from Amazon and I really like it. I do have similar concerns over the screen adhesive but overall it’s a great console. As my second device I purchased the RG35XXH and I feel these two really complement each other in different ways. However the Miyoo just hits differently for me and remains my favorite of the two.

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@GoatSlaps couldn’t agree more. Love the RG H, but the plus just hits different. What games you playing?

[@vhsretrogamer1664]

I have so many more powerful and comfortable handhelds, but I always come back to mm+ eventually. Main reasons are of course: 1 - onion os. Everything is so seamless and minimal, but with enough options and ability to customise almost everything 2 - quiet and nice buttons 3 - fantastic look and feel 4 - onion os. Yes again. Game switcher, fast shutdown and save and - you know - everything just works 5 - vibrant screen with sharp pixels 6 - compact but comfortable just enough, so I can play everywhere 7 - onion os

[@tylerkruisenga429]

Worth it all the way. I got 240 hours of game time invested and have had no issues and still love it

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@tylerkruisenga429 totally agree man

[@STR82DVD]

I just bought the Miyoo Mini v4 OG. I like the "Yeah man I want to do it!" Russ reference. Agreed BTW. Good critique.

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@STR82DVD thank you! The mini v4 is super cool to have just because the novelty of a device that small. But I struggle a bit to actually use it

[@STR82DVD]

@@HandheldHorizon Mine literally arrives this week. To be totally honest, I really just bought it because I realized across 13 other handhelds that I have in my collection that I didn't have any verticals at all. I also ordered the RG35XX Plus at the same time just to cover both sizes of device but also because I just couldn't decide between the two. 😊👍

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@STR82DVD these handhelds are an addiction😂😂

[@STR82DVD]

@@HandheldHorizon They are young lad. They are.

[@adamkane7513]

My first emulation device was a *GP2X F100* I bought over a decade ago! The Miyoo Mini holds a special place in my collection because Onion OS is amazing.

[@HandheldHorizon]

Thanks for sharing! Super cool!

[@DubbaDaveski]

Overclock & turn off music while ff (option in retroarch) helps a ton.

[@HandheldHorizon]

Pro tip!

[@antyliga2414]

I want to buy retro console mainly for Fire Emblem, I am very happy you mentioned this franchise ❤️❤️ great review!

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@antyliga2414 thanks!!!🙏

[@MANTEKIT]

I bought a Miyoo Mini Plus to play a game I've wanted to play for a long time: EarthBound. It has been an amazing experience! It is a solid device when used with OnionOS. Now, I'm playing some Neo Geo Pocket and WonderSwan stuff, and they run great. The only real downside is that it doesn't have an RTC. I read that there's a newer version that includes it, but you need to make certain adjustments in OnionOS to get it working. However, the model I bought is an old one which doesn't have an RTC.

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@MANTEKIT I’ve never played earthbound! Really want to though. Thanks for the recommendation 👍🏼

[@Wavetheory85]

Was earthbound preinstalled on the sd card?

[@MANTEKIT]

@@Wavetheory85 yes!

[@briteredoctober]

My Miyoo Mini Plus is one of the best gaming-related purchases I've ever made! It's an amazing little piece of modern-retro tech.

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@briteredoctober same! Absolutely love it

[@knfbnny]

pretty cool video man, you are a natural keep making vids!

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@knfbnny hey thanks dude! I appreciate it🥹🥹

[@toycoma98]

I take background music from themes and put them in my favorite theme. Created additional folders to separate japanese translated roms, so games list wont be so cluttered. I like custom boot logo. Tons of aftermarket parts for endless customization. I like how the screen doesn't have a bezel compared to anbernic. So far i've bought 9 MM+, gifted them to family members with my curated sd card rom collection

[@rilaroothesailor]

Send me your card

[@edwinvaniersel]

Still my daily driver does everything I want it to do

[@lairizzle]

Watched some videos and did research and bought this today actually. I only plan on playing up to gba/snes etc and no desire to play n64 era consoles. I found the RG35XX seemed like it had lots of power issues which is why I didn’t grab one. Amazon reviews with generally more favourable for this one (in Canada at least)

[@HandheldHorizon]

Oh heck yeah! You are going to love it🎉

[@wrtucey]

A nod to Russ (Retro Game Corps) at the beginning of the video, nice.

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@wrtucey Russ the GOAT

[@jen_owu]

Its honestly so nice. Its the first emulation device I've owned even though I'm a huge retro gamer. I only wanted it for gameboy and gb advance games and it performs perfectly even after several months of use. Love your review❤️

[@HandheldHorizon]

Thanks so much! Yeah same, I got it for Pokémon mostly, and now that evolved into Pokémon rom hacks😂

[@arey256]

@@HandheldHorizonme too you should show me how to set up those

[@wingn3849]

I got one for $38 and one for $34. Love ‘em. There’s a bit of a lottery for these devices since one of them has a L2 that is hard to press and a sticky button at times. Still better than my anbernic 351p which had screen bleeding and died within a couple months of light play.

[@HandheldHorizon]

You are right. Every now and then they will have some QC issues. That’s why like to buy on Amazon, easy returns

[@Lucifronz]

Definitely not the best anymore. Certainly not the best vertical option in the DMG style. It's a good option still, and certainly affordable, but Anbernic surpassed it with the RG35XX Plus a while ago by being around the same price point, having more power (can comfortably play Dreamcast titles, some PSP, some N64, etc.), and having a slightly larger, more comfortable form factor (though that one is pretty subjective; I personally prefer the slightly larger size and the placement of the start and select buttons on the Plus, but I'm sure some people prefer something a bit smaller). Absolutely would not recommend dropping *any* of these devices, because they're all bound to get damaged or outright stop working if you do. They maybe look like an old-school Game Boy, but they aren't nearly as durable. I worry about dropping handhelds all the time, so this is a small fear of mine, but on the bright side... they're budget handhelds and easily replaced if you just save up another $50-60 or so. But yeah, I think you could still easily be happy with this device if you bought it and didn't realize the Plus existed. Anbernic basically ripped off the system when they made their own and when they originally released the RG35XX it wasn't really as good as the Miyoo Mini Plus. In fact, had I not thought to look up a "plus" model for the RG35XX when I was making my decision, I might have gone and purchased a Miyoo Mini Plus instead despite its uglier placement of start and select. Wifi and bluetooth are great features and enable you to use controllers with your system, transfer files wirelessly via PC (which means no more need to remove your microSD card except when reflashing your custom OS to update) and enable RetroAchievements to give yourself something extra to do in your favorite games or even play without save states and brag about getting all of the achievements in "hardcore" mode (if that's your thing). I really wouldn't go so far as to call it the "GOAT" but at one point it definitely was and it's still a satisfying system despite lagging behind a little. Most of the complaints you had are very specific, after all. Many people won't want to fast-forward in their games at all and even should an accident happen, again, a replacement is really cheap. And of course while the wifi and bluetooth functionality is worth paying more for and having access to Dreamcast games is a nice bonus, as far as vertical handhelds go, a lot of people aren't really going to care about a lot of the systems they can play on the Plus. N64 and PSP require an analog stick for a lot of games, so you'd at least have to use a bluetooth controller to connect. There is one really big downside to the Miyoo Mini Plus that compounds how much it has been outclassed, though, and it's its lack of HDMI-out. On top of bluetooth support for controllers you can effectively turn your RG35XX Plus into a home console for PSP, N64 and heck, any other game you want. It still relies on a battery, of course, so it's not exactly the same, but it's extremely portable and can hook up to any TV with an HDMI port (which is essentially all of them these days).

[@HandheldHorizon]

You bring up some really good points here. However I will push back a little bit, for consoles like n64 and PSP I think this general size class of devices (around 3.5 inches) is not a great experience. For those consoles I recommend at least 4 inches. While it is really cool that devices like the RG plus can play PSP/N64 I would argue that these devices aren’t the way to do it. Also good point on the HDMI out and Bluetooth, but I never ever play a device like this plugged in to a tv, personally I think that kind of defeats the purpose of a handheld. BUT, that’s the great thing about these devices is that different people use them in a myriad of different ways! Anyways, thanks for the great comment! I love having these discussions.

[@Pobega]

The best device really depends on your use case. For me I mostly find myself playing GBA games (Pokemon Emerald Rogue, Apotris) and PSX games (Colin McRae Rally, Xenogears) on it, and the Miyoo is pretty great in those regards. What makes the Anbernic devices really stand out for me is access to PortMaster. I personally think Saturn/Dreamcast/N64 is always going to be a compromise on this class of device (if not performance then comfort of joysticks), but access to things like Balatro, Celeste, TMNT Shredder's Revenge, Castlevania ReVamped, etc really puts the Anbernic devices a class above Miyoo. The only thing holding me back from buying an Anbernic device is the operating systems. I use AlliumOS which is similar to MinUI, except with full Retroarch for configurability. Boot speed and responsiveness are more important to me than feature sets, and I don't think any of the currently available Anbernic OSes give Allium/Onion a run for their money (except MinUI, but that uses Miniarch which is not ideal)

[@YellowDice423]

Great review!

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@YellowDice423 thanks!!🙏

[@henrywilliams6927]

i own the miyoo mini plus and its great and i even convinced a buddy to get it and i also own a rp4 pro and thats amazing as well

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@henrywilliams6927 been trying to decide between the rp4,rg556 and the Odin 2 pro… can’t commit to anything just yet 😅

[@henrywilliams6927]

@@HandheldHorizon well I mean the Odin 2 pro is the best spec wise but I mean it’s also 100$ at least more then the rg556 or rp4 pro

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@henrywilliams6927 I really want an Odin 2 pro… might get one here soon for the channel….

[@suhtangwong]

Do I wanna like the video? Yeah man, I wanna do it.

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@suhtangwong 😂😂

[@turnbasedtoddy7664]

Great review although I definitely would not say this runs DS well. It comes with frame skip on my default and a lot of the 3d games are very choppy. That being said I love this little device.

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@turnbasedtoddy7664 good point, for fast paced games, maybe not a great fit. But for turn based rpgs it’s mostly fine

[@davidmacias1270]

It’s DEFINITELY not the best BUT, for some reason, it’s still my favorite!🔥

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@davidmacias1270 👌👌👌

[@Jong-JongDomo]

What do you mean?

[@BoDandy]

I have one of these and an Anbernic SP, while I really want to like the SP since it has that form factor and ability to play some higher end systems, it just feels so low quality compared to miyoo's hardware.

[@SKysofRain]

Two things I noticed you said that you may not know ( and I could also be wrong we are all human) I believe unbound doesn't accelerate due to how the rom hack was developed as well as you may be running on the Mgba core which is never too happy accelerating through retroarch regardless of the hardware you are playing on. Sometimes you can swap games to the gpsp core and get what you want out of a games acceleration. Also drastic natively has speedup, this is) and should be) a fairly standard option for emulators, it's often more odd that it won't have ir

[@HandheldHorizon]

Thanks for the insight! GPSP is my emulator of choice for speeding up gba games!

[@IDIlII]

Couldnt decide between this and rp4p so now both are otw! Little late to the party

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@IDIlII both great devices

[@YellowDice423]

I would love to see your comparisons between the Miyoo mini plus and the powkiddy v10. I have been stuck, trying to decide which to go for. I just want a simple way to play all the pokemon games.

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@YellowDice423 good idea!! I’ve never messed with the pow kiddy v10 but have thought about getting it in the past. I might just have to pick one up!!

[@TheUndertones559]

I’ve never used Onion. Does it have a lot of UI customization options? I ask because I always hear content creators praising Onion but it always looks different and, imo, it always looks ugly lol. It does sound feature rich tho. I guess I’m wondering if what I’m seeing is downloaded themes or people customizing their own UI via settings.

[@HandheldHorizon]

Great question. Would guess that most themes you are seeing are downloaded community themes. As far as I know you can’t customize the front end on the device itself. But, you can make your own theme. Check that out here: onionui.github.io/docs/theme-design

[@edwinvaniersel]

Onion is the best way too go for it. The original os is just not good. But it depends on if you want certain features.

[@edwardbell8771]

Onion OS is the reason why these are great just for quick gaming

[@trumpet43samurai]

Miyoo mini plus deez nuts!!! Good video

[@marsenthusiast-tv8gi]

I just got mine and love it so much! I was installing some new apps, but was wondering how to install community apps. Especially Spotify because it would be so cool if it could be an mp3 player as well! Just wondering if you know.

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@marsenthusiast-tv8gi great question. I do not think you can get Spotify on this at the moment. However you can put mp3 files onto the mm+ . It has a built in mp3 player. Dragging and dropping mp3s on here makes it like an old fashioned mp3 player😅

[@marsenthusiast-tv8gi]

@@HandheldHorizon I saw something for Spotify client on onion is wiki community apps, and was wondering if it was true, I did see someone have Spotify on the miyoo mini plus, I was wondering if you could make a video of how to add community apps to the plus

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@marsenthusiast-tv8gi interesting!! Let me look into this. I might just make a video

[@C1PH3RR]

For fast forward have you tried using the gpSP core? I found the mGBA core is slower than gpSP.

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@C1PH3RR yup gpsp is the main emulator is use for fast-forwarding games. 💯

[@lucaboscolopalo7613]

I got my Odin 2 Pro, but, I bought this Miyoo mini plus for GBA.

[@HandheldHorizon]

Amazing combo

[@toycoma98]

You can overclock it now to improve fast forward

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@toycoma98 I plan on trying that soon. Does it cause any heat issues?

[@angelheart7643]

How to do that please...

[@skarav]

Beautiful device, but after I installed Onion OS (4.3.1-1) and got all my ROMS setup ready sometimes (just sometimes) the SD card doesn't get recognized and the Miyoo Mini Plus starts the stock firmware, is there a reason for this? I have to reboot it or get the SD card out and slot it in again and then it launches correctly. Is there some brand of SD card model that works just perfect for this issue? is kinda frustrating. Im using a Kingston Canvas Select Plus 64gb (A1). The irony is that with the stock card that the Miyoo came works better the Onion OS frontend XD.

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@skarav interesting! This does sound like an SD card integrity issue. The brands I like to use are sandisk and samsung.

[@hellf.o]

Great video! Just got a Myoo but I can't load roms..I can see them in the folders on the pc but nothing on the hardware.. Some help? Thanks a lot

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@hellf.o you need to refresh your roms list, when in a system I believe it’s select then refresh roms list

[@EbrahiM59K]

Can you make a setup guide onion and this stuff?

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@EbrahiM59K great idea! I may do that😀

[@ncaagaming2473]

Does it play ea titles like ncaa March madness or ncaa football

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@ncaagaming2473 if those games are on ps1, yes most likely

[@ShahedKashem]

Hi mate! I just ordered a miyoo mini plus. Can you give me a run down on how to download onion os on it?

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@ShahedKashem this doc here from the onion wiki is all you need! onionui.github.io/docs/installation/fresh

[@ShahedKashem]

@@HandheldHorizon legend! Thanks man

[@burlz10]

About Pokémon unbound not running with fast forward, what gba core are you using? I use gpsp and I have not experienced any issues

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@burlz10 gpsp yep. MGBA is much worse performance wise. I was only getting about 110fps with music, when I turn off music I can get 200fps-ish

[@robertsonmcnaughton4850]

Is there something like this but with a comfortable size and larger than 3.5 inch screen? Like I'm a grown man even a gbc feels dinky and cramps my hands

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@robertsonmcnaughton4850 try the trim ui smart pro amzn.to/4dp0BnA great device and bigger form factor

[@marcusbottger226]

Have this rtc?

[@donone3239]

nice table

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@donone3239 lol thanks fam

[@tbatrics]

My Miyoo sd card failed almost immediately. Thank goodness for onion and KZbin for saving it. Still it's my least favorite handheld I own. Mushy controls are a turn off for me

[@arey256]

How did you do it? I need to do the same for mine

[@HandheldHorizon]

So funny how we all have different preferences for something as random as buttons on a handheld 😂

[@Yotimetowakeup]

Which one your favorite?

[@HandheldHorizon]

@@Yotimetowakeup Miyoo mini plus and RG35XXSP are very nice👌 But I have also been really liking the RG40XX H as well lately

[@arey256]

I just got mine but when playing Pokémon leaf green it gets stuck on ss Anne and you can’t play it anymore. I bought this only for pk games, Nintendo games and old games. How do I set up a brand name sd card? I would like to play pk again but it doesn’t work. Any help is appreciated

[@HandheldHorizon]

Chances are you have a corrupted SD card or ROM file. Always a good idea to get a name brand SD card like Sandisk or Samsung to prevent corruption. Also always a good idea to rip your own roms so you know you have a good file

[@arey256]

@@HandheldHorizon idk how to do that. 🤦🏽‍♂️ it’s my first of these handhelds and I just got it to play old school games

[@jimshannongames5527]

While I'm a noob to hand held emulators, I need to address 2 elephants in the room regarding the miyoo mini Plus. The sound quality isn't that great. Only goes to 20? Plus here in Canada there are no returns on devices like this.

[@HandheldHorizon]

Not sure what you mean by “it only goes to 20” to be honest I’ve never had any speaker quality issues with the mm+

[@jimshannononsounds]

@@HandheldHorizon Thanks for the reply.

[@forcemarine]

I just got mine today and it won't even find a wi-fi signal while sitting next to my router. It also won't load any games I've saved on the card even after refreshing the roms as directed. Seriously disappointed and will likely return.

[@HandheldHorizon]

Chances are your router only supports 5ghz and the Miyoo is looking for 2.4ghz

[@msmclips_]

Hey dude where can I dm you I need help with the miyoo