Retro Game 300 - Full Review - 60 FPS

Hi everyone and welcome to another Made in China video. Today we are taking a look at the latest in a long line of RS-97 inspired systems, the Retro Game 300. now, we've featured Retro Game products on the show before but this is the best so far.
Currently the below link let's you buy the Retro Game 300 for under 44 US Dollars with free shipping!! That price may change in the future but as of writing this the link and price are correct.
www.tomtop.com...
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[@CayugaKing]

Ty for the review...i ordered mine and it was delivered 2day. Great pickup, Ty RetroCore

[@RetroCore]

You're welcome.

[@willm5032]

I got one of these for christmas, It's actually a bloody good console. It's definitely worth taking the time to flash the firmware SD card and add your own roms after. The firmware that came on my version was garbage- didn't save any games within the emulators or save any states. Luckily flashing with Win32 disk imager is actually a dream.

[@willm5032]

@Rudy The BestYeah it's well worth doing. I also found out mine has an IPS screen even though it wasn't listed as having one! Woo cheap Chinese hardware haha

[@poochicachoochichick1207]

Does it have a search bar to search games on the game console?

[@KISSbestfan]

At this rate of them popping out, we would have a Christmas price cut edition incoming ! Well to be fair this year was really good in terms of the handhelds. Having all those consoles on the go is now the real solution of having some fun somewhere in the woods, when we suddenly dont feel like connecting with the nature no more !

[@maysonnehemiah8397]

i guess I am kind of off topic but does anyone know a good website to watch new movies online ?

[@trentkevin199]

@Mayson Nehemiah flixportal =)

[@maysonnehemiah8397]

@Trent Kevin Thanks, I went there and it seems to work :D I really appreciate it !

[@trentkevin199]

@Mayson Nehemiah no problem :)

[@realmchat6665]

Thanks for the review - these ingenic/dingux retro gaming portables keep improving, and the impending RG 350 looks to be even better.

[@DamnRightDamien]

Except for that horrible left d-pad placement

[@Rave79-egc03]

Rare handheld emulation for Lynx.. I would love to get one as it handles most retro games great.. nice video again! Thanks!

[@RetroCore]

You're welcome.

[@tyso5146]

You’re a very pleasant person, thanks for the vid!

[@Charlie-Cat.]

Nice choice as always Mark. I got this one in the collection myself. 8^) Anthony..

[@thewiirocks]

I can confirm it is actually USB-C. I've used many different cables with it. It's just a connector though. Easier to plug in but not any faster than the Mini or Micro connectors. BTW, try changing the Super Famicom frameskip setting to "Auto". It will smooth out a lot of games. You can also overclock the emulators in the icon settings to make SNES and Playstation run better. This model will typically hold a 700MHz overclock without issue.

[@thewiirocks]

Xeraser Overclocking helps more than you might think. A lot of the games run 10-15% below the threshold needed to be full speed. Well, a 100MHz overclock is another 17%. Enough to put it over the line. It doesn’t magically fix everything, mind you. You’re not suddenly going to be able to run Descent in DOSBox. But it will make a difference for games that are mostly playable.

[@yesticles]

Thanks for the info, I have one arriving Friday and this will help

[@DrSmash-my4pu]

thewiirocks Im thinking about buying one, how does it run Snes Games that dont use the FX Chip? For example how does it run Mega Man X Series on Snes and Playstation? The last question would if you are pleased with the performance of 2d games on the PS? Thank you for your time.

[@thewiirocks]

@@DrSmash-my4pu SuperNES is a bit hit and miss. Mega Man X runs fine, but Tetris Attack can stutter a bit. Thankfully the RG300 is almost always overclockable (just a degree of how much) so you can usually goose a few more MHz out of the SNES emulator to make up for the performance shortfall. (This is easy to change on a per-app basis at the main menu.) If you win the silicon lottery with your unit, you may even get over 700MHz, which makes things just fly. Playstation is much the same way. Simpler games run quite well. Even at 600MHz I can run Croc at around 60FPS. But you're going to need to overclock a bit for games like Spyro or Crash. As with the SuperFX chip, demanding games like Ridge Racer are probably out. Overall, you'll get a LOT of gaming for your buck out of the $50ish you pay for an RG300. Not just Nintendo and SEGA consoles, but also arcade like CPS1 & 2, NeoGeo, Intellivision, Atari, PC Engine (Turbografx), and *so much* more!

[@jello__0113]

After watching maybe close to 20 reviews on this thing from various channels I can tell you that you are the first person to have heard of Omron buttons lol. I really want this device but the main problem for me is the screen being so dark, I’m saving up for a retro stone 2 when they are available after Christmas, it’s a clear winner for me currently out of all the handhelds from RG300 to the GB 1up XL.

[@RetroCore]

Haha, I thought people would know Omron. They're a very big electronics manufacture. Oh well.

[@grumpyoldgeezr]

Thinking of getting one of these, seems amazing value for that price!

[@RetroCore]

I think it is.

[@arognlie]

No MSX2+ support? That would fix the edge masking in Space Manbow. Is there maybe a buried option somewhere?

[@RetroCore]

Space Manbow still does that on an msx2+. This system does suport the + model as well as the turbo.

[@arognlie]

@@RetroCore The MSX2+ was able to mask horizontal scrolling to avoid that problem. My Sony HitBit HB-F1XDJ (MSX2+) plays Space Manbow without the scrolling jumping around like that.

[@mattsephton]

There have been huge strides in PS1 emulator optimisation in RetroArch this month. I'm intrigued if those changes will make it to non-ARM devices like this eventually if ever?

[@RetroCore]

We can only hope.

[@Retro_Royal]

Great Title selection for benchmarking , that is indeed a nice device :)

[@RetroCore]

Thanks.

[@jamesburchill7522]

Good review. Excellent budget device

[@DamnRightDamien]

I ended up buying a Gameboy DMG size Raspberry Pi 3 A+ kit from Renegade Labs, but this was what I was going to get if I hadn't found that first.

[@eldontyrellcorp]

I didn't try arcade games but the vast majority of the other consoles play very well ! Even some ps1 games run quite well. For the price, a very good handheld. My favorite one for the moment. Until the rg350 arrives I guess :)

[@reagandow850]

Oh man Mark. That is an amazing collection of Roms. You and I have the same taste in games. I wish I knew all the amazing shooters that are available out there. Does anyone know of a website where I can go to find lists of that stuff? Thanks in advance.

[@RetroCore]

I made a video once showing ever shooter on the Saturn. So many. Also did a Dreamcast version and am currently working on a SFC shooter video.

[@ExtremeWreck]

@@RetroCore How about a Sega Genesis shooter one, or maybe a ZX Spectrum shooter one?

[@BenSteelIlluminerdi]

Hardcoregaming101 is THE best place to learn about the best classic games of every genre.

[@reagandow850]

Ben Steel - thanks man! I’ll check it out.

[@reagandow850]

Retro Core - you da man Mark. Seriously, thank you for all the hard work you put into your videos. I truly enjoy just about every one of your videos.

[@argedismun2]

msx/msx2 very underrated, the only way to play the original metal gear/metal gear 2 ,when Konami was Konami

[@do0rkn0b]

just getting it as a gameboy mini, wish it didn't have the extra buttons.

[@zenitpro]

Seems like a very capable little system! I wonder if it is easy or not to replace the stock emulators with newer versions, which could improve the gaming experience as a whole... another thing that intrigued me: vertical shooters showed up horizontally on the screen, as if they hadn't been roatated to be properly shown in a horizontally-oriented screen. Is there any way of changing that setting, so you can see the graphics in the appropriate orientation?

[@RetroCore]

It is very easy to add new emulators. This uses stock Dingoo OS so any Dingoo software will run on it. As far as I know, there is no screen orientation option.

[@ced214]

I noticed somtimes while playing Snatcher certain scenes take a bit longer than usual to load up like maybe an extra 6-7 seconds

[@RetroCore]

Maybe slow memory causes that?

[@Bro-cx2jc]

Man, the one thing that really sucks is the video out being on the bottom. Yeah I'm a big fan of that function even if it doesn't look great on HDTVs (I do have at least one CRT at all times lol). I have a slightly older MP5 Player (before Powkiddy took over the MP/X devices, back in the days when the FM radio was built in) and it has the same issue, the two headphone / video out ports are on the bottom. They've both gone bad since I got the device, because the way the cables bend around to go into the TV has pulled at the ports too much and they only work as headphone sockets now...I have no idea how that function still works after the video out function has gone dodo XD Another thing, this unit being a 4:3 means most of my media will be letterboxed which, while I don't mind much on a TV, is just too much for a portable device. Otherwise great though, I'd get it if it weren't for those two flaws (or even if just one of them was fixed that might be enough).

[@Michirin9801]

Well, I'm impressed!

[@crismardeocampo9286]

I'm about to order this, and Im seeing a big possibility that it will contain a lot of non english rom. The thing I want to know, is that can we put some of our own rom in it? I'll mostly use it 32bit down to 8, from gba to famicom because it lacks the analog stick. Thanks and more power.

[@RetroCore]

I don't remember this system well but if it features an SD card, yes you can add your own roms.

[@yesticles]

Can you please do an extra video using the AV output to capture the footage? I'm considering buying this through your link very highly but it's SUPER HARD to judge anything due to the distance of the system to the camera. So yes, good sir, I beg of you to upload an addendum featuring direct feed capture of this handheld! Throw us peasants a bone, would ya?? lol

[@yesticles]

Also, is their an option to turn off the "green filter" on OG gameboy games? I really love that option, but they used waay too dark of a green for it, so I would MUCH rather play in just black + white in this case.

[@yesticles]

If you do end up making this video, could you please use a Sonic or Shinobi game for the Megadrive? I'm very interested in hearing if there are any sound emulation errors, and I am extremely familiar with the way those games should sound.

[@TimelordUK]

The AV out doesn't work. I hope they fix that with future firmware because it's the reason I bought it!!

[@RetroCore]

Yes, the GB emulator has a number of different screen filters. So it is possible to have a black and white image.

[@RetroCore]

I'll do sonic.

[@WatchItGo]

how SNES zelda liink to the past runs on it ?

[@StompySan]

Looks nice. By any chance, did you happen to test 32x performance? I haven't found a device like this yet that can run some of the more demanding 32x games, like Kolibri.

[@boobybird89plays20]

32x is very poor on it, unplayable.

[@RetroCore]

Sadly 32X runs at about 2fps. Its awful.

[@ExtremeWreck]

@@RetroCore Wait, wasn't that my experience when I played them on a Chromebook from 2017-2018? No, seriously, I remember that somehow.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

Love this brilliant.

[@dangerotterisrea]

Looks really good for the price 👌

[@RetroCore]

I think so too. Its not perfect but at under 50 US Dollars it's a great deal.

[@andydavidson1278]

Do all these games come preloaded on the machine? Thanks

[@RetroCore]

This one did, yes. But it always depends on where you buy them from. Buying form somewhere like Amazon, maybe not.

[@facuduba]

What do you think about the screen? It is too dark as they say? I want one of this consoles to play when Im travelling on a train. I would appreciate your advice

[@RetroCore]

I think the screen is a little dark. It really needs to be brighter.

[@facuduba]

@@RetroCore thank you!

[@mancman-bu4kz]

Thinking about getting one these but I do have rg350 is it worth it?

[@RetroCore]

Not really.

[@mancman-bu4kz]

@@RetroCore what about rg351p? That's the other was looking at for around £60..

[@azidahaka2]

Yakumo, is the screen in correct ratio for 4:3 systems? And would yourecooemnd it for NeoGeo games?.karsten.

[@RetroCore]

It sure is. Some systems default to a resolution that plays in a box within the screen to maintain the correct aspect ratio but they can be stretched to fill the 4:3 screen. For example, GBA games are boarded like a movie.

[@azidahaka2]

@@RetroCore sounds like an interesting hardware, if i get a work back i may get one 👍

[@Dan_Canuck]

Neo Geo plays flawlessly but you have to use the correct romset or the emulator will tell you that the roms are too old

[@azidahaka2]

@@Dan_Canuck I presume it uses FBA set?

[@Dan_Canuck]

@@azidahaka2 Not sure. I know that I had to try 4 different romset before I got a working set. I use the GNGEO emulator that is built in. If you make a folder for neo geo games make sure there is no space between the neo and geo or it will not run. If you get an "roms too old" error, download a different romset. Again, neogeo runs PERFECTLY on this handheld but the first thing you should do is get another 16gb sd card and put the new firmware on it . The emulators work way better and it looks better ( check youtube for "rg300 firmware" and watch the video by ETA Prime. The install link is in his description )

[@LivingWithGames]

Very portable and cheap and runs most stuff? Bloody hell, this is almost a steal. Plus, shoulder buttons? Game Boy, eat your heart out.

[@Mightywhiskaz]

Gabriel Souza reading this made me think about the saying “eat your heart out” not a pretty image

[@edwin8808]

Mark hope to see you soon in Japan! ;)

[@RetroCore]

Oh, which area are you heading too?

[@edwin8808]

I will be visiting osaka and tokyo. I am joking of course, as you live far away from these cities.

[@RetroCore]

Yep, very far 😔

[@AlessandroCussino]

Great video and interesting device. One question : The GBA emulatulor can run Game Boy Advance 3D games like Need for Speed Carbon ? "or other complex GBA 3D games ?" Thanks :-)

[@RetroCore]

Nope, as mentioned in the video, complex 3D games don't run well but anything 2D seems to be fine.

[@AlessandroCussino]

@@RetroCore Thank you for the information 😊

[@poochicachoochichick1207]

Will this game last forever or u have to change the battery? And can you still play it while charging the game console?

[@RetroCore]

Nothing lasts forever 😉 You can play while charging.

[@poochicachoochichick1207]

@@RetroCore So i have to buy a new battery chip once the game went dead? My friend say. You cant play while charging the game. I dunno..

[@skins4thewin]

It's a real shame the Sega CD didn't do better. The sprite scaling capabilities of it were quite impressive actually. Could have had some more really awesome looking Sega arcade conversions based on that ability, like a near arcade perfect port of Space Harrier, Afterburner, Outrun, Super Hang-On, Etc! Basically anything that used Sega's super scaler hardware in the Arcade would have been perfect for the Sega CD!

[@RetroCore]

It is a real shame the Mega CD was never used well. It is a pretty impressive system.

[@柯統海]

otg usb gamepad?

[@voteDC]

£36 with free shipping, that's a bargain for what it can play.

[@RWL2012]

yeah, I might actually get one of these!

[@PG-gs5vb]

You have the console's name in the description wrong :)

[@RetroCore]

Oops, Retro Core 300 😂 thanks for pointing that out. I've fixed the mistake now.

[@deterlanglytone]

@@RetroCore Wait, you called it Retro Core 300 accidentally? Now The Retrocore sounds like a neat name for a thing like this. In fact, it's better than its actual name.

[@RetroCore]

LOL, Yeah, I did write that by mistake. It would be a great name for a device though.

[@dominichoc]

Anyone know if this supports MAME games? I’ve had a few similar consoles in the past but they only seemed to support capcom cpc and neogeo arcade titles.

[@RetroCore]

It plays some mame. On the video you can see it running Tatsujin 2. That's not Neo Geo or Capcom CPS.

[@speedoflink]

Is this the best handheld retro console for around that price? I'm wondering what you would recommend for around $50

[@RetroCore]

At this price and at the 50 dollars mark. They all seem to be very similar until you reach the 80 dollars or more area. Then you are looking at a device such as the PowKiddy X18.

[@speedoflink]

I've done some more research and have actually bought the new RG350 for $90

[@jeff97ish]

I was just playing Karnov earlier on my AVS.

[@RetroCore]

Nice timing.

[@Synthematix]

Wonder if theres a Nintendo game 'n' watch emulation, that would be mega cool.

[@RetroCore]

There's one for PC.

[@Synthematix]

@@RetroCore Nice, i bet it would work on the rg300 too

[@amristar736]

Yes, I thought is kind of dark.

[@bonggzilla]

is there a china clone tv console which can play pc engine and mega cd games? not a big fan of tiny screens ^^

[@richconroy5559]

At that point, why don't you just get a retropie and hook it up to the TV?

[@bonggzilla]

@@richconroy5559 are there retropies with games and emulators out there to buy?

[@RetroCore]

There is but they're not very good.

[@richconroy5559]

@@bonggzilla if you just put retropie into your eBay search engine you're going to find tons of them ready to get plugged into the television. Please note, I am not sure how those run exactly but I don't imagine them to be too bad as retropie seems to be the platform of choice for emulation on the TV

[@Rick_Todd]

Is this the new IPS screen version ?

[@RetroCore]

Yep, it has an IPS screen.

[@JoystickVersusMachine]

I think little devices like this are so neat. I'm just not a fan of the original Gameboy form factor. I like the nostalgia of it all. I just can't play them for very long. It's a shame there's not a gba shaped version like with the ldk.

[@RetroCore]

They are making the 350 model now which will be horizontal in design.

[@jim41184]

There is. It's the ldk landscape. I don't have one but I hear it's really good. I have a bittboy pocket-go and it's fine for me, especially for gameboy and gba games.

[@richconroy5559]

Has anyone tried Harvest Moon for a PlayStation on this device? That doesn't strike me as a game that would be super resource-intensive oh, so I was hoping that that would work

[@RetroCore]

I've not tried it but I would expect it to run well.

[@richconroy5559]

@@RetroCore thanks! It didn't seem like it would be too bad being that it's not a 3D shoot them up or anything I'm just planting turnips

[@gottopaintthemall6211]

Dose it come with roms?

[@RetroCore]

Mine did have roms built in but understand that it differs depending on when and where the device is bought from. Consistency isn't something China is know for when it comes to product specs.

[@magicvampirelver1321]

This iz very NiiCE I have the same exact one😉 awesøme

[@sumdood8563]

Is there any reason to buy this over using a psp?

[@RetroCore]

It's cheaper and not used. I guess they are the main points. PSP will play PSP games though.

[@sumdood8563]

Retro Core I already have a PSP. So... yeah.

[@pooooo52]

Downside with psp. Sonic 3 lag, fx chip games lags. Better get rg350. Or. Try homebrew nintendo switch. Run Android with playstore on it.

[@skins4thewin]

I dunno what it is about SNES emulation on the Dingoo platform, but they just can't seem to get it right as of yet. The power of the machine should be MORE than enough to emulate the SNES properly.

[@RetroCore]

I guess because they're using snes9x as the core. I always found Zsnes to be the better of the two on the PC.

[@Mightywhiskaz]

Are these games built in?

[@RetroCore]

No, I mention that on the video.

[@Mightywhiskaz]

Retro Core Thanks! I was watching at work so I was really only getting the visuals.

[@hansturpyn5455]

I wish it came in nintendo white, with the red buttons

[@IgnusFast]

Too bad about SNES. That's the main system I'd want to play...

[@MrNightshade2010]

hey mark you need ot check ut the oldcomputer.com..... they have almost everything you'd want for ROMs and systems

[@RetroCore]

I know that site but you have to pay for the good stuff.

[@SikSlayer]

It probably _IS_ USB Type C. Sadly, the connector doesn't dictate the speed, so it's probably USB 2.0.

[@RetroCore]

Quite likely.

[@RobLIVEukPSN]

Super FX and 32X games don't run very well and 32X is like half a frame per second. There is a very nice firmware update with a load more emulators that all work flawlessly though

[@RetroCore]

32X still won't work even with new firmware from my experience.

[@relaxfoo]

any tmnt games on this thing?

[@jamesburchill7522]

....no hope for you.

[@jamesburchill7522]

It's an emulator man. You download the roms you want ..and he played TMNT on the Gameboy in the vid

[@STR82DVD]

It's still a great product. Still.

[@emma89]

Mine doesn't save :(

[@RetroCore]

Bummer 😕. It's possible you have a different revision. These things from China never follow a standard.

[@Synthematix]

ps1 music2000 is awesome

[@gravious]

you don't seem to like cotton very much

[@afistfulofpimples1745]

It's natural

[@christinan4634]

Tetris game table see our Etsy shop! www.etsy.com/shop/PurpleWiresInterior

[@tomenza]

You must have at least a hundred AV/TV out cables....

[@RetroCore]

You'd think so but I end up selling or giving many of these systems away.

[@weizhang6725]

There is already a retro game 350 with better cpu and much smooth frame rate in SFC/PS1 emulation.

[@RetroCore]

It's not released yet. Only pre orders are being taken.

[@eldontyrellcorp]

Available somewhere between mid and end of October I think. But yes, I'll get it :)

[@adventureFAN]

There is already a new China-Handheld: RG350 with a better CPU. The same in the GCW Zero.

[@yesticles]

I get the feeling he'll be reviewing that sooner than later. Too bad they didn't keep the GB style shell, but I guess it'd be hard to put analog sticks on that design.

[@SeanSigurgeirson]

It's legit.

[@edbeasant9494]

The gba tekken game is tekken advance not tag.

[@RetroCore]

Ah yes, that's right.

[@mspeter97]

SNES games are hit or miss, GBA performance is...well bad but not surprising. PS1 games are out of the question. Apart from that it can handle quite a lot of thing, Megadrive emulation is good (apart from a slight sound problem here and there) as long as you don't try Virtua Racing or the 32x.

[@RetroCore]

Did you watch the video? GBA is fine on mine as long as its not a heavy 3D game and quite a few PlayStation games work great too.

[@adamhenry6793]

LDK is nice!

[@magicvampirelver1321]

Thiz one is nice tho

[@pavy415]

Dam that thing has to much screech crackling sound almost broke my ears

[@RetroCore]

Eh? Only games with poor emulation do that. Same thing would happen on any device including a PC.

[@aryajayasuper]

chinese rom ????

[@RetroCore]

Sometimes these devices have Chinese roms.

[@aryajayasuper]

@@RetroCore yes ..... Need delete it, and download english rom.

[@matiasd.7755]

Why do they insist on making these emulating consoles in the awful shape of a Game Boy? Truth is directional button on one side of the screen and action buttons at the other side (like a psp) is much better design... The take on the screen is not the best. I can't see a thing...

[@RetroCore]

Nostalgia I guess.

[@nattila7713]

I wish they would go the gb advance route...

[@matiasd.7755]

@@nattila7713 Yep, the first gba is a nice and confortable design.

[@NIGonzo]

How does this compare to the LDK?

[@RetroCore]

It's about on par I'd say. This is cheaper mind you.