This $16 AliExpress Retro Handheld Is Actually GREAT | DataFrog SF2000 Review

OKAY FINE I'll review the DataFrog SF2000... and it's actually a pretty great little handheld for the price! I can't believe the value here for NES, Game Boy, MegaDrive and Arcade gaming, especially given the inclusion of two wireless controllers and video output!
Here's the listing where I bought mine (May not work outside of UK or EU): s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DnF...
Alternative listing (package contents may differ) s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DDx...
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#Datafrog #sf2000 #datafrogsf2000 #retrogaming #retrogames #retrohandhelds #emulators #emulation

[@outsideinside9990]

I recommend replacing the included battery sooner rather than later, the included one has no built in control chip (which the control chip stops it from over charging or over discharging) leaving it charging overnight could potentially cause a fire.

[@RetroBreezeYT]

Yikes! Thanks for the tip!

[@Shmurda_Inc_YT]

Yeah any Samsung, MXJO, or Purple Efests would be better for the handheld.

[@Whfox]

The console has overcharging protection built in, but not for over discharge. That's why the charging led remains on even when full. Also don't use a fast charger if the console is on, it may send wrong data through the usb port and confuse the charger into delivering an over voltage. If you want to play while charging, use an old 5V 1A or 2A charger.

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

Better to buy separated external charger for 18650 battery.

[@dadou193]

how much would it cost to replace/buy a new battery? is it easy to find? thanks

[@New-Drone]

Great review! Thank you for showing the TV out feature!

[@kerblam]

didn't know the black version existed and it looks sooo slick with the italicized button labels. that design that sold me over! now... i just wish this actually didn't have a hard time running snes games. thanks for the review!

[@ertuncdelikaya8237]

The Sega MD/Genesis emulator on this can also run Master System roms if you change the roms' file extentions from .sms to .md or .gen for the emulator to recognise them.

[@Bendilin]

I own the lime green and blue turquoise models, and love them so much. I usually prefer vertical handhelds like the RG35XX and R36S, but the SF-2000 just feels so comfortable in the hands and does everything right; A power switch, not a power button. A volume wheel, not volume buttons. Its only flaws are the L/R buttons a bit stiff and its GBA/SNES performance isn't perfect, but for under $20, it's f***ing amazing.

[@NotJoeFriend]

This is an amazing review, really surprised with the sub count. Just sub myself, and interested in videos in the future. Keep it up!

[@RetroBreezeYT]

Wow, thank you so much! I appreciate it!

[@wizzyoflegend2947]

one thing that a lot of the reviewers dont know about this handheld is this. sometimes a game can run super slow, and if you use select+start to close out of the game, then re-open it. for some reason the game runs A LOT better. this has allowed me to play countless games I would have otherwised written off as cant be played on the device. aerofighters is one of my favorite games to play on this device

[@RetroBreezeYT]

I've used this trick too, all the Kirby gameplay used it. It definitely helps!

[@ajpenninga]

This has mostly been fixed in the latest firmware versions.

[@Bizzare77777]

Do the mario kart and yoshi games run well when using that fix??

[@RetroBreezeYT]

@@Bizzare77777 ABSOLUTELY not.

[@michaelperry9261]

@@Bizzare77777 Mario Kart yes, Yoshi games still a bit slow.

[@OGTechNick]

Great video. Definitely much better packaging than early wave of orders. Long live the frog! 🐸

[@RetroBreezeYT]

Cheers! Yeah I've seen some crazy boxes for this one!

[@StubbsStuff]

Best sf2000 video!

[@tcdahn7]

Im in love with this device. It's my new Bob.

[@kennethd4958]

I got mine for about $12 and for that price it’s pretty nice. I keep mine on my coffee table just for people to pick up and play a few games. I use my Odin Lite way more (obviously) but I find myself grabbing for the DataFrog more then I would have thought for a quick game here and there.

[@kennethd4958]

Also it does look pretty decent on a CRT I was surprised.

[@RetroBreezeYT]

I love that type of handheld- the one you just have laying about to pick up and play now and again!

[@RyeRyetheFoodGuy]

I personally love this console. I love it so much I bought 2 of them, the turquoise and grey one. With the exception of a few games. I think it’s a pretty okay system.

[@heaven_10.9]

Nice! Thank you! I bought 1 for £13.58

[@bn40400]

I have one, and I installed the Purple Neo CFW. The device runs amazingly well with the multicore - way better than the stock system. More systems are emulated, SNES and other systems now run at at better frame rates than stock. Overall, I love my "Froggy".

[@budgetking2591]

yeah with purple neo cfw installed its great

[@Agumon5]

The fact you can pick this up for the price of breakfast at your local donut shop is amazing. Goes to show you just how jacked up inflation has gotten, and what an amazing deal can be had for gaming if one looks around. Having something like this just 15 years ago would have been incredible for anything less than $100.

[@danhle1032]

And 100$ 15 yrs ago is like 160 to 200 now

[@steve501]

I just ordered 2 of these on Ali. $50 (CAD) for 2 consoles and 2 controllers. From the sounds of it with a bit of effort to update, tweak settings, and curate the game list you have got quite an impressive budget handheld. My theory is that this is all 1 time effort, and the second device should be a breeze. We will see.

[@dimebag505]

I managed to get one for £12 with tax and postage, but didn't get the controllers (got the grey one) find it really good and getting a couple more for Christmas presents. I found if you run a snes game close it and run it again it works better

[@josevalero3543]

Got the black one for my little kid for 11 bucks! Still on its way

[@RetroBreezeYT]

Nice, but be sure to replace the battery with one that has circuit protection!

[@josevalero3543]

Which one you recommend?

[@stevecowboy4159]

Thanks for the review! Considering getting one. Does the AV jack work as a headphone jack also?

[@Shmurda_Inc_YT]

I have Data Frogs SNES Controllers The Kirby, DK, Mario, and Luigi and I love them.

[@RetroBreezeYT]

I gotta check them out!

[@kattz753]

There's a trick to get the Super NES working. Start the game, go back out and start it again. It works most of the time. I have an old LCD TV (10+ yrs). It has RCA jacks. It isn't bad playing on that. I bought a white one when they first came out and picked up the same black package that you have a few months ago. I like them. I'm going to try the experimental firmware on one of them.

[@jobearesto9746]

Thanks for the video. If you start SFC/SNES game then come out of it then go back in it works better on the new firmware. Also GBA Pokémon games are great on it. Playing through emerald though it now.

[@RetroBreezeYT]

Absolutely, the Kirby gameplay here was after that trick!

[@InfernoLmaoo]

I'm actually thinking about buying the SF2000 but I just gotta ask a few questions 1. I've seen some people say that the battery for it should be replaced cuz it's dangerous or something like that, so what kind of battery should I use as a replacement? Should I look for a certain brand? Should I even worry about the battery that comes with the handheld? 2. I've also seen people say that you should replace the sd card since it'll soon be corrupt and die out, but then I also found out that the handheld is quite picky with it's sd cards, so what sd card should I look for? 3. Where do I even find the official site for the SF2000? Y'know, for the firmware updates and stuff. I already tried searching it up but I just can't seem to find it. 4. I also found out that there's community updates for this, but which one is better? The community updates or the official ones? Sorry if these questions seem stupid, I'm kinda new with these handheld game console things and the technical stuff for it, and I've only taken an interest on retro gaming just now, so I'm quite uninformed

[@Pridetoons]

Right now you can get a Magic X XU10 for $50 during the 11.11 event.😁

[@RetroBreezeYT]

I had to choose between this and the mysterious E6, so I went with that!

[@Pridetoons]

@@RetroBreezeYT I'm waiting for the E6 Plus. 😁

[@9unslin9er]

This is the layout I wish the new Anbernic ARC-D was in (with 6 buttons and no L2/R2). Perfect Saturn/N64/Dreamast/PSP controls.

[@PloopChute]

The new ARC would be perfect if they just added even a single joystick. I like the 6 button layout, the four outermost function great as c-buttons with A&X working as A&B. It's SOOO close to being perfectly suited to everything its capable of running.

[@PloopChute]

@Captain_Dunsel Yeah, it's not perfect compatability, and especially with Saturn. But I have no idea where you're getting the idea that either PSP or Dreamcast are so bad that it's pointless. There are a TON of both DC and PSP games that will run great on the rk3566. Absolutely enough to justify analog sticks. Some may require some tinkering, and many don't. Plus, there the vast majority of the n64 library will run great, and PS1 will have no issue running everything flawlessly. While PS1 doesn't NEED joysticks, having them is a vastly better experience for most games. I'm not sure what you would consider "poor" but the vast majority of people are happy so long as the game runs at a steady framerate (even if some frame skips are required here and there) and visual glitches are either unobtrusive, rare, or nonexistent. It's also wild that anybody would expect a T618 in a $90 handheld right now. Throwing that 618 in this while also adding analog sticks would have had this thing approaching the $150 price point. Then they'd just be competing with themselves and their 405V & 505M. It would make absolutely no sense. They may as well just release the 505P at that point and save the cost and time of designing an entirely new form factor. It'd be ridiculous to get in their own way with an unnecessarily convoluted lineup. Also, how do you figure this thing is anywhere near "almost as mucj as the pocket air"? The base model ARC is $70, and the Dual OS is only $90. The base model Pocket Air is $320, and it tops out at what, like $500? Sure, with early bird pricing, it's $300. That's still over 4 times as much. You're talking as if you've already got one, and they've so far only started shipping to backers at the biggining of the month. And only the 12/512 models have gone out, that's nearly $500. Your math isn't mathing and your performance claims are either dead wrong, or you're incorrectly assuming that everybody wants original hardware level perfect emulation or nothing.

[@9unslin9er]

@@Captain_Dunsel If they were going your route. They should have just kept it to 2 themes: Grey/Blue/Megadrive (RK3566 with no thumbstick) for 2D. White/Skittles/Saturn (T618 with 1 thumbstick) for 3D. Neither one should have L2 or R2, because none of the vintage consoles had those buttons, except for PS1. Which isn't what these are targeted at. The Transparent shell models just aren't going to sell, because there's no nostalgia involved. No SEGA consoles (except for Japanese limited variants) came in those colors. Nostalgia is huge. If aesthetics didn't matter, People would just be buy a Retroid, or my personal favorite: Samsung Tab A8 with an Xbox controller.

[@9unslin9er]

@@PloopChute Adding a single thumbstick basically gets you N64. Without it, nope.

[@PloopChute]

@Captain_Dunsel Most people are totally fine using frame skip to get that little bit of extra performance they need. Again, you're assuming that most people won't settle for anything less than perfect emulation, and that just isn't the case. There are plenty of devices with this exact chip being used for n64, Dreamcast, and PSP emulation. And while I do agree that playing PSP with this aspect ratio would suck, people will still do it. Not to mention it can output video anyway. The average person isnt obssessing over perfect emulation or buying multiple devices. They are looking for something that is cheap and good enough to scratch their nostalgialc itch. The list of games from PSP, DC, and N64 games that would be unplayable on this chip is pretty small. Maybe the upper 10% of games would be out of reach on the RK3566. Unless you're shooting for PS2 and GC emukation, or you won't settle for anything less than perfect, no compromise emulation of 100% of the psp,gc and n64 library a T618 would be a waste. Yes, the rg353p(s) will do most of the n64, dreamcast, and psp libraries just fine. Tons of people are buying the X55 from powkiddy specifically for those consoles, and it's got the exact same chipset as well. Sure, a handheld with this same form factor, a T618, and dual sticks would be awesome, but like you said, it gets out of "impulse buy" territory. With such a radical design, I don't think that would help this at all. If this thing was competing with the 405M or RP3+, most people would gravitate towards those just based on their form factor alone. This is a cheap device with decent performance meant to capitalize on Genesis and Saturn nostalgia. It still very much has a "toy" appearance, something people don't want in a device they're spending a (relatively) large chunk of cash on.

[@handheldgaming4life]

Oh no! Another video recommending this device based on price. I do however appreciate you never once said "runs at full speed". Too many folk selling this as a full speed device. Checking with the creators of the custom firmware it seems this device is forever limited to 47-48hz maximum so no games will run full speed. I also heard the analog stick works as a digital d-pad not analog. 🤷‍♂ My biggest worry is people are suggesting this as great for kids/grandkids when its fitted with an unprotected 18650 cell and the SF2000 doesn't have the circuitry to monitor charging. Brings back memories of all the horror hoverboard fires a few years ago. If anyone buys the SF200 factor in another £20 for a protected cell or a charger that can charge the unprotected cell safely.

[@Whfox]

The console has overcharging protection (not over discharge though) the charging led will remain on but it cuts when full. They are working on a tearing reducing patch, last one seems to work at 57,86hz

[@handheldgaming4life]

@@Whfox well that's a small mercy if the overcharging circuit works. Over discharge you get no warning other than the device starts working a bit "funny". I hadn't noticed any updates on tearing fix other than the one that came with multicore Alfa 0.06 firmware.

[@Whfox]

@@handheldgaming4life If you have a bigger capacity battery it will display a low battery warning, and for the stock one there is a patch so the console can show the remaining battery more accurately. The tearing fix I've mentioned isn't released yet, but there is a video in the dev channel by Osaka.

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

@@handheldgaming4life So, it's better to buy eternal charger for 18650 battery

[@nanpanman1]

I have a 4:3 CRT and the video output is widescreen resulting in a cropped image. I wish there was some way to toggle to 4:3 output in the firmware.

[@RetroBreezeYT]

Oh wow, I assumed it was my monitor or converter turning into a 16:9 picture. What a shame!

[@budgetking2591]

damn and i just bought an old crt tv because i thought it would be great to use with the sf2000

[@Bendilin]

The black model isn't elusive or rare at all, it's the second most common variant after the North American SNES grey and purple model. The most elusive model is the red Mario SF-2000 that comes with the wireless controllers, as the red model's wireless controllers use analog sticks instead of d-pads.

[@budgetking2591]

the light blue and yellow also come with the wireless controllers that have the analog sticks.

[@TicoSun]

Will the speed slow down during a game on this black one?

[@WhiteBoyGamer]

value is crazy. great gift for children

[@RetroBreezeYT]

100% agree!

[@budgetking2591]

and for adults xD

[@WhiteBoyGamer]

@@budgetking2591 its a great gift for children because they dont take care of things. they deal with less quality and they break stuff. its fine breaking 16 bucks. for adults something a bit higher quality is better imho, like the miyoo mini plus as an example

[@susanna8612]

Can u use the actual handheld as a controller if u play with tv? For multiplayer is only 1 extra controller enough? They sell different kind packadges

[@RetroBreezeYT]

Yep, I do this in the video!

[@MrKeys57]

Does Doom run ok on it?

[@top5marw806]

how is the screen responsive with the buttons is there any delay ? what about the screen tearing issue is it already fixed with latest update ? and battery life, charging time ? because im thinking about buy this console

[@RetroBreezeYT]

No delay that I can notice at least. I explained both buttons and tearing in this video. Battery life is good enough for a few hours of gameplay, but charging is really, really slow. You could charge the 18650 battery with a dedicated charger for better results though.

[@RicardoAlonso77]

​@@RetroBreezeYThow much time takes to charge the battery at full?

[@RetroBreezeYT]

@@RicardoAlonso77 around 3.5 hours with the stock battery. Highly recommend a dedicated 18650 charger instead of charging in the device

[@jhunmanlapat4679]

how long to charge this device?

[@bigemugamer]

WOW! Amaz-ballz for that price considering what it does and it's included SD card slot. < $22CAD for the console!! < $30CAD with 2 additional controllers!!! If only it did SNES and GBA I'd be SO sold! SOOO tempting cause I love these super frugal handhelds but... I'll never really use it. =P Was looking at getting the FC3000 Ver.2 but it NEVER dropped below $40 As it is I barely use my OG RG350 or the Powkiddy V90 I bought with two $25 gift cards from work from Powkiddy direct for $42and the only time I use my oldest device my Pi3b+ in a NesCase+ is when I destroy... Utterly and mercilessly destroy my wife at Dr. Mario or Tetris. >=D

[@RetroBreezeYT]

I felt bad for Mrs Breeze for the Puyo Puyo segment!

[@nojambs]

Is it possible to configure the display of games on the screen in their real proportions? For example on Gameboy it's almost 1:1.

[@RetroBreezeYT]

I couldn't find a way unfortunately

[@nojambs]

@@RetroBreezeYT ok, even without this, for this price it’s mega cool

[@eheem7806]

Does it have a sd card, maybe if have changing it a original sandisk for gaming will change the gaming experience.

[@RetroBreezeYT]

It doesn't make any noticeable improvement

[@minimoe2807]

Can those controllers work with a PC? As a wireless option?

[@RetroBreezeYT]

I don't think so. They only have an on/off switch that instantly connects to the SF2000.

[@jumbo999614]

What system and the ROM's name you played at 11:27?

[@RetroBreezeYT]

Top Gun on Game Boy!

[@spartaninvirginia]

Wait, do "modern" TVs not have AV in?

[@suhtangwong]

They do

[@Ludanc0]

The link doesn't work 😢

[@RetroBreezeYT]

It may not work outside the UK or EU. I've added an alternative listing that is also a legit seller and good deal.

[@shanelam92]

Do Pokemon games on GBA run well? Thank

[@RetroBreezeYT]

I'd say they are at least playable

[@skyzzowBlowZ_]

Can you fast forward with pokemon games in here? Thanks

[@RetroBreezeYT]

No, they don't even run full speed as it is

[@skyzzowBlowZ_]

@@RetroBreezeYT cause I have a psp, but can't really fast forward gba games that fast.. So I was intrigued about this one, but if can't fast forward.. I'm good. Thanks matd

[@sarthakbhai9412]

Can we play videos in it plz reply....

[@turnbasedtoddy7664]

To me being cheap does not excuse the fact the sound is broken. It would make the device unusable to me. It’s a shame because it could have been something really cool.

[@RetroBreezeYT]

That's definitely fair. I don't need a front facing sound stage but the missing channel is really bad

[@Nobody-Nowhere]

It is something really cool

[@budgetking2591]

the sound is much better with the community os

[@emregur4h]

what is the name of that sonic game lol

[@Pridetoons]

Personally I think both Cool Baby and Data Frog have the potential to join the Handheld scene but unfortunately they're just over glorified dropshippers like Powkiddy once was.

[@RetroBreezeYT]

CoolBaby are never going to make it with that name

[@Pridetoons]

@@RetroBreezeYT Buh But Powkiddy made it! 😂

[@timika9814]

​​@@PridetoonsIf we translate into French (orally): Anbernic --> Anber Fuck 😶

[@CodyLee94]

You have a lisp or is it that your accent

[@HungarianDerrickRose]

I have one - the d-pad is atrocious and ruins the whole experience. How in the hell can you call it great?

[@budgetking2591]

haha u fell for it lol

[@sambagogo777]

Hmm, my comment posted just now got deleted.

[@RetroBreezeYT]

I'm not seeing it in my held comments. Did it contain a link perchance?

[@sambagogo777]

@@RetroBreezeYT Nope. I simply mentioned there being some great deals on two retro handhelds at the same site in question.

[@Pridetoons]

@@sambagogo777 Yeah KZbin is doing that now. They suspended me for an entire day because I recommended Obscure Games on Tech Dweeb. 😐

[@thesidneychan]

​@@sambagogo777judging by your description, I think KZbin auto flagged it as advertising spam based on combination of keywords.

[@sambagogo777]

@@thesidneychan Yep, that seems likely.