Best retro handheld in 2026: which one for which games

For Game Boy through PS1, the Anbernic RG35XXSP and the Retroid Pocket Classic are the small, cheap options, and Retro Dodo reports good results on both for the older systems. For PSP, DS, Dreamcast, GameCube and PS2, reviewers cover the Retroid Pocket 5, Retroid Pocket 6 and AYN Odin 3, with the Classic and the RG35XXSP reaching part of that list. Switch results are mixed.

The table puts each reviewer’s findings by system, and the sections after it give a verdict per era.

How we picked

Picks come from published reviews and the makers’ specs and prices. HandheldQuest does not test devices, so each finding names the outlet that reported it. The five cover three shapes (horizontal Android, vertical Android, clamshell) and five price points. For wider lists see our budget handheld guide and Android handheld guide.

What each handheld runs, by system

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System	Pocket 5	Odin 3	Pocket 6	Classic	RG35XXSP
Game Boy / GBC	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported	Flawless (RD)	GBC barely worked in stock Game Room (RD)
GBA	Not reported	mGBA core black screens until set to Vulkan (Joey’s)	Not reported	Flawless (RD)	A pleasure (RD)
NES / SNES / Mega Drive	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported	Flawless (RD)	Work incredibly well (RD)
PS1	Not reported	Swanstation crashes in OpenGL, loads in Vulkan (Joey’s)	Very well, 4x (RD)	Flawless (RD)	Not reported
N64	Not reported	RetroArch cores black screen; M64Plus FZ works (Joey’s)	Not reported	Not ideal without a stick (AA)	Very well after remapping (RD)
Dreamcast	Looks and feels incredible (Sixth Axis)	Not reported	Very well, 4x (RD)	Great results (AA); uncomfortable (RD)	Very well after remapping (RD)
PSP	Not reported	Runs fine, upscales (Joey’s)	Very well, 4x (RD)	Great results, black bars (AA)	Heavy drops in God of War (RD)
DS / 3DS	Up to 3DS, minus problem games (Joey’s)	Not reported	Not reported	DS: great results (AA)	Not reported
GameCube	Mostly fine, minus problem games (Joey’s)	1080p in most games (RH); all well upscaled (Joey’s)	Very well, 3x (RD)	Many games run (AA); uncomfortable (RD)	Disappoints quickly (RD)
PS2	Comfortable (RH); mostly fine (Joey’s)	Up to 6x in many games (Joey’s)	1.5x to 2x, performance mode (RD)	JRPGs at 60 fps, demanding games slow (AA); uncomfortable (RD)	Not reported
Wii	Not reported	Glitches until Ubershaders or manual texture sampling (Joey’s)	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
Switch	Some games, not a whole library (RH)	Indie games work (RH); a mess at review (Joey’s)	“To a certain extent” (RD)	Not reported	Not reported

RH is Retro Handhelds, RD is Retro Dodo, AA is Android Authority, Joey’s is Joey’s Retro Handhelds. These results come from different reviewers’ tests, with different games, settings and dates, so compare them with care.

Handheld-era Nintendo and 8/16-bit

Verdict: the Classic if you want a vertical Game Boy shape, the RG35XXSP if you want a clamshell or the lowest price.

Retro Dodo calls Game Boy, GBC, GBA, NES, SNES and Mega Drive flawless on the Classic, and says the RG35XXSP’s GBA screen beats its modded GBA SP. The RG35XXSP reviewer found stock Game Room emulation poor and said RetroArch gave very few issues, and that sleep on lid open was inconsistent. The Classic has a 3.92-inch AMOLED screen and no video out. Retro Dodo says its setup installs popular emulators with one press, while Android Authority says you still need to install a frontend such as ES-DE.

On battery, Android Authority measured well over 12 hours on SNES and Game Boy Color on the Classic, Retro Dodo puts the RG35XXSP at up to 7.5 hours on average, and Joey’s recorded 11 hours of GBA on the Pocket 5.

Classic and RG35XXSP spec pages.

PS1, N64 and Dreamcast

Verdict: the Pocket 6 or Pocket 5 for Dreamcast, the RG35XXSP for N64 on a budget, and avoid the Odin 3 for N64 in RetroArch.

PS1 has real reports for the Classic, Pocket 6 and Odin 3 (where Joey’s needed Vulkan for Swanstation). N64 needs a stick for comfort, according to Android Authority on the Classic, and Retro Dodo calls N64 and Dreamcast annoying there. The same reviewer found the RG35XXSP handles both very well once buttons are remapped, despite its small screen. Retro Handhelds advises setting RetroArch to Vulkan for lower-end systems that do not run out of the box, but Joey’s found that Vulkan does not fix the Odin 3’s N64 cores, which load to a black screen. Standalone M64Plus FZ works.

For Dreamcast, Sixth Axis played Sonic Adventure 2, Virtua Tennis and Metropolis Street Racer on the Pocket 5, and Retro Dodo reports Dreamcast at 4x on the Pocket 6.

Pocket 5 and Pocket 6 spec pages.

PSP, DS and 3DS

Verdict: the Pocket 6 for PSP, the Pocket 5 if you want 3DS, the Classic only for DS.

PSP is 16:9, so other shapes lose screen space. Android Authority would not buy the Classic for PSP because of the black bars, and Retro Dodo saw heavy drops in God of War on the RG35XXSP. Retro Dodo ran PSP at 4x on the Pocket 6, filling the screen, and Joey’s found PPSSPP runs just fine on the Odin 3. Only Joey’s reports 3DS, covering the Pocket 5 up to and including 3DS minus problem games, with upscaling. Android Authority had great results with DS on the Classic.

PS2, GameCube and Wii

Verdict: the Odin 3 if you accept the fan noise, the Pocket 5 otherwise.

Joey’s ran many PS2 games at 6x on the Odin 3 with minimal dips and says all GameCube games ran well upscaled, and Retro Handhelds saw most at 1080p. Joey’s also says Wii games glitched until Ubershaders or manual texture sampling was enabled, and that the fan’s high-pitched noise was bad enough to leave it in Quiet mode and accept the heat. Retro Handhelds calls thermals excellent with some whine under long load.

The Pocket 5 is the quieter route. Retro Handhelds says it plays up to PS2 comfortably, and Joey’s reports most GameCube and PS2 games running, minus problem titles, with a worst-case battery of 3 hours 35 minutes in tests that included GameCube and PS2 at 3x. The Pocket 6 ran PS2 at 1.5x and 2x in performance mode with audible fan noise per Retro Dodo, which sees no reason for Pocket 5 owners to upgrade. The Classic ran many PS2 and GameCube games per Android Authority, though Retro Dodo found them uncomfortable.

Pocket 5 review roundup, Odin 3 review roundup and the Pocket 5 vs Odin 3 comparison.

Switch

Verdict: expect tinkering, and treat the Odin 3 as a work in progress for it.

Retro Handhelds says not to expect a whole Switch library on the Pocket 5, though some games run. Its Odin 3 review reports indie games working in Eden or Citron. Joey’s found Switch on the Odin 3 a mess at the time of its review, with graphical glitches in the Pokemon games and Breath of the Wild and several emulator forks needed. Retro Dodo says the Pocket 6 handles Switch to a certain extent but chose not to show it. Reviewers report nothing on Switch for the Classic or RG35XXSP.

Prices

US list prices from our device data. Sale prices are labelled as sales.

Device	List price	Date	Note
Anbernic RG35XXSP	$64.99	2026-10-29	16 GB card included; $54.99 sale when checked on 2026-10-29; Retro Dodo review is from May 2024
Retroid Pocket Classic	$149	2026-10-29	6 GB / 128 GB; about $129 at review time (May 2025) per Android Authority; $99 sale when checked on 2026-10-29
Retroid Pocket 5	$209	2026-10-29	$179 sale when checked on 2026-10-29
Retroid Pocket 6	$244	2026-10-29	8 GB / 128 GB; Retro Dodo noted in March 2026 that the 12 GB model was being discontinued
AYN Odin 3	$369	2026-10-29	8 GB / 128 GB; AYN’s “Batch 8 Pre-order” price, and its stated ship window (August) has passed; Retro Handhelds quoted $329 in a review updated 2026-04-04, reason not given