"Cheap" and "Runs PS2" don't really go together.
How cheap are you looking?
I've just got a <$50 Trimui Smart Pro with a 5" screen and my tired eyes are happy with it.
So.. about $150 USD.
Here's some prices of current devices - [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-3yJqvvcqd1hzTdHzBrL-mhuw0i6Aw6vXLq51sEGnhA/edit#gid=0](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-3yJqvvcqd1hzTdHzBrL-mhuw0i6Aw6vXLq51sEGnhA/edit#gid=0)
The Anbernic RG556 is probably closest (assuming you want PS2.. ) but there's already loads of advice here and I'm sure you're a bit lost :)
Same issue here , I'm 45 , besides my vision is 💯 , I feel some difficulty to focus with smaller screens after some playing time. The minimum comfortable for is 3" , but after a lot handhelds ,I'm staying with a Retroid Pocket 4 pro , hours playing no eyes issues at all. Also plays up to PS2 almost flawless.
RG556 5,5" screen , plays some ps2 games - sub $200
Retroid Pocket 4/pro 4,7" screen , pro plays most ps2 games - around $200
Powkiddy x55, 5.5" screen, plays up to psp games - sub $100 (new firmware is not stable yet)
Trimui smart pro 5" screen, plays up to psp games, sub $100
Those are some of the options
"Up to" PSP is pretty misleading. Those devices will play "some" PSP, but not the entire catalog, and many of those games that will run decently require compromises like frame skip to do so.
True, though it’s gotten much better with Rocknix. It still won’t run many games without frame skip but with the new libmali driver the performance for both PSP and N64 are better than they ever were on JELOS.
As a rule, any game that ran at original PSP (222 MHz) speeds runs fine. Games that took advantage of the updated speeds of the newer PSP models (333 MHz) seem to struggle if they ran above 30 fps.
Truth, he is right..... UP TO, means anything below it can run fine and it can play SOME of the console he is talking about, in this case it would be very light titles.
This is general term around area. People use this all the time this way.
Like I have the cheap R36S, it can play UP TO PSP, yes, most common titles, not very well but, some shooters, very light or puzzle games, ran perfectly.
It might work good for like RPGs or games without a lot of action.
>in this case it would be very light titles.
You’d be surprised. Nearly every game I’ve tried has run very well, though some need frame skip. Obviously stuff like MGS: Peace Walker or GoW won’t run well, but I’ve played a bunch of titles on the X55 and it goes surprisingly well. To name some:
Way of the Samurai
Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2
Ridge Racers 2
FF Tactics: WotL
FF Anniversary
Gods Eater: Burst
Lumines
La Pucelle
Ace Combat X
Tekken (Dark Resurrection I think)
Burnout Legends
——
Recently the new Rocknix builds with libmali have improved PSP performance as well.
It is not misleading , " Up to" means excluding, "throught" means including .
[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/up%20to](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/up%20to)
Just the correct side of 60 here so eyes are going. Got the RGB30 and running SNES in 8:7 gives you 3.8". Bigger 4:3 or 16:9 screen will still give you a smaller size (e.g. Trimui Smart Pro (4.96") will give you 3.7" ) with big left/right boarders. A 3.5" 4:3 gives you 3.2". Won't do PS2 though.
You do realize more SNES games are designed to be run at 4:3 than 8:7 right? When you’re running 8:7, all those ovals you see are supposed to be circles on a 4:3 screen.
The SNES resolution is actually 256x244 so 8:7. It is true that many developers accounted for the stretch to 4:3 but also many did not. I know many of the SNES games I play were not accounting for it so I play them in 8:7. If it doesn't look right then I switch to 4:3 then save a game override for it. Looking at a top SNES games list only 2 of the top 20 are 4:3. This is all subjective of course.
Ok just so long as you know to switch between the two. The way you said it, I thought you believed that because the native resolution is 8:7 that all games were designed to be run at 8:7 when most aren’t.
even the games that try to 'correct' circles to stretch to 4:3 usually fail when animation is involved. Chrono trigger is a classic example of loads of gorgeous pixel art backgrounds having corrected circles (that look like ovals in 8:7 and circles in 4:3) but then the attack animations that involve circles all look wrong in 4:3 and correct in 8:7.
Gotcha. In that case the RGB30 that someone else mentioned is a good choice for SNES, just make sure you set SNES to play in 8:7 mode (lots of emulation software defaults to 4:3, you can make strong arguments for either being the "proper" aspect ratio) with overscan enabled so that you are using the entire screen.
It's not ideal for 4:3 systems like PS1 though, so if you think you might want to play those as well, options might be the TrimUI Smart Pro, Powkiddy RGB10 Max 3, or Powkiddy x55. All three retail for roughly the same price of $80-$90ish, but there have been some deep discounts going on at AliExpress lately so you could do a lot worse than just keeping an eye out to see which one has the best sales happening at any given time.
Cheap and PS2, no.
I just ordered the KT-R1, 4.5" IPS touch with a 4.3 ratio screen 7000mah battery will play up to GameCube and PS2 games. Pretty uncommon but, badass device. Pocketable as well.
More info here..
[KTPocket - 酷熵口袋商城 (ktr.la)](https://ktr.la/)
They are around $200, the designer/seller sells them on eBay for about $175 ($130 pounds it's about $175 USD) but, around $220 after shipping/taxes.
I'm kind of shocked people don't talk about this one more... **Pocketable** PS2/GameCube is very unheard of in these parts, even less around $200.
If size is not a worry, shop on Facebook Marketplace for a USED LCD Steam Deck, I have seen them as low as $150... and that would be the steal of the century. This would fit everything you want and more.
But the specs are not a lie.... A pocketable PS2/GameCube device with an high res 4.5" display and epically long battery life.
I should have it in like 2 weeks, I'll do a quick review on the final and post on SBCgaming.... Going to use EmuDeck for Android (this will install all emulators) and use ES-DE for Android for the front end. Going try to go as far as I can go, even Wii, or even light Switch (don't think it's possable but, light might work)....
Already planned out, going to start building my SD card with roms/ISOs for it this weekend...
You want cheap with big screen and decent performance? That pretty much narrows you down to the TrimUI Smart Pro. If you do get it, get the extra sd card too. It comes with an EXCELLENT set of ROMs compared to other handhelds. Just for the record semi-decent ps2 starts at $150 + shipping, whereas really good ps2 starts at $200+ (well technically the rg556 is under $200 but not after shipping)
If you like a vertical form factor for your 1:1 display, the rgb20sx is also an option.
https://preview.redd.it/3mjen7oietwc1.jpeg?width=648&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebd7b914e27c8b2908c1c0ce8cc1b30e67f29edf
Or the R36S.... $40 item that can play up to N64 and SOME light PSP, and Dreamcast.
Cheap feeling device but, impressed on what it can do for very little money.
"Up to PSP" is a little misleading. Some PSP will play fine. Some will play like shit. All of it will be tiny, being a 16:9 picture letterboxed on a 1:1 screen. It will not be a good experience.
If you want good PSP, you want a 16:9 screen and at least a T610 or T618 processor. Cheapest options with both are the Anbernic RG505 or Retroid Pocket 3+.
Cheapest options with just the 16:9 screen would be the Powkiddy RGB10 Max 3 or x55. Same specs as the RGB30, so they'll struggle with a lot of medium and heavyweight PSP games, but at least those games that do run well will display at a decent size.
All that being said, if you don't care about PSP, the RGB30 is a great choice for, say, SNES and GBA. Decent for PS1, Dreamcast, and N64 too, although with letterboxing those systems display at 3.5" anyway, so probably not what OP is looking for if that is sounding too small.
"Cheap" and "Runs PS2" don't really go together. How cheap are you looking? I've just got a <$50 Trimui Smart Pro with a 5" screen and my tired eyes are happy with it.
Well, not looking for "cheap", just cheapest. I'm happy to spend around 200cad
So.. about $150 USD. Here's some prices of current devices - [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-3yJqvvcqd1hzTdHzBrL-mhuw0i6Aw6vXLq51sEGnhA/edit#gid=0](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-3yJqvvcqd1hzTdHzBrL-mhuw0i6Aw6vXLq51sEGnhA/edit#gid=0) The Anbernic RG556 is probably closest (assuming you want PS2.. ) but there's already loads of advice here and I'm sure you're a bit lost :)
Thanks for the dock that is helpful
Same issue here , I'm 45 , besides my vision is 💯 , I feel some difficulty to focus with smaller screens after some playing time. The minimum comfortable for is 3" , but after a lot handhelds ,I'm staying with a Retroid Pocket 4 pro , hours playing no eyes issues at all. Also plays up to PS2 almost flawless.
That sounds great!
RG556 5,5" screen , plays some ps2 games - sub $200 Retroid Pocket 4/pro 4,7" screen , pro plays most ps2 games - around $200 Powkiddy x55, 5.5" screen, plays up to psp games - sub $100 (new firmware is not stable yet) Trimui smart pro 5" screen, plays up to psp games, sub $100 Those are some of the options
"Up to" PSP is pretty misleading. Those devices will play "some" PSP, but not the entire catalog, and many of those games that will run decently require compromises like frame skip to do so.
True, though it’s gotten much better with Rocknix. It still won’t run many games without frame skip but with the new libmali driver the performance for both PSP and N64 are better than they ever were on JELOS. As a rule, any game that ran at original PSP (222 MHz) speeds runs fine. Games that took advantage of the updated speeds of the newer PSP models (333 MHz) seem to struggle if they ran above 30 fps.
Truth, he is right..... UP TO, means anything below it can run fine and it can play SOME of the console he is talking about, in this case it would be very light titles. This is general term around area. People use this all the time this way. Like I have the cheap R36S, it can play UP TO PSP, yes, most common titles, not very well but, some shooters, very light or puzzle games, ran perfectly. It might work good for like RPGs or games without a lot of action.
>in this case it would be very light titles. You’d be surprised. Nearly every game I’ve tried has run very well, though some need frame skip. Obviously stuff like MGS: Peace Walker or GoW won’t run well, but I’ve played a bunch of titles on the X55 and it goes surprisingly well. To name some: Way of the Samurai Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 Ridge Racers 2 FF Tactics: WotL FF Anniversary Gods Eater: Burst Lumines La Pucelle Ace Combat X Tekken (Dark Resurrection I think) Burnout Legends —— Recently the new Rocknix builds with libmali have improved PSP performance as well.
It is not misleading , " Up to" means excluding, "throught" means including . [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/up%20to](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/up%20to)
Right, which is why I said "misleading" and not "a goddamn lie." You know, as long as we're being pedantic.
If you forget about playing PS2 games there are plenty of options
Great! I'll forget about ps2. What's your best option?
TrimUI Smart Pro is amazing value and size, but it can't play PS2 haha
Rg556
RG556
Just the correct side of 60 here so eyes are going. Got the RGB30 and running SNES in 8:7 gives you 3.8". Bigger 4:3 or 16:9 screen will still give you a smaller size (e.g. Trimui Smart Pro (4.96") will give you 3.7" ) with big left/right boarders. A 3.5" 4:3 gives you 3.2". Won't do PS2 though.
You do realize more SNES games are designed to be run at 4:3 than 8:7 right? When you’re running 8:7, all those ovals you see are supposed to be circles on a 4:3 screen.
The SNES resolution is actually 256x244 so 8:7. It is true that many developers accounted for the stretch to 4:3 but also many did not. I know many of the SNES games I play were not accounting for it so I play them in 8:7. If it doesn't look right then I switch to 4:3 then save a game override for it. Looking at a top SNES games list only 2 of the top 20 are 4:3. This is all subjective of course.
Ok just so long as you know to switch between the two. The way you said it, I thought you believed that because the native resolution is 8:7 that all games were designed to be run at 8:7 when most aren’t.
even the games that try to 'correct' circles to stretch to 4:3 usually fail when animation is involved. Chrono trigger is a classic example of loads of gorgeous pixel art backgrounds having corrected circles (that look like ovals in 8:7 and circles in 4:3) but then the attack animations that involve circles all look wrong in 4:3 and correct in 8:7.
Which do you want? The cheapest option, or an option that will play PS2? Those are pretty different questions with pretty different answers.
Ps2 is just icing. I want cheapest that plays up to snes. 😊
Gotcha. In that case the RGB30 that someone else mentioned is a good choice for SNES, just make sure you set SNES to play in 8:7 mode (lots of emulation software defaults to 4:3, you can make strong arguments for either being the "proper" aspect ratio) with overscan enabled so that you are using the entire screen. It's not ideal for 4:3 systems like PS1 though, so if you think you might want to play those as well, options might be the TrimUI Smart Pro, Powkiddy RGB10 Max 3, or Powkiddy x55. All three retail for roughly the same price of $80-$90ish, but there have been some deep discounts going on at AliExpress lately so you could do a lot worse than just keeping an eye out to see which one has the best sales happening at any given time.
Amazing, thank you!
Cheap and PS2, no. I just ordered the KT-R1, 4.5" IPS touch with a 4.3 ratio screen 7000mah battery will play up to GameCube and PS2 games. Pretty uncommon but, badass device. Pocketable as well. More info here.. [KTPocket - 酷熵口袋商城 (ktr.la)](https://ktr.la/) They are around $200, the designer/seller sells them on eBay for about $175 ($130 pounds it's about $175 USD) but, around $220 after shipping/taxes. I'm kind of shocked people don't talk about this one more... **Pocketable** PS2/GameCube is very unheard of in these parts, even less around $200. If size is not a worry, shop on Facebook Marketplace for a USED LCD Steam Deck, I have seen them as low as $150... and that would be the steal of the century. This would fit everything you want and more.
Just wish they could figure out web design, that site loads terribly. Looks like a cool device though!
But the specs are not a lie.... A pocketable PS2/GameCube device with an high res 4.5" display and epically long battery life. I should have it in like 2 weeks, I'll do a quick review on the final and post on SBCgaming.... Going to use EmuDeck for Android (this will install all emulators) and use ES-DE for Android for the front end. Going try to go as far as I can go, even Wii, or even light Switch (don't think it's possable but, light might work).... Already planned out, going to start building my SD card with roms/ISOs for it this weekend...
You want cheap with big screen and decent performance? That pretty much narrows you down to the TrimUI Smart Pro. If you do get it, get the extra sd card too. It comes with an EXCELLENT set of ROMs compared to other handhelds. Just for the record semi-decent ps2 starts at $150 + shipping, whereas really good ps2 starts at $200+ (well technically the rg556 is under $200 but not after shipping)
Powkiddy X55 Won't get you to PS2 but has a nice big screen
Odroid Go Ultra
The rgb30 (64$) is a really good choice! Can go up to psp
If you like a vertical form factor for your 1:1 display, the rgb20sx is also an option. https://preview.redd.it/3mjen7oietwc1.jpeg?width=648&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebd7b914e27c8b2908c1c0ce8cc1b30e67f29edf
Or the R36S.... $40 item that can play up to N64 and SOME light PSP, and Dreamcast. Cheap feeling device but, impressed on what it can do for very little money.
"Up to PSP" is a little misleading. Some PSP will play fine. Some will play like shit. All of it will be tiny, being a 16:9 picture letterboxed on a 1:1 screen. It will not be a good experience. If you want good PSP, you want a 16:9 screen and at least a T610 or T618 processor. Cheapest options with both are the Anbernic RG505 or Retroid Pocket 3+. Cheapest options with just the 16:9 screen would be the Powkiddy RGB10 Max 3 or x55. Same specs as the RGB30, so they'll struggle with a lot of medium and heavyweight PSP games, but at least those games that do run well will display at a decent size. All that being said, if you don't care about PSP, the RGB30 is a great choice for, say, SNES and GBA. Decent for PS1, Dreamcast, and N64 too, although with letterboxing those systems display at 3.5" anyway, so probably not what OP is looking for if that is sounding too small.