There are a ton of ways to spend our time these days, and they’re all competing for attention. Gaming has been a huge draw for a long time, but as great as the latest games are, I’ve found that you don’t need to build a gaming PC and the latest blockbuster title to have some fun. Sometimes all you have to do is look back.
Even at the age of 40-something-too-close-to-50, I’m a gamer. I’ve always been a gamer, going way back to the Atari 2600 my parents gave me in the 1980s. Gaming has come a long way since then, and I’ve been there every step of the way. From the Atari to the Sega Game Gear, to the Sega CD, to the Nintendo DS, all the way to the game-changing Steam Deck, I’ve played them all. And I’m a big fan of how the Steam Deck makes PC gaming approachable.
But it’s currently gathering dust on a shelf. And it’s all thanks to a $50 Game Boy wannabe.
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My portal to a retro renaissance
Enter the Retro Console R36S
Retro gaming is having something of a resurgence right now. It helps that there are decades’ worth of great games that many people haven’t experienced. But it’s also made possible by some relatively inexpensive devices that can emulate some of history’s best consoles. I picked up one such device a few weeks ago. It’s purple and looks like an original Game Boy at first glance. But while it can play Game Boy games, that’s just the beginning. And I can’t get enough of it.
The device that I chose to dip my toe into the world of retro gaming with was the unimaginatively named Retro Console R36S. It’s powered by an operating system called arkOS with Emulation Station acting as a window into my library of games. You choose a game, and Emulation Station hands it off to one of the installed emulators, and a blink or two later, you’re gaming.
The R36S isn’t the most powerful handheld retro console on the market, but it’s no slouch. It can emulate anything you can think of, up to and including the Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation, though performance varies by game and sometimes requires tweaks. Sega fans will be pleased to learn that even Saturn games aren’t beyond this thing. Want to relive the days Bug! and Bug Too! as an adult? No, probably not. But you could if you wanted to.
The device itself comes with a 3.5-inch IPS display with a suitably retro 640 x 480 resolution. It has a rechargeable battery that runs for around six hours between charges, and you can choose from a handful of colors as well.
Each R36S comes with a microSD card filled with games spanning every console you can imagine. But there’s space for you to buy another microSD card, so you can have arkOS on one and your games on another. That approach can be a real lifesaver if, like me, you can’t help yourself and wind up trying different versions of arkOS to see which is best. With all of your games safe and sound, all you need to do is flash the operating system’s microSD card, and you’re up and running.
I’ve spent almost as much time tinkering with arkOS, changing themes, and updating the system as I have actually playing games. But when it does come time to play, it’s a real treat.
Screen
3.5-inch IPS
Game support
Over 20 emulators
Storage
64GB standard
CPU
Rockchip RK3326
The R36S is a budget retro handheld console designed for emulating classic systems, featuring a 3.5-inch IPS display and Linux-based software. Powered by a quad-core RK3326 processor, it supports multiple emulators and comes preloaded with thousands of games, offering portable, plug-and-play nostalgia gaming with solid battery life.
The games I loved, and those I missed
A second chance to experience gems of decades passed
As with most retro consoles, the R36S needs game ROMs to function. It comes with tons of preinstalled apps, but you really should only use the ROMs for the games you own. Thankfully, my wife and I have been playing and collecting games for a very long time, so I already have ROMs for those ready to go. I found that actually setting up the consoles to play the originals was just enough of a hindrance that it rarely happened.
None of that is a problem with the R36S. All of our games are just a button press away, and I’ve been taking advantage of that fact. I’ve played games that I love from my youth, and some that I never got around to playing the first time around.
One example: Pokémon. My wife has always been a fan of the games, but I never really understood the appeal. With the R36S full of the games she’d spent the last 30 years playing, it was time to see what all the fuss was about. It turns out Pokémon games are pretty good. Who knew? I’m currently many hours into the Game Boy Advance version of Pokémon FireRed.
When I’m tired of trying to catch ’em all, I switch over to another game that I’ve long been told I missed out on: the Game Boy Advance’s Metroid Fusion. I can’t believe this has been sitting on a shelf all this time, and I never played it. And the best part? Gaming history has much more bounty to share. I’m only just scratching the surface.
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It’s a long way back for the Steam Deck
Right now, I’d say my gaming time is split between the retro games on my R36S and my Xbox, but only because Marathon won’t let me go. Once it does, I’ll be free to dive into another beloved franchise that I’ve ignored for far too long. I hear those Zelda games are pretty great, after all.
Where all this leaves the Steam Deck is an uncomfortable question I’ve yet to fathom the answer to. It has been home to some of my favorite games of the last few years, and it’s still going. And yes, you can play emulated games on a Steam Deck as well.
But there’s something about playing retro games on a device that feels retro. The Steam Deck can’t offer me that. What I do know is that I won’t be going back to the Steam Deck and its growing library of PC games any time soon. I’m in a retro world of wonder, and I’m in no rush to leave.
