This guide first went up in January 2025 as our list of the best handheld emulators of 2025. Twenty months later, four of the seven handhelds worth recommending had arrived since it was written, one of the original picks had sold out, and two could only be ordered from a China warehouse. So it has been rebuilt for 2026. The address is the same; the advice is not.
Two things about how it is put together. Pocket Retro Gamer does not have review units, so every hands-on judgement below (how games run, how long the battery lasts, how the controls feel) comes from an outlet that tested the hardware, and each one is linked. Specs and prices come from each store's own product listing, checked on 15 September 2026. Prices move, so treat them as a snapshot rather than a promise.
The short answer
- Best overall: Retroid Pocket 6. PS2 and GameCube above native resolution, on a 120Hz AMOLED.
- Best budget: Miyoo Mini Plus. $69.99, pocketable, and very good up to the PS1.
- Best Linux handheld: TrimUI Brick Pro. A sharp 4:3 screen for GBA, N64 and most Dreamcast games.
- Best for PSP: Anbernic RG VITA Pro. A 1080p widescreen and no fan to hear.
- Best vertical: Anbernic RG406V. PS2 and GameCube in a portrait-style body.
- Best value for GameCube and PS2: Retroid Pocket 5. The older Retroid, $179 from Retroid itself.
- Most powerful: AYN Odin 3. Switch, PS3 and PC games, at a flagship price.
What changed since the 2025 version
- Four of the seven picks are new. The overall, Linux, PSP and most-powerful picks were not in the 2025 version.
- Three 2025 picks are gone, for stock reasons. On 15 September every variant of the Powkiddy RGB30 was listed as unavailable at LitNXT. At Anbernic's own store, the Anbernic RG35XX and Anbernic RG405M could only be ordered from its China warehouse; every US and EU variant of both was unavailable. If your budget is tighter, our guides to the best retro handhelds under $50 and under $100 cover that end of the market in more depth.
- Three errors are corrected. The 2025 version said the RG406V had an OLED screen; the store listing describes a 4-inch IPS panel. It said the Retroid Pocket 5 had an LCD and ran Android 11; Retroid's own listing says AMOLED and Android 13. And it described "extensive testing" that this site never did.
The seven compared
Prices are from each store's listing on 15 September 2026. The first column links to the store we earn a commission from; the last column is the maker's own store, where we checked it.
| Handheld | Best for | Screen | Chip | Price at our link | Maker's own store |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miyoo Mini Plus | Game Boy to PS1 in a pocket | 3.5" IPS, 640×480 | Cortex-A7 | $69.99, console only (LitNXT) | Not checked |
| TrimUI Brick Pro | GBA, N64 and most Dreamcast | 3.95" IPS, 1024×768 | Allwinner A133P | $105.79, pre-sale (LitNXT) | Not checked |
| Anbernic RG VITA Pro | PSP on a large screen | 5.5" IPS touch, 1080p | Rockchip RK3576 | $209.99 (LitNXT) | $139.99 (Anbernic) |
| Anbernic RG406V | PS2 and GameCube, vertical | 4" IPS touch, 960×720 | Unisoc T820 | $239.99 (LitNXT) | $164.99 (Anbernic) |
| Retroid Pocket 5 | GameCube and PS2 for less | 5.5" AMOLED, 1080p | Snapdragon 865 | Amazon, not checked | $179 (Retroid) |
| Retroid Pocket 6 | Best overall | 5.5" AMOLED, 1080p, 120Hz | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | $429.99, 8GB (LitNXT) | $244 8GB, $279 12GB (Retroid) |
| AYN Odin 3 | Switch, PS3 and PC games | 6" OLED, 1080p, 120Hz | Qualcomm Dragonwing Q8 | $659.99 Pro, $759.99 Max (LitNXT) | $469 Pro, $529 Max, pre-order (AYN) |
The price gap between stores is large. On every handheld where we checked both, the maker's own store was cheaper on 15 September, by between $70 and $230.99. We have not compared shipping times, returns, warranty handling or import charges between stores, and AYN's lower prices are for a pre-order batch, so weigh those before deciding.
Best overall: Retroid Pocket 6
Price on 15 September 2026: $429.99 for 8GB/128GB at LitNXT. Retroid's own store lists $244 for 8GB and $279 for 12GB, which Retroid notes is 12GB/128GB rather than 256GB.
Retroid's current slab pairs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Adreno 740 GPU with a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED running at 120Hz. The listings add active cooling, a 6000mAh battery with 27W charging, Wi-Fi 7, 4K DisplayPort output over USB-C and Android 13, in a 400g body.
Brandon Saltalamacchia scored it 8.4 out of 10 in Retro Dodo's review. The review ran PS2 games at 1.5x and 2x native resolution, GameCube at 3x, and Dreamcast, PSP and PS1 at 4x, and could not fault the display. Battery life depended on the load: about four and a half hours in mixed use, six to eight hours at the light end, and two and a half to three when pushed hard. The build complaint is minor: the D-pad has more play in the shell than usual, leaving room for dirt to get in. The verdict is the interesting part. For someone without an Android handheld and a budget around $250, the review calls it the best available; for people who already own one, it says to pass for now, because the market is moving so fast.
Why it is the overall pick: it covers everything most people want to emulate, with room to raise resolutions, and at Retroid's own price it costs roughly half of AYN's Pro model even at AYN's own price. At LitNXT's price the gap to the Odin narrows a lot, so check both stores.
Skip it if: your library is mostly 8-bit and 16-bit games, or you already own a recent flagship Android handheld. Retroid's launch is covered in our news post on the announcement.
Best budget: Miyoo Mini Plus
Price on 23 September 2026: $69.99 console only (up from $65.99 that morning), or $109.99 with a 128GB Surwish Onion OS card, at LitNXT.
LitNXT's listing describes a 3.5-inch 640×480 IPS screen, a 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 processor, Wi-Fi and a real-time clock. It is the smallest and least powerful handheld here, and the only one without an Android or high-end Linux chip.
Adam Conway reviewed it for XDA in March 2024. Game Boy Advance games ran flawlessly, PS1 games were a pleasure to play anywhere, and out of the box it handles basically any system before the Dreamcast. Nintendo DS emulation works, though Pokémon Black 2 pushed it to its limits. The review reports up to six hours of battery life. Its reservations are about the body: the plastic can make it feel cheap, and it is small enough that people with larger hands may struggle over long sessions. Installing OnionOS takes minutes and, in Conway's words, is a complete no-brainer.
Skip it if: you want N64, Dreamcast or PSP. The next pick is the step up. Our Miyoo Mini Plus review goes further into firmware and setup.
Best Linux handheld: TrimUI Brick Pro
Price on 15 September 2026: $105.79 console only, or $135.99 with a 128GB CrossMix OS card, at LitNXT, which lists it as a pre-sale.
The listing describes an Allwinner A133P at 1.8GHz with PowerVR GE8300 graphics, 1GB of RAM, and a 3.95-inch fully laminated 1024×768 IPS panel at 324ppi. That 4:3 shape suits older systems better than a widescreen does. It weighs 159g.
Brandon Saltalamacchia gave it 9.1 out of 10 in Retro Dodo's review. Most N64, Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance games ran without issues and frame-rate drops were uncommon, though demanding Dreamcast games such as Crazy Taxi 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 pushed it to its limits. PSP is the weak spot: the review found emulation quality there not great. The move to a 5000mAh battery puts play time at roughly five to ten hours, depending on the system. The screen is described as stunning in person but sitting slightly off-centre in its bezel, and the speakers as pretty bad at any volume you can actually hear.
Check which model you are buying. The same LitNXT page sells the U Hammer version, a different machine with a Snapdragon G2 Gen 1 and 6GB of RAM, from $293.99. Everything above is about the $105.79 model.
Skip it if: PSP matters to you. Our TrimUI Brick Pro review gathers more outlet testing.
Best for PSP: Anbernic RG VITA Pro
Price on 15 September 2026: $209.99 for 4GB/64GB at LitNXT; $139.99 at Anbernic's own store, where the US-warehouse version was available.
The listing describes a Rockchip RK3576 with Mali-G52 graphics, 4GB of RAM, a 5.5-inch 1080p IPS in-cell touchscreen, a 5000mAh battery, 3D Hall-effect sticks, 1080p DisplayPort output over USB-C, and both Android 14 and Linux. It weighs 278g.
Nick Rowan scored it 7 out of 10 for Time Extension in April 2026, and called it a new favourite way to revisit PSP games: every game tested ran smoothly at 3x upscaling, and many at 4x. The review puts it among devices with stable performance up to the N64 and Dreamcast but imperfect GameCube and PS2 emulation, and for those sixth-generation consoles recommends spending more on something like the Retroid Pocket 5. Despite the name, PS Vita games ran only until they crashed, which the review puts down to the immaturity of the Vita3K emulator. The screen is a little dim, there is no fan to hear, a charge gave roughly five hours of PSP play, and charging from 10% to 90% took about 70 minutes.
Skip it if: you want to play Vita games, or PS2 and GameCube are the main event. Our RG VITA Pro review gathers more outlet testing.
Best vertical: Anbernic RG406V
Price on 15 September 2026: $239.99 for 8GB/128GB at LitNXT; $164.99 at Anbernic's own store, where two of the three US-warehouse colours were available.
The listing describes a Unisoc T820 with Mali-G57 graphics, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage and a 4-inch 960×720 IPS touchscreen. That is a 4:3 panel, and not OLED, as the 2025 version of this page wrongly said. It adds Hall-effect sticks, a six-axis gyroscope, active cooling and a 5500mAh battery, runs Android 13, and weighs 289g.
jalanimal's review for Retro Handhelds, published in September 2024, calls the screen fantastic and possibly the best Anbernic had released, and says GameCube looks great on its 4:3 shape. The GameCube game tested held a consistent 60fps, and a PS2 test also held a consistent 60fps with the CPU set to High. The review's two battery rundowns lasted 12 hours 6 minutes and 8 hours 13 minutes. It describes the handheld as chunky but extremely comfortable, especially for larger hands, though a shooter was not comfortable to play on it, and rates the D-pad the best non-Vita-style D-pad the reviewer had used.
Skip it if: you want a widescreen for PSP or game streaming; the PSP pick above suits that better.
Best value for GameCube and PS2: Retroid Pocket 5
Price on 15 September 2026: $179 at Retroid's own store. Our link goes to Amazon, whose price we did not check.
Retroid's listing describes a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED at 60Hz, an Adreno 650 GPU, 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage, active cooling, a 5000mAh battery, 3D Hall-effect sticks, analog L2 and R2 triggers, Wi-Fi 6 and Android 13. Retro Handhelds identifies the chip as the Snapdragon 865.
Cole Stubblefield's review for Held Games, updated in September 2026, rates it 4.6 out of 5. It calls GameCube excellent through Dolphin, with most of the library at full speed and a handful of demanding titles needing settings tweaks, and PS2 very good, with open-world and late-era games sometimes needing per-game configuration. It does not recommend the handheld for PS3 or Switch. Its battery estimates are roughly four to five hours for PS2 and GameCube and ten to eleven for NES, SNES and GBA, and it names the screen as the device's most compelling feature. Retro Handhelds' review agrees that PS2 is comfortable on it, and warns against expecting a whole Switch library to run.
Why it is here next to the newer Retroid: at Retroid's own prices it costs $65 less than the 8GB flagship, and the Held Games results show it already handles GameCube and PS2 well. The newer model's case rests on extra headroom and a 120Hz panel.
Skip it if: Switch or PS3 is on your list. Our Retroid Pocket 5 review goes deeper.
Most powerful: AYN Odin 3
Price on 15 September 2026: $659.99 for the Pro (12GB/256GB) or $759.99 for the Max (16GB/512GB) at LitNXT. AYN's own store lists its current batch as a pre-order, at $369 for the Base (8GB/128GB), $469 for the Pro and $529 for the Max.
The LitNXT listing describes an eight-core 3nm processor with vapour-chamber cooling rated for 20W of sustained output, a 6-inch 1080p OLED at 120Hz with 650 nits peak brightness, full-size Hall-effect sticks and four Hall-effect triggers, an 8000mAh battery with 60W charging, Wi-Fi 7 and 4K video output over USB-C, at 390g. Retro Handhelds reports that AYN identified the chip as the Qualcomm Dragonwing Q8, after the review first assumed a Snapdragon 8 Elite.
Retro Handhelds' review by Ban, published in January 2026 and updated in April, found most GameCube and PS2 games ran at 1080p, with the occasional problem game fixed by dropping the resolution. The Switch games the reviewer tried mostly worked, with a second emulator as the fallback when one did not. Some PS3 games ran decently, and PC games such as Enter the Gungeon ran after downloading them through GameHub or GameNative. The reservations: compatibility is still in flux on hardware this new, the glass front adds weight, and the fan can start to whine under sustained load. It still ends as the reviewer's go-to handheld for the foreseeable future.
Skip it if: your library stops at PS2 and GameCube; the handhelds above cover that for much less. If PC games are the draw, check compatibility game by game before buying.
Also considered: Anbernic RG557
At $369.99 for 12GB/256GB at LitNXT, Anbernic's 5.48-inch flagship has a strong spec sheet: a Dimensity 8300, a 1080p AMOLED, Android 14 and a 5500mAh battery. Damien McFerran's Time Extension review from June 2025 gave it 6 out of 10. The screen is bright and colourful, but in PS2 testing some games refused to load and others had missing visuals or graphical glitches, and the analogue sticks are very small for a device that size. The review notes a firmware update that claims to fix early reports of throttling. On that record, and with Retroid's own price for its 8GB flagship at $244, it did not make the list.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best handheld emulator in 2026?
For most people, the Retroid Pocket 6. Retro Dodo ran PS2 and GameCube above native resolution on it, and Retroid sells the 8GB model for $244. If your library ends at the PS1, the $69.99 Miyoo Mini Plus is the better buy. If you want Switch, PS3 or PC games, look at the AYN Odin 3.
Is the 2025 list still useful?
Partly. If you came looking for the best handheld emulator of 2025, three of that list's six picks are still here, and the three that left did so because of stock, not because they stopped being capable. The biggest change is at the top end, where the Odin adds Switch, PS3 and PC games to what a handheld can reasonably take on.
Which handheld emulator is best for PS2 and GameCube?
Three picks here have hands-on results for both: Anbernic's vertical pick and both Retroids. Time Extension found PS2 and GameCube imperfect on the PSP pick, so treat that one as a PSP machine first. Our guide to the best handhelds for GameCube emulation covers that system on its own.
Where did the Powkiddy RGB30, Anbernic RG35XX and RG405M go?
Stock. On 15 September 2026 every variant of the first was unavailable at LitNXT, and Anbernic's own store only had the other two in stock at its China warehouse, with every US and EU variant unavailable.
Why is the maker's own store cheaper?
We do not know how each store sets its prices. What we can report is what each listing showed on 15 September 2026, which is in the table above. We have not compared shipping, returns, warranty handling or import charges, and AYN's lower prices are for a pre-order batch.
Did you test these handhelds?
No. Pocket Retro Gamer has no review units. Performance, battery and comfort findings come from the outlets linked in each section; specs and prices come from the store listings.
Sources
Store listings, all checked on 15 September 2026:
- LitNXT's listings for every handheld in the comparison table except the Amazon-linked one, plus the two handhelds discussed but not picked.
- Retroid's own store: Pocket 5 listing and Pocket 6 listing.
- AYN's own store: Odin 3 listing.
- Anbernic's own store (anbernic.com), for the direct prices and warehouse stock quoted above.
Outlet reviews:
- Retro Dodo: Retroid Pocket 6 review, Brandon Saltalamacchia, updated 1 March 2026
- XDA: Miyoo Mini Plus review, Adam Conway, 15 March 2024
- Retro Dodo: TrimUI Brick Pro review, Brandon Saltalamacchia, updated 13 July 2026
- Time Extension: Anbernic RG VITA Pro review, Nick Rowan, 24 April 2026
- Retro Handhelds: Anbernic RG406V review, jalanimal, 23 September 2024
- Held Games: Retroid Pocket 5 review, Cole Stubblefield, updated 7 September 2026
- Retro Handhelds: Retroid Pocket 5 review, andrew, 26 November 2024
- Retro Handhelds: AYN Odin 3 review, Ban, 17 January 2026, updated 4 April 2026
- Time Extension: Anbernic RG557 review, Damien McFerran, 2 June 2025
