Anbernic finally delivers the Game Boy Advance SP that nostalgia always imagined.

After spending time with Anbernic’s new retro handheld, their RGSP, my hands-on review is now posted. Mine got super delayed because I have a ton of other things I’ve been working on, so I’m sure not much in here will be a surprise to anyone. But if you’re a fan of written articles, then this might (at least) tick that nostalgia box for you.

Alongside the usual and typical review content in here (controls, ergonomics, stock OS, games) I spoke with Frysee, the lead developer of NextUI, and pvaibhav, who has been leading much of the H700/RG SP implementation, about what it takes to bring NextUI’s firmware experience to Anbernic’s latest clamshell effort. Frysee’s dev unit arrived a good few days ago, so by the time you all have these in your hands, whatever tiny quirks will have been well ironed out.

Their takes on topics like boot times, display calibration, lid detection, feature parity with stock firmware, and the philosophy behind creating a true “pick up and play” experience was nice, and add a perspective.

I hope at least some of you here enjoy it :)

  • PerfectDarkOPMEnglish
    4·
    1 day ago

    I’ve had so many SP’s, but I think while I adore the form factor so much, the modern conveniences of things like save states, fast-forwarding, the display and all the other bits make this the logical choice…for me.

    Physical it feels exactly the same in my hands, a perfect little boxy box :)

    But seems like the tape mod is supposed to work pretty well?

    I wouldn’t even call these the most clicky-clicky. They are a bit, but they’re really fine. Two layers will dampen that totally though, and you’ll have zero issues at all. I really can’t recommend this one enough, if you’re after GBA games as good as they can be!