Retroid Pocket 6 (8GB) | A Casual Gamer's Review
Your first Android handheld should probably be the Retroid Pocket 6. With a nostalgic but powerful build, you might even be surprised how far beyond that it can take you.
Doing It All Wrong
It’s so easy to get drawn into the hype of more exciting and dynamic handheld designs than the Retroid Pocket 6. But having played it for over a month now, I’ve realised I’ve been doing it all wrong, because this is exactly the kind of form factor I should have begun with.
Let’s be fair to Retroid here, because they did initially give the community a choice between the form factor we see today and one that looked a little more like a PSP. Arguably, the alternative design had a bit more punch to it, but at least Retroid gave us the option of choosing between D-pad up top or joysticks up top. Alongside a choice between 8 GB and 12 GB of RAM, you actually get a decent amount of customisation in terms of how you want your Retroid Pocket to look. In my case, I went with D-pad up top and 8 GB of RAM because I always envisioned this as more of a sidekick to my more powerful PC handhelds.
Right after I finished recording this video, Retroid announced they would have to discontinue the 12 GB version of the RP6 and increase the price of the 8 GB model to $244 before shipping. It’s a pretty bitter pill to swallow, especially because it’s all down to surging RAM prices at the hands of AI companies. This video does focus on the 8 GB version, though, so perhaps it’s even more useful in that context. You’ve still got that Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, which is really compatible across loads of different systems and can even stretch to some Windows emulation. It is a real shame, but all is not lost.
You’re also getting a 5.5-inch AMOLED display that runs all the way up to 120 Hz with a 550-nit max brightness setting. Combine that with a 6,000 mAh battery and Wi-Fi 7, and this is a seriously capable device.
The Perfect Starter Handheld
If you own a previous generation of the Retroid Pocket, you probably won’t be running to pick this up in a hurry. But if this is your first handheld, what you’ll find is something specced out to perfection for beginners. Even the setup and onboarding process is made a lot easier for people new to handheld emulation than some of the other devices I’ve tested recently.
The Retroid Pocket 6 game launcher is something you want to avoid no matter what your experience level, but at least Retroid gives you the option to install some of the common emulators as part of the onboarding flow. You’ll want to check out some of these projects on GitHub or the Android Play Store to grab the most up-to-date versions, but it’s a nice way of walking you into the hobby if you’re completely new. After that, there will be quite a bit of tinkering to get everything set up exactly how you like it, but there are loads of guides online that will help you through it. I wanted to keep this a pretty simple, low-maintenance device, so I’ve personally gone with a front end called Beacons, which is just a really straightforward way of getting into your games.
From GBA to GameCube (and Beyond)
I’ve got an original GBA cartridge of Pokémon Leaf Green. I’ve also just bought Fire Red on the Nintendo Switch 2, but the Retroid Pocket 6 is kind of the perfect form factor for playing through games like this, and no amount of Switch 2 cope is going to convince me otherwise. Sure, you can get a perfect aspect ratio on some other handheld devices, but the OLED display means those black bars aren’t quite as distracting as they would be on an LCD, and this form factor just creates such a cosy experience for GBA games, helped further by having that D-pad up top.
Where this device really feels at home, though, is playing PSP games. It just makes me wonder if that alternative form factor would have been even better in this regard. Either way, it runs through PSP titles without so much as a hiccup, and the form factor feels really native. Even some PlayStation 1 games were quite D-pad-centric at the time, so playing something like SmackDown! 2 with all the movement on the D-pad feels great. I’ve actually found this to be an amazing little device for playing through wrestling games.
GameCube games run really well on the Dolphin emulator, and having access to two back buttons is pretty useful if you need to map the Z button somewhere. The RP6 is also a great device for Dreamcast emulation; you can get your widescreen cheats running and everything performs smoothly.
It is very easy, though, to pick up one of these devices with aspirations of playing through all your old nostalgic classics and then just end up emulating Steam games through Game Hub. This is where the amount of RAM starts to make a difference. Blueprints, for example, is playable but kind of a stuttery mess, not really hitting a consistent frame rate just under 30. I’ve struggled through it at nighttime purely because it’s so convenient on this form factor, but it’s definitely not the best experience. The Steam game that’s actually sucked me in the most on the Retroid Pocket 6 has been Shogun Showdown. It really makes the most of that OLED display, and it’s the perfect bedtime game to just knock out before you fall asleep.
Silver, Nostalgic, and (Mostly) Beautiful
I’ve already covered the aesthetics and general ergonomics of the Retroid Pocket 6 in my first impressions video, but I want to recap on how comfortable and appealing I find it about a month later. I’m approaching my late thirties, and this silver aesthetic really reminds me of being a teenager. It’s got such an amazing nostalgic kick, and I also think it’s beautifully put together. At the same time, I do find myself a little jealous of people who’ve got the purple colourway, because I think that is gorgeous. For me, it really is a toss-up between those two.
To give you an idea of how it looks compared to other devices, it’s a lot glossier than the iPhone Titanium or the Apple Silver line of MacBooks. It’s actually a lot more like the silver section on my Miyoo Mini Plus, which is stainless steel, so the RP6 is a little lighter and a bit more robust than that plastic might suggest. It definitely feels like a glossier, shinier silver than some of the other silver products you’re likely to own.
Upon closer inspection, though, I have started to notice that sheen disappear slightly. It’s not as well put together as some other handhelds I’ve used. If you look really closely, you can see the join lines where the plastic mould has been put together. It’s particularly noticeable on the main mould line that goes all the way around the device, and up by the triggers it can be a little unpolished and distracting. That said, I have not been babying this device. It’s mostly lived on my bedside table, and I haven’t taken much care to keep it in pristine condition. There are no noticeable scratches or rough-and-tumble damage so far, which bodes well for the future. That was my biggest concern when I first saw the painted plastic on the back, but it has held up well.
Controls and Comparisons
I’m still really happy I got the D-pad up top version, because even the Steam games I’ve been playing on this device have been D-pad-focused, and having the base model means it’s not really powerful enough to rival other handhelds for modern titles. In my case, having the D-pad up top actually helps it fulfil a niche that some of my other handhelds don’t really fill.
I feel like I’ve worked the buttons in quite a lot, particularly A and B, and now they are really silent, very responsive, and just overall great quality. I haven’t used the joysticks too much. They do feel like they’re slightly in the way of the face buttons at times, but there’s quite a lot of tension in them, and for this size of handheld, they’re pretty solid.
For a sense of scale, the Retroid Pocket 6 pretty much fits inside the screen of the Nintendo Switch 2, which is kind of cool and shows just how much more portable it is. Compared to the original Nintendo Switch, it’s a little narrower but a little thicker because of those grips on the back. The Steam Deck, of course, is so wide to accommodate those touch pads that there’s really no contest when it comes to throwing one in a bag. And compared to the Legion Go S, it’s almost ridiculous how much smaller the RP6 is.
Final Thoughts
If I didn’t have this channel, I’d probably find it a bit silly to own so many different handhelds. But I definitely think I’d be able to find a place for the Retroid Pocket 6 alongside any of my more serious options. It fulfils a great niche for me: something I can take in my bag or keep on my bedside table and play at nighttime without disturbing anyone.
Many of the RP6’s quirks in design, and even that silver-and-purple aesthetic, make me think Retroid were really hoping the alternative form factor would win. It feels like a lot of the smaller decisions around this handheld were made with that other design in mind. Sure, these Retroid devices are converging into a very similar form factor, but if you’re new to the hobby, that’s actually perfect. For a more casual gamer who’s fresh to the experience and maybe coming from a Nintendo Switch, it’s better to have a design that isn’t as opinionated as something like the AYANEO Pocket DMG or the Ayn Thor. The Retroid Pocket 6 offers a tried-and-true design that’s fairly easy to pick up and start playing.
For that reason, I think most people should probably start here, or pick this up as a companion device to something much bigger like a Legion Go S for when you don’t want to lug a large handheld around.