The Retroid Pocket 5 is Still a Fantastic Deal…

The newest handheld isn't always the one you need. The Retroid Pocket 5 gives up 120Hz and a little horsepower, and keeps almost everything else that matters.

A Switch Lite in Aquamarine

With so many handhelds arriving all the time, it’s easy to overlook a slightly older model, and the Retroid Pocket 5 is a perfect example of one that can still do the job for less than its newer siblings. At a glance, you could easily mistake it for a Switch Lite, especially in this aquamarine colourway. The glass panel on the front glistens ever so slightly and makes the whole face look wonderfully uniform.

The big difference is the layout, with the D-pad up top and the joystick down at the bottom. On a compact design like this, that placement doesn’t bother me much, because I’m mostly focused on systems like the PSP, where having the D-pad in pole position works a dream. I know some people will want a joystick up top, particularly as the Snapdragon 865 lets this handheld run more modern titles than you might expect. You can get an 8GB version, but mine has 12GB of RAM, and it proved quite capable on some fairly taxing systems.

The other device it will remind you of is the Retroid Pocket 6, which barely evolved the design, and I think that’s a testament to how well it worked in the first place. You do have to go looking for the differences, but they’re there. The buttons are ever so slightly bigger on the Pocket 6, and the whole device is a little larger and quite a lot heavier, which you’ll notice if you pick them up side by side. The Pocket 6 also has a grip around the outer edge of its joysticks, so the Pocket 5’s are slightly less grippy, and its shoulder buttons are a touch longer, although both are equally clicky. As far as I can tell, the D-pads, speaker placement and home, back, start and select buttons are identical.

Flip them over and the rears differ too. My Pocket 6 has a smooth grip, while the Pocket 5 is slightly textured, and the two take different approaches to thermal management. The Pocket 6 also gets back buttons, which you won’t find on the Pocket 5.

Where the Power Gap Shows

The biggest difference between the two is the chip. The Pocket 5 runs the Snapdragon 865, whereas the Pocket 6 has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and that lets it punch up into Switch emulation and even some PC emulation that the Pocket 5 isn’t quite able to manage. If you don’t want to chase those kinds of titles, there’s a saving to be had, and you get a lighter, more pocketable device into the bargain.

The other thing to bear in mind is the refresh rate. The display looks exactly the same as the Pocket 6’s, but it only runs at 60Hz rather than 120Hz. That’s a big deal if you want to get into black frame insertion, or push into games that run at a higher refresh rate. With a performance profile like this, you’re always going to make a few sacrifices. On GameCube, for example, you won’t want to upscale the resolution much, but 1x on this display honestly looks great, and I don’t think I’d notice unless I’d been playing more modern systems recently. In my opinion, you can get carried away with shaders and drivers, and once you’re properly into a game you forget all about them. Sometimes you even forget how to play the game itself.

Skateboarding, PSP and the Sweet Spot

One oddity I ran into on this device involved Beacon launcher. When I tried to add my PS2 emulator, it filled the library with a load of random games I don’t even have the ROMs for. Annoying, but easily forgotten once I was playing.

I’m out of breath in the video because I’d just run downstairs to pick up a parcel, but the Pocket 5 certainly isn’t out of breath playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 on the PS2. This is where the D-pad placement really comes into its own, because I much prefer playing that game on a D-pad, even though it’s on a more modern console. The device may well struggle with some of the higher-end PS2 games, but if you’re like me and mostly play skateboarding games, it’s an absolutely brilliant machine, and the widescreen display gets put to good use.

The real sweet spot, though, is the PSP. I’d say the same about the Pocket 6, but it’s fantastic to see 4x upscaled PSP games filling out this display so seamlessly. If you’re working through that library, I’d absolutely recommend the Pocket 5 as a slightly cheaper option that will be pretty much identical in practice.

A Surprisingly Good Covert Streamer

Something else that might surprise you is how good the Pocket 5 is for streaming. I played my PS5 remotely at 60Hz and, while there were a few stutters, it generally looked beautiful. Astro Bot is such a vibrant game, and it’s the kind of title where an OLED really makes a difference. The panel here may be slightly oversaturated, but I think it looks stunning, and the animation is wonderful even on a screen this small. There’s gyro too, so you can play through the levels exactly as they were intended. If you haven’t got access to the TV, it makes a great little covert streaming option.

I also got pretty decent results using Steam Link to my Steam machine, which is plugged into the Ethernet downstairs. The app warned me that the Pocket 5’s chipset wasn’t optimised for streaming, but performance was stable all the same.

Final Thoughts

The Retroid Pocket 5 is still a really decent pick for anybody who wants to get into pocketable retro handheld gaming. You won’t be able to push into the more experimental world of PC gaming, and you won’t get that 120Hz display. If you don’t care about those two things, you may as well save a bit of money and pick up a Pocket 5 instead of a Pocket 6.

My recommendation: if your focus is PSP, PS2 and everything below, and you can live without 120Hz and Switch-level power, the Retroid Pocket 5 is the smarter buy.

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