Why I Take the Retroid Pocket Nova Everywhere...

A month after the review, the Retroid Pocket Nova hasn't left my side. Here's why.

From Review Unit to Permanent Fixture

Ever since I reviewed the Retroid Pocket Nova a month or so ago, it has become a permanent fixture in my gaming setup. I take it pretty much everywhere now, either in my pocket or in a bag. It’s the perfect blend of power and form factor, and it has that magic of actually getting you into your retro games.

It’s one of the only handhelds I’ve bothered to set up a front end exactly to my liking, thinking carefully about which ROMs actually go on it. I’m mainly going for systems that support a native 4:3 aspect ratio, or something very close, so I mostly play GameCube, Dreamcast, PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

Xbox Emulation Arrives

One of the coolest developments over the past few weeks has been Xbox emulation, which now runs superbly on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The Nova feels like a perfect device for it. I’ve had a lot of fun with Project Gotham Racing, which runs flawlessly locked at 30 fps, and I’m excited to explore Morrowind and the Star Wars RPGs next.

Part of the fun of owning a Retroid handheld is watching the emulation platforms evolve over time, downloading drivers and adding little tweaks to mould the system to your liking. But it’s the pick-up-and-play games I’m really drawn to on a system like this. I’m currently 165 hours deep into Fortune’s Weave on the Nintendo Switch 2, so when I pick up a retro handheld I’m looking for 20-minute bursts where I don’t have to think too much, and maybe get a little space to think.

Holding It My Way

I’ve spoken a lot about how the 4:3 display suits these systems, but plenty of the rest of the handheld works for them too. Plenty of people will insist the joystick should be up top for retro systems, but I don’t mind it on the Nova, because I hold it at a bit of a distance. Hold it tight and it’s cramped, with less purchase on the joystick than I’d like, but with a finger’s length of space it’s comfortable and natural.

I’ve been climbing a lot recently, and my fingers swell up after a session on the wall, so it’s more comfortable not to crimp into the device. That’s why I’ve left the bumped back plate on. The flat, pebble-like one looks sleeker, but the bumps suit the way I hold it. The triggers aren’t brilliant for bulkier hands like mine, though, and that’s something I’m still learning.

I also like that the Nova skips the all-glass front. The plastic feels more retro and more like a controller, and it’s better outdoors. When I took it to the launderette last week because the washing machine broke, it made the perfect device for 20-minute wash cycles, and bright lights pounding down on an all-glass front would have been really distracting.

A Handheld for Waiting Rooms and Back Seats

The proportions make it surprisingly child-friendly. I took my four-year-old son, Gabriel, to the pharmacy last week to pick up a prescription, and we ended up waiting around two hours. Luckily the Nova was in my bag, so I let him have a go at Sonic Adventure and play through a bit of Mario Kart. It suits a little kid much better, as long as they don’t keep tapping the screen every five minutes.

The games suit kids that age better than modern ones too. There are no microtransactions or upselling, which gets distracting even in recent Pokémon games, and the inputs are often easier and more forgiving while still offering a challenge if you want one. It’s also great watching your son love the games you played as a child. He loves Spyro the Dragon as much as my brother and I did, and I think he’s worked out that Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is far more fun than Mario Kart World on the Switch 2. That’s all thanks to the Nova.

It’s handy for dead time as well. I drove my wife to Manchester for a meeting recently, about an hour away, and ended up in a McDonald’s and then the car for an hour and a half. I sat in the back, got cosy with my son’s blanket and played the Nova. If you’re a fairly big fella with broad shoulders, as I am, you’ll appreciate a narrower device that lets you squeeze into tighter spaces.

The Case Deserves a Mention

I didn’t say much about the case in my previous video, but I’m becoming a big fan. It feels tough and resistant, I like the branded design, and it takes up very little space in a bag. Another great everyday carry handheld like the AYN Thor gets quite bulky once it’s in its case, whereas the Nova is pocketable for me in some pairs of jogging bottoms.

It even arrived with a little fragrance packet inside, so it doesn’t have that industrial plastic smell some cases have when you open them. Retroid clearly planned ahead. My one criticism is the straps. You’re supposed to place the Nova over one and fasten it with Velcro, but I find it fiddly, and when I’m in a rush it ends up tucked down the side or over the top, which gets in the way when zipping the case back up. That’s nitpicking, though, because it’s a nice case and Retroid has done a good job.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I’m so impressed with the Nova. I can see myself picking it up regularly for the foreseeable future, and it fits a great niche alongside a more serious gaming machine. I’ve been playing a lot of Nintendo Switch 2 recently, but I don’t feel the two compete. The form factor and display aspect ratio lead me into retro titles I’ll play for 20 or 30 minutes at a time, rather than locking in for a couple of hours after everyone’s gone to bed. It sits happily alongside a larger handheld for sessions at home, and it still has enough juice to play PC games.

Sponsor: The Arzopa Z3FC Portable Monitor

To show what that looks like on a bigger screen, today’s video sponsor is Arzopa. The Z3FC is a 16.1-inch portable monitor for gamers, students and anyone who needs a bigger screen on the move. It has a 2.5K QHD display, a 1000:1 contrast ratio and 400 nits of brightness, plus a 180 Hz refresh rate for smooth, responsive gaming.

Setup is plug-and-play over USB-C, and you can power the monitor separately through the second USB-C port for longer sessions. A mini HDMI port means you can connect it to a Nintendo Switch 2 with a dock, and two USB-C cables and a mini HDMI to HDMI cable are included. Android users may want an app like Second Screen to dial in the display’s settings on handhelds locked to a particular resolution, which is how I got DroidDeck running perfectly on this monitor with the Nova.

It’s designed for multi-device gamers but works with laptops, MacBooks, Xbox, PS5 and Steam Deck too, and the built-in kickstand makes it flexible enough for a hotel room, a cafe or the back seat on a long journey. Learn more about the Arzopa Z3FC (sponsored link, leading to Amazon).