I've sung the praises of the RG35XXSP over the past year; it's still one of my main go-to clamshell handhelds and one that I send other people to purchase if they're looking for a reliable handheld for those old-school GBA SP vibes.
We gave it 9 out of 10 in our dedicated, in-depth review and branded it as one of the best consoles to play GBA games on, apart from the RG34XX GBA clone, but now Anbernic have brought out a new iteration in the RG34XXSP, just to confuse you even more.
The new RG34XXSP looks exactly like the original RG35XXSP, apart from the addition of two joysticks at the bottom of the console, effectively making it look like the Miyoo Flip. I say effectively, it's pretty much identical.
This is typical ANBERNIC fashion as they have a long history of emulating other consoles that do well, sometimes faster than the original can launch, due to the sheer size of their company. It's classic spray and pray to see what sticks, and we've said before, it's usually 1 in 10 of their products that we love - the rest are very mediocre.
You all know how I feel about adding joysticks onto handhelds like this, especially when they're crammed so close to the bottom of the casing that you have to hold it like an octopus. But if I'm remaining objective, it will make playing PS1 and PSP games much easier without having to head into RetroArch and remapping the D-pad to Joystick controls. It works fine for N64 titles, but for games like God of War and Resident Evil, the gameplay flows much better with joysticks.
I'm getting ahead of myself, let's take a look at some of the stats of the RG34XXSP and compare them to the RG35XXSP.
The RG35XXSP has a 3.5 IPS display with a 640x480 resolution, whereas the RG34XXSP has a 3.4-inch full-fit IPS screen with a resolution of 720x480. ANBERNIC state that it provides a 'perfect 3x pixel-to-pixel experience when playing GBA games', something I can fully get behind. It looks like a GBA SP, after all, so that's the least that you would expect from it.
When it comes to WiFi and Bluetooth, the RG34XXSP boasts a 5G WiFi module and supports WiliWili online playback. It can also enable Moonlight streaming for playing AAA titles on the handheld as well as accessing WiFi multiplayer features.
It's technically an upgrade to the RG35XXSP, but the screen isn't going to be great for playing AAA widescreen titles on it, so it seems like an unnecessary addition, in my opinion. I wouldn't buy this console to play games like Shredder's Revenge even though it boasts that it can play it in the official press release - I'd save that for a horizontal handheld like the RG406H. The RG34XXSP does have the option to HDMI out to a TV and hook up Bluetooth controllers, but still, I wouldn't really think about using this for anything more than PS1 gameplay, so I still don't think I would use that function that often when I have other handhelds that can also do the same thing.
I don't have any information on the CPU, GPU, or RAM in the RG34XXSP yet, but I'm hoping that information will be heading over soon. One thing I can get excited about, however, is the new colours. That purple with the SNES coloured buttons is very slick, and I'm a big fan of the Volt yellow colourway too.
But are they enough for me to want to part with my cash when I already own the RG35XXSP, though? This handheld will have to seriously blow me away with its performance in order to change my mind, and I'm already coming into it with a hatred of those joysticks. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates right here as and when I get more information!
