Ranking The Best Pocket Friendly Handhelds Of 2024 (All Reviewed)

As the years go by, small handhelds are getting jam packed with more power and more capabilities. This year has been the year that has made retro emulation truly portable, bringing Playstation 2 level power to our pockets, but with so much choice and so many companies building them, I’ve decided to showcase my favourites.

I have been reviewing handhelds for over 7 years now, testing hundreds of devices during that time and putting them through vigorous tests to inform Retro Dodo readers which ones are worth you hard earned cash.

The handhelds featured in the list are the best of the best, from $40 miniature devices to $200 behemoths that are built with metal and glass that can emulate everything you chuck at them. So, let’s dive in; feel free to jump deeper into the specific reviews for even more information on each device!

ANBERNIC RG35XXSP

• Release Date: May, 2024
• Pricing: $64.99
• Where To Buy: ANBERNIC.com and Amazon
• Our Review: ANBERNIC RG35XXSP Full Review

The ANBERNIC RG35XXSP is ANBERNIC‘s best handheld of the year; they finally took the courage to listen to their customers and launch a product that they’ve been asking for, for years now. It’s a clamshell device that looks near identical to the Game Boy Advance SP, with some extra thickness because of the large 3300MAH battery.

Internally you will find a H700 CPU with enough power to emulate a wide range of retro games including Playstation 1, Game Boy Advance, PSP, Nintendo 64 and even Dreamcast games. It’s an affordable, power hungry portable games console that just feels right.

All of the buttons and ports are designed to replicate the GBA SP, for example the small shoulder buttons are square-like, the hinge looks exactly the same, the speaker location and even the tiny grips around the screen edges are the same. If you like the GBA SP, you’ll like this.

The display is beautiful too, coming in at 3.5″ with a resolution of 640 x 480, making it the perfect 4:3 ratio for your classic library. It’s incredibly bright too, making it easily visible when you are playing on it outside. The UI is one of its downfalls as ANBERNIC tend not to put much time into it, however it is easy enough to understand for newcomers.

You install your ROM/games files via an SD card and the included RetroArch emulator will organise it for you in alphabetical order, making it easy to find and play the games you want to discover with the press of a button. The menu button can be pressed while playing to change settings, save your game or exit back out into the menu.

It’s an all-round superb, pocket-friendly and affordable device for beginners wanting to discover handheld emulators and the fact that its clamshell with an array of new transparent colours gives it a visually pleasing design that suites any personality.

Game Kiddy Pixel

• Release Date: January, 2024
• Pricing: $77.99
• Where To Buy: KeepRetro.com
• Our Review: Game Kiddy Pixel Full Review

One of my favourite pocket-friendly handhelds of the year is the Game Kiddy Pixel, a device that truly surprised me upon launch as Game Kiddy have been quite hit and miss with their product releases over the year. This one hit different, probably thanks to the fact that it’s made of metal.

It’s truly portable, being able to fit in the palm of your hand, and the metal shell cools your hand nicely while playing and makes it almost indestructible to bumps and scratches through every day use too. The small but darn crispy 2.4″ display nestles into the shell with tiny borders and a cute pixelated logo underneath.

The buttons look large on here, but they’re normal sized I promise. They work well, are reliable and even the shoulder buttons hide within the blocky design, with slight engraving on the back of the shell to add grip, giving it a cosy but mighty feel in your hands when playing games.

Internally, it’s not got a lot of power but can play most of your retro games up to and including Playstation 1, which in all honesty is as far as you want to go because of the small display. The user interface has been designed nicely too, with an array of themes to match the nostalgic aesthetic.

It has okay battery life but due to its size it won’t get you through an entire day, so it’s a device you can take with you on the bus or a train ride, not necessarily a 6 hour plane journey, for example. But that’s why I love it; it’s truly the best pick up and play pocket friendly handheld on the list.

It is quite hard to get hold of and Game Kiddy haven’t made a lot of them, so prices do rise close to $90 for something like this, but i still believe it’s worth it as it’s one of my most used devices of the year.

ANBERNIC RG28XX

• Release Date: April 2024
• Pricing: $39.99
• Where To Buy: ANBERNIC.com and Amazon
• Our Review: ANBERNIC RG28XX Full Review

The ANBERNIC RG28XX is a iddy biddy horizontal Game Boy, pretty much. It’s designed to be a pocket friendly handheld that targets those who like a horizontal form-factor for just $40. It’s hard for any competitor to come close to this because of ANBERNIC’s mass production quantities.

It packs very little power, very little battery life, and a very small screen, yet it does exactly what it is meant to do does it flawlessly, and that’s entertain gamers on the go. It can emulate most of your retro games up to and including Playstation 1 games and it feels like you’re playing on an old school NES controller because of its form factor.

Again, it uses ANBERNIC’s very basic front-end, it’s easy enough to navigate if you are beginner but it won’t be as pleasant as some on this list. The smaller buttons and DPAD is new for ANBERNIC, the same goes for the small choice of shoulder buttons, but they all play their part in making this thing pocket friendly.

It’s one of the best $40 retro handhelds on the market today, and makes a great purchase as a gift or a treat for yourself if you want something portable and Game Boy-like.

Funkey S

• Release Date: March, 2021
• Pricing: $74.99/£54.99
• Where To Buy: Funkey Project
• Our Review: Funkey S Written Review or our Full Video Review

The Funkey S is the smallest Game Boy Advance SP clone you will find, and we say that as a positive. The incredible team behind this handheld is extremely passionate about their product and have put in a lot of time to deliver something that looks, feels and plays great.

The Funkey S features incredible build quality, especially for a tiny handheld, and it’s way more comfortable to play than it looks. With its custom operating system and optimised game play all the way up to Playstation 1 (yes, really!), this thing is a heck of a lot of fun in a small package.

With a price tag of only $70, this is gonna be one that will certainly please those that want something truly tiny. The Funkey Team have also created their own incredibly easy and beautiful user interface known as FunkeyOS that makes it super easy to navigate your library in a minimal way, so much so that ANBERNIC copied their OS for the RG Nano, which is also on this list.

This is a great device by a lovely independent team of tinkerers who I have personally spoken with for years now, and they’d be more than willing to help you with your questions before and after a purchase. You should drop them an email; they are lovely people.

Retroid Pocket Mini

• Release Date: October, 2024
• Pricing: $199
• Where To Buy: GoRetroid.com
• Our Review: Retroid Pocket Mini Full Review

The Retroid Pocket Mini is a serious handheld with a serious price tag. It’s one of the best retro handhelds of the year, and probably the best 4:3 retro handheld ever made. It’s packed with a Snapdragon 865 CPU inside this pocket-friendly design; one might say that’s too much power, but it ables this to emulate Gamecube and most Playstation 2 games.

On a 3.7″ display that can feel quite claustrophobic, but the choice is there should you want to push it to its limits, making it an overwhelmingly popular device that can handle anything you can chuck at it. GoRetroid have crafted this with comfortability at its forefront too, with lovely back ergonomics, zero bezels, analogue triggers, and modern LED hall-joysticks to make it stand out.

Everything about this is designed with perfection and, thanks to the large battery, it can play most of your games all day on a single charge which isn’t possible for most of the devices on this list. I will say though that this is the biggest device on this list; any bigger and I would not deem it pocket-friendly, but it just about fits any normal pocket.

It runs on Android, making it an all-round easy to use gaming device thanks to the custom setup process. The fact that you can download your favourite Android emulators from the PlayStore and the opportunity to stream games from your console or PC should you want to.

It has matched the ease of Android OS with magnificent build quality to create one of the most powerful pocket friendly handhelds on the market, it’s the handheld you buy that makes you not need to buy another one for years.

The only negative I have is that it’s quite expensive coming in at $200, when you could get bigger handhelds with the same power for the same price which features a bigger screen that makes Gamecube and PS2 games look and feel more comfortable.

PlayDate

• Release Date: April 2022
• Pricing: $199
• Where To Buy: Play.Date or eBay
• Our Review: Playdate Full Review

Playdate aims to be a unique retro-style games console that offers a gaming experience unlike any other thanks to its crank and I would say they absolutely hit that mark. It features its own proprietary operating system that has user created gaming experiences too, and you can even create your own. Heck it’s even encouraged!

The monochrome display will remind you of playing an original Game Boy with its sharp pixelated graphics and no backlighting, so make sure you are near a light source or it’s near impossible to see. The Playdate is ultra portable to at around 3×3 inches making it feel like your holding a thick coaster.

This is one of the most premium (aka expensive) consoles on this list, but also one of the most unique. Absolutely aimed at retro enthusiasts who like to collect cool retro style toys and those who enjoy unique game experiences that are not available anywhere else.

If you are a handheld collector or an avid handheld enthusiast, then this is a must grab for your portfolio as it’s unlike anything we’ve played on. It can be played for hours on end too; many will say the monochrome display can be a pain to see (that’s true), but it comes with benefits, the main being that you won’t have to charge this thing for days or even weeks thanks to its low power consumption.

Thumby Color

• Release Date: Late 2024
• Pricing: $49
• Where To Buy: Kickstarter
• Our Review: Early Hands On With The Thumby Color (Pre-production Unit)

Probably the smallest handheld on this list is the Thumby Color, a unique GBA-styled handheld that can fit in your keychain, and even your mouth for that matter (yes I have tested that).

Designed by Tiny Circuits, a well known maker in the “tiny electronics” scene, they have built and successfully crowdfunded a miniature handheld that can play uniquely developed games on a coloured 0.85″ square screen with a resolution of 128 x 128.

It comes pre-loaded with a handful of games, some made incredibly well on such a small device. For example it has the classic connect four installed, but then a pretty advanced monster game that gets you fighting 3 mythical beasts using the included buttons which really impressed me.

It’s a handheld for those that don’t want to carry one; simply put this on your keychain, in your bag (or your armpit) – you won’t notice it because of its size and weight. It’s not one you’ll spend hours on either, but it’s great for losing 10 minutes of time when you’re on break, or bored at work.

AYANEO Pocket Micro

• Release Date: August, 2024
• Pricing: $219 – $249
• Where To Buy: AYANEO
• Our Review: AYANEO Pocket Micro Full Review

The most premium device on this list and probably of the year goes to the AYANEO Pocket Micro, a perfectly crafted luxury device that can fit in your pocket and is the same size as a typical smartphone. AYANEO are renowned for making high-end devices, and this is the first time they’ve explored the sub $250 market, and boy am I glad they did.

The AYANEO Pocket Micro runs on Android but has a AYANEO Space front-end developed by their team, it features a Snapdragon 865 CPU that can emulate Gamecube, some Playstation 2, Nintendo 64 and PSP games very well, alongside the ability to play your Android games and stream from your PC or consoles.

That said, because it’s pocket-friendly it features a small 3.5″ bezel-less display making larger games feel a little cramped, so it’s best to use this for older consoles, with the “biggest” being Dreamcast games, in my personal opinion.

The face is wrapped in a glass panel which is in turn wrapped in a shell of metal which gives it that premium feel. It takes design inspiration from the Game Boy Micro, hence the name. The shoulder buttons are minimal, with a premium finger-print sensor placed between them to give it that modern feel. The buttons are perfectly located and durable, and the speakers are underneath your hands to not be obstructed. The rectangular nature doesn’t make it as ergonomic as some of its competitors, but it makes it look incredibly unique and unlike anything else at this price range.

It’s one of the most powerful pocket-friendly devices out there. If money is no object and you want the “Apple of Retro Handhelds” then this is it, I use mine weekly, it’s truly remarkable. The only downfall is that the AYASPACE OS has some minor bugs and the battery life drains quickly when playing power hungry games.

I love this device, it’s one of my favourites of the year in all categories.

ANBERNIC RG NANO

• Release Date: June, 2023
• Pricing: $59.99
• Where To Buy: ANBERNIC or Amazon
• Our Review: ANBERNIC RG NANO Full Review

The ANBERNIC RG NANO was released in June 2023, and is ANBERNIC’s first shot at competing with the Funkey S. It’s also the first mini retro handheld to feature an all metal shell, something ANBERNIC is well known for.

This RG NANO features a 1.54″ display, 64MB RAM, 1050MAH Battery and adorable little action buttons. But because ANBERNIC are known to put profits before innovation, they have used the FunkeyOS instead of their own, taking work from a small independent manufacturer in Europe. It’s a dog eat dog world within the handheld industry!

But that being said, it’s a superb product with great build quality that will last for years to come, perfectly located shoulder buttons, a stunning screen, and USB-C charging which can ge you 2 -3 hours on a single charge. The OS can be a little bit cumbersome, especially on the small screen, but you can get into games within a couple of clicks.

This is the only area that really needs work, and it’s likely the community will clean up the mess before ANBERNIC does, so keep an eye out for GarlicOS or something similar to drop on here in the coming months. Overall, it has impressed me, and the subtle nods to the original Gameboy give it a nostalgic vibe that I can’t help but love. And again… it’s a metal shell! It’s hard to hate.

Miyoo Mini

• Release Date: January 2022
• Pricing: $40
• Where To Buy: eBay or AliExpress
• Our Review: Miyoo Mini Full Review

I was close to not featuring the Miyoo Mini on this list because although it’s superb, unfortunately it is no longer in production, making it close to impossible to get hold of unless you are willing to pay a premium on eBay or manage to find it on some random website.

The rumour is that they can’t find a supplier of the screen anymore, making this form factor incredibly expensive to make, so they stopped working on it and instead made a larger version called the Miyoo Mini Plus, which is just as good, but not as portable.

This is a perfect miniature handheld that blends a high quality shell with a vibrant small screen and soft, yet sturdy buttons, creating a matchbox sized handheld that’s reliable and lasts long enough to make a day go by without noticing. It has sat in our best retro handhelds list for over two years now, so that’ll prove how much I like it.

The OS used is very popular in the handheld community, it’s easy to save/load states, you can add your cheat codes, change settings on the fly and the main menu is super simple too. It doesn’t pack a lot of power but all retro consoles up to and including Playstation 1 will emulate flawlessly.