The retro handheld market is booming, with more competition and releases than I can count this year. Because the market is moving so quickly, and technological advancements are releasing swfitly, it means older consoles are getting the slash this Black Friday, which is great for those of you that have been wanting a great portable emulator.
One device that I absolutely love is the Retroid Pocket 2S, so much so that it’s our best retro handheld of the year, ranked in the number one position. This device is getting reduced from $99 to $79 on Black Friday, today, so if you’ve been on the fence with this one, or entering the retro handheld market as a whole this is one of the best times to jump on this deal.
It’s a portable, high quality retro handheld that runs on Android, and it pre-installs the correct emulators for you straight out of the box after setup. All you have to do is sync it up to the internet via WiFi and it will automatically download them for you, to begin your emulation journey.
Retroid Pocket 2S Specifications
- 2 x [email protected] + 6 x [email protected] CPU
- Mali G52MC2@614MHz GPU
- 3GB/4GB RAM
- 3.5″ Touch Screen Display (4:3) 640 x 480 @60fps
- Android 11
- HDMI Out (480p)
- Analogue L2/R2 & 3D Hall Analogue Sticks
- 4000mAh battery
Why Is It So Good?
To not waste your time, it’s the best affordable retro handheld on the market because of its easy UI, superb build quality and the ability to emulate games up to Dreamcast, with some Gamecube games even working on here. So your consoles such as PSP, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, Playstation 1, SEGA Genesis and more will work on here very well.
GoRetroid even setup up a launcher for you that looks exactly like a Nintendo Switch allowing you to neatly organise your games until categories and making it as easy as turning it on, choosing a game and playing within a minute, because most emulators already have the controls mapped too, making it even more of a pleasant experience out of the box.
It features a 3.5″ touch display, which looks great in all types of light, admittedly it does have a fairly large border but that’s retro, right? The buttons are super high quality, and so are the stacked shoulder buttons, which pair nicely with the 4000MAH battery which gives it a good 6+ hours of battery life on a single charge.
It released in 2023 and is still one of my go-to devices, it’s truly remarkable, and is absolutely worth the $79 if you’re on the market for a great starter handheld emulator, you can read our full review here, or visit GoRetroid’s official website to grab the deal while it lasts.
GoRetroid also have other Black Friday deals on, however due to the release of the Retroid Pocket 5 and it being an incredible device (our full review is coming soon), I believe it’s not worth snagging the RP3+ or RP4’s at these prices.
The best deal is the Retroid Pocket 2S by a long shot in my opinion!