Finally got a 1:1 screen RG CubeXX for vert shmups, good so far!

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Using the latest Rocknix CFW, which I've found to have the best performance and ease of use so far. Plays up to PS1 fine, and surprised at how reasonable Dreamcast is considering this is a small & cheap device! Getting 50-60fps with Under Defeat, with some brief dips during more graphically intensive parts but the game feels smooth and playable throughout

You can get much more powerful handheld devices of course but the CubeXX is great for the price (approx. $70 - UK £50), excellent ergonomics, good Sega-style floating d-pad and that awesome 720x720 IPS screen.

Quick and rough video I just made: https://youtu.be/M0C7ffI9CO4

Anbernic page: https://anbernic.com/en-gb/products/rg-cubexx

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Can it run the newer Cave games, and does it support Pico-8?

I like the screen format of these, I bought a RGB-30 with the same screen but the build quality on it is terrible. D-pad is unusable.

I wish there was a decent quality TATE handheld.
This one came out recently but has a 16:9 screen and looks kind of junky.

https://shop.magicx.team/products/magicx-zero-40

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Can it run the newer Cave games, and does it support Pico-8?

It runs everything up to 2003 (DaiOuJou, Ketsui, Espgaluda) excellently at 60fps
It severely struggles with games from 2004 onwards (CV1000). So no Mushihimesama or later

It runs Pico-8 fine. A handful of Pico games came included on the stock SD card.

I like the screen format of these, I bought a RGB-30 with the same screen but the build quality on it is terrible. D-pad is unusable.

I almost bought the RGB30 when it came out but was put off by the reviews RE d-pad etc. The Cube XX's d-pad and build quality is excellent, no complaints at all

I wish there was a decent quality TATE handheld.
This one came out recently but has a 16:9 screen and looks kind of junky.
https://shop.magicx.team/products/magicx-zero-40

Yeah I was looking at that too but if you look at how much screen real estate 3:4 games actually use, they come out a little smaller than the CubeXX. I think 1:1 screens are the way to go as they are also fine for a bit of 4:3 as well.

The new Retroid Pocket Classic with an almost 1:1 screen ($130) looks to be excellent with a brand new SnapDragon CPU that is way more powerful and should handle newer Cave games fine https://www.goretroid.com/en-gb/product ... et-classic

There is the original Anbernic RG Cube of course ($150) https://anbernic.com/en-gb/products/rg-cube which is significantly more powerful but twice the price of the XX and I don't like the low d-pad position. Great in all other respects though.

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