Coming in at $89 on Amazon, the kinhank retro console X2 does an adequate job emulating classic Cave and Psikyo shmups . It does a decent but not great job emulating Dreamcast shmups (which was my purpose for purchasing this.
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Why did I buy this stupid thing?: Recently I wanted to get back into shmups, but many of old consoles no longer work well, and I don't have a good PC option. So in a bit of a panic buy, I took a shot at this system. I specifically, wanted to play some of the DC shmups that I missed.
What is included:
1) console w/ Android 9.0/Emuelec
2) two crappy controllers that should be thrown away. Any USB controller should work
3) HDMI cable
4) TV remote if you want to do Netflix, or Amazon on it.
4) many many pre-installed games (see below)
Included Games:
They advertise 60,000 games, but less in reality (as there are dups of some), but certainly more games than you would ever play or care about. Personally, I wish that it did not come with any game. I deleted most games and I'm building up my collection. Adding games is as simple as dropping the roms into the USB sd card.
Included Emulation: MAME, all old consoles up to PSX, SAT, N64, DC, Naomi , Atomiswave, Neo Geo, etc.
a)Dreamcast emulation is decent, depending on the game. Shmups seem to do better than other genres with DC emulation.
b) NeoGeo emulation is horrible, but many of the games, such as Strikers 1945+ have a corresponding MAME version that plays fine.
c) 16-bit emulation is good: MD, SNES, TBGX
c) MAME emulations is good for most classic CAVE and Psikyo games. I am sure peek players will notice issues with these games, but they seem to play fine to me. Older Cave games work great (DP, DDP, DDP DOJ, etc), but I could not get Mushihimesama to be recognized as a valid rom.
They have prebuilt collections of Cave, Psikyo, and Irem games, so it is easy to find Shmups among the volume of other games
Though this is my primary gaming device, it is unlikely that others here will have a strong use for this device. But, if you are looking for something that can be carried in your pocket, bag, purse, etc. Or, if you want every TV to be ready to go. This might work for you.
In terms of durability, it feels pretty cheaply made. But it did survive an intense round when my toddler decided to smash it into the floor a few times - I guess he can't wait to play shmups
