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

[Restart_Point]

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.


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

[Nugs]

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

[Restart_Point]

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 all 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 also 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.

.

[Nugs]

Thanks for the feedback.

I have thought about making my own vertical emulator handheld using an old android phone, some joycons and something like this:
https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1371342 ... uttlephone

But still hoping one of these companies makes something a bit more neatly integrated.

[Restart_Point]

Yeah I've looked into similar a few times as well. Even my basic daily driver Galaxy A06 phone has better chips than the CubeXX. But at the moment none of the mobile controller addons from GameSir etc that have direct USB-C connection are suitable for vertical play. Correctly or not, I'm trying to avoid bluetooth controls.

I think i'm happy to stay with the XX and playing older games for a while as 90s/early 2000s arcade shmups are my thing. Really been digging classic Toaplan / Raiden / Irem games on it. Also it plays the Raiden Fighters hardware games well, for a bit of Viper Phase 1 etc. I will be keeping an eye out for that "perfect" vertical device when it comes around though. There is another MagicX "Touch One" device https://shop.magicx.team/products/magicx-touch-one coming soon that uses the same layout as the WonderSwan so you can hold it horizontally or vertically.

[Dochartaigh]

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.

Do the kapton tape mod on the RGB30. Literally night and day difference - it's 1000% usable now (especially when I play games with lots of diagonal movements). Took maybe 10 minutes start to finish, and already had the tape on hand.

There's a joystick mod too (and I think shoulder buttons too), but I usually use the D-Pad like the game consoles I emulate came with, and I think the stock joysticks are just fine when I play dualshock PS1 games...

The RGB30 DOES need a decent add-on grip. I found one I like and 3d Printed it. No longer pocketable of course, but a huge difference in comfort (would probably need something for the CubeXX as well to be comfortable - I have big hands).

[Restart_Point]

The RGB30 DOES need a decent add-on grip. I found one I like and 3d Printed it. No longer pocketable of course, but a huge difference in comfort (would probably need something for the CubeXX as well to be comfortable - I have big hands).

I got a silicone skin for the XX from AliExpress which adds a little more bulk and grippy bumps, but for average size hands it's already good.

[Jonpachi]

Picked this up, and the d-pad broke on me in less than a day. I'd avoid this POS.

[Restart_Point]

The XX or the RGB30?

Sounds like bad luck. I've had the XX for a week of daily use and the d-pad has been great.

[Nugs]

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.

Do the kapton tape mod on the RGB30. Literally night and day difference - it's 1000% usable now (especially when I play games with lots of diagonal movements). Took maybe 10 minutes start to finish, and already had the tape on hand.

There's a joystick mod too (and I think shoulder buttons too), but I usually use the D-Pad like the game consoles I emulate came with, and I think the stock joysticks are just fine when I play dualshock PS1 games...

The RGB30 DOES need a decent add-on grip. I found one I like and 3d Printed it. No longer pocketable of course, but a huge difference in comfort (would probably need something for the CubeXX as well to be comfortable - I have big hands).

I tried the tape mod but couldn't get it feeling right, even after a few goes.
I gave it to my kids so it should be completely broken soon

I also have a rg35xxsp which feels much higher quality, but doesn't feel right for arcade games.
I've been using it to play through the Megadrive and PCE shmups (as I never had either of those systems) and it feels good for that purpose.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

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.

Do the kapton tape mod on the RGB30. Literally night and day difference - it's 1000% usable now (especially when I play games with lots of diagonal movements). Took maybe 10 minutes start to finish, and already had the tape on hand.

There's a joystick mod too (and I think shoulder buttons too), but I usually use the D-Pad like the game consoles I emulate came with, and I think the stock joysticks are just fine when I play dualshock PS1 games...

The RGB30 DOES need a decent add-on grip. I found one I like and 3d Printed it. No longer pocketable of course, but a huge difference in comfort (would probably need something for the CubeXX as well to be comfortable - I have big hands).

I tried the tape mod but couldn't get it feeling right, even after a few goes.
I gave it to my kids so it should be completely broken soon

I also have a rg35xxsp which feels much higher quality, but doesn't feel right for arcade games.
I've been using it to play through the Megadrive and PCE shmups (as I never had either of those systems) and it feels good for that purpose.

For Nugs,

You can pick up a cheap-ass NEC PC Engine, Core Grafx, Core Grafx II console for about $100-$150 usd used + get a Krikzz Turbo Everdrive Pro flash cart to play both Hu-Card & Turbo Chip games along with the CD-Rom2, Super CD-Rom2 & Arcade CD-Rom2 formatted based stgs via a micro SDHC memory card + EDFX add-on & you're good to go with the 114 different PCE stgs worth checking out (or either get an Analogue Duo and be done with it). I still can't believe how small & compact the NEC manufactured PCE, CG & CG-II consoles truly are compared to it's larger & behemoth sized TurboGrafx-16 console counterpart.

Only if the initial "test focus group" when asked about the PCE console saying that "it was too small & not powerful enough" which meant that the American subsidiary of NECHE USA had to spend just about a whole another year with the larger and redesigned "from the ground up" TurboGrafx-16 console that debuted stateside in the summer of 1989 (when it could've been released in the USA a year earlier in 1988 instead with some minor color-related exterior console alterations & released "as is"). The credit card sized PCE & TG-16 game carts are still impressive in the 21st century these days given their diminutive size to begin with (the PCE Hu-Card of Street Fighter II Dash weighs in at a whopping 20 megabit sized cart, the largest PCE cart ever produced -- sure larger cart sizes could been released but at the expensive of Rom-sized chips making for a higher priced game in the end).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[it290]

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

Just saw this — while the Cube XX will not run Mushi, Ibara, etc., the RG Cube (no XX) will run them just fine. Also, the Retroid Pocket Classic which has a simiilar form factor screen also runs these games great.

[LordHypnos]

This is pretty intriguing.

Does it feel like the screen size is a big issue? I ask this because I was recently playing shmups on my CFW 3DS, and I feel like the screen size does make it a lot harder to play games that are designed for a TV or monitor. It felt noticeably better playing GB and GG shmups with their handheld-friendly large sprites, though I imagine they're also easier games. I will say that the 3DS has some major ergonomic issues, especially when playing with the dpad, which I'm guessing is less of an issue with this CubeXX. Naturally, the CubeXX has the advantage of displaying 4:3 and 3:4 games equally well.

I'm also curious about the latency. It seems like a lot of these handheld CFW devices depend on Retroarch for emulation, and in my experience RA has more lag than other emulators if you aren't using run-ahead (or if run-ahead is not supported on the emulator). Are there other emulator options? Is this device powerful enough to use run-ahead on, say, PSX games? Or does the latency simply not feel like an issue?

I might also check in a month or two from now to see if the dpad held up.

[it290]

Screen size is a bit of a factor. I definitely can't play Cave games as well as I would on a larger screen, but then again I am not really shooting for personal best runs on a handheld device.

I have an OG Cube, which is more powerful than the Cube XX, but runahead on PSX is no problem at all. The Cube runs Android so you can run any emulator that supports it. The XX is a Linux device, so you're going to be more limited in terms of emulator options there.

[LordHypnos]

Screen size is a bit of a factor. I definitely can't play Cave games as well as I would on a larger screen, but then again I am not really shooting for personal best runs on a handheld device.

I have an OG Cube, which is more powerful than the Cube XX, but runahead on PSX is no problem at all. The Cube runs Android so you can run any emulator that supports it. The XX is a Linux device, so you're going to be more limited in terms of emulator options there.

That's helpful, thanks!

[Restart_Point]

I'm also curious about the latency. It seems like a lot of these handheld CFW devices depend on Retroarch for emulation, and in my experience RA has more lag than other emulators if you aren't using run-ahead (or if run-ahead is not supported on the emulator). Are there other emulator options? Is this device powerful enough to use run-ahead on, say, PSX games? Or does the latency simply not feel like an issue?

I might also check in a month or two from now to see if the dpad held up.

The CubeXX is not powerful enough to use runahead on many cores. PC Engine worked so that's probably about the limit.

It will run PS1 at 60fps, with Hard GPU Sync on (which reduces latency a little), and even at 2xResloution (with occasional brief audio stutter)

If runahead is essential then the OG Cube is the way to go (or similarly powerful device)

[LordHypnos]

The CubeXX is not powerful enough to use runahead on any core.

It will run PS1 at 60fps, with Hard GPU Sync on (which reduces latency a little), and even at 2xResloution (with occasional brief audio stutter)

If runahead is essential then the OG Cube is the way to go (or similarly powerful device)

I didn't mean to say that it's essential to have PSX run-ahead. I was just recently playing with some emulators on my computer, and I noticed that, before run-ahead, Retroarch had pretty noticeable latency on Harmful Park, and Mednafen had noticeably less. Similarly, I haven't really noticed any latency on Flycast Dojo on most games, but it's pretty noticeable on the Retroarch Flycast core, and that system doesn't even support run-ahead to counteract it. This is even with hard gpu sync enabled and similar.

It's a bit of a moot point, anyway, because I was looking into Rocknix on H700-based systems, and it appears to support Mednafen and I think also an additional PSX emulator, and I wouldn't really expect good performance on Dreamcast/Atomiswave/NAOMI, anyway (cool that it can run them at almost full speed, though!).

I imagine for arcade emulation, it's probably stuck with Retroarch using either MAME or FBNeo cores (and vanilla MAME does not seem well suited to keyboardless UI control anyway, which is something that RA does quite well). I don't recall CPS-2 games feeling worse in RA compared to MAME, so it might not even be an issue. For that matter, there's nothing saying that emulators will perform exactly as well on a handheld device as they do on my computer..

I would be interested in what your perception of the lag situation is overall, though. I know this is far too subjective to put too much stock in someone else's experience.

I also do appreciate the info about PSX run-ahead being beyond the capabilities of the CubeXX.

[Restart_Point]

I would be interested in what your perception of the lag situation is overall, though. I know this is far too subjective to put too much stock in someone else's experience.

I also do appreciate the info about PSX run-ahead being beyond the capabilities of the CubeXX.

I did actually get 1 frame of runahead working with PC Engine so I guess thats about the limit. Over-all the CubeXX lag is apparent on some games and not others. Using Rocknix/FBNeo for arcade games, some feel great and some don't. I guess it comes down to how well the emulation of particular games / arcade chipsets (and specific consoles) works with the H700. For the price H700 is fine as a time-killer on the train etc playing the games that work well on it. I've been enjoying Toaplan and old Cave / Raizing games. Apparently Rocknix is trying to implement Vulkan drivers for H700, but I don't know if that will benefit 2D games....I'm keen to see what happens with Snapdragon's new budget range chips, they seem to be far more capable for a relatively small price bump. If Anbernic do a new cube-type with that for around £100 i'm in!

[LordHypnos]

I did actually get 1 frame of runahead working with PC Engine so I guess thats about the limit. Over-all the CubeXX lag is apparent on some games and not others. Using Rocknix/FBNeo for arcade games, some feel great and some don't. I guess it comes down to how well the emulation of particular games / arcade chipsets (and specific consoles) works with the H700. For the price H700 is fine as a time-killer on the train etc playing the games that work well on it. I've been enjoying Toaplan and old Cave / Raizing games. Apparently Rocknix is trying to implement Vulkan drivers for H700, but I don't know if that will benefit 2D games....I'm keen to see what happens with Snapdragon's new budget range chips, they seem to be far more capable for a relatively small price bump. If Anbernic do a new cube-type with that for around £100 i'm in!

Well, I ended up pulling the trigger on this because I am weak of will, and it was on sale, and I'm really digging it so far! The lag isn't too noticeable on most games, and it (surprisingly) can handle at least 1 frame of run-ahead on CPS-2 (in FBNEO), which is probably the laggiest system I've tried so far. I definitely don't think I could play anything too seriously on the tiny screen, outside of handheld-designed games (incidentally, many of those systems have screens that are very close to 1:1), but it's good enough for various 3:4 and 4:3 games to be enjoyable.

I will shout out Cho Ren Sha 68k (playing the 1.01 X68000 version) as having large enemies and bullets which is nice for the screen size, but it still definitely requires some precision.

Unfortunately I haven't had much luck with Portmaster stuff so far, Blue Revolver won't launch at all, Monolith's screen is FUBAR, and Demonizer fails when trying to get further than the title screen (though it at least gives me an error, so I might be able to get it working eventually). Tumiki Fighters works, but stretches to fill the entire screen, which looks and feels pretty "off." rRootage works perfectly, though I really wish I could mess with the HUD to get some more screen real estate out of it.

In any case, like I said, I'm really enjoying it!

[Restart_Point]

In any case, like I said, I'm really enjoying it!

Glad to hear it! I haven't tried portmaster, something I'm not familiar with but will check it out. Does that allow linux / windows games or something? I've just been digging it for stuff like Sorcer Striker in FBNeo and it's great for that. The d-pad is good and holding out fine too. it's a cheap fun device with good build quality and ergonomics while being genuinely portable. You can't really go wrong for the price If you're happy to stick with the older / classic shmups.

[DarkSlayer]

Does Cho Ren Sha and other square Shmups display using the full screen? This looks cool, been playing a lot of square Shmups recently like star parodier and Radirgy Noa (although this fills out to 4:3 with the hud)

[LordHypnos]

portmaster

This allows you to run certain PC games on an arm device running linux, but the game needs to specifically be ported. You can see what ports exist here. I've tried rRootage, Tumiki Fighters, Blue Revolver, Monolith (Star of Providence), and Demonizer, and of those only rRootage and Tumiki have worked (and Tumiki stretches the screen to the full screen size, which is not ideal). I've heard of someone getting Zero Ranger to work on a Cube XX (can't remember where I saw this), but it's not a game that I own, so I haven't tried.

Does Cho Ren Sha and other square Shmups display using the full screen? This looks cool, been playing a lot of square Shmups recently like star parodier and Radirgy Noa (although this fills out to 4:3 with the hud)

The short answer is yes, as long as you're emulating it in retroarch, as retroarch lets you set the screen geometry to basically anything you would want (though I'm not sure if you'd be able to cut off part of the screen, as that is not something I've tried).

The slightly longer answer is that square screens are often not actually square screens, as a lot of older systems, like for example the NES or SNES have graphics that are drawn in such a way that if you are displaying them with square pixels, they will be square (or close to square), but movement and geometry were most likely normalized with 4:3 television sets in mind, so they will look and feel at least a little off this way. Older handheld systems that actually had close-to-square screens (e.g. Gameboy, Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket) will fill almost the entire screen by default in any emulator.

Cho Ren Sha 68k, I have definitely seen described as a 1:1 game (and its native resolution appears to be 256x256), but I would say, speaking for the 1.01 version for the Sharp X68000 (could be different from the windows version, but I don't think there's any way to play that on a CubeXX), that it feels as if movement is normalized with 4:3 aspect ratio in mind. Grain of salt, of course, as this is just based on my subjective impressions, I have not measured anything. It definitely feels perfectly fine to me at 5:4 for whatever that's worth. I would recommend trying it out on a PC to see how it feels to you. Cho Ren Sha is a nice game for playing on a small display, as it has very large bullet and enemy sprites. It does get pretty fast, however.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Just out of curiosity, would the MD/SG rom of Ancient's Earthion stg run on a RG CubeXX setup?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[it290]

Yes, it will run on just about any handheld emulator device.