Anbernic sent over their latest handheld, the RG Vita Pro. And yes, it’s clearly inspired (or “inspired”) by Sony’s beloved, if not massively successful, PS Vita.
The hardware definitely takes cues from the original design, but it’s important to address the obvious caveat upfront: this will not emulate the full PS Vita library. That isn’t a fault of the device itself, no hardware can. The limitation lies with the emulator, which is still far from a finished state. Right now, nothing is capable of running the entire Vita library reliably.
Over the past few weeks of testing, I’ve seen plenty of criticism online (especially across places like Reddit and Discord) accusing the device of being misleading or even falsely advertised. Personally, I think that’s missing the bigger picture. Expectations around Vita emulation are often unrealistic, and this handheld is simply working within the same limitations as everything else on the market.
The other major talking point is the price. At $149.99 USD, it’s sparked a fair bit of backlash. What’s interesting, though, is that this isn’t an isolated case, it just reflects a broader shift happening across the industry. Prices are rising, and many comparisons are still being made against pre–RAM crisis devices and prices, which isn’t really a fair benchmark anymore. At least, this is what I think and feel.
From my own chats with the reps and teams behind the retro handheld manufacturers, this trend is only going one way. Prices are going up, and in most cases, specs are being scaled back to compensate. It’s the reality the entire space is dealing with right now, and the RG Vita Pro feels like one of the first devices to really reflect this crappiness.
Anyway, on to the device. I love how it is dual boot (Android and Linux), on a new chip to the scene. I love how it plays and upscales PSP games, they upscale cleanly and look SO good on there.
Some Vita games play beautifully, Gravity Rush has been my obsession lately. I never played it before now and I just love how it performs. They created such a nice atmosphere in that game!
PS2/Game Cube and Switch are a stretch. Some games run okay, some won’t run well, and some won’t play at all.
If you’re curious about my review, I also interviewed some developers. Gamma who makes GammaOS, acmeplus who is behind KNULLI. This is a very detailed and long review, so if you do have interest, you can follow my usual link:
Trying to emulate PS Vita is honestly an odd design choice. Not only is original Vita design quite dated, this copy looks like its cheap, janky sibling.
One thing I would keep, though, is these nice lights under the sticks. Truly a delight, and one part that looks just right.
Had to do a double take at that Lockscreen picture. Didn’t expect them to ape the Vita’s Software Design Language to such an extent 😅
That was me!
Using Vita3K to install a custom theme (it links you to the theme site) I opted for the Gravity Rush one. Having played so much of this game on there, I can say I am a big fan!
It is amazing to me that these prices keep going up and the companies making them are not going out of business. You and I both know that not enough people are buying these for them to survive if they aren’t at profit margins over 100%.
Being unable to emulate PS2/GameCube/Switch in this day and age at $150 USD is a deal breaker. I understand not doing Original Xbox, but the other three are very well developed on Android and Linux. There isn’t a reason that shouldn’t be possible other than “profit margins are too small if we make that possible at $150 USD.”
I mean, the little R36S can run up to N64/PS1/Dreamcast for $30 USD. The next generation up does not warrant a $120 USD price increase.
“Right now, nothing is capable of running the entire Vita library reliably”
My Vita runs the entire library just fine.
I mean, most ge preservation projects, emulators, and bootleg devices aren’t for people who already have those things, it’s for people who never owned them. If my mom wasn’t a gamer and didn’t buy a Vita, I would either have to drop hundreds of dollars to get a real one, or emulate on a device.
So yes, of course your Vita runs well. Now lets check for all the non-Vita devices for those who were toddlers/weren’t born yet?
My point was that there is a device that runs every vita game well despite the stupid claim that nothing does.
“…despite the stupid claim…”
Oh come on. I don’t even know you, but I know you’re better than this kind of comment on here. It doesn’t make you appear smart. Or cool. Or funny. It makes you look like a jerk.
This was a review about a ‘retro handheld’. It is a very specific product in a pretty damn specific field. I actually thought my statement, in the context of that review, was obvious to anyone. I guess you’d prefer to get hung up on semantics. Of course the Vita plays the Vita’s entire library, do you actually think I didn’t know that? I find that incredible if so.
When looking at retro handhelds, none do. When you look at the most powerful desktop PC, none do. Were you taking that one short tiny little throwaway line literally because English is a second language to you? I can understand if so, since it is for me also. Sometimes English can be tricky that way, things you might want to take literally are not so.
If not, you’re just getting hung up on the most ridiculous little line. Don’t be like this in the future, especially here on Lemmy, this is more of a community than other places online, this trashy Discord/Reddit nastiness doesn’t belong here.
LMAO, wow. Do you need a tissue?
Man, I wish I could be as cool as you. You make it look so effortless. “Do you need a tissue?”
Dude, how do you think of these comebacks?
I wish you could be as cool as me too.
You got an icepick for the lobotomy? I’m in.
I booted up my Vita for the first time in a long time recently and was, as happens every time, astounded at how absolutely incredible the OLED screen looks. Also laughed at how small the Sony branded memory stick in it is, compared to the big ol high end SD card in the SD2Vita.
The SD card adapter was the first thing I bought for mine, sony was pricing their own cards like the AI apocalypse had already happened.
They were! I got lucky—I have some raspberry Pis and a dashcam, so I bought like ten endurance and extreme or whatever performance MicroSD cards mid-last-year. My partner was like “do you NEED those?”
“nahhh but I wanna have them as backups on-hand”
“Absolutely fair!”
Now while cleaning last weekend, I found a couple 128-256GB endurance cards and a bunch of 256-512GB SanDisk Extreme micros I tested for authenticity and put in a box. Looked up the prices now and… woof!
That looks like the absolute worst place to put the sticks. I get that they’re trying to mimic the vita but that has to be so uncomfortable. Idk, maybe it’s fine.
In the retro handheld community there’s a big split between those who prefer left stick on top, and those who want dpad on top. In all cases it’s going to be uncomfortable because of the lack of full sized grips as well as the vertical alignment of the buttons - the diagonal positioning of sticks and buttons on modern controllers is crucial for their comfort and ergonomics.
Stick on top is slightly more popular (it’s like a 60/40 split), but I’m in the dpad on top camp. Without proper grips, devices like these are going to be uncomfortable no matter where the sticks are. But with dpad on top, at least dpad-centric, fighting, and arcade games can be comfortable to play without needing added grips.
From my memory of the original PSP, the stick wasn’t used as often as the d-pad. Obviously the right didn’t even have a stick. This layout is good for this use case. They could swap the sticks and the d-pad/face buttons, but then they’d be really annoying to use. Since they’re more used they should be the priority.
My wife has the Win600 and she says it’s weird at first, but not a big deal once you’re used to it.
My monster hands would never be able to use it, though.
