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Another Year is Done!
That’s it, another year is in the bags. Another year of lots and lots of handhelds, with 2024 probably being the most handhelds released I’d think since now we have clones of handhelds being cloned too.
And so, like every year at this time, you want to know what the best and worst handhelds of the year are. What should you buy? What should you avoid?
Welcome to my handheld of the year 2024 video extravaganza.
Anything and everything I personally reviewed, and we’ll talk about the ones that I didn’t and why. This will be a long video, by my standards, so strap in.
Like last year’s video, these are my personal rankings, based on my thoughts, so I wouldn’t take them too seriously if your device isn’t high on the list – enjoy your handheld, don’t worry about what I think.
Some of you will get offended, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take – part of being a reviewer is having the balls to tell you that sometimes, a handheld isn’t worth your money and if you don’t do that, you’re not a reviewer, you’re just marketing.
Honorable Mentions
Let’s jump in with honorable mentions – devices that didn’t release in 2024, but I bought and used them for the first time in 2024.
Retroid Pocket 2S Metal
First up, the Retroid Pocket 2S Metal edition. This actually ended up being better than the plastic one, which was surprising to me. I swapped out the boring black buttons for skittle buttons here because it just looks so much better.
Honestly, I love the 2S, it’s fantastic – the Metal is better, but I’m still mad at all of you that voted for the gunmetal color over all of the other beautiful options because the worst part is, none of you bought this besides me! And that’s a shame because the 2S Metal is just awesome.
Ayaneo Pocket Air
Ayaneo Pocket Air is next, and I did a video on this for you to keep an eye out for it in the used market. That was earlier this year, I think at this point you can safely just ignore this and grab the Retroid Pocket 5.
But the Air was great at the time, however the main problem is, like most of Ayaneo products, that it was too expensive at launch for what it was, and also, the Odin 2 had been announced with significantly better specs.
The Air is great though, and I think if you can grab it under $200 US dollars, maybe closer to the $160 mark, you should.
Nintendo Switch Lite
2024 was the year that I got my very first Nintendo Switch Lite. I’ve had a Switch since launch, then the V2, then the OLED, but never the Lite.
This is actually pre-modded, and I bought it off AliExpress for $190 US dollars, which is an absolute steal in my books. The store and item doesn’t exist anymore unfortunately, so can’t share it or I would.
I actually love it – it’s so much better than the full sized Switch and I can’t wait for Taki’s OLED and HDMI mod to arrive so I can make this even better. I’ll be doing the blue shell, of course, and with OLED, it’s going to be so good.
Released, but not received
Next up, let’s go quickly through the list of handhelds that did release in 2024, but I didn’t buy or receive them for whatever reason and we’ll start with the Retroid Pocket 4.
Retroid Pocket 4
The Retroid Pocket 4 was just a useless release, it didn’t need to exist and there was no reason to buy it. Not even to review. Not much else to say here, I don’t think I’d really recommend the 4 in any way shape or form and like most of us in the community, you can safely ignore it since you probably only remember it exists because I just brought it up.
Anbernic RG35XX 2024
Speaking of useless releases, the Anbernic RG35XX 2024. I get why they did it, excess of h700 chips, and probably couldn’t get the original 35XX parts anymore, but the Plus already existed for quite literally the cost of a hotdog more, so no, I didn’t get this and no one should either. The only reason this exists is to confuse customers, which it absolutely does.
Powkiddy RGB10MAX3
Powkiddy RGB10MAX3 is up next and this one was pretty simple – it didn’t have support for ArkOS, so I declined it for review.
Ayaneo Flip DS, Pocket S, Slide, DMG & EVO
Ayaneo Flip DS, Pocket S, Slide, DMG and EVO are all up next and it’s actually the same reason for all of them. I’m not rich, Ayaneo products are way too expensive to buy them all for review, and I don’t make any money back in views or anything else. It’s just a fact, it’s not financially feasible.
It’s actually that simple – not a shot against them, I actually preordered the Evo and ended up cancelling it. I’d love to review Ayaneo products, but consumers should know that they blacklist anyone with negatives to say about their products, and carefully curate their list of quote influencers quote.
God, what a gross title, although super applicable here.
So naturally, as someone who isn’t an influencer, that isn’t going to happen for me. Personally, as a consumer of these handhelds, I can’t trust anything said about Ayaneo in reviews knowing what I know now.
It’s a shame, this year was the one year I was interested in a lot of Ayaneo products too, but they keep doing this to themselves. Just watch my Ayaneo Pocket Micro video for my thoughts on that.
GKD Bubble
GKD Bubble is next, and GKD abandoned the Pixel, so I abandoned the Bubble. It’s that simple. The Bubble was honestly never going to be for me anyway, even if I were to give GKD a pass.
Anbernic RG406H & TrimUI Brick
Then we have the Anbernic RG406H and TrimUI Brick. Anbernic blacklisted me from reviews this year because they didn’t like me criticizing them, so the Anbernic releases come to me delayed because awesome third party resellers like GoGameGeek send them to me for review and they get them late.
But with the Canada Post strike, it’s stuck and so is my TrimUI Brick – actually, all three of the TrimUI Bricks I have coming are stuck including one’s I’ve personally purchased to try and get around the strike, so unfortunately, both these devices missed the cutoff.
I’m super excited for the Brick and not being able to put it on the handheld of the year list, hurts a lot, but this situation is out of my control.
I don’t much care about the Anbernic one at least, both Ayaneo and Anbernic should focus more on releasing better devices than blacklisting reviewers for daring to tell them they’re not perfect.
Best & Worst Handhelds of 2024!
25 – GameForce Ace
The GameForce ACE single handedly killed a company, or at least made them disappear. This is the first actual RK3588 processor handheld, that shipped completely broken with broken speakers, a screen that was 53hz, triggers that physically needed cutting and so much more.
This will now be an infamous device because shortly after release while people were doing chargebacks, the creator made a joke about going bankrupt and that was the last communication from GameForce. I guess it wasn’t a joke, but no one knows.
They shipped a broken product and fled, so that’s why it’s here at the bottom – I bought it, reviewed it and feel scammed by this.
24 – MagicX XU Mini M
Speaking of scams, that’s what happened with the MagicX XU Mini M.
For those out of the loop, this handheld was advertised as having an RK3562 processor, and ended up having an RK3326 processor instead, which is actually the second time this company has advertised a different processor than what they shipped because they did the exact same thing with the MagicX XU10.
The actual handheld had a bunch of issues and concerns and combine all of this into whatever this handheld is and I have too much integrity to recommend people purchase this. That’s why it’s down here with the other scam.
I was actually denied on AliExpress trying to get a refund for this, even after providing proof of the false advertising, and that angered me even more. It’s funny – the uneducated response to my anger with this handheld is that I apparently hate Mini handhelds, which should confuse any of you that are familiar with my love of the TrimUI Smart, or Anbernic RG35XX, or Miyoo Mini Plus and so on.
There’s Mini devices that I love, the problem you’re missing, my dear MagicX friends, is those handhelds are actually good and didn’t try to scam me.
23 – GKD Pixel
The GKD Pixel is down here at the bottom, for a similar reason to the GameForce Ace. It was completely abandoned by GKD, there are multiple issues with framerate and audio and more that you didn’t hear about because it’s cool to ignore issues in this hobby when reviewing.
GKD decided they weren’t going to fix any of it and this is now discontinued from what I know or understand, but I couldn’t care less either way. The actual handheld itself is too small to be of any use outside of novelty reasons, but it had a great looking blue, and felt decent at least – if they actually tried with it, it could at least be a good device, just on the small side, but they didn’t.
22 – Powkiddy RGB10X
The Powkiddy RGB10X wins handheld of the year for 2020. Wait, we’re in 2024? Whoops. The RGB10X is just old.
I’m going to say this again about the V10, but it’s a 2020 handheld in 2024. There is just so many better options and with the many sales we have with Aliexpress, the $40 price point isn’t even special. I bought one of these and I didn’t review this because it wasn’t even worth a review.
21 – Anbernic RG28XX
I’m not going to say the Anbernic RG28XX is bad because it isn’t, but the dpad and buttons are too small to be usable for me. It’s so weird because if Anbernic would have just did their normal thing here with a normal dpad and buttons, this would have been great.
The other missing part, at least for me, is wifi and this entire thing just ended up being a worse RG35XX H, and not even that much smaller. For me, the Miyoo A30 became a better Micro purchase than this, which is telling because I don’t think either of them are particularly great, but combined, they would be.
20 – Powkiddy V10
There’s nothing wrong with the Powkiddy V10, but it’s not extraordinary, nor great, or anything like that. So it’s here at the bottom because it’s a 2020 handheld release in 2024, which seems to be a theme with Powkiddy.
But it’s still the cheapest way to play Game Boy Advance without black bars, although you’ll have massive black bezels to deal with instead. If this had a better chip and WiFi, I’d be very interested in it – but as is, it’s sort of a throwaway.
19 – Powkiddy RGB20 Pro
Speaking of mediocre, the Powkiddy RGB20 Pro is surprisingly alright. It’s right smack in the middle of, okay on the meter between bad and good. The form factor is surprisingly decently comfortable, buttons and dpad are good, but the main selling point is the 3.2” 1024×768 HD screen.
The rest of the device is not really spectacular and so it isn’t really something that stands out beyond the weird design. Hoping to start seeing that screen is actual Micro devices going forward.
18 – ZPG A1 Unicorn
The ZPG A1 Unicorn had the unfortunate timing of coming out after Anbernic’s RG Cube, and at not enough of a discount over it to make it worth it. The RG Cube really ate its lunch and it was extremely difficult to recommend the Unicorn with it’s mouse click buttons, worse software and overall worse device to the Cube.
However, the device did ship functional, not broken and so ZPG should be commended for this one and I look forward to their next devices just based on that fact alone. It may not be the device for me, but massive points to ZPG for doing what most of these companies can’t even do.
17 – Miyoo A30
The Miyoo A30 had a lot of ups and downs for me this year and it was tough to pin down where I should put it. It launched in an awful, broken state, then as usual, the community saved it thanks to SpruceOS and now it’s a good Micro purchase.
I won’t say it’s great because it isn’t, Miyoo really screwed up with hardware decisions here, but they were thoughtful enough to include WiFi which instantly made this my favorite of the cheap Micro devices.
It’s down here on the list because of the initial launch and because Miyoo did nothing to actually help this device, the community did. I think it’s a decent device nowadays, but a perfect example of praising mediocrity instead of pushing for better, which the community should always be looking at doing.
16 – Retroid Pocket 4 Pro
Yeah, the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro came out this year, it was a special year for Retroid. Look, many of you might see this position and hate me for it, but the Retroid Pocket 4 Pro did nothing for me despite the fact that I think it’s a fine handheld, if you can adjust to it.
To me, it has one of the worst ergonomics of any handheld, and I said the same about the previous Retroid Pocket 3 Plus. The rest of the handheld, was great at the time and it was the best sub $200 handheld, but for me, it required using a grip and that’s not good enough.
Thankfully, the Retroid Pocket 5 solved all of this thankfully, as you’ll see by where that’s ranked.
15 – Anbernic RG Cube
I don’t have much love at all for the Cube, the device itself is competently made, it felt good to hold, nice screen and all of that, but it just didn’t hit any notes for me personally and it just sort of came and went.
This all might sound weird when we get to the RG CubeXX and Powkiddy RGB20SX instead, and trust me, I don’t get it either, but the Cube just isn’t for me. Anbernic’s influencer marketing team worked overtime on this one though. Glad they made the CubeXX as an alternative.
14 – Anbernic RG35XX Plus, RG35XX H, RG40XX H & RG40XX V
I’m putting the Anbernic RG40XX H, V, 35XX H and Plus here. Just these four of the Anbernic H700 line up, we’ll talk about the others separately.
Let’s go in order – the 35XX Plus and H aren’t very good devices to me. I’m on record with this, said it in both reviews, they feel lifeless compared to previous Anbernic releases and they’re just poorly made.
The 40XX H and V are better, definitely, I would buy both of those over the 35XX series, but we’re still just in that same chip series. It’s hard to call the two bad, they aren’t, they’re just quite boring.
It’s awesome for newcomers, great to have 8 different h700 options to choose from, but if I’m stacking these up against other devices this year, they’re just fine. They’re good entries to this hobby, and they excel at that.
13 – Anbernic RG35XXSP
I loved my Anbernic RG35XXSP for a bit, and this might be higher than I should be putting this device, but it was good.
Honestly, like I said in my revisit video, I just couldn’t get past the battery concerns and whether they were justified or not, it just wasn’t worth any risks for a $50 handheld. It’s a shame really because fans of the channel know, I love clamshells and this hit all the right notes – I just needed it to be made by people who value our safety over hitting a smaller price point.
12 – Powkiddy RGB20SX
I know a lot of you forgot about the Powkiddy RGB20SX, but I didn’t. I really really like the RGB20SX, a lot more than the RGB30 for me. But I also didn’t use it as much as maybe I wanted to, or I should have, the CubeXX sort of replaced this for me, but I still consider it a good handheld.
Powkiddy has a lot they need to work on for future releases – as we’ve talked about already, their parts all feel dated and they’re still using RK3566’s as we end 2024, but the SX, to me, felt like they actually put effort in and I liked that.
11 – MSI Claw
The MSI Claw is an interesting device. At launch, it was horrible and awful – something that never should have released in that state. But it had good parts too – it was comfortable, the software was decent, I liked the Auto TDP function being incorporated and it was Intel trying to be competitive, which is good for competition.
Over the months, it’s gotten better, but still not great and the Ally X has basically killed it off – especially at the high price the Claw released at, but I would love to see a Claw 2 with improvements. Somehow, I’m still in the Claw’s corner.
10 – GPD Win 4 2024
For some reason, the 2024 version of the GPD Win 4 connected with me a lot more than the 2023 one I reviewed. I definitely understood it a lot more, and could see why people would like it.
I think my main complaints are still the same – it gets really hot on one side, it’s not super comfortable, and I just don’t see the benefit of the keyboard most of the time.
However, overall the GPD Win 4 2024 is pretty solid, just hoping next years release upgrades the screen to 120hz and maybe find a way to improve the comfort and a few other upgrades.
9 – Ayaneo Pocket Micro
The Ayaneo Pocket Micro had the unfortunate timing of releasing right when the Retroid Pocket Mini did, and that for me killed it.
However, in a vacuum, the Pocket Micro is a good device for Game Boy Advance specifically. At a 4x scale, and having a really nice IPS panel, the Micro excels for it, and I found the metal and the rest to be decently comfortable as well.
Sure, it can play more than Game Boy Advance, with its G99 processor, but the moment you start to think about that, is the moment the Retroid Pocket Mini takes over.
Not to rehash my complete review on the Micro here, but it released way too late, and got swallowed up by a better device that did everything the Micro does and more – but it’s a good example of a device from Ayaneo that I actually liked. I never thought I’d see the day where an Ayaneo device cracks my top 10 for the year.
8 – Anbernic RG556
Okay let’s get the laughs out of the way now, I called this the best handheld of 2024, three months into 2024.
Look, I made a mistake, I’ll own it – but I was blown away at the time because OLED, because top tier comfort, because decent performance and because blue. You all know me by now, that’s like the top Joey priorities all combined into one and I was in love..
You can call me out for clickbait, I think fans of the channel know that really isn’t something I do, but I truly felt that way at the time and obviously, hindsight is 20/20 and it ended up not being true.
I won’t apologize for it, the video title still exists, but I will say I was wrong. However the RG556 is still a very, very good device, but with a lot of flaws when you start comparing it to other devices this year.
7 – Anbernic RG406V
The Anbernic RG406V is one of Anbernic’s best releases. Ever. And I mean it. It just isn’t for me. I have no real enthusiasm for a big game boy, but they did really well with the 406v – great battery, great sticks, great dpad, great screen and so on.
This is what every Anbernic release should strive to be like. I do wonder if I received the 406H in time, if I’d feel the same way about that, or if my feelings towards the 406V is solely because it’s a unique vertical with no competition.
Either way, if you like verticals, there’s no better option than the 406V. Well, unless you’re getting paid by Ayaneo I guess.
6 – GPD Win Mini 2024
I really, really wanted to love the GPD Win Mini 2024. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it, I actually like it a great deal, but it’s so very close to being an absolutely perfect device and I can see it, but it’s not there yet.
I can absolutely see myself loving a future release of this, if they can work out the kinks – add some comfort, which is a growing theme for GPD, find a way to solve the heating issues, bigger battery and we are basically there.
The GPD Win Mini would be great as a single handheld – it checks the boxes for power, for size, for clamshell and everything. I really hope they nail the next one.
5 – Anbernic RG CubeXX
A lot of people think I hated the RG CubeXX specifically, especially since I made a satirical video reviewing the device on announcement because you literally could just do that by the fact that all of the device was a known quantity and the 8th h700 processor device from Anbernic.
But it actually had nothing to do with the device at all and everything to do with it just being another boring Anbernic device with no improvements, innovation or anything. Turns out, this 8th device hit with me, and you know what they say, 8th times the charm.
It’s comfortable, has a nice screen, has a great dpad, and muOS works on it plus WiFi for retro achievements and everything. Still doesn’t change my thoughts on the entire 8 h700 device debacle thing, and I doubt the CubeXX will get much use at all from me, but hey, they finally got me with one – I just want them to do better.
4 – Retroid Pocket Mini
The fourth best handheld of 2024 is the Retroid Pocket Mini. It’s overshadowed by the Retroid Pocket 5, but the Mini is great in its own right and lives in an entirely different size bracket.
It’s small, has a fantastic OLED screen and can play almost anything emulation wise with a 4:3 aspect ratio screen and an exceptional battery. I think maybe if this came out earlier in the year, with some time to breathe, it would have done a lot better, but being high on this list is praise enough.
If you have a specific size requirement, spend the extra, get the Mini – you’ll love it.
3 – AYN Odin 2 Mini
God I loved the AYN Odin 2 Mini for many months this year and I don’t think a lot of you will understand unless you’ve had one.
The Odin 2 Mini is about the size of a TrimUI Smart Pro, but with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor that can play literally anything you want on Android, and has a good Mini LED screen that makes playing outdoors just so easy and the entire thing felt premium in a way that other devices just don’t.
For pretty much the entire year, the Odin 2 Mini was my companion handheld – always in my sling bag everywhere I went, everywhere I traveled, it was what I brought to Europe after all.
It was the perfect smaller companion device to the ASUS ROG Ally X. But, Mini LED was never going to compare to an OLED screen, I didn’t really use the power the Odin 2 Mini had and the battery life was not great, which are all things the next handheld excelled at.
2 – Retroid Pocket 5
The best “retro” handheld of 2024 is the Retroid Pocket 5. But it’s second on the total list of 2024, you’ll understand when we get to the first.
The Retroid Pocket 5 has a Snapdragon 865, which I proved through I don’t even know, six or seven different showcase videos, can run basically the entirety of retro game emulation systems aside from Switch, upscaled and basically flawlessly with an asterisk on the usual problem games.
The OLED screen is just gorgeous in so many ways, and the battery life is great. The title of my review was that I sold my Odin 2 Mini for it, which I absolutely did, and there’s zero regrets there. To me, it was an actual upgrade, for less money, to get the Retroid Pocket 5.
We live in a timeline, where for $220 US dollars, you get OLED, you get Snapdragon, you get a great dpad, sticks, GameCube color, great battery life and so much more that it’s crazy.
I am going to keep saying this, every chance I have – stop buying a hundred handhelds, buy one good one, like the Retroid Pocket 5, or like our number one handheld of 2024.
1 – ASUS ROG Ally X
The ASUS ROG Ally X is my handheld of the year. A lot of you don’t consider it retro, so the Retroid Pocket 5 wins that if you really need the distinction to help you sleep at night, but the Ally X is absolutely the handheld of the year.
For a lot of the same reasons that the AYN Odin 2 won last year, but it let me just completely consolidate my entire handheld collection into just the X and another device, which right now, that’s the Retroid Pocket 5.
Fans of the channel know that I’ve always preached buy once cry once, or the simple philosophy of buying a single handheld that covers pretty much every need – and the X is obviously that. Seriously, stop buying so many handhelds, buy one or two, this isn’t Pokemon.
But the Ally X is just an absolute one and done beast – PC games, emulation, a full blown computer, eGPU support, and so much more – the X does everything that you’d want it to do and with an 80wh battery, it lasts a very long time.
I don’t know what the Ally 2 will look like, or what they’ll do, but if this is what they have to improve upon, I absolutely cannot wait to see that. To me, there is no better handheld to buy out there – nothing beats the X.
Coffee Table Devices
That’s my list of best and worst handhelds of 2024. It’s important to call out the handhelds that don’t deserve your money, as well as the ones that do deserve you money and not shy away from that. Sometimes that leads you to being blacklisted, and so be it – you’d have to really have no spine to sell your soul for a $50 device.
Now, if you’re curious what my coffee table of handhelds that I use most often looks like, we have my Nintendo New 3DS, with my Blastoise faceplate, that I use to shockingly play 3DS games of course. At least until we get retro achievements for 3DS.
My Switch Lite, which of course, is used to play Switch games because emulating Switch is a meme.
The Analogue Pocket, which I don’t use as often as I’d like, but do occasionally because I love the handheld quite a bit and still think there’s no better screen in handhelds.
Then we have the RG CubeXX, which is my current Linux type device just to say I have one, but I can see the TrimUI Brick taking this spot, if it ever arrives.
Then of course there’s the Retroid Pocket 5 with the Gamecube color because it’s beautiful and this is my daily use handheld for anything PSP and under, all of that falls in the Retroid Pocket 5 umbrella.
Lastly, the big honcho, the ASUS ROG Ally X that I use for well, everything, but emulation wise, it’s GameCube, PS2 and above for retro achievements and then all the awesome PC games and so on.
Minimalism for devices, that’s the game I play. One device to rule them all, I’m still looking for it, but we’re close. So very close.