The Guide to Aspect Ratio’s & Resolutions on Retro Handhelds

One thing that we’ve had to deal with while using retro handhelds is aspect ratio’s and resolutions of different systems. What were the original ratio’s? If I upscale, how much do I need to get to 1080p? What about 4K? What exactly is 8x resolution, what’s that resolution, the app doesn’t tell me?

Let’s answer all of that and more here.

The numbers under 720p, 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p are the upscale needed in the emulator to pass those resolutions. Everything is rounded up to the nearest number to avoid partial upscales.

SystemNative Aspect RatioNative Resolution720p1080p1440p2160p (4K)
Atari 52004:3320×2403x5x6x9x
Atari Lynx1:57:1160×1028x11x15x22x
ColecoVision4:3256×1924x6x8x12x
MSX3:2256×1924x6x8x12x
MSX23:2256×1924x6x8x12x
Neo Geo10:7320×2244x5x7x10x
Neo Geo Pocket/Pocket Color20:19160×1525x8x10x15x
Nintendo 3DS15:9 (top), 4:3 (bottom)800×240 (top), 320×240 (bottom)3x5x6x9x
Nintendo 644:3320×2403x5x6x9x
Nintendo DS3:2 (both)256×192 (both)4x6x8x12x
Nintendo Entertainment System4:3, 8:7256×2403x5x6x9x
Nintendo Game Boy/Game Boy Color10:9160×1445x8x10x15x
Nintendo Game Boy Advance3:2240×1605x7x9x14x
Nintendo GameCube4:3640×4802x3x3x5x
Nintendo Switch16:91280×720 (handheld), 1920×1080 (docked)1x2x2x3x
Nintendo Wii4:3 (all), 16:9 (some)640×4802x3x3x5x
Sega Dreamcast4:3640×4802x3x3x5x
Sega Genesis4:3320×2403x5x6x9x
Sega Master System4:3256×192
Sega Saturn4:3320×2403x5x6x9x
Sony PlayStation4:3320×2403x5x6x9x
Sony PlayStation 24:3 (all), 16:9 (some)640×4802x3x3x5x
Sony PlayStation Portable16:9480×2723x4x6x8x
Sony PlayStation Vita16:9960×5442x2x3x4x
Super Nintendo Entertainment System4:3, 8:7256×2244x5x7x10x
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