The 7 types at a glance

Types 1, 2 and 3 emulate. Types 4 and 5 use physical cartridges. Types 6 and 7 aren't really in this category at all, and I've included them because plenty of people end up wanting one of those instead.

What counts as a handheld retro console

A handheld retro console is a portable device built to play games from older systems like the NES, SNES, Game Boy and PlayStation 1, either by emulating that old hardware in software or by taking physical cartridges.

That's the honest definition and it's wider than most people expect. The narrower version you'll see everywhere makes emulation the defining feature, which quietly excludes two of the seven types below even though they're sold in the same aisle.

The question worth asking isn't what one is. It's where the games come from, because that single answer decides how much setup you're signing up for, what it costs and whether you'll feel odd about any of it.

The three types that emulate

Emulation is software that makes a modern chip behave like an old console, so a game written for a machine from 1990 runs on hardware from 2026. The device brings the emulator. You bring the games.

1. The simple clamshell handheld

Where games come from: you supply them, on a memory card.

Setup: a card, some files, an afternoon.

These are small, cheap and usually Linux-based. They're built for 2D games instead of anything from the PlayStation era onward. Folding clamshells and little Game Boy shapes.

And there is finally a pink one. The ANBERNIC RG SP launched on 5 August 2026 in Pearl Pink, in a Game Boy Advance SP shape, with a 3.4 inch 720 by 480 screen. It weighs 5.9 oz and folds down to 3.3 by 3.2 by 0.9 inches, which genuinely fits a pocket.

It ships with no preloaded games, which after the legal section below I'd now call a feature!

There are no analog sticks, so it's for 2D and it isn't pretending otherwise. For a first handheld that's the right trade rather than a compromise.

If you'd rather watch somebody hold one, Retro Game Corps is the channel I'd send you to and this starter handheld video is a good place to begin. He covers this whole category properly and in far more depth than I do.

2. The Android emulation handheld

Where games come from: you supply them.

Setup: real. It's a small tablet with buttons.

Bigger, more powerful, more systems, more fiddling. These run Android, so they'll also do app store games, streaming and whatever else you throw at them.

Mine is the ANBERNIC RG405V.

The 4:3 screen is the whole point and it took me ages to understand why! Nearly everything made before about 2005 was built for a squarish screen, so on a widescreen handheld you get black bars down both sides. On this one the games just fill it... which sounds like a small thing and completely changes how a Game Boy game feels.

Two honest things. It's not pink and ANBERNIC has never made a pink one, which I know is where some of you will stop reading. And it's much bigger than you're expecting, so pockets are off the table.

Anything up to about PlayStation 1 is comfortable on hardware like this. PlayStation 2 is where budget handhelds fall over, mine very much included.

3. The "10,000 games included" handheld

Where games come from: already on it, and that's the issue.

Setup: none, which is exactly why it sells.

You'll see hundreds of these. Unbranded, cheap, promising a library in the thousands.

I'd skip them, and the legal question is only half of it. The libraries are mostly filler, plenty of the games simply don't load, the naming is chaos and the cheap memory cards they ship on rarely last long.

It's a type rather than a brand, which is why it's on the list. Once you can recognise it, the rest of the search results get much easier to read.

The two types where the games come with it

This is the half of the category nobody writes about for beginners, and it's the answer for a lot more people than you'd think.

4. The licensed cartridge handheld

Where games come from: cartridges you buy, officially licensed.

Setup: none at all.

The Evercade EXP-R takes physical cartridges of licensed collections, over 600 games across 60-odd cartridges, on a 4.3 inch screen. Evercade's own site lists which collections exist. The Super Pocket does the same thing in a smaller, cheaper body with games already on it.

Nothing to download, nothing to configure, nothing to feel funny about. As a gift this is the one, and it isn't close.

5. The cartridge-accurate handheld

Where games come from: your own original cartridges.

Setup: slot the cart in.

The Analogue Pocket doesn't emulate at all. It uses a chip that behaves almost identically to the original hardware, and it takes real Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges, with adapters for Game Gear and a few others.

If you still have a box of your own cartridges somewhere, this is the type that turns them back into something you can play. It's also the most expensive thing on this list by a distance.

my pink korner

The two that aren't really handhelds at all

Both of these get bought instead of a retro handheld all the time, so they belong on the map.

6. The official back catalogue

Where games come from: Nintendo, legally, by subscription.

Setup: none.

Nintendo Switch Online puts NES, SNES and Game Boy libraries on the base tier. Nintendo's own page lists what's in each one. The Expansion Pack adds N64, Game Boy Advance and Genesis. Save states, rewind, all official.

If you already own a Switch, this is the cheapest way into retro games that exists and it needs no new hardware at all.

7. The handheld PC

Where games come from: anywhere. It's a computer.

Setup: it's a computer :)

A Steam Deck plays modern games, older games and everything in between. Completely different job, several times the money and much heavier in a bag.

Worth naming because "handheld gaming device" search results mix these in constantly, and the first time you see one you'll wonder why it costs five times as much.

Is it legal to play retro games on a handheld

I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice, so here's what the actual sources say instead of what I reckon.

The devices are fine. Emulator software generally doesn't violate copyright as long as it's written without using the original console's own code. Even Nintendo's own patent attorney has publicly agreed emulators are technically legal.

The game files are the complicated part. Downloading them is copyright infringement in the US even for a game you already own on cartridge. That piece quotes several lawyers saying exactly that, including one from the Electronic Frontier Foundation who also notes it'd be "rare and approaching never" for anyone to go after an individual downloader.

Rare isn't the same as legal, and I'd rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise.

Making your own copy is the clean version. The US Copyright Office's position is that if you want a backup of software you lawfully own, you should back it up yourself. Doing that with cartridges needs a dumping device, so it's a project rather than a purchase.

Why so many people end up in the grey area anyway: the Video Game History Foundation found that 87 percent of classic games released in the US are critically endangered, meaning there's no legal way to buy them at all.

And this is exactly why types 4, 5 and 6 exist on this list. If any of that puts you off, they're real answers rather than consolation prizes.

Which type suits you

The one I love most, and the one I'd start you on

The one I love is type 2, and it's the ANBERNIC RG405V sitting on my desk. It's the thing I reach for when I want to play something without sitting at a screen, and that 4:3 panel does something to old games that I genuinely didn't expect from a spec sheet.

Mine came with a 128 GB card in the box, a 4 inch touchscreen at 640 by 480, 4 GB of RAM and a 5500 mAh battery, running Android 12. And yes, I'd buy it again today, which is about the highest thing I can say for a piece of hardware that has lived on a desk this long.

The ANBERNIC range, and which one I'd point you at

ANBERNIC makes a lot of these and the model names are almost deliberately confusing, so here's the short version of the four worth knowing about.

A word on the pink, because I know that's why some of you are here. The RG SP is the only ANBERNIC on Amazon in the US that comes in pink. Not the RG35XX, not the RG34XX, not the RG40XX. If you want a pink handheld from this brand, that's the one, and it folds shut which is half its charm.

The one I'd start you on is type 1. A little clamshell that folds shut, weighs almost nothing, runs 2D games perfectly and comes in pink is a much gentler way in than a big Android device with a fan in it. It's cheaper, it's smaller and there's far less that can go wrong on day one.

Those being different answers isn't a contradiction. Mine is the one I grew into. Yours doesn't have to start there!

And if the game-sourcing side of all this puts you off, type 4 is a completely respectable place to land. Cartridges, no setup, nothing to think about. I'd never talk anybody out of it.

One last practical thing whichever way you go: budget for a decent memory card. The bundled ones are the weak link across this entire category, so a first purchase is really two purchases.

Handheld retro console FAQ, the questions I get asked most