From a $50 brick that plays everything through PlayStation 1 to a $789 PC that runs PlayStation 3, compared on what each one actually plays. Tell the picker what you want and it finds your handheld.
All ten drawn to the same scale by real width, cheapest on the left. The picture on each screen shows how far up the console timeline it plays well. Hover one to find it in the charts; click to jump to its entry.
Pick the newest console you want to play and a budget, and the matching handhelds light up in the list below.
| Device | NES | SNES | GBA | PS1 | N64 | DS | PSP | Dreamcast | GameCube | PS2 | 3DS | Wii | Switch | PS3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miyoo Mini Plus$55 | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | playable | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Anbernic RG35XX Pro$50 | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | playable | playable | playable | playable | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Anbernic RG34XX SP$67 | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | playable | playable | playable | playable | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Anbernic RG556$185 | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | playable | playable | playable | no | no | no |
| Retroid Pocket 5$179 | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | playable | playable | no | no |
| Retroid Pocket Flip 2$189 | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | playable | playable | no | no |
| Retroid Pocket 6$244 | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | playable | no |
| AYN Thor$329 | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | playable | no |
| AYN Odin 3$369 | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | playable | playable |
| Valve Steam Deck OLED$789 | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | full speed | playable | playable |
Full speed across the libraryPlayable: lighter titles, or with per-game settingsNot realistic
The smallest, simplest way to carry 8-bit, 16-bit and Game Boy games
$554 of 14 consoles at full speed
The Miyoo Mini Plus is the device that made the current retro-handheld boom pocket-sized. With the community-made Onion OS it boots in seconds, runs NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation 1 games without fuss, and fits in a jeans pocket. It is a dead end above that: 128 MB of RAM rules out anything newer than PS1, there are no analog sticks, no Bluetooth and no HDMI out. Held Games gave it their Best Pocketable award in mid-2026, and the V2 announced in October keeps the same shell with a quad-core Rockchip chip.
Price: $55 list; the Mini Plus V2 with a faster Rockchip chip was announced 26 October 2026 at about €65.
The best all-round handheld under $60
$504 of 14 consoles at full speed
The Anbernic RG35XX Pro is the Allwinner H700 in its most sensible shell: a vertical brick with a sharp 4:3 screen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and HDMI out for $50. Everything through PlayStation 1 runs at full speed, and lighter Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and PSP titles work with tweaks. Readers of Retro Handhelds voted it the best device under $50 in December 2025. Like every H700 device it has no analog sticks, so 3D games that need them are better served by the horizontal models below.
Price: about $50 (Retro Catalog; Held Games, July 2026).
Sources: Retro Catalog Retro Handhelds reader vote
Game Boy Advance games in a clamshell that protects its own screen
$674 of 14 consoles at full speed
The Anbernic RG34XX SP is a flip-open clamshell with a 3:2 screen that matches the Game Boy Advance library pixel for pixel. It uses the same Allwinner H700 as the RG35XX Pro, so its ceiling is the same: perfect through PS1, patchy above. The hinge means it survives a bag without a case, which is why Held Games call it the best handheld for kids. Note that Anbernic cut the RAM from 2 GB to 1 GB in January 2026 and some units reportedly shipped with 512 MB, so check the listing.
Price: about $67–70 (Retro Catalog; Held Games, July 2026); the slimmer RG SP successor started at $64.99 in August 2026.
Sources: Retro Catalog Time Extension, RG SP
The cheapest handheld that plays most of the PlayStation 2 library
$1858 of 14 consoles at full speed
The Anbernic RG556 is the cheapest device Retro Handheld HQ rates as great or better for PlayStation 2, and its 5.48-inch AMOLED won Held Games' Best Screen award in 2026. The Unisoc T820 runs N64, Dreamcast and PSP at full speed, most of PS2 and some GameCube. Its tall 20:9 screen letterboxes 4:3 games with thick black bars, and the Android build is bare, so you install your own emulators. If you can stretch to the Retroid Pocket 5 you get a stronger chip and a 16:9 screen for roughly the same money.
Price: $184.99 list, $174.79 on sale at anbernic.com on 3 November 2026.
The best value in emulation handhelds, while stock lasts
$17910 of 14 consoles at full speed
The Retroid Pocket 5 is the device to beat under $200. Its Snapdragon 865 runs nearly all of PlayStation 2 and GameCube at native resolution, lighter Wii titles and everything older, on a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED. Held Games named it Best Overall and Best Value in their 2026 mid-year awards, and in September 2026 Retroid cut it to $179 with 12 GB of RAM as a farewell price: it will be discontinued when stock runs out. The demanding end of the PS2 library needs per-game settings, and the 60 Hz panel shows its age next to the Pocket 6.
Price: $179 for 12 GB/128 GB since the permanent cut on 14 September 2026; Retroid will discontinue it when stock sells out.
Sources: Notebookcheck, price cut Held Games mid-year awards
Pocket 5 power in a clamshell you can throw in a bag
$18910 of 14 consoles at full speed
The Retroid Pocket Flip 2 is the Pocket 5 folded in half: the same Snapdragon 865, the same 5.5-inch AMOLED and the same PS2 and GameCube performance, behind a hinge that protects the screen. Retro Handhelds readers voted it the best device from $150 to $200. The hinge adds thickness (up to 31 mm closed) and the cheaper Dimensity 1100 version gives up a little PS2 headroom. Like the Pocket 5, it got a permanent price cut in September 2026 and is being sold off.
Price: $189 (Snapdragon 865, 12 GB) or $149 (Dimensity 1100, 8 GB) since September 2026; also end of life.
Sources: Retro Catalog Notebookcheck, price cut
The cheapest device that credibly plays Nintendo Switch games
$24412 of 14 consoles at full speed
The Retroid Pocket 6 brings the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 under $250, which means PS2, GameCube and Wii at two to three times native resolution, 3DS running well and Switch 1 games that are playable, if not always stable. It has an active fan, a 120 Hz AMOLED and a 6,000 mAh battery. Retro Game Corps called it a stellar value in January 2026. Its launch was messy: shipping slipped over OLED calibration, the price went from $229 to $244 in March when memory costs spiked, and the ABXY buttons sit close enough to the left stick to rub a thumb.
Price: $244 for 8 GB/128 GB since 2 March 2026; a 12 GB/128 GB version returned on 12 June 2026 at $279.
Sources: Notebookcheck, review round-up Android Authority, price rise
The only serious choice for Nintendo DS and 3DS, with a real second touch screen
$32912 of 14 consoles at full speed
The AYN Thor is a dual-screen clamshell: a 6-inch AMOLED on top and a 3.92-inch AMOLED touch screen below, so Nintendo DS and 3DS games play the way they were designed, at two or three times native resolution. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 handles PS2, GameCube and Wii upscaled and Switch 1 playably. Retro Handhelds readers voted it the best device from $200 to $300 (at its old price). It has no built-in grips, the bottom screen gets warm, and AYN raised the price four times in 2026 and moved later batches from UFS 4.0 to slower UFS 3.1 storage.
Price: $329 for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 base model since 3 July 2026 (Lite with Snapdragon 865 $259; Pro $409; Max $479); launched at $299 and raised four times in 2026.
Sources: Android Authority, Thor pricing Steam Deck HQ review
The most powerful Android handheld you can buy
$36912 of 14 consoles at full speed
The AYN Odin 3 is the Android flagship. Its chip was marketed as the Snapdragon 8 Elite; in April 2026 AYN clarified it is the Qualcomm Dragonwing Q8, the same silicon without a cellular modem, and developers report identical or slightly better performance. That buys PS2 and GameCube at 1080p, the best Switch 1 compatibility on Android and the first "decent" PS3 titles through RPCS3. An 8,000 mAh battery, Wi-Fi 7 and 4K DisplayPort out round it off. Emulator support for the new chip is still maturing, the fan whines under load, and the price has risen three times this year. Retro Handhelds expects it to become the Android default. A 7-inch Odin 3 Portal opened pre-orders on 22 October 2026 from $399 and ships in November.
Price: $369 for 8 GB/128 GB since 1 September 2026 (Pro $469, Max $529); launched at $329.
Sources: Retro Handhelds review Retro Handhelds, the Q8 chip
PS3, Wii U and Switch, plus your whole PC library
$78912 of 14 consoles at full speed
The Valve Steam Deck OLED is the only device on this page that realistically runs PlayStation 3 and Wii U, because it is a PC: desktop emulators like RPCS3, Cemu and PCSX2 run as they do on a laptop, and the EmuDeck installer sets them up in under an hour. PS2, GameCube and Wii run upscaled with headroom to spare. The cost is size and money. It is 298 mm wide and about 640 g, lasts four to five hours on PS2-class loads and two to three on PS3, and Valve raised the price by $240 in May 2026, citing component costs. For a PS1-and-older library it is overkill.
Price: $789 for 512 GB and $949 for 1 TB since 27 May 2026, up from $549 and $649; the LCD model is discontinued.
| Miyoo Mini Plus | Anbernic RG35XX Pro | Anbernic RG34XX SP | Anbernic RG556 | Retroid Pocket 5 | Retroid Pocket Flip 2 | Retroid Pocket 6 | AYN Thor | AYN Odin 3 | Valve Steam Deck OLED | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $55 | $50 | $67 | $185 | $179 | $189 | $244 | $329 | $369 | $789 |
| Plays well up to | PS1 and older | PS1 and older | PS1 and older | PS2 and GameCube | PS2 and GameCube | PS2 and GameCube | Switch, Wii and 3DS | Switch, Wii and 3DS | Switch, Wii and 3DS | PS3 and PC games |
| Chip | SigmaStar SSD202D | Allwinner H700 | Allwinner H700 | Unisoc T820 | Snapdragon 865 | Snapdragon 865 or Dimensity 1100 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (865 on Lite) | Qualcomm Dragonwing Q8 (a Snapdragon 8 Elite variant) | AMD custom APU (Zen 2, RDNA 2) |
| RAM | 128 MB | 1 GB | 1 GB (2 GB on early units) | 8 GB | 12 GB (8 GB before July 2026) | 12 GB or 8 GB | 8 GB or 12 GB LPDDR5X | 8, 12 or 16 GB | 8 to 24 GB LPDDR5X | 16 GB LPDDR5 |
| Screen | 3.5" IPS, 640×480 (4:3) | 3.5" IPS, 640×480 (4:3) | 3.4" IPS, 720×480 (3:2) | 5.48" AMOLED, 1920×1080 (20:9) | 5.5" AMOLED, 1920×1080 (16:9) | 5.5" AMOLED, 1920×1080 (16:9) | 5.5" AMOLED, 1920×1080 (16:9), 120 Hz | 6.0" AMOLED 1080p 120 Hz, plus a 3.92" AMOLED touch screen | 6.0" AMOLED, 1920×1080 (16:9), 120 Hz | 7.4" HDR OLED, 1280×800 (16:10), 90 Hz |
| Battery | 3,000 mAh | 3,200 mAh | 3,300 mAh | 5,500 mAh | 5,000 mAh | 5,000 mAh | 6,000 mAh | 6,000 mAh | 8,000 mAh | 50 Wh (about 6,470 mAh) |
| Weight | 136 g | 198 g | 178 g | 300 g | 280 g | 300 g | 304 g | 380 g | 390 g | 640 g |
| Width | 108 mm | 86 mm | 86 mm | 211 mm | 203 mm | 157 mm | 203 mm | 150 mm | 225 mm | 298 mm |
| Analog sticks | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| System | Linux (Onion OS) | Linux (stock, muOS or Knulli) | Linux | Android 13 | Android 13 (Linux supported) | Android 13 (Linux supported) | Android 13 | Android 13 | Android 15 | SteamOS 3 (Linux) |
| Consoles at full speed | 4 of 14 | 4 of 14 | 4 of 14 | 8 of 14 | 10 of 14 | 10 of 14 | 12 of 14 | 12 of 14 | 12 of 14 | 12 of 14 |
| Released | May 2023 | June 2025 | May 2025 | Early 2024 | November 2024 | April 2025 | January 2026 | October 2025 | Late 2025 | November 2023 |
An emulation handheld is only as good as its chip, and the chips come in four tiers. The rule of thumb from EveZone and most reviewers is to buy the tier that matches the newest console you actually want to play, because any chip beyond that is money spent on nothing.
| Chip | Found in | What it plays well |
|---|---|---|
| Allwinner H700Budget Linux | Anbernic RG35XX Pro, RG34XX SP, RG40XXV, RG SP | Everything through PS1 at full speed; N64, Dreamcast, PSP and DS playable but inconsistent. No PS2 or GameCube. |
| SigmaStar SSD202D / Rockchip RK3562Budget Linux | Miyoo Mini Plus and Mini Plus V2 | Through PS1. 128 MB of RAM caps everything above it. |
| Rockchip RK3576Low-mid Linux and Android | Anbernic RG Vita Pro | PSP at three to four times native, N64 and Dreamcast; only lighter PS2 and GameCube titles. |
| Unisoc T820Mid-range Android | Anbernic RG556, RG Cube, RG Slide | N64, Dreamcast and PSP at full speed; most of PS2; some GameCube. |
| Snapdragon 865Mid-range Android | Retroid Pocket 5, Pocket Flip 2; AYN Thor Lite | Most PS2 at native resolution, GameCube excellent, lighter Wii titles. Switch is out of scope. |
| Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 / Dragonwing QCS8550Flagship Android | Retroid Pocket 6, Pocket Nova; AYN Thor, Odin 2 Portal | PS2, GameCube and Wii at two to three times native; 3DS great; Switch 1 credibly playable. PS3 is not realistic. |
| Snapdragon 8 Elite / Dragonwing Q8Flagship Android | AYN Odin 3, Odin 3 Portal; AYANEO KONKR Pocket Fit Elite | The most headroom for Switch 1 and the first playable PS3 titles; emulator support still maturing. |
| AMD Steam Deck APU (Zen 2, RDNA 2)PC handheld | Steam Deck LCD and OLED | PS3, Wii U and Switch through desktop emulators, with tuning. Very efficient at low wattage. |
| AMD Ryzen Z2 ExtremePC handheld | ROG Xbox Ally X, Legion Go 2, MSI Claw A8 | The fastest handheld PCs; stronger PS3 and Switch than the Deck, at $1,000 and up. |
TrendForce reported DRAM contract prices up 93 to 98 percent in the first quarter of 2026. Retroid raised the Pocket 6 and discontinued its 12 GB model, AYN raised the Thor four times and the Odin 3 three times, and Valve added $240 to the Steam Deck OLED in May. Both AYN and Retroid also moved later batches to slower UFS 3.1 storage.
The Pocket 5 and Pocket Flip 2 got 12 GB of RAM in July and permanent farewell prices ($179 and $189) on 14 September 2026. The Pocket Nova (a 4:3 handheld with 8 Gen 2-class power, from $239) launched in July, and the dual-screen Pocket Duo line started shipping in September and October.
A 7-inch 120 Hz OLED version of the Odin 3 with a 9,000 mAh battery and full-size Hall-effect sticks opened pre-orders on 22 October 2026 from $399. It ships in November; there are no reviews yet.
The RG Vita and RG Vita Pro (March, $110 and $150), the GBA-SP-style RG SP (August, from $65) and the dual-screen RG DS Plus (September, about $90) all target the Linux end of the market.
As of November 2026 no public emulator runs commercial Switch 2 games. Nintendo's takedowns in February and August 2026 removed hundreds of Switch 1 emulator forks from GitHub, so Eden, Citron and Kenji NX now self-host. Switch 1 still runs well on Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and above.
Valve has said a successor needs a generational leap in chips, not a 20 to 30 percent bump, and reports put it two to three years out from early 2025. The LCD model is gone and the OLED is $789.
An emulation handheld is a portable device built to run games from older consoles through software emulators, rather than a console's own games. The ten here are the devices that reviewers and the community agreed on in 2026: the Held Games mid-year awards and buyer's guides, Retro Handhelds' December 2025 reader vote of more than a thousand responses, Retro Handheld HQ's system-by-system ratings and Notebookcheck's review round-ups of Retro Game Corps and others. We picked one or two devices per budget tier, favoured devices still on sale, and left out anything without independent reviews, which is why the Retroid Pocket Duo, AYN Odin 3 Portal and Miyoo Mini Plus V2 appear in the news section but not the list.
For most people it is the Retroid Pocket 5 at $179: it plays everything through PlayStation 2 and GameCube on a 1080p AMOLED and Held Games named it Best Overall in 2026. If you want Switch games, the Retroid Pocket 6 ($244) is the cheapest device that plays them; if you want PS3 or PC games, the Steam Deck OLED ($789) is the only realistic choice.
The Anbernic RG556, at about $175 to $185, is the cheapest device rated great for PlayStation 2 by Retro Handheld HQ, and it runs most of the library. The Retroid Pocket 5 at $179 is the better buy while stock lasts: its Snapdragon 865 handles nearly all PS2 and GameCube games at native resolution.
A Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 or better is the floor: the Retroid Pocket 6, AYN Thor and AYN Odin 3 all run Switch 1 games through Eden or Citron, with the Odin 3 the most capable. The Steam Deck runs the most demanding titles. No device plays Switch 2 games; as of November 2026 there is no working public Switch 2 emulator.
No PS2 or GameCube on either. Both play through PlayStation 1 at full speed; Nintendo 64 works for some games with settings changes on the RG35XX Pro, and only barely on the Miyoo Mini Plus. For N64 and above, buy a horizontal device with analog sticks.
The devices and the emulators are legal in the United States and most countries. Downloading games you do not own is not, and handhelds sold with a pre-loaded card of games are legally dubious. Reviewers recommend buying without the pre-loaded card, which is usually a slow, failure-prone microSD, and dumping your own games.
Linux handhelds (Miyoo Mini Plus, Anbernic RG35XX Pro) are cheaper, simpler and last longer on a charge, and community firmware like Onion OS and muOS makes them easy. They stop at PlayStation 1. Android handhelds (Retroid, AYN) cost more, need emulators installed by hand and give you PS2, GameCube, Wii and Switch.
For PlayStation 3, Wii U, Switch and PC games, yes: desktop emulators run on the Deck as they do on a laptop. For anything PS2 and older an Android handheld is smaller, cheaper and lasts longer. The Steam Deck OLED costs $789, weighs about 640 g and gets four to five hours on PS2-class emulation.
Memory. DRAM contract prices rose 93 to 98 percent in the first quarter of 2026 (TrendForce), and NAND followed. Retroid, AYN and Valve all cited component costs for their 2026 price rises; Retroid and AYN also cut RAM or storage on some models. The prices on this page were checked on the date shown in the byline.
Gander Games makes free retro-style browser games and has no connection to any manufacturer on this list. There are no affiliate links on this page.