Finally I got to the point where I was prepared to spend £50 on an Anbernic RG35XX just so I could stop thinking about it - so that's what I did.
Initial thoughts
I was pretty delighted to receive the thing so shortly after ordering it; I wasn't expecting it until the end of September so it came about 5 weeks early.
First impressions were positive too: it's small and sturdy enough for my purposes, decent screen etc.
Despite it being a bit of an unnecessary purchase (I already own an RG351M), I had no buyer's remorse.
Garlic OS
The received wisdom is that GarlicOS is the way to go on this device, so I got to it. I followed the retro game corps instructions and despite finding the process a smidge more involved than I was expecting, I finally had it up and running.
Problems
Right from the start I had issues with the firmware failing to boot, crashing, freezing up, glitching out.
I tried every solution I could find online:
- disconnect the battery from the PCB to allow it to discharge
- use MBR instead of GPT partition scheme
- reduce the size of the SD card for the OS
- single SD and double SD setup
No matter what I found GarlicOS too unreliable to usable. ALmost every time I tried to wake it up or turn it on it required multiple restarts / reboots to get going. No use for something I want to keep in my pocket for bitesize play.
Stock OS
I investigated MinUI but that needs to be installed on top of the stock OS and I couldn't get the reduced version to image properly, so I gave up and went back to the SD card that came with the device.
The stock OS is much more reliable than Garlic OS, but it still feels a bit flaky. Pressing the power button once is (I believe) supposed to put it into some kind of sleep mode that supports a quick start, but for me it will not wake up.
Every time I want to stop playing I have to shut it down completely - again, not great for pick-up-and-play.
Advantages of stock
I've realised that the fun of this machine lies less in playing through classic AAA retro games like Link to the Past or Fire Emblem or whatever than in just trawling through the thousands of shovelware titles that come with the stock OS.
I'm discovering my own Neo Geo deep cuts rather than relying on other people's lists online.
Even the games that only hold my interest for a few minutes are informative; the sheer number of side-scrolling beat 'em ups thay have been released for arcade and home consoles is insane. It's cool to play them and note the good features, even if they aren't, overall, good games. It also gives me a much better appreciation of something like the Scott Pilgrim game that was such an homage to that whole genre.
Disadvantages of stock
After having a taste of what Garlic OS was like to use, it's frustrating not to be able to use button shortcuts to save state, fast forward, screengrab etc.
I'd like to do a wee series of posts about games that have entertained me in one way or another, but it's hard without an easy way of taking snapshots.
What next?
I bought some new 64GB SD cards and I was thinking of having one more round of trying custom firmware, or maybe waiting to see how Garlic OS version 2.0 performs (it's apparently being worked on) but now that I think about it, it's probably a lost cause since the stock OS has problems too. Maybe I'll see if I can get it returned and refunded and invest in something else.
END