Happy April from Retro Handhelds! (Patreon)

Hello Patrons!

It's hard to believe the first quarter of 2022 is behind us already. The crew at Retro Handhelds has been keeping busy these last few months. Here's a quick rundown of some of the latest developments in the scene.

Thor recently got his hands on a Steam Deck, and did a live SSD upgrade and testing stream with Stubbs and Russ. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr-Txn6_CBo Over on the Retro Game Corps channel, Russ has been putting out a bevy of new Steam Deck content as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD3EmnCG0i8 Did you hear his EmuDeck video got a shout out in Forbes?! https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2022/03/28/running-emulators-on-steam-deck-just-got-much-easier-with-this-new-app/?sh=2446096b4a48

After a relative quiet period for device rumors, we've seen a small trickle of news coming out of Anbernic. After the lukewarm reception of the RG552, it appears Anbernic is looking to take another attempt at the 5" market with an RG503 handheld. Few details have been released yet, but we've set up an #anbernic_rg503 channel to see if they're able to redeem themselves in the eye of the community. More out of left field, it appears that Anbernic is also looking for a piece of the Steam Deck pie. Their new Win600 handheld is turning heads and leaving people eager for more details on this 6" Windows handheld. Likewise, feel free to keep tabs with us in the new #anbernic_win600 channel.

For those who preordered towards the end of last year, the first new batch of Analogue Pocket handhelds have begun landing on people's doorsteps (Thor and Stubbs are doing a livestream tonight!). Panic's Playdate is also gearing up to ship its first round of preorders. With any luck, we'll have reviews up of them soon.

Speaking of reviews, FlatFootFox recently took a brief detour from the handheld space and took a look at the GUN4IR light gun system. If you've ever been curious about building your own light gun, or light gun emulation in general, be sure to give his latest writeup a look. https://main.retro-handhelds.com/blog/a-brief-look-at-the-gun4ir-light-gun/

Also, the Game of the Month program has shifted into high gear! We're getting so many nominations that we face the very real likelihood of running out of letters during the voting process. Not content to stop there, Rapid99 has decided to launch a new Game of the Week program! This weekly program will highlight a new short title every Saturday night, making sure that even the most die hard of Game of the Month contenders always have something new to play. Better yet, these games are designed to be completed in under two hours, meaning your backlog shouldn't balloon too large for those completionists out there.

Lastly,
You may have seen the BRB Gaming Podcast quietly rebrand. Thor & Stubbs wanted to simplify and unify the branding. RH & BRB were separate entities originally, before joining together inside RH. As the YouTube version of the show started going, this meant having two theme songs, two intro videos, as well as the two logos to manage. After 51 episodes of BRB, it is time for something new.

A few changes:

The show is now called 'RH Live!' on YouTube. This implies the gang will be recording live for the most part, so you can participate in chat and hang out with the crew! This allows for more shenanigans and helps us bring timely content to you as fast as possible. Episode 1 just dropped (https://youtu.be/zFyV8qYvCcg) where Stubbs hosts an impressions session and tirade about the RGB10S, before he and Thor go into their signature banter and look at some of the craziest handhelds on AliExpress.

For the audio version of the podcast, you'll see episodes show up as usual (commonly released on Tuesday evenings), and you'll still receive your episode notifications. The only real change is the show now has seasons. So, this Tuesday's episode will be Season 2 Episode 1.

There will also be new segments! We are taking requests so please let us know if you have any fun ideas, Stubbs & Thor may be all too willing to listen! We have fun new guests coming up too (Pico-8 emulator Fake-08's dev Supergrom is next!) and we will continue to cover the latest in retro and modern (and how modern can be enjoyed on these handhelds).

As far as the backlog episodes that have been uploading to YouTube, they will continue until the show is caught up at Episode 39. These episodes are released weekly on Saturday.

Ok time to wrap up.

Thanks again for your continued support. You all are what continues to make Retro Handhelds possible!

PS: thank you for having a giggle with us for the April Fools gag (Elden Ring Handhelds was a runaway success!)

Your friends in retro,

The Retro Handhelds Team