Celebrating 25K in Discord & RH Origin Story, and other July Happenings (Patreon)

Greetings, fellow enthusiasts & Happy July! Stubbs here.

A lot has been going on, including new partnerships and endeavors, but mainly we are celebrating reaching 25,000 members in our Discord! We are floored and appreciate each and every one of you. If you have a moment, I'd like to share the RH origin story to celebrate.

This place of shenanigans and friendships all started from making a sub reddit for the Retroid Pocket 2. It could play N64, and it was adorable! After r/Retroid went live on August 4th, 2020, and the hype and shipping times grew, we found ourselves wanting a place to talk more in real-time about our cravings for nostalgia goodness, and wanted to try some Netplay. On August 9th this Discord server went live as "Retroid Handhelds".

We formed a mod team ( @Founder ), and had a lot of meme-ing ( @victoria//silverdusk ), collaborating on projects, building things with @eems, creating in house CFW (thanks to @The Turtle Thor!, and our @Developers), and exhaustively tried our hand at being device support wizards (thanks @TwiddledeeToffee & Co). We also got weirdly into chicken lore, since the RP2 had references to something called a 'Chicken Simulator'.

After devices started arriving on doorsteps, we wanted to talk games, Netplay wasn't going so hot, and it seemed most wanted to play single player games and chat. So we pivoted the idea to being  @GotX Club, finding a leader in @Rapid99 who has kept a steady and unwavering hand over the psychological experiment ever since.

We also started a website (thanks to Rickinbsb, @SuperJimmyRustles, spmfox, & @ryan86me ), as well as a podcast that year. 2021 was a year of growth and excitement, starting with a re-brand as 'Retro Handhelds' to chat and argue about even MORE devices, adding r/Anbernic  , r/PowKiddy , and r/Miyoo to our sub reddit roster, and got excited for the Steam Deck, and Odin. All of a sudden we jumped from enjoying PSP, DC, & DS as the high end cap, to GameCube, Wii, PS2, and 3DS! This also heralded the beginning of our Patreon Owls, and partnerships began with our friends Retro Game Corps and RESET Collection, and made a YouTube channel!

2022 delivered on the SD & Odin hype, and we had some fun GotX events throughout the year, as well as a music jam (thanks Choosh) and again we saw emulation push the envelope! Vita and Switch were on the table, but not just that, Windows handhelds were becoming mainstream...so now we added Wii-U, PS3, XB, and XB360 to the conversation, it was nuts! But in a sudden twist, the Miyoo Mini & RG35XX stole the show and the era of the true Budget Device was born, and the ultimate evil, Cheeto Steve.

Which brings us to now: 2023's been a wild ride so far, and the ending is yet to be written, but we are so stoked you're all here with us! We can't wait to see what's next (please let it be Green 35xx+). Thank you to our Staff, Patrons, and Premium Members for keeping the lights on, and our affiliates, friends at RGH & SBC Gaming, as well as partners @RetroGameCorps @Retro Tech Dad & @Joey's Retro Handhelds who call RH their home (we hear @RetroBreeze & @TeamRetrogue will soon be finding a home in RH too, stay tuned!)

From my handheld collection to yours,
Stubbs & RH Staff