The R36S Retro Gaming handheld by Zyetoplays is designed to be the ultimate portable emulation companion. In a competitive handheld gaming market, this retro handheld stands out with its unique design, features and price. Below in this review, I will list down what makes this an amazing option for someone wanting to play those nostalgic games of the past.Build and Design: The design is amazing, with a Gameboy-style chassis with modern control like the R2’s and double analog sticks. It is sleek and compact and can easily fit in most pockets; for me, it brings back the nostalgic look that we all love while keeping the functionality to run later emulation games such as Dreamcast, PS1 and PSP. It’s an all-plastic body with a nice IPS screen that offers vibrant colours and a 640x480 HD Resolution (on a 3.5-inch screen, there are no visible pixels). The keys have a nice click to them but do feel a little “mushy” as time, but with the retro theme, I have no complaints as it is similar to those handhelds of the past. There are 2 Type C ports, one for charging and the other to connect to an external monitor or controller. There are 2 micro SD slots, one for the OS and the other for ROM storage (both are included).Functionality: This retro console is great, with capabilities to run more demanding consoles like PS1, PSP and Dreamcast. I was really surprised at its performance. It is preloaded with over 1000+ Roms of many different emulators for NES, SNES, Gameboy, Sega, Atari, N64, PS1, DS, Dreamcast and PSP. It has many settings to customize to your liking, such as changing the theme, adding titles, overseas, etc. The back plate is removable, allowing easy access to the included rechargeable battery. This is awesome since batteries wear out over time and you can easily replace it. It is running RetroArc on a Linux-based OS. You can change to a different OS, but I’m really happy with the one pre-installed. It does not have a Wifi card; however, you can buy one online and connect it using a USB to type C adapter. You can also connect it via your smartphone and update software that way as well.Performance: As previously mentioned I was really surprised to learn this device can run PSP games. I tried all of the pre-installed titles, and they ransmoothlyly without any issues. Now, that being said, it will struggle with more demanding titles such as the God of War series, especially during heavy rendering areas in the game. Still, I am extremely impressed with what this device is capable of.Price: Finally, with everything I have previously mentioned, what surprised me the most was the price that this device offers those features. Compared to its competitors, the R36S is such an amazing experience for under 50 dollars.My experience: I own a portable handheld gaming console that can easily handle emulations that the R35S is offering, but the battery on that device is atrocious. I have to constantly be tethered to an outlet. After getting the R36S, I just grab it, place it in my pocket and play anyway I go. With the amazing battery, I don’t have to worry about charging for a while. I had forgotten what true portable gaming is supposed to feel like. So, now, this has become my go-to device.Conclusion: I am really happy with this portable handheld device, and if you want to visit those old titles to get the nostalgic feelings I had, then I would highly recommend this device.

All I can say is WOW!! The amount of games on the device is insane, it’s got so many retro games from Nintendo and PlayStation I don’t even know where to start playing. It’s very straight forward to use, but it’s kind of slow loading into games and turning on. It’s a solid good quality device, battery holds up very well. So nice for road trips when the kids phone games use wifi and data, but this doesn't!

Works great, long battery life, and tons of games!

Received product on 05.05.24. My son spent his own money to purchase this and was very excited. He played for a while on 05.05.24 with no problem, he LOVED it. The next day on 05.06.24 he turned the console on and just got a black screen with small random writing. We tried to charge the console thinking maybe it needed to be charged but this did not help. Everytime we try to turn it on we just get the black screen with weird writing. Console worked for less than a day. $80 wasted and now I have a super disappointed 10 year old.