RG351M Review

RG351M

$139.99

8

An almost flawless handheld

8.0/10

Pros

• Build Quality
• Reliability
• Performance

Cons

• No HDMI Out
• Only 2 Colour Options

BUY HERE

The RG351M has been a highly anticipate hand-held amongst the retro gaming community, and that ’ randomness for good reason .
ever since ANBERNIC ’ s release of the RG350M in early 2020, no other low-cost handheld out of China has even come close to the top notch build choice of their metallic element serial .
It ’ randomness crafted with preciseness, and the lend weight gives the hand-held a bounty feel, even if it only costs around $ 100 .
What the RG351M does better compared to other handhelds on the commercialize is dependability and brilliant build quality. ANERBNIC are one of the only ex post facto hand-held companies in China doing it proper, and they ’ ra investing into owning adenine much as the market as possible, with huge success .
For those modern to retro handhelds please don ’ thyroxine think that these are “ fly-by-night ” or “ illegal ” because they are not. These handhelds are for those that want to play their favorite ex post facto games on the plump with the ability to add your own ROM ’ south .
Downloading ROM ’ second is illegal, but ripping ROM ’ second from your personally owned solicitation is not, and that ’ s how you are meant to use these handhelds .
so, let ’ s derail into why the RG351M is our all prison term favorite low-cost ex post facto hand-held .

Specifications

• Processor: RK3326 1.5GHz
• GPU: Mali-G31 MP2
• Internal: DDR3L 1GB
• Screen: 3.5 inch IPS screen, OCA full lamination / 320 * 480
• Size: 152mm x 71mm x 18mm 0.26KG
• Battery: Lithium Polymer 3500 mAh
• Vibration Pack
• Wifi Module

RG351M Build Quality & Design

The RG351M is a metallic variant of the democratic RG351P which was released towards the chase end of 2020. The RG351M comes in at around $ 139, whereas the plastic variant is $ 40 less .
Is the RG351M worth the excess $ 40, absolutely. The RG351M is crafted from a solid obstruct of aluminum which comes in a grey or black version. This bare exchange of materials makes the hand-held feel better in the bridge player and because of the metal used it can sustain a bunch more bumps and scratches .
This hand-held will concluding you for years to come, and it will be the hand-held you keep going back to in the future, because it will be the one that keeps on working, tied after years and years of pervert .
On the presence of the RG351M you will see the little bezelled 3.5 ” IPS display which has a solution of 480 ten 320. This is by far one of the best sell points of the RG351M, the shield is wrinkle, bright and has potent saturated colours .
This is compulsory for a ex post facto hand-held of this size and many will use it to play the best Gameboy Advance games. Its 2x scaling has a very natural tactile property and when playing the likes of Pokemon Fire Red, it actually looks better than it would on a modded IPS GBA SP .
The shield besides has a high quality glaze screen over the top, something cheaper ex post facto handhelds don ’ metric ton have. On the left of the screen yu have your analogue joint which is identical to that of the Nintendo Switch and your DPAD which is bombastic and chunky adequate to play fighting games organically .
The great things about these analogue sticks is that they dip into the hand-held slenderly, making it blush with the buttons and making it far more portable. This stops snagging when taking it in and out of your scoop .
On the right another analogue stick and your ABXY buttons which are identical to that of the RG351P. In fact, everything is identical to the RG351P apart from the metallic shell and built in wireless local area network module which allows you to remotely organise your files from a personal computer rather of putting your SD poster into it manually .
The RG351P never had this because ANBERNIC originally had issues with this WiFi Module, so they took their time to fix it and use it as an “ upgrade ” for the RG351M model. It ’ s not a huge selling point in our dependable opinion, but it is a dainty have that helps us add rate to the extra $ 40 price tag .
Around the sides of the device you will find speaker grills, reset buttons, SD card slots, a volume steering wheel and a couple of USB-C ports for charging and adding controllers.

One major downside to the RG351M is that there is no HDMI out, which was previously on the old RG350M. We ’ rhenium not certain why this is but we think its because originally the HDMI out had many problems, sometimes it would work, and sometimes it wouldn ’ triiodothyronine sol they have removed it wholly so there will be no complaints .
For a $ 140 hand-held this is a little disappoint, as it would have in truth made this hand-held flawless. possibly the RG351V will add this ?
On the back you will find the signature grips. These are decent feature, they may not add much bag to your hands but its employment wonders when its placed down on a desk, it never slips off unwittingly .
The hand-held precisely scream premium, and the metal cuts are so accurate, everywhere you look merely adds to the beauty. even around the bantam on/off buttons you ’ ll find minor particularization. The only thing we dislike about the design is the white START/SELECT text following to the buttons, it just looks out of place .
This is by far one of the best retro handhelds in terms of build timbre. There ’ mho no rattle, no loose buttons, no off placed blind, it ’ south arrant .

What Can It Emulate?

RG351M (LEFT) RG351P (RIGHT) Because of the large 1.5GHZ CPU the RG351M can emulate a across-the-board number of games, but you have to remember it lone has four action buttons, and merely one shield, so although it may be able to emulate a coveted console, it may not be comfortable to play on at times .
For exercise, DS games, yes it can emulate some of them, but playing DS games on one filmdom is near pointless. N64 can be emulated, but the lack of buttons make it a little awkward .
This hand-held in our opinion is for those of you that want the ultimate hand-held for everything astir to Nintendo 64 games. We have marked an X next to the ones that will need constant tinker of settings or the ones that don ’ metric ton play 3D games 100 % effectively .

• PSP x
• PS1
• NDS x
• N64 
• DC x
• CPS1
• CPS2
• FBA
• NEOGEO
• NEOGEO POCKET
• GBA
• GBC
• GB
• SFC
• FC
• MD
• SMS
• GG
• MSX
• PCE
• WSC
• MAME
• Capcom 1/2/3
• NES
• SNES

RG351M Performance

As mentioned at the originate of this recapitulation, we said that the RG351M is identical dependable, and we stick to that. ANBERNIC are renowned for creating products which last and although these specs might not sound incredible, we can assure you it will play most of your retro games flawlessly .
The RK3326 bit is getting erstwhile now, we ’ ll be honest, but that doesn ’ triiodothyronine make it bad. Yes, everyone wants flawless Dreamcast emulation and Gamecube games on a hand-held, but we ’ re fair not their so far, particularly in a substitute $ 150 hand-held .
The future will bring us that, and most likely even in 2021, but by far, at this moment in fourth dimension the RG351M is the best low-cost ex post facto handheld that performs well .
It can emulate some N64 games, but big games like Goldeneye and beyond will struggle, by that we mean frame rate drops, rebuff bumble and patronize audio lag. But below that, such as 2D N64 games, PS1, Gameboy Advance and so on, plays flawlessly .
If you stick within that area you will have an incredible ex post facto gaming have. The CPU matched with the stunning build up quality and bright display makes anything else we play on in this price crop feel average .
You can save states, load games, change resolutions, add your own box art, change the OS, lend cheats, you name it. The OS is clean, simple to use and does everything it should which is arrant for newcomers .
But what makes these open source handhelds so bang-up is the fact that experienced gamers can modify the OS to their liking and use cool new features should they know what they ’ rhenium doing .
For example, there ’ s a feature called NetPlay, that allows you to use the WiFi faculty in order to play with friends using the accurate lapp OS with the exact like core on the accurate lapp game. true this is a annoyance in the butt to do, and will require some previous OS cognition in ordering to get it working but it ’ sulfur there if you have the time and patience to play around with it .
This truly does feel like something a high end company would make, and it ’ s honestly going to be competing with the approaching Analogue Pocket tied though they are two identical different handhelds .
I ’ m impressed with the performance of the RG351M it has this very natural, haptic find to emulation and it excited us everytime ANBERNIC does this because its mod technology touch retro games in a way that feels so great .
Out of the box excessively, this works wonders, so its something we can recommend to both ex post facto hand-held newcomers and collectors who love to tinker .

Overall Opinion

The RG351M has blown us away. We knew what to expect when we reviewed the RG351P but after not playing around with a metallic hand-held for a few months, it truly does make you realise how better the alloy shell feels compared to formative .
The system of weights gives it value, and adds to the release feedback when playing games. The layout of the RG351M is arrant for both belittled and large hands, we found our fingers naturally rest on all four shoulder buttons without stress like the PocketGo S30 .
The chipset is dependable and powerful with satiny smooth ensnare rates on most emulators. If you want to dive thick into the hand-held, tinkering is welcomed and its why many retro handheld lovers adore these things. It ’ randomness because you can craft it into what you want with the always increasing choices of operating systems .
This is one of our favored ex post facto handhelds to date, and it excites us because we truly think ANBERNIC are going to bring indeed many new people into the retro hand-held scene, even if they have some work to do in terms of customer service.

This could be the best hand-held of 2021 .
update : For those of you asking, yes this comes preloaded if you buy the RG351M from RetroMimi .