Anbernic RG477V: Early review calls it an excellent retro gaming handheld drawn back by its GPU
The Anbernic RG477V is the latest retro gaming handheld from Anbernic. While launch and pricing details of the handheld's have already been released ahead of its release on December 20th, reviews of the RG477V have surfaced online, revealing some very important details about the handheld.
Among the early reviews of the RG477V is that of Russ of the Retro Game Corps YouTube channel. The review praises the build of the device, even calling it “probably the best vertical handheld” Anbernic has ever made. In a comparison with other vertical handhelds such as the Retroid Pocket Classic (available on Amazon for $149), Anbernic RG406V, Ayaneo Pocket DMG, and the Nintendo Game Boy DMG, the RG477V is the largest of them all. That should be no surprise, considering it has the largest display, too.
Anbernic has made the RG477V comfortable to hold even during extended gaming sessions, although considering its weight of 339 grams, owners will want to avoid it falling on their face when playing laying on their backs. The review also praises its controls, but highlights the dead zone of the joysticks, which are a little bit large and square-shaped. However, they are pretty good during gameplay.
Russ noted that the Anbernic RG477V had a performance issue that caused the device to really heat up in high performance mode, reaching 105 °C. It also failed the Wild Life Extreme Stress test, dropping significantly after the first loop. However, after notifying Anbernic, they released an OTA for the device which fixed the issue (in performance mode). Performance wise, the RG477V is said to be close to that of the Ayaneo Pocket DMG, which costs nearly double.
With respect to retro game emulation, users should expect black bars when playing Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance games because of their 3:2 aspect ratios. However, NES, SNES, PS1, SEGA Genesis, Arcade, PS1, GameCube, and SEGA Dreamcast games which have a 4:3 aspect ratio like the Anbernic RG477V are fine.
The review noted that the RG477V is a perfect fit for emulating GameCube and PS2 games at up to 2.25x resolution, but the experience is marred by the Mali GPU of the MediaTek Dimensity 8300 processor. For example, when playing Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario doesn't appear when using Vulkan but appears when you switch to OpenGL. It is therefore advised that users switch between Vulkan and OpenGL to get the best experience.
The RG477V also struggles with several Nintendo Switch games and doesn't provide a stellar experience for PC games played using Gamehub because of the Mali GPU. Surprisingly, Russ also ran into an issue when playing the Android version of Diablo Immortal, as the controls didn't respond at all. However, several other Android games run fine on the handheld.
The 43-minute-long review mentions some other key details, so you should definitely watch it if you plan to purchase the Anbernic RG477V.
The Anbernic RG477V will be available to purchase on December 20th, starting at $219 for the base model with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage and $239 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant. After three days, Anbernic will end the $20 discount on the prices and begin selling them for $239 and $259 respectively.
Source(s)
Add as a preferred