Retroid Pocket G2: Early reviews showcase strength of new retro gaming handheld in Nintendo Switch and Wii U emulation
Retroid has now started shipping the Pocket G2, which has allowed the likes of Retro Game Corps and Retro Gaming With Deadfred to put the new gaming handheld through its paces. Released on October 28, the Pocket G2 combines a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a 5,000 mAh battery and Qualcomm's recent Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 chipset.
In other words, the Pocket G2 replicates the existing Pocket 5 but with a more powerful chipset. Based on the review videos below, Retroid's new handheld gets close to or surpasses the more expensive Ayn Odin 2 (curr. $399 on Amazon) in high-end emulation, which leverages Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. As a result, Russ from Retro Game Corps sees little value in upgrading from the Pocket 5 to the Pocket G2.
Nonetheless, the Pocket G2 can emulate Wii U and Switch games at higher graphics settings than the PPocket 5. For instance, it is now possible to emulate The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD at 1080p at 30 FPS. Alternatively, Super Mario Odyssey is playable at 60 FPS and the same resolution with the handheld's High Performance mode enabled.
On top of that, the Pocket G2 is capable of emulating PlayStation 2 games at a 2.5x scale or a 3x scale for GameCube titles. Unfortunately, driver issues exist for Qualcomm's new Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 chipset. Like the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 before it, the Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 exhibits graphical issues in some Switch games using its stock GPU drivers. While switching to third-party Turnip drivers resolves these abnormalities, they reduce overall performance to the point where affected games are no longer playable. The Pocket G2 can be ordered from Retroid's website for $199 in a choice of four colours with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.
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