This year will be the year when handheld consoles take over the world for real (trust me). I have been following the market (not least via the brilliant Taki Udon on Youtube) since I bought my first retro console PocketGo a few years ago. However, the problem with that and with many other handhelds is that they have lagged behind in terms of performance. They could all emulate games up to the Super NES and perhaps Gameboy Advance, but for example, the Nintendo 64 has not been able to emulate at all – until now. I was super stoked when I was sent a review unit of the new Anbernic handheld, the Anbernic RG552 so let’s dive into it.

What is Anbernic RG552?

Let’s start at the beginning. Maybe you haven’t even heard of Anbernic? For several years the chinese gaming hardware manufacturer, has been quietly amassing an army of fans thanks to their excellent retro handhelds.

The RG552 is Anbernic’s first attempt at a 5″ handheld and a direct response to what the market is leaning to (more Nintendo Switch Lite like handhelds, in terms of size).

As I mentioned, Anbernic has been on the market for a while now and they delivered last year perhaps best handheld console in terms of value for money – the RG351P. This time around, they decided to leverage the more powerful RK3399 chip and that has brought along some exciting new gaming potential with it. Not only is the RG552 more powerful than its predecessor, but it’s also a dual boot device, meaning RG351 fans can continue to stick with the familiar Linux interface, while bleeding edge players can explore what the latest Android OS has to offer.

Features

The Anbernic RG552 houses a RockChip RK3399 which features a six core processor, with two of its cores clocked at 1.8 GHz, and the rest at 1.4 GHz. It’s GPU is a Mali-T860 MP4 running at 600 MHz. For laymen, this is a significant step above the RK3326’s quad core 1.3-1.5 GHz processor used in Anbernic’s RG351 line. However, I need to mention that the RG552 is already slower than some of the recently-released or upcoming retro handhelds. The Retroid Pocket 2+‘s UNISOC Tiger T310 for instance, features a quad core 1.8-2.0 GHz processor, and the Powkiddy X18S features a UNISOC Tiger T618 processor with an eight core 1.8-2.0 GHz processor. Both these CPU’s will probably emulate a few high-end retro games a bit better than the RG552.

The Anbernic RG552 is has a dual boot option, meaning RG351 fans can continue to stick with the familiar Linux interface, while bleeding edge players can explore what the latest Android OS has to offer. (Image credit: Anbernic.com)



Elsewhere, because of the more powerful chip, the Anbernic RG552 is one of the first handhelds to feature an active heatsink in the shape of a fan. Vents on the rear and top of the device draw in and push out air to keep internal components cool, kicking into gear depending on how demanding the current content you’re trying to run is. Fan noise is low and definitely bearable. Other than that it has 2.4GHz Wi-Fi which let you stream games via Steam Moonlight, and it has micro HDMI port to output whatever you’re doing to a monitor.

It has a nice 4 GB of RAM meaning all of your menus and interfaces should remain nice and snappy as you navigate through the device. Storage wise the RG552 has 64GB of built in storage for the Android side of things, while a 16GB microSD card is included for the Linux OS side. A second SD card slot is available too for storing your games and content, but you’ll need to supply that card yourself, if you don’t buy the bundle.

Lastly the RG552 has two 3200 mAh batteries, for a combined total charge of 6400 mAh. In addition to offering a higher capacity, this pairing together of batteries allows the RG552 to offer USB-C PD fast charging (charger included!)

Design

The Anbernic RG552 is one of the bigger dedicated retro handhelds on the market. As I said similar in size to a Nintendo Switch Lite, it features a 5.36-inch gorgeous touchscreen with a HD resolution of 1920 x 1152. In fact, the bright vibrant screen of the RG552 is possibly the best screen on a retro handheld I’ve ever seen and scaled up using accurate integer pixel scaling options, image quality for retro games on the Anbernic RG552 is absolutely phenomenal.

Apart from the beautiful screen, the handheld has a d-pad, the standard dimond-shaped face buttons, small start and select buttons at the top of the device, and a pair of bottom-aligned analog sticks with R3/L3 support.

Speaking of analog sticks. The PlayStation-style placement is arguably the RG552’s biggest disappointment if you ask me. It made sense on 2D-focused handhelds like the RG351P where you mostly used the d-pad. But on this device, which I use mosly to play my N64 library, the thumb positioning feels awkward and after a while I even have to rest them.

Same with the shoulder buttons. They are horizontally placed, which looks good, but feels awkward when playing 3D games. For example I have to let go of the left analog stick to even reach the L2 button (which is the N64’s Z-button). Hopefully Anbernics next handheld will feature stacked shoulder buttons and Xbox-styled analog sticks.

If you download the DIG front-end from Google Play Store, you can get the RG522 to look like the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console with a little tinkering.



Performance

If you’ve used an Anbernic product before or any retro handheld console from last year, you’ll be pleased to know that the RG552 represents a significant boost in performance, from both its Linux OS side and the new Android side.

Sure, some N64 games will have some graphical bugs and/or audio stutter, but that’s more because the emulators need to be updated, rather than due to lack of performance in the RG552. And remember that the N64 have always been notoriously hard to emulate.

On my NEWLY STARTED 🥳YOUTUBE CHANNEL I have started to cover some of the games and will continue to upload gameplay videos (so feel free to follow!).

Basically If you’re looking to play any game from the pre-8-bit, 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit or 64-bit eras (anything from the Atari through to the Nintendo 64 and 2D/3D arcades), you’re in for a treat. I was also really surprised to see how well the RG552 handles Dreamcast titles, at least on the Android side, as it’s near flawless on the popular titles (like Crazy Taxi, Virtua Tennis and Sonic).

If you move on to GameCube and PSP things get a little troublesome. Technically the RG552 can play GameCube games, but not in a way anyone would want to. Same with the PSP, the potential is there, and smaller titles will run in a playable state, but on the whole, I wouldn’t recommend the RG552 as a device for those wanting to play PSP titles. At least not in it’s current state.

Again, I get the feeling it’s more of a software issue rather than hardware. And maybe we’ll see the Anbernic community to do wonders with future updates, who knows.

Overall I would say you should stick to the Android side for most of the time. Sure, that Linux OS sure looks slick and more like a genuine retro gaming console than the Android side, however the overall gaming performance is much better on Android. Also, you can’t use the consoles neat sleep function on Linux.

Verdict

The RG552 is by far the best retro handheld console I have ever used. It is gorgeous, has a solid build, delivers very well in gaming. However, something I haven’t even mentioned yet is the slightly high price tag of $226.99 USD.

I have not yet tested the Retroid Pocket 2+ so I have nothing to compare the RG552 with in terms of value for money and economy is a matter of preferences, so I leave it unsaid if it is worth the price (you’ll have to decide that for yourself). I can only state that this little gem is going with me in my backpack whatever trip I’ll go on in the future.

PROS

  • Phenomenal screen
  • Solid build
  • Amazing retro gaming performance

CONS

  • Analog stick positions
  • Shoulder button positions

The Anbernic RG552 was sent to me for free for review, but I did not get paid to write this. The thoughts on this product are my own. You can grab it directly on Anbernic.com.