Retro Maker Anbernic Hopes to Make Handhelds Mainstream

Gizmodo

28-05-2025

Anbernic makes retro handhelds, practically an avalanche of retro handhelds. The company is known for pushing so many products out the door each year, customers can barely keep up. Now, the handheld maker seems to be one of the few pushing into the direct U.S. market in an effort to offer customers one of the bare few avenues of gaming for cheap. Going mainstream has a few costs—not just in price—but in what the company needs to do to avoid scrutiny over its promotion of legally murky game emulation.
Gaming deals hunter Wario64 first picked up on Anbernic's move into the mainstream. The device maker now offers a select few products on Best Buy, specifically the company's more powerful handhelds like the RG 556 with its 5.5-inch display and the RG406H with the 4-inch touchscreen. The RG 406V is a Game Boy-style handheld with a smaller display, but all of these devices run on Android compared to Anbernic's usual stock software. These devices are also far more expensive than if you buy directly from Anbernic. The RG 406V starts at $160 on the handheld maker's site. Through Best Buy, it's $250.
Based on the product descriptions, none of the handhelds listed on Best Buy include any ROMs—the video games ripped from retro cartridges or game discs. These kinds of handhelds normally include a microSD card with a metric ton of old-school titles on them. If you order the devices from China, you can pay a little extra for a small, 128GB microSD card packed to the gills with games (though in our experience, not every ripped ROM will actually work).
You can also find most Anbernic devices on Amazon through third-party sellers at the same price or less than Best Buy. Depending on the reseller, some of these devices will also come with the microSD card full of retro titles. If you want to save money, it's still better to buy directly from the handheld maker. Previously, retro gaming enthusiasts would tell you to check out the prices on dropshipping sites like AliExpress. However, ever since President Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' and the end of de minimis exemptions, AliExpress and fellow cheapo product sites Temu and Shein are still flailing against the crushing weight of new U.S. import taxes.
It's now much easier to buy directly from Anbernic. Last month, the company declared it had to stop direct shipments from China to the U.S., citing tariffs. It promised it would keep shipping to its U.S.-based warehouse and eat some degree of the customs cost. Since then, Anbernic removed the notice from its shipping page and posted on its products that China-to-U.S. shipping was 'restored.' Despite that, if the company wants to continue on its trajectory, it needs other avenues for customers to get its new products.
In just three days, Anbernic announced two separate devices that could be its most enticing creations yet. The first was the RG 35XXPro, a Game Boy recreation with twin joysticks not found on Nintendo's original handhelds. The device bears a striking resemblance to the BatlEXP G350, a super-cheap handheld I bought for around $35 (Anbernic has not clarified its connection to the G350, despite the box including a thank you card with its logo). That cheap-end Game Boy mimic didn't include a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi chip, but the new device does. If the Pro includes a better speaker than the G350 and the original RG35XX, it could prove to be one of the best handhelds of its class.
For those desperate for something truly different, Anbernic dropped a video Wednesday showing off the RG Slide. At first glance, it could be an homage to the T-Mobile Sidekick with its slide-out main screen. We don't know what's happening on the other side of that backplate, but we're praying it's a second screen. There are a paltry few devices designed for Nintendo DS emulation. Those that exist, like the Ayaneo Flip, are priced for handheld PC gamers rather than emulation enthusiasts. We doubt the upcoming OneXSugar with its flip-up controls will be any less expensive. When a Switch 2 costs $450, $150 more than an original Switch, we're growing increasingly desperate for cheap avenues to get into gaming. Anbernic is in a position to level the playing field, as long as it doesn't lose itself in the process.