Anbernic RG-34XX

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Device Overview: Anbernic RG-34XX

The Anbernic RG-34XX is a single-minded machine built to answer one question: what if the Game Boy Advance had never gone out of production? It landed in December 2024 in the flat, horizontal candybar shape of the original GBA, right down to the near-1:1 body dimensions of 144.6 x 81.8 x 24.8 mm and a hand-friendly 188 grams. Inside sits the Allwinner H700, the same quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 chip Anbernic has dropped into most of its 2024-2025 lineup, clocked at 1.5GHz and paired here with a modest 1GB of LPDDR4 and a Mali-G31 MP2 GPU. This is not a pocket PC and it does not pretend to be one. It is a Linux-based ARM emulation handheld with a deliberately capped ceiling, and it is refreshingly honest about where that ceiling sits.

Emulation performance, generation by generation

Start with what the H700 nails, because that list is long. Every 8- and 16-bit system runs at full speed with no asterisks: NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Master System, Genesis, PC Engine, Neo Geo. Game Boy Advance, the entire reason this thing exists, is flawless through the gpSP and mGBA cores in RetroArch, with clean audio and no frame-pacing hiccups. PlayStation 1 is where most owners will spend their harder hours, and the large majority of the PS1 catalog holds full speed under PCSX-ReARMed; Crash Team Racing and the like run without complaint, while the heaviest 3D titles can dip but stay playable start to finish.

Above PS1 the honesty kicks in. Nintendo 64 through Mupen64Plus is genuinely hit-and-miss: Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time hold up, but anything that leans on the RDP’s fill rate stutters. Dreamcast via Flycast manages lighter 2D fighters and simpler games and chokes on the demanding ones. PSP through PPSSPP tells the same tale, with 2D and light 3D titles enjoyable and the graphically ambitious ones a slideshow. Sega Saturn is effectively off the table beyond a few 2D games. Treat N64, Dreamcast and PSP as a bonus you occasionally dip into, never a reason to buy.

Screen, build and controls

The 3.4-inch IPS panel is the headline act. At 720×480 in a 3:2 aspect ratio, this is one of the very few handhelds that gives GBA content perfect 3x integer scaling: the GBA’s native 240×160 tripled lands exactly on 720×480, so pixels are razor-sharp with no shimmer or uneven scanlines. The panel is fully laminated with OCA, it is bright enough, viewing angles are wide, and the listed 110Hz refresh rate lends scrolling a smoothness you don’t expect at this price. The build is all plastic but tightly assembled, and at 188 grams it disappears in your hands.

Controls are the compromise you accept. There are no analog sticks at all, Hall effect or otherwise. You get a d-pad, four face buttons, and L1/R1 plus L2/R2 shoulder buttons stacked side by side on the top edge, along with a vibration motor and a proper 3.5mm jack. For everything this device is actually good at, up to and including PS1’s 2D library, you rarely miss sticks. But that stickless layout is a hard wall against 3D: N64 and PSP become awkward to control even when they run, and a game like Ape Escape is simply unplayable. The one nitpick reviewers flag is a volume wheel that doesn’t spin all the way around.

Software and setup

Out of the box the RG-34XX boots Anbernic’s own 64-bit Linux build, which is functional, homely, and the first thing most owners replace. Custom firmware is where this handheld comes alive: it is well supported by MinUI (the minimalist crowd favorite), muOS, Knulli and ROCKNIX, all of which boot faster, scrape box art far better, and manage saves and states more gracefully than stock. Flashing follows the usual routine of imaging a second microSD and booting from it, and because the RG-34XX has dual card slots you can keep the stock card intact in one and run your CFW from the other. If you have never touched custom firmware, this is a forgiving place to learn, with deep community documentation behind every option.

Price, value and who it is for

At roughly $60, frequently $59.99 on sale against a $69.99 list, the RG-34XX is priced exactly where it belongs. It undercuts anything with analog sticks and a larger screen, and it comprehensively beats the anonymous OEM clones it superficially resembles. Buy it if your emulation appetite ends at GBA and PS1 and you want the sharpest possible screen for that content in a genuinely pocketable, GBA-shaped body. Skip it if you care about N64, PSP or Dreamcast, or if you cannot live without thumbsticks, in which case Anbernic’s own RG35XX Plus or the larger RG40XX will serve you better. Note too that a clamshell sibling, the RG34XXSP, exists for buyers who want a folding GBA SP form factor instead. But within its narrow lane, the RG-34XX is the best-scaling, sharpest GBA machine Anbernic has ever shipped.