PowKiddy RGB20S

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Device Overview: PowKiddy RGB20S

The PowKiddy RGB20S is a landscape retro handheld that launched at $79.99 to undercut Anbernic on price while copying its silicon. Inside sits the Rockchip RK3326, a four-core ARM Cortex-A35 clocked around 1.3 GHz with a Mali-G31 GPU and 1GB of DDR3 RAM — the same chip that ran the original Anbernic RG351P and RG351V. That heritage tells you almost everything about where this device belongs: it is a capable 8-bit-through-PlayStation-1 machine with a hard ceiling above that, wrapped in a chunky plastic shell that squeezes a full dual-stick layout and a genuine 4:3 screen into a body barely larger than a deck of playing cards. It is cheap, it feels cheap in a couple of places, and it is more fun than the spec sheet suggests.

Emulation performance, generation by generation

Do not read the RK3326 like a Windows PC; it is a low-power ARM SoC from 2018 and its performance curve is steep. Everything through the 16-bit era runs perfectly. NES, SNES, Genesis, Master System, PC Engine and Neo Geo hit full speed under RetroArch cores such as Snes9x, Genesis Plus GX and FBNeo, with headroom left for shaders and run-ahead. Game Boy Advance via mGBA is flawless. PlayStation 1 is the sweet spot — PCSX ReARMed holds a locked 60 fps in Ridge Racer Type 4 and Tekken 3, and the 640×480 panel gives PS1’s 4:3 output a native-feeling home. Above that it turns selective. Nintendo 64 through mupen64plus is a lottery: Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time are playable, but demanding titles like Conker or Perfect Dark chug badly. PSP via standalone PPSSPP handles 2D and lighter 3D games at reduced resolution but drops frames in God of War or Gran Turismo. Nintendo DS runs through DraStic with mixed results and awkward screen layouts. Dreamcast is where the chip surrenders — Flycast technically boots but stutters and crashes, so treat it as a novelty rather than a feature. The honest ceiling is PS1 comfortably, with N64, PSP and DS on a cherry-picked basis.

Screen, build and controls

The 3.5-inch IPS panel is the RGB20S’s best trick: 640×480 in a true 4:3 ratio, bright, with wide viewing angles and no black bars on retro content. The body is dense and pocketable at 120 x 83 x 21 mm, with a low centre of gravity that feels more expensive than it is. The controls are a mixed bag. You get a d-pad, four face buttons, four shoulder buttons and — unusually at this price — two analog sticks. Those sticks are the compromise: they are conventional potentiometer nubs, not Hall effect, and they protrude far enough that one reviewer compared them to Godzilla’s anatomy. They ruin flush pocketability and will drift eventually. The d-pad sits low on the face, so larger hands cramp during longer sessions, but the oversized shoulder buttons span nearly the full width and are genuinely comfortable, with L2/R2 raised for deliberate switching. Everything is molded from ABS that creaks, yet nothing feels fragile.

Software and setup

Out of the box the RGB20S ships on a preloaded microSD running a stock EmulationStation build stuffed with thousands of pre-installed (and legally grey) ROMs and pre-mapped controls. It works, but the stock firmware is clunky and the game dump is the usual bootleg grab-bag. The real reason to own an RK3326 device in 2026 is custom firmware, and the RGB20S is fully supported. ArkOS is the go-to for its clean setup and per-system RetroArch configs; JELOS and its successor ROCKNIX give you a more modern, actively maintained EmulationStation with built-in scraping and WiFi tools; AmberELEC and EmuELEC round out the field. Storage is dual microSD with no internal eMMC, so the standard workflow is one card for the OS and one for your own legally owned ROMs — flash a fresh image, load the second card, and never touch the stock software again. The built-in WiFi is weak but adequate for scraping box art and syncing RetroAchievements.

Price, value and who it is for

At $79.99 launch — and often $70 to $90 today — the RGB20S is not the fastest handheld you can buy for the money. Anbernic’s RG35XX Plus and its H700 siblings cost about the same and run muOS or Knulli on a newer, stronger chip that swallows N64 and PSP more confidently. What the RGB20S offers instead is the dual-stick layout and that excellent 4:3 screen at a rock-bottom price. Buy it if you want a dedicated PS1-and-below machine with real analog sticks for the handful of N64 and PSP titles it can manage, and you are happy flashing ArkOS. Skip it if you expect anything near Dreamcast, Saturn or demanding PSP performance, or if protruding sticks and creaky plastic are dealbreakers. It is a $79 toy that plays above its class on the strength of one great screen and a deep custom-firmware bench.