Rg35XX - A Fantastic Retro Gaming Handheld
Video games are awesome, but lately there are too many games require micro-transactions, paid downloadable content, and season passes to even feel like you are making progress. I remember a time where you purchased a game, and then you owned it, forever. It never required an internet connection, updates, or any other nonsense preventing you from sitting down, and gaming. Recapturing that magic is possible today with reto gaming emulation.
RG35XXSP⌗
The RG35XX is a handheld gaming console that is an homage to the classic Game Boy Advanced system. My model the RG35XXSP looks like a clamshell Game Boy Advance SP, but with 2 extra shoulder buttons, and 2 extra face buttons. The ARM core processor has enough power to emulate NES to PS1, N64 and some PSP games. The RG35XXSP comes with a 3.5 inch IPS screen, and a rechargeable battery that lasts for hours. It has 2 microSD card slots, one for the operating system, and one for your games.
The RG35XXSP vs the Game Boy Advance SP
KNULLI Operating System⌗
I installed KNULLI, a Linux based operating system that is ready to emulate retro systems right out of the box. It comes with the EmulationStation frontend so you can easily navigate your games.
How you obtain your games is up to you. You can dump your own ROMs (Read Only Memory, AKA game files), from your old cartridges and disks. Or you can download games from the internet. Just remember that downloading ROMs for games you do not own is illegal in many countries. You can even find new homebrew games that are made by independent developers.
I enjoyed the RG35XXSP so much that I purchased a bunch of these to be my groomsman gifts for my wedding. Here are a couple of things you can do to add some polish to your RG35XXSP.
Loading Screen⌗
You can customize the loading screen that appears when you power on the device.
After flashing the OS, the boot drive will have a file called bootlogo.bmp,
this can be replaced with your own image.
GBA Bezel Decorations⌗
The RG35XXSP has a bit of room around the screen when a GBA game is running full screen. You can add a bezel decoration to fill in the space.
I used the decorations from here, but I wanted to change the GBA Bezel to something that looked more like the SP. The file from the batocera repository just centers the display, it doenst look like the SP.
I used the bezel image from mugwomp93.
Then modified the gba.info file to be the following:
{
"width":640,
"height":480,
"top":0,
"left":0,
"bottom":54,
"right":0,
"opacity":1,
"messagex":0.220000,
"messagey":0.120000
}
Screenscraper⌗
Screenscraper is a service that provides metadata for your games, including cover art, screenshots, and descriptions. You can set up Screenscraper on your RG35XXSP to automatically download this information for your games. This makes the library of games look enticing, with live screenshots, and cover art as you browse your collection.
My Favorite Games⌗
Goodboy Galaxy - GBA⌗
Developers: Rik Nicol and Jeremy Clarke
https://www.goodboygalaxy.com/
Good Boy Galaxy is a “new” game for the Game Boy Advance that was released in 2023. It is an action platformer where you play as a dog in space. You must solve puzzles, defeat enemies, and make friends across the galaxy. The game has a charming pixel art style, and a catchy chiptune soundtrack. It is a fun and wholesome game that is worth playing. There is a demo version available for free!
Pokemon Unbound - GBA⌗
Developer: Skeli
https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/pok%C3%A9mon-unbound-completed.382178/
Pokemon Unbound is a fan-made Pokemon Fire Red mod that feels like the perfect Pokemon game for the Game Boy Advance. Don’t let the GBA graphics fool you, it has an enormous roster of Pokemon, from Gen 1 to Gen 7. It has Dynamax, Z evolution, and even the Fairy Type! All this content that was never on GBA! The game has a robust side quest system, lots of new features, and a challenging difficulty level.
I think the most refreshing part of the game is that you start with a choice of 3 dragon type starter Pokemon, and the starting town is a winter wonderland - giving you access to ice type Pokemon right away. The sidequest tracker system easily lets you keep track of all the sidequests you have accepted, so you are never lost like in other Pokemon games. This is a must play for any Pokemon fan. It is a must-play for any Pokemon fan. ### NHL 94: 2025 - Sega Genesis / Mega Drive
Developer: Adam Catalyst
NHL 94: 2025 is a mod of the classic NHL 94 game for the Sega Genesis. In includes balance changes, and updated rosters for the 2024-2025 NHL Season. It has all the fun of an old school arcadey sports game, but with names and team that you recognize. It includes the new Seattle Kraken, Vegas Golden Knights, and even prototype Utah Mammoths jerseys.
Elland: The Crystal Wars - GBA⌗
Developer: John Roo
https://theretroroomgames.com/products/elland-the-crystal-wars
Elland: The Crystal Wars is a homebrew RPG for the Game Boy Advance that was originally supposed to be a licensed game in the Dune universe in 2001, but development delays cancelled the project in 2002. John Roo, the original developer, picked the game back up in 2021 and made a Kickstarter to fund the commercial release. I backed the project and eventually received a GBA cartridge! Because Roo no longer had the Dune licence, you will find “spice” replaced with “crystals”, and Arrakis with Elland - but the game still has the same desert planet vibe. The gameplay is a first person Ornithopter flight action shooter, where you must destroy the enemy vehicles, and move your “Crystal Harvesters” to collect on the desert surface. It is genuinely stunning to play a first person game on the GBA. One drawback is the game uses the password system to save your progress, but using the save states on the RG35XXSP, I can save and load my game whenever I want.
References⌗
Information about KNULLI can be found https://knulli.org/
Also shout out to https://retrogamecorps.com/ for the great tutorials on how to use KNULLI and EmulationStation.
Conclusion⌗
The RG35XXSP is a fantastic retro gaming handheld that allows you to relive the glory days of gaming. This probably wont be my last retro gaming handheld post, I may talk about my Retroid Pocket Flip 2 in the future. Drop an email if you have any questions!
-E