Anbernic Stateside Store via AliExpress
Specs:
- YouTube Review [youtube.com]
- Emulation Capabilities & Tech Specs [retrocatalog.com]
- 5.48" 1920x1080 AMOLED touchscreen display
- Unisoc T820 octa-core chipset
- 8GB LPDDR4X RAM
- 128GB internal storage (UFS2.2)
- micro SD card slot (supports up to 2TB cards)
- Hall Effect joysticks, Hall trigger buttons
- Six-axis gyroscope sensor, vibration motor
- 802.11ac WiFi | Bluetooth 5.0
- USB Type-C port (supports 1080p DisplayPort output)
- 5500mAh battery
- Android 13
- Can emulate most retro systems up to a lot of (but not all) PS2 and GameCube titles, some Nintendo 3DS, some Nintendo Wii.
- Recommended: Research Gamma OS [joeysretrohandhelds.com] custom firmware (improves analog stick functionality and overall performance)
Shipping is free (ships from within the U.S.) | Free 90-Day returns
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14 Comments
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank OrangeJulius
This is a great deal if you want something mid tier, but with a nice AMOLED panel. It's a significantly cheaper but less performant alternative to the RP5.
Being an T820 handheld, it's a decent way to play PS2 and Gamecube games. It'll play most, but not all those games at playable framerates. It'll play everything older than those two systems just fine. (PSP, PS1, N64, Dreamcast, SNES, NES, etc)
Only this Blue version is on sale, with the Black matte version (which I much prefer) still priced at $173. If you were in the market for a mid-tier 16:9 handheld, this is a good deal. I personally liked the Mangmi Air X better for under $100, but it will struggle to run any PS2 games. The RG 556 on the other hand should play nearly all Gamecube, and a majority of PS2. The 556 is also able to play some low-end Switch games.
Alternatives are the RG Slide, RG Vita and RG Vita Pro, with the RG Vita often available under $100, but the Vita Pro is always more expensive, closer to $150. The RG 556 will comfortably beat the Vitas in PS2 and Gamecube emulation. The Mangmi Air X also falls into that mix, falling close the RG Vita and other T618 handhelds.
One big negative are the sticks, at least in reviews from back when it came out. Cardinal snapping is a problem. I wonder if GammaOS fixes this, or if Anbernic fixed this with later revisions or updates.
Techdweeb review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUOMyTS
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank Mr-Blister
With this device, the screen is the standout for sure. It punches above it's weight class and sits right along side the RP5's screen, in my opinion.
Ergonomics are also a plus. For most people, pretty much all handhelds require a grip accessory to be comfortable for longer play sessions but the 556 is great without one. The tiny sticks and buttons take away from the comfort a bit but you get by with them alright.
My gripes with the device are: 1) The cardinal snapping of the sticks as mentioned above (when I had mine, GammaOS wasn't available). 2) very loud shoulder buttons. Extremely sharp click sound on them. 3) my right shoulder button kept sticking and I had to open it up more than once to fix (I haven't heard anyone else with this issue so probably isolated). 4) It kept corrupting my SD card so I think something was wrong with the system (tired multiple cards, all Samsung and SanDisk and it kept happening. Those cards all worked great in other devices). Again, probably isolated.
It's a great device though. Yeah, there are better ones but you're not going to get PS2 and GameCube for this cheap anywhere else unless you can get super lucky on a used RP5 or something.
My 477m has been good.
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