With so many people wanting to get in on the ever-expanding retro handheld scene, a great amount of new handhelds have been popping up every month. But one “clone” type handheld has really stood out amongst its competitors; meet the R36S.

The R36S is a premium-looking retro handheld with a super affordable price: around $40 along with free shipping. With a surprisingly great 3.5″ IPS 480p screen, two analog sticks, and an overall stylish design, the R36S really seems too good to be true.

In this review we’ll go over the handheld’s quality, features (such as its OS and WIFI connectivity), and which games and consoles the R36S can play. Let’s dive in!

R36S Handheld

The R36S is a fantastic budget option and is absolutely unmatched in its price bracket.

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Which Games and Consoles Can The R36S Play?

The R36S surprisingly comes with more powerful hardware than other handhelds close to its price range, such as the Miyoo Mini Plus or the ANBERNIC RG35XX. So for a cheap price of $40, you’ll be able to handle quite a bit of emulation that you wouldn’t expect.

Here I’ll provide a list of the “higher-end” consoles that aren’t so obvious whether or not they would run on a handheld like this, and then I’ll provide a full list of all consoles this can emulate. And that will be quite a long list, as this handheld comes with over 15,000 built-in games!

Dreamcast

I’m still surprised by budget devices that can play Dreamcast games, and the R36S is no exception! This retro handheld can handle many Dreamcast games without any problems! And of course with a $40 handheld I didn’t (and neither should you) expect perfect performance on a more powerful console such as the Sega Dreamcast.

Around half of the Dreamcast’s library will have some problems on the R36S. With heavier, harder to emulate 3D games, you will experience the occasional slowdown/FPS dip. In 2D fighting games, for example, this will not typically be a concern. But don’t be surprised when a racing game such as Sega Rally 2 doesn’t run perfectly.

But many Dreamcast games will run close to perfectly on the R36S, and it’s very helpful to have the dual analog setup Dreamcast. That’s something that’s almost completely unique to the R36S.

PlayStation One (PS1)

PlayStation One emulation is great on the R36S! Pretty much any game that you can throw at this handheld will run flawlessly. You may even be able to play certain games at a 2x native resolution.

And even though PS1 games were generally made to be played with a D-Pad, having the option to use the analog sticks is a luxury that you don’t have on many similar handhelds.

PlayStation Portable (PSP)

For about $40, it almost feels unfair to criticize the R36S’ ability to play PSP games. But for the sake of this review, I’ll do so. PSP emulation isn’t very great on here.

Don’t get me wrong, you will still be able to play some PSP games on the R36S, just not a whole lot of them. Lower-end PSP games, especially many 2D games will run fine on the R36S.

For example, games like Mega Man Maverick Hunter X will play great. And there are even some surprises, like the ability to get good performance in the Dragon Ball Z games that come pre-loaded on the R36S’ MicroSD Card. Just don’t expect for this handheld to become your go-to for PSP emulation.

N64

Like many other hard to emulate consoles, the R36S is adequate for some N64 games, but not for others. After tweaking a few settings, you can get decent to good performance in around half of the N64’s library.

For example, you can get good performance in many parts of Super Mario 64, but at certain points you will encounter a bit of slowdown. In contrast, a game like F-Zero X will run great consistently.

But as I’ve said before, don’t make the R36S your go-to N64 emulation machine.

Nintendo DS

I was very happy to find that Nintendo DS emulation was so smooth on the R36S. I didn’t encounter any slowdown in my time playing DS games here. From Mario Kart DS to New Super Mario Bros, everything went just as it would on an actual DS!

Of course, it isn’t exactly like an actual Nintendo DS, you only have one screen, and it isn’t a touchscreen. So you will need to press a shoulder button to toggle between screens (either displaying either top or bottom screen, or both). You also have the ability to use an analog stick to emulate the stylus.

But for many DS games, this won’t hinder you in any major way, and you can have an enjoyable time reliving your younger days with good performance DS emulation.

EVERYTHING It Can Emulate

So you probably realized I didn’t mention low-end emulation in my list above (such as NES, Gameboy Color, etc.). That’s because these will be able to run with absolutely no problem, considering the fact that the R36S can play Dreamcast, PSP, N64, etc.

So without going into long explanations, here is a list of every console that comes stock with the R36S: CS1, CS2, CS3, MAME, PC- Engine, NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Mega Drive/Genesis, Dreamcast, Game Gear, Neo Geo, PlayStation One (PS1), PlayStation Portable (PSP).

Features

Now that you have an idea of which consoles and games the R36S can play, we’ll take a look at the features of this handheld. The R36S comes pre-loaded with ArkOS, which gives you great functionality from the get-go.

Keep in mind you can always update to a newer version of ArkOS, or switch to other custom firmware options.

General Overview

Upon turning the R36S on, you will be greeted by icons that show the names of multiple consoles. Once you select which console you would like to play, you will be taken to a list of that console’s games that are on your MicroSD card. Just select that game, and it will launch in its respective emulator. As simple as that!

You also have your options page on the menu alongside your consoles. Additionally, you can access a “main menu” settings page by pressing the start button while on the home screen.

You also have the ability to adjust RetroArch settings from this menu and in-game.

Appearance

The handheld is plug-and-play, you can turn it on straight from the package, and get playing. But if it’s your thing, you have many settings you can mess with. For example, ArkOS gives you the choice of changing the appearance of the menu to many different options.

WIFI Connectivity

The R36S does have the ability to connect to WIFI, but you will need to use a WIFI dongle that can connect to a USB-C port. Some users have reported issues with their WIFI not working properly, so tread carefully if WIFI connectivity is important to you.

Screen

The screen on the R36S is truly impressive! It comes equipped with a 3.5″ 640×480 IPS screen. It’s certainly the same (and even better in some cases) than its more expensive competitors. I firmly believe its screen is objectively better than the Miyoo Mini Plus’ screen, just due to its better brightness and more vivid colors.

And also considering another popular handheld in this budget price range, the ANBERNIC RG35XX, the R36S’ screen is nearly identical. So don’t think that just because the R36S isn’t a “brand name” handheld it won’t be able to compete with its competition.

Battery

The R36S comes equipped with a 3500mAh removable battery, which apparently has a battery life of up to eight hours. Especially if you play heavier emulators (such as PlayStation or Dreamcast), you will be getting a bit less than this. I would expect to get somewhere between five and seven hours, depending on which games you are playing.

Adding Games

As with just about any other handheld, you have the option to bring your own games to the R36S. You will just need a MicroSD card reader (and possibly a new MicroSD card if you want more space).

It’s as simple as opening your “games” MicroSD card on your PC, and dragging your game ROM into the corresponding console folder (ex: N64 ROM into the N64 folder).

It’s also worth noting that it’s generally recommended to eventually replace the MicroSD cards that come shipped with your handhelds with more expensive cards, as sometimes these generic MicroSD cards can fail. So that’s always something to keep in mind.

Controls

The R36S comes equipped with just about everything you’d expect a retro handheld to have:

• ABXY Buttons
• D-Pad
• Start, Select, Function Buttons
• Two Analog Sticks
• R1/L1 + R2/L2 Shoulder Buttons
• Power + Reset Button
• Volume Keys
• Two USB-C Ports
• Headphone Jack
• Two MicroSD Slots

To avoid being too mundane, I won’t give a detailed description of everything in the above list. Most of everything works fine and as just as you’d expect. But there are some notable positives and negatives that are important to mention.

ABXY Buttons

While there are so many positive aspects of the R36S, unfortunately the ABXY buttons are not one of them. The buttons aren’t absolutely horrible, but they could certainly be better.

The buttons are indented with ABXY patterns, which can be slightly uncomfortable in games where you are constantly pressing hard on the buttons. Not to mention that they are somewhat stiff.

And most importantly, when you press a button (especially harder than normal), there will sometimes be slight movement on one of the other ABXY buttons. This can be fixed by doing an easy DIY Mod inside the handheld if it bothers you too much.

All in all, the buttons are far from perfect, but they are still completely usable and can be enjoyable to game with.

D-Pad

The D-Pad is also far from perfect. I personally don’t mind too much since I end up using the analog sticks the vast majority of the time, but it’s still worth mentioning.

The D-Pad is a bit stiff, and can be a bit annoying to use when playing 3D games such as Super Mario 64. In games like this, you can have the occasional misdirection, which can of course be aggravating at times.

Overall, the D-Pad isn’t perfect, but it isn’t horrible. It is perfectly fine for the vast majority of games you will play on the R36S. And if you really don’t like it, you can either use the analog sticks (which are quite nice) or attempt another DIY Mod to improve it.

Analog Sticks

Thankfully, the analog sticks are really comfortable. It’s very surprising to see any analog sticks on a device that’s around $40, let alone analog sticks that are actually good. But somehow, the R36S has pulled it off.

These two analog sticks feel very good for racing games, 3D games, and are my go-to for just about anything I play on the R36S.

Shoulder Buttons

The R1/R2 and L1/L2 buttons aren’t the best I’ve ever used, but they are okay. They are a bit clicky, and are not analog. Luckily, for a large percentage of games you will be playing on the R36S, there will be little to no use of the shoulder buttons at all.

Final Thoughts

So with all of this in mind, would I recommend the R36S? I most definitely would. Especially if you look at what else is available in this budget retro handheld price bracket of about $40-$60, the R36S is unmatched.

Is The R36S Worth The Money?

Looking at other handhelds that are similar prices to the R36S, you will easily see the stark contrast between them. Often handhelds that are around $40 will not even be able to play PlayStation One games, let alone PSP, Dreamcast, or N64 games like the R36S can.

And for those who care, the R36S comes with some impressive specs. It sports an RK3326 CPU, Mali-G31 GPU, and 1GB of DDR3L RAM. For those who pay attention to such things, this makes the R36S much more powerful than many other handhelds in its price range.

While the controls aren’t perfect, they’re still fine for just about any gaming you will do. Not to mention the analog sticks, which compensate for some shortcomings found in the D-Pad. With all things considered, the R36S is a no-brainer if you want to purchase a budget retro handheld in the $40-$60 price bracket.