Orders for the Anbernic RG353PS start on May 6, 2023, over on the Anbernic website.
What You Need to Know
- The Anbernic RG353PS is a revamped and budget-friendly RG353P with a transparent shell.
- The console comes in transparent white, transparent purple, or gray.
- On the emulation front, the RG353PS can emulate up to Dreamcast and N64.
- RetroDodo said the original RG353P can play N64 with “little to no hiccups.”
What Can the RG353PS Emulate?
In terms of emulation, the RG353P was a capable device. Up to N64 and Dreamcast is the device’s upper limit, but select PSP games can also be played with few issues, too. Although it’s worth noting, the RG353PS only comes with 1GB of RAM compared with the RG353P’s 2GB. That could play a factor when emulating the more powerful systems, but we’ll see.
- Sony: PS1, PSP
- N64, Nintendo DS, Game Boy, Game Boy Colour, Game Boy Advance, SNES, NES
- Sega: Genesis/Mega Drive, Dreamcast
- Misc: Arcade
Anbernic RG353PS Specifications
As the Rg353PS is a budget version of the RG353P, some of the original specs have been changed to make the device more affordable.
The chipset, screen, and design remain the same, but RAM has been lowered from 2GB to 1GB, Android has been ditched in favor of Linux, and the storage has been halved from 32GB to 16 GB.
How much do the differing specs factor into the price? Quite a lot, actually. The RG353PS comes in at $86.99/£69.84 versus the RG353P’s $132.99/£105.84. That’s a difference of $46/£36 when ordered through the Anbernic website. Not bad for a budget handheld.
- Chipset: RK3566 – Quad-core 64-bit Cortex-A55 at 1.8GHz.
- RAM: 1GB LPDDR4.
- Operating System: Linux.
- Storage: 16GB microSD card.
- Connectivity: 2.4/5G, Bluetooth, HMDI-out.
- Screen: 3.5-inch IPS with OCA full-tilt, 640×480.
- Battery: Li-polymer 3500 mAh (around six hours).
Conclusion
As a cheaper alternative to the RG353P, the RG353PS makes a pretty solid case for itself. It’s affordable, well under $100, and should be able to play 8-bit and 16-bit titles with ease. The difference in specs, however, especially that 1GB downsize, has me somewhat concerned about N64 and Dreamcast emulation. It’s still very possible at 1GB, but that combined with the lack of dual-boot Android is worth considering.
As always, I’ll be keeping an eye on this as I’m quite excited at the prospect of more retro handhelds that are under $100. That part of the market keeps drying up, so it’s good to see that Anbernic still has some love for the more budget-friendly devices.
