Unlike other companies in the retro handheld space, Retroid has always been in favor of tinkering. We saw this with the Retroid Pocket 2.
Close to the release of the Retroid Pocket 2 Plus, Retroid offered an upgrade kit, purchasable separately, to those who wanted to upgrade their base Retroid Pocket 2 without needing to shell out for a new console.
It’s a novel way of doing things for sure. But anything that benefits consumers and saves them money is a good thing as far as I’m concerned.
All this leads us to the latest releases. Sick of cramping your hand while playing? Retroid has revealed the Retroid Pocket 3 and 3 Plus grip accessory. Conversely, if tinkering is your thing, Retroid also has some hall effect joysticks available for Retroid Pocket 3 and 3 Plus owners.
First up, the new Retroid Pocket 3 and 3 Plus grip accessory. This thing is made from a TPU material, features two controller-like grips, and features holes for all the ports on the console.
Your color options for the grip are black, white, and sky blue – the latter looks more teal to me, though.
As for the hall effect, they’re available in black, dark grey, and light grey. Each of the bundles includes two thumbsticks, two mini screwdrivers, tweezers, screws, and a pick to shimmy the console open.
And for those that aren’t sick of hearing about hall effect sticks yet, they’re essentially anti-drift sticks. You can use them for a lifetime and they’ll never suffer drift. Nice!
Price and Availability
In terms of pricing, everything is surprisingly affordable. The grip accessory retails for $15, while the hall effect joysticks cost $9.90. That is before shipping, just to note.
Both items can be ordered now, with shipping kicking off on February 22, 2023.
How Hard Will the Hall Effect Sticks Be to Install?
The Retroid Pocket series of consoles is fairly user-friendly and designed to be taken apart and upgraded. Generally, it’s just a case of unscrewing the back, taking it off, unscrewing the board, then taking it out to modify. It’s noting super technical.
Installing new sticks may seem a bit scary, but if you’ve ever taken a USB-C in and out of a device, you’re more than likely over-qualified.
Snap Verdict
I can’t say I’ve ever played on a retro device and thought maybe it needs a TPU cover. If I drop the device and it breaks, that’s on me. If it dies, it dies.
But given how many of us older gamers have kids, having some sort of protection isn’t a bad idea. Plus the smaller handhelds aren’t the most comfortable to hold after you’ve been gaming for hours, so maybe we should be embracing of TPU grips? We’ll see.
Still, for the price, this is a solid way to test how well you’d like it. If you’re not a fan, you haven’t lost much.
As for the hall effect joysticks, I haven’t seen too many reports of drifting on the Retroid consoles, so it’s worth weighing up whether you’ll still be playing it at a point where the sticks could drift. If you think so, get it. If you think not, or you reckon you’ll end up buying a new Retroid down the line, maybe skip this one.
