I ordered the Pocket Retro Game Emulator from ThinkGeek 10 days ago after reading about it on a few websites. Its a small portable game system that comes with built in emulators that would play games from the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, NeoGeo and a few other systems. Since I am a huge fan of retro gaming and since it would be a great addition to my collection, I ordered the device for $99.
The device has a built in 4GB drive so I quickly copied all my favorite games onto it and realized I still had nearly 4GB free so I copied ALL my Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo games onto it which amount to around 2000 games. I also copied a few NeoGeo games including SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos.
The device played everything I threw at it even SVC Chaos which was a huge shock. Not only that but the device also came with the appropriate cables to connect it to my TV so I could play the games there if I wanted to. Some SNES games weren’t running that perfectly for example NBA Jam was running slightly faster than it should and the sound in Donkey Kong Country was a bit strange but the device plays NHL ’94 perfectly which alone would make the game system worth $99. The build quality isn’t that great, it feels cheap and its pretty light. I am not sure how much abuse it would take but I doubt its as durable as a Nintendo DS or PSP.
Now one thing that kinda pissed me off is the fact that ThinkGeek is marketing this device with the name “Pocket Retro Game Emulator”. In reality the system turned out to be called the Dingoo Digital A320. A quick search on eBay for the Dingoo would result in a ton of results with the device priced at around $75. So if you want to buy one that’s where I would look. Will post a more thorough review at a later date.
Note: The device also plays movies and music. Also has a built in FM tuner and an eBook reader. The battery is built in and lasts over 5 hours. In case 4GB isn’t enough the device takes SD cards.
24 replies on “First Impression: Pocket Retro Game Emulator (Dingoo Digital A320)”
“The device played everything I through at it”
correct it.
fixed
GP2x killer ?
had that thing for years …. still going strong and it has TV out /
how do you get the games onto the thing?
I always wanted the GP2x but never got around to getting one.
.grg: you just drag and drop the files onto it, when u connect it via standard usb to the computer it shows up as an external drive.
the 90’s just rocked!
you get snes, sega etc emulators that run on the pc
but $ 75 for something portable, thats not that bad a deal
have you tried running mk2 on it?
yup the graphics look AMAZING. Baraka still kicks ass. Need to try Killer Instinct.
that’s really conveninet. I would love to get this smart console. But I’m wondering if I could add more emulators to play NES, MSX, PC-Engine or Gameboy!
I still play SNES “Super Famicom” so it would be great to upload all the roms in that tiny console, and the TV-Out feature is just delightful although PSP has done that before.
go to dingoo-digital.com you can see what other emulators are there. It also plays CPS1 and CPS2 cabinet games, NES and GameBoy.
Huge fan of retro or stuck in the timeline?
Stuck in a timeline!
I am getting one ..
thanks for sharing .
🙂
dame .. its sold out
lol
one question ..
in the cover its white while yours are black ..
any thoughts ?
There are white and black versions. Btw they’re available on eBay dont get it from Think Geek. Its cheaper on ebay.
I dont trust ebay :/
I always buy things from its source .. if I dont find what I am looking for I hit amazon.
I allready placed an order .. hopefully will be avilabe by 25th this month .
ebay is safe, just buy from someone with a good history
The 90’s called, they want their games back.
mark you could just easy jailbreak your ipod touch/iphone 3g or 2g and download emulators and playthem
Could you please help me? I don’t know how to play NeoGeo and Genesis roms on the damn thing.
Genesis roms come in .bin and .zip format, and it doesn’t seem to play those. Same thing with Neogeo .zip files.
Thanks in advance!
Does it play all the really finicky SNES games, like Crono Trigger? I’l be getting one if it can cope with the Super FX chip.
When you play NHL 94 on it, are you playing the SNES of the Genesis version? I’ve read reviews elsewhere suggesting the genesis emulator isn’t very fast
hey i have this and it was working fine but then in the GAME folder where i usually move all the games to i think there might have been a GAME folder or icon of somesort itself inside the game folder, i accidentally deleted it and now none of my games work 🙁 please help me! what can i do??
think geek has it on sale now so its under $80