Retroid Pocket 2

Will Greenwald of PCMag gave the Retroid Pocket 2 3.5/5 points, praising its "excellent" build quality and responsive controls, but saying it was difficult to set up properly. He called the price point reasonable, and compared its button layout to the Nintendo Switch when in portable mode. However, he criticized the system's stock interface as "clunky and awkward", and also disliked the pre-loaded RetroidOS, which contained ROMs that were in Chinese due to a "dubious legal loophole". He suggested using the open-source Pegasus front end, but called it a "huge pain" to set up. He also called the battery life unimpressive. Matt S. of Digitally Downloaded said that while the system was more versatile than the RG350M, it was worse in other areas, calling the emulator organization "chaotic" and noting its plastic construction compared to the aluminum shell of the Anbernic device, as well as having stiffer face buttons. However, he also noted the positive addition of a HDMI output and wireless play. Damien McFerran of Nintendo Life called the system's Android OS a "double-edged sword" compared to the Anbernic RG351, saying that while it was much more versatile than EmuELEC and 351ELEC, it was sluggish due to the system's weak hardware and required constantly switching to a pointer due to the lack of touch screen. However, he called the extra scope appealing, praising the playability of Android games like AM2R. He criticized the lack of dual analog sticks and a weaker D-pad than the Anbernic. Brandon Saltalamacchia of Retro Dodo rated the system 9/10, called the system one of the best retro handhelds to date, saying that it "far exceeded our expectations". However, he criticized the need to "constantly change settings" to play certain games. He gave Retroid Pocket 2+ and 2S the same scores, saying that these had become the best retro handhelds under $100.