Shatur

Received the new screen and want to share my impressions about the device.

New screen

For those unaware of the screen drama, I'd suggest to read this article first.

Once Retroid announced they will send free new screen replacements, I immediately filled a request for one. They prioritized US citizens due to upcoming tarifs, so I had to quite some time until they shipped mine.

It arrived in a Retroid Pocket 5 box - looks like they just reused existing packaging. I saw some people on Discord got theirs in a Retroid Pocket Mini box instead. The package includes a full black shell, since that's the only color they offer. So, owners of other colors now have a black RP Mini with different button colors 😄

But honestly, black is the best color for this device. Combined with the OLED screen, it makes the letterboxing practically invisible, which is perfect for retro gaming.

The replacement process was easy for me. I just followed their official video. It's not very optimal, though. Sticks and fan disassembly is completely unnecessary, you can skip those. I also occasionally checked this disassembly stream recording.

The screen has rounded edges, but I actually like it. The taller screen (31:27) makes Android interface less painful.

But most importantly, it plays nicely with most retro games. In RetroArch I enabled Integer Scale and set Integer Scale Scaling to Smart. This way games will use overscale, but fallbacks to underscale if when the image is cropped too much. Retro games was designed with overscan in mind, so no important content is cut, the image occupies maximum possible space and everything is pixel perfect. I usually don't enable integer scaling on high resolution screens like this, but it works great for this specific device.

No surprise, GB, GBC and Pico8 looks great. They won't take fullscreen with integer scaling, but it's very close.

But the best systems to play for me are actually SNES and NES! They were played on 4:3, but their actual aspect ration is close to a square. So for SNES9x core I set the aspect ratio to Uncorrected and for Mesen (NES) I set it to No Stretching. I know they were developed with 4:3 in mind, but this way they occupy the entire screen and look pixel perfect!

Systems like Dreamcast and PS1 look exactly the same, I don't have to turn integer scaling off, they take all horizontal space.

In Dolphin, widescreen hacks work well with the taller screen, so you can fill the entire display. However, I usually play Dolphin on my Steam Deck, since the Android version doesn't support RetroAchievements.

PS2 widescreen hacks don't work well with this screen, but it still looks fine in 4:3 - identical to how it looked before the screen swap, except with now properly aligned pixels.

PSP isn't a great fit for this device, but thanks to the OLED and black color, the letterboxing is barely noticeable. I've seen some people stretch the image, but I'm not a fan of that.

Device

Here's what I like about it:

1. Great battery life when using Android. I usually leave a game running, and it barely drains any battery while idle. This makes it easy to earn RetroAchievements in hardcode mode.
2. Pocketable. The sticks protrude a bit, but I found it pretty comfortable to carry in my jacket.
3. The stock OS is fairly clean, though I do wish I could install LineageOS.
4. It can run mainline Linux.
5. Powerful enough to handle all my favorite games.
6. Ergonomic. I can play for hours without my hands hurting.
7. And now it also has a great screen.

However, I would't recommend this device. Here is why:

1. ABXY buttons feel awfull. It's hard to explain, but I simply don't like pressing them. Even swapping to more quite PSX-style buttons from Etsy didn't help. I think it's because of the membrane and glass front. Controls are very important for me.
2. Glass front looks nice, but it's marky. Also dirt easily accumulates on edges on edges and its hard to remove it. I prefer to keep my devices clean.

I ordered the Retroid Pocket Flip 2 after asking for a screen replacement, and somehow they managed to deliver it earlier. But I'm enjoying it much more - it's more pocketable, has a bigger screen, and avoids the drawbacks of the Mini. And it's only $20 more.

Received the new screen and want to share my impressions about the device.

New screen

For those unaware of the screen drama, I'd suggest to read this article first.

Once Retroid announced they will send free new screen replacements, I immediately filled a request for one. They prioritized US citizens due to upcoming tarifs, so I had to quite some time until they shipped mine.

It arrived in a Retroid Pocket 5 box - looks like they just reused existing packaging. I saw some people on Discord got theirs in a Retroid Pocket Mini box instead. The package includes a full black shell, since that's the only color they offer. So, owners of other colors now have a black RP Mini with different button colors 😄

But honestly, black is the best color for this device. Combined with the OLED screen, it makes the letterboxing practically invisible, which is perfect for retro gaming.

The replacement process was easy for me. I just followed their official video. It's not very optimal, though. Sticks and fan disassembly is completely unnecessary, you can skip those. I also occasionally checked this disassembly stream recording.

The screen has rounded edges, but I actually like it. The taller screen (31:27) makes Android interface less painful.

But most importantly, it plays nicely with most retro games. In RetroArch I enabled Integer Scale and set Integer Scale Scaling to Smart. This way games will use overscale, but fallbacks to underscale if when the image is cropped too much. Retro games was designed with overscan in mind, so no important content is cut, the image occupies maximum possible space and everything is pixel perfect. I usually don't enable integer scaling on high resolution screens like this, but it works great for this specific device.

No surprise, GB, GBC and Pico8 looks great. They won't take fullscreen with integer scaling, but it's very close.

But the best systems to play for me are actually SNES and NES! They were played on 4:3, but their actual aspect ration is close to a square. So for SNES9x core I set the aspect ratio to Uncorrected and for Mesen (NES) I set it to No Stretching. I know they were developed with 4:3 in mind, but this way they occupy the entire screen and look pixel perfect!

Systems like Dreamcast and PS1 look exactly the same, I don't have to turn integer scaling off, they take all horizontal space.

In Dolphin, widescreen hacks work well with the taller screen, so you can fill the entire display. However, I usually play Dolphin on my Steam Deck, since the Android version doesn't support RetroAchievements.

PS2 widescreen hacks don't work well with this screen, but it still looks fine in 4:3 - identical to how it looked before the screen swap, except with now properly aligned pixels.

PSP isn't a great fit for this device, but thanks to the OLED and black color, the letterboxing is barely noticeable. I've seen some people stretch the image, but I'm not a fan of that.

Device

Here's what I like about it:

1. Great battery life when using Android. I usually leave a game running, and it barely drains any battery while idle. This makes it easy to earn RetroAchievements in hardcode mode.
2. Pocketable. The sticks protrude a bit, but I found it pretty comfortable to carry in my jacket.
3. The stock OS is fairly clean, though I do wish I could install LineageOS.
4. It can run mainline Linux.
5. Powerful enough to handle all my favorite games.
6. Ergonomic. I can play for hours without my hands hurting.
7. And now it also has a great screen.

However, I would't recommend this device. Here is why:

1. ABXY buttons feel awfull. It's hard to explain, but I simply don't like pressing them. Even swapping to more quite PSX-style buttons from Etsy didn't help. I think it's because of the membrane and glass front. Controls are very important for me.
2. Glass front looks nice, but it's marky. Also dirt easily accumulates on edges on edges and its hard to remove it. I prefer to keep my devices clean.

I ordered the Retroid Pocket Flip 2 after asking for a screen replacement, and somehow they managed to deliver it earlier. But I'm enjoying it much more - it's more pocketable, has a bigger screen, and avoids the drawbacks of the Mini. And it's only $20 more.

After reading this article, I started thinking about buying AR glasses. Could anyone share their experience with them? Also, does anyone here own AR glasses and wear contact lenses? I know it's possible to add prescription lenses to such glasses, but it would be inconvenient to remove my contacts every time I want to use AR glasses.

An input manager for Bevy, inspired by Unreal Engine's Enhanced Input. We use it for Project Harmonia, but it's general-purpose.

Highlights

• Pull-based API is now strongly typed, just like triggers. Example: actions.value::<Move>() returns the defined output type of Move.
• Action mocking. Example: actions.mock::<Move>(ActionState::Fired, Vec2::ONE, Duration::from_secs(2)). The last parameter is generic, so you can also set the time in frames or until manually cleared.
• Preparation for upcoming networking integrations. Mostly more convenient access to internals.
• Many small but important ergonomic improvements.

📜Full changelog 📦bevy_enhanced_input

An input manager for Bevy, inspired by Unreal Engine's Enhanced Input. We use it for Project Harmonia, but it's general-purpose.

Highlights

• Pull-based API is now strongly typed, just like triggers. Example: actions.value::<Move>() returns the defined output type of Move.
• Action mocking. Example: actions.mock::<Move>(ActionState::Fired, Vec2::ONE, Duration::from_secs(2)). The last parameter is generic, so you can also set the time in frames or until manually cleared.
• Preparation for upcoming networking integrations. Mostly more convenient access to internals.
• Many small but important ergonomic improvements.

📜Full changelog 📦bevy_enhanced_input

It’s a crate for server-authoritative networking. We use it for Project Harmonia, but it's general-purpose.

Probably one of the biggest releases. Here are some highlights:

• Authorization system. By default, we verify protocol compatibility between client and server by comparing hashes. You can add custom data to the hash (such as the game version) or fully customize the logic using RepliconSharedPlugin::auth_method.
• Static rules, such as Once or Periodic. Very fast to compute, useful for deterministic replication. We plan to add opt-in, more complex dynamic rules in the next release.
• New syntax for constructing replication rules. It extends the old one and allows specialization of individual components when declaring groups.
• Batched component insertion on replication. It's much faster, and all components are available in the user's observers.
• DisconnectRequest event to request a disconnect after sending messages. Useful for sending things such as disconnect reasons.

📜Full changelog 📦bevy_replicon

It’s a crate for server-authoritative networking. We use it for Project Harmonia, but it's general-purpose.

Probably one of the biggest releases. Here are some highlights:

• Authorization system. By default, we verify protocol compatibility between client and server by comparing hashes. You can add custom data to the hash (such as the game version) or fully customize the logic using RepliconSharedPlugin::auth_method.
• Static rules, such as Once or Periodic. Very fast to compute, useful for deterministic replication. We plan to add opt-in, more complex dynamic rules in the next release.
• New syntax for constructing replication rules. It extends the old one and allows specialization of individual components when declaring groups.
• Batched component insertion on replication. It's much faster, and all components are available in the user's observers.
• DisconnectRequest event to request a disconnect after sending messages. Useful for sending things such as disconnect reasons.

📜Full changelog 📦bevy_replicon

This Mario hack is so cool! The story is inspired by the Bowsette meme, and by the end, you even get to make a choice 🙂

The level design is excellent. I really appreciate small details - like coins that guide you where to fall, or how all the dragon coins are placed either before or after the checkpoint.

The difficulty is similar to the original game. Some of the Special World levels were pretty tough, but the hack has an adaptive difficulty system: coin blocks sometimes turn into power-up blocks if you have 5 lives or fewer. If you're down to your last life, the level even adds a few Starman power-up blocks!

There are also a bunch of quality-of-life improvements. I especially loved the removal of the timer and the fact that falling into a pit doesn't immediately result in a game over.

And the soundtrack is absolute banger. Most of the songs are well-known hits ported into SNES. Here is the link to the playlist.

And here is the link to the hack.

What’s your favorite SMW hack? 🙂

From @bushRAT's post in Discord:

One patch to LLVM, a compilation of rustc for a custom toolchain, and a lot of help from psx-sdk-rs, and I now have Bevy on the PlayStation One! Gamepad input fully integrated with bevy_input, double-buffered rendering, and logging piped to emulator debug logs. Might try and get 3D rendering going next!

It's an input manager for Bevy, inspired by Unreal Engine Enhanced Input. We use it for Project Harmonia, but it's general-purpose.

A relatively small release with several ergonomic improvements, such as using BevyError instead of panic-based APIs, along with some bug fixes.

📜Full changelog 📦bevy_enhanced_input

It's an input manager for Bevy, inspired by Unreal Engine Enhanced Input. We use it for Project Harmonia, but it's general-purpose.

A relatively small release with several ergonomic improvements, such as using BevyError instead of panic-based APIs, along with some bug fixes.

📜Full changelog 📦bevy_enhanced_input