Opinion : console launches aren’t the event they once were

When machines such as the PlayStation 1, Wii, Wii U and 3DS launched there were big midnight launch events across the country, the main one usually being at HMV’s flagship Oxford Street store in London, these would always attract massive queues outside with many in fancy dress and photos online the next day of an excited gamer being handed his machine by the staff.  I for one used to really like these events as it helped promote the new device and drum up interest.

Although I realise Covid has put pay to these events taking place now even prior to the pandemic a new console launch would not attract the likes of the events we used to see and that’s a shame.  I hope when normal times return that major midnight launch events will too.

Miyoo Mini - the BEST mini retro handheld especially with OnionOS!

The latest addition to my already impressive retro handheld collection is the Miyoo Mini, a machine which punches way above it’s £40 price point in a number of ways, this, in my opinion is the best mini retro handheld you can buy, stay tuned to find out why…..

Firstly, the build quality is superb, it doesn’t feel at all cheap or flimsy, it has a decent bit of weight to it and looks and feels great to use, in terms of size it’s very pocket friendly but not so small as to be unusable.  The d-pad, buttons and shoulder buttons (located on the back of the machine) are all of a high standard and are extremely responsive. 

Next, the screen, this is bright and colourful with minimal bezels around the edge meaning your retro games are going to look amazing!

Lastly - performance.  Out of the box using the stock firmware supplied the performance is very good, however for best results I would highly recommend you download and install the truly superb custom firmware - the wonderfully named OnionOS (pictured above), the latest version of which is available from https://github.com/jimgraygit/Onion

This offers all-round improved performance, a much larger selection of supported machines, pre-configured Retroarch and a really slick and professional looking interface topped off with extremely simple to follow installation instructions.

The firmware supplied with the machine supports a great variety of machines - SNES, Megadrive, GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, GameBoy Color, PS1 to name but a few but OnionOS provides many extra machines including Atari2600, Atari Lynx, Virtual Boy, Vectrex - all of which also play really well.

The machine comes in two colours, white (pictured above) and a sort of beige colour.

I cannot recommend this machine highly enough if you’re looking for a pocket friendly, excellent quality machine with great performance, I absolutely love it!  The only downside is it’s proved so popular that, at the time of writing it’s currently out of stock at the official Miyoo Global Store on AliExpress but hopefully it’ll come back in stock soon!

As a postscript I was looking for a case to keep it in and discovered, thanks to the Retro Handhelds group on Discord that a Zippo cigarette case (available for around £10 from Amazon) fits it perfectly!

Kuru Kuru Kururin and Kururin Paradise - two excellent GBA games you’ve probably never heard of!

A few weeks ago I decided to seek out some of the more obscure releases for the GameBoy Advance (regular readers will know I’m a huge fan of the GBA!), a lot of them were unplayable due to the Japanese text but I did come across two titles which are perfectly understandable and playable and truly have that ‘just one more go’ quality about them.

They are Kuru Kuru Kururin (released in Japan and Europe) and the Japan only release Kururin Paradise.  The object of these games sounds simple, guide a blue and yellow baton around a series of increasingly intricate and twisty courses in the fastest time possible, however this is not as easy as it sounds as the baton is revolving the whole time so you must time your progression through the course perfectly to avoid hitting the sides, do this too many times and it’s game over! The courses on both games look fantastic and are well designed to provide a real challenge.

Both titles are great fun and as previously mentioned highly addictive! Absolutely recommended for GBA gamers looking for something a bit different, I’m totally hooked!

Nokia N-Gage - a good idea but was ultimately a failure

Back in 2003 mobile phone giant Nokia decided it wanted a slice of the mobile gaming pie and launched the Nokia N-Gage (pictured right), a curious looking Symbian OS based mobile phone which could also play good quality games supplied on small MMC cards, this in principle sounds great as the device had a proper d-pad for controlling the games and the games themselves were actually rather good offering some big names titles such as Sonic, Fifa and Call of Duty to name but a few, however there a number of reasons why this device ultimately did not bring Nokia the hoped for success.  Firstly to use the device to make and receive phone call you have to hold the side of the device to your ear which not only makes you look and feel completely ridiculous but will leave you open to ridicule from your fellow passengers if using on public transport, secondly to change the game card for another you had to remove the back cover, remove the game card, insert a new one then put the cover back on - a very time consuming exercise.

They did attempt to remedy these issues later with the release a year later of the Nokia N-Gage QD (pictured left) which allowed for changing of game cards on the fly thanks to a slot in the bottom of the phone eliminating the need to remove the back cover, also to make and receive calls it could now be held flat to your ear.  The QD was also smaller than the original device and I really like the design of it too!  In fact I actually own one which I tracked down a while ago on eBay with an MMC card full of games, and I still give it a go every now and again.

Ultimately though not enough units were sold and after an initially impressive line up of titles these soon dried up and now it’s nothing more than something sought by collectors.  But kudos to Nokia for trying something different!

Evercade Evolution Magazine - an excellent read!

For those of you who own the excellent multi-cartridge based retro handheld system the Evercade or it’s console partner, the Evercade VS this will be of interest to you - there is a magazine to support the systems produced by the Evercade Fans Group on Facebook and it’s a high-quality, well produced publication.  Each issue focuses on a detailed review of one of the Evercade game cartridges along with news, features to appeal to the Evercade gamer.

There have so far been three issues with more to come, all are available digitally for free at https://evercade.info/evercade-evolution-magazine/ and a printed version of each issue is now available for around £6 on Amazon, well worth the money.  If you own either of the two Evercade systems this is a must read.