Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

Today's episode covers how to port over Sonic Mania for the Miyoo Mini and Miyoo Mini Plus.

It's actually pretty easy to do since very smart and talented people already did the hard work for you!

All you need to do is install the Ports shortcut on Onion OS using the Package Manager and then download the necessary ports file from the Onion OS Ports github located here: https://github.com/OnionUI/Ports-Collection.

You will need the data.rsdk file from a Sonic Mania installation. I used the one from my Epic Game Store installation since I got it for free there some time ago.

The game runs at a widescreen resolution so there will be black bars on the top and bottom. If you want a 4:3 aspect ratio, you can crop the game by adjusting the width. You do lose some details on the sides but it's mostly playable.

To do this make the following edits to the settings.ini file in SD:\Roms\PORTS\Games\Sonic Mania

winWidth=352 maxPixWidth=352 pixWidth=352

It runs pretty well! It does drain the battery much faster than normal however.

Thank you for listening!

Video guide: https://youtu.be/MhB_WV-dgew

Written guide: https://duckyobrien.com/2024/04/10/sonic-mania-on-the-miyoo-mini-plus/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

In today's SBC gaming news, we have new updates for the Miyoo A30 and the Anbernic RG28XX.

The A30 seems to have a USB C port that can transfer data and audio. It won't have an audio port but will come with a dongle.

The RG28XX seems to have a HDMI out as well as an audio port so it seems to have more functionality. It seems to lack Bluetooth however.

Both devices seem pretty decent in terms of processing power.

The A30 has a quad core CPU, a GPU, and 512MB of ram compared to the dual core CPU, no GPU, and only 128MB of ram of the Miyoo Mini Plus. It should be able to handle higher end systems like the Dreamcast and we already have video footage of the device running Crazy Taxi, albeit not optimally.

The RG28XX has the same SoC as the RG35XXH, Plus, and the 2024 version as well as the same stock operating system so we pretty much know how games will run on that device.

The one benefit of the RG28XX is that it should have Batocera and MuOS/Stock Mod available as custom operating systems at launch where as the A30 will probably require time for a feature rich custom OS/firmware to be available.

And more!

Thanks for listening!

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/aShoXqGRdDo

Blog: https://duckyobrien.com/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

Today's episode covers how to get the best graphics possible out of your PS1 games for your Miyoo Mini and Miyoo Mini Plus.

We'll do this by using Onion OS and the PCSX ReARMed emulator with the enhanced resolution setting turned on along with the enhanced resolution speed hack.

This will cause the game to slow down on the RetroArch core so overclocking will be necessary by adding a text file named cpuclock.txt with the number 1600 (for the OG Miyoo Mini) or 1800 (for the Miyoo Mini Plus) in the text file.

Create this file in this directory on your microSD card: SD:\Saves\CurrentProfile\config\PCSX-ReARMed

Even with overclocking, you may run into slowdowns. Using the standalone PCSX ReARMed app will produce much better results.

You still need to overclock it and we'll do this by adding one line that says "cpuclock 1600" or "cpuclock 1800" in the launch.sh file for the emulator right above the cpufreq.sh call.

If you need more details, I will provide links to both the video and written guide below.

Thank you for listening!

Video guide: https://youtu.be/57zGG7HpF_A

Written guide: https://duckyobrien.com/2024/04/17/how-to-make-your-ps1-games-look-better-on-the-miyoo-mini-plus/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

In today's SBC gaming news, we have so many micro handhelds announced. The SIPEED, the Miyoo A30, and now the Anbernic RG28XX.

These handhelds have a screen size of 2" to 2.8" and are roughly the same size as a Game Boy Micro.

The SIPEED uses an FPGA that handled up to the SNES (last time I checked), while the A30 and RG28XX should be able to handle up to PS1 and a bit more.

Honestly speaking, the RG28XX looks more ergonomic to me with the lack of an analog stick and the slanted speaker grill but we shall see once the systems come out (rumored release date is mid April).

A console war is brewing between Miyoo and Abnernic with interesting results!

And more!

Thanks for listening!

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/S2RI9tXiRdQ

Blog: https://duckyobrien.com/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

Today's episode covers two neat apps for the Miyoo Mini Plus.

WiPadRetro will let you use your Miyoo Mini Plus as a wireless controller over a WiFi network. The OG Miyoo Mini cannot be used for this since it does not have WiFi.

WiPadRetro Github: https://github.com/adildsw/WiPadRetro

AdvanceMENU is an alternative front end for Onion OS. It has video previews for each game! You do need to scrape and convert the videos yourself unless you use the snap pack created by shaquille.

Official Documentation: https://onionui.github.io/docs/apps/advancemenu

Snap Pack: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KoHhrSxNa3u--W2rhGIwRdPQguP52tqD/view?pli=1

Thank you for listening!

Video Guide for Controller: https://youtu.be/f6jmf9e7bEA

Video Guide for AdvanceMENU: https://youtu.be/WkNYwm2f8aw

Written Guide for Controller: https://duckyobrien.com/2024/04/02/how-to-use-your-miyoo-mini-plus-as-a-controller/

Written Guide for AdvanceMENU: https://duckyobrien.com/2024/04/05/neat-frontend-for-the-miyoo-mini-plus-advancemenu-onion-os/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

In today's SBC gaming news, one of my videos made it to Reddit! Yeah boi. A slew of new consoles were announced or prototypes leaked.

We recently saw the price for the OrangePi Neo. It was $499 for the 7840U model and $599 for the 8840U model. If those prices are real then it's actually a pretty decent price for the chipset.

The flip wars are heating up with Anbernic releasing sneak peaks of their RG35XXSP. It features a rather garish logo that lights up on the front. I hope it doesn't make it to the final version.

Handheld PCs aren't free of problems and we go over a few fixes for some common issues.

And more!

Thanks for listening!

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/g0LD7lz4k_g

Blog: https://duckyobrien.com/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

Today's episode covers how to shop as safely as possible on Aliexpress and TikTok Shop. I'll be blunt, the safest way is to not use these store fronts. However, Aliexpress is usually the cheapest way to buy retro handheld devices.

To keep it short and summarize the three easiest things you can do:

1. Make a new email account just for Aliexpress and use it for nothing else.
2. Make a dummy phone number using Google Voice.
3. Use PayPal or a virtual credit card like Privacy Card for payment.

To prevent being scammed:

1. Check when the store opened (new stores are more high risk).
2. Check the store ratings (low rated stores are not worth it).
3. Check the number of reviews, the average review score, and the number of items sold. A legitimate store will be more likely to have higher numbers. These numbers can be faked but it's still a decent indicator overall.
4. If it's too good to be true, it usually is.

Thank you for listening!

Video Guide on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SrK-Ya61Css

Written Guide on My Blog: https://duckyobrien.com/2024/03/30/how-to-shop-safely-on-aliexpress/

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

In today's SBC gaming news, I spent two weeks making a video because of one careless mistake lol. Never again.

Miyoo announces more information on two new consoles, the A30 and the Miyoo Mini Flip. The A30 looks very appealing to me since it looks very much like a Game Boy Micro, one of my favorite consoles of all time. Hopefully it's priced affordably.

A webstore announced that the A30 and the Flip should be coming out mid to late April. I'm very skeptical since the Manufacturer themselves released a notice saying that the A30 would ship first and the Flip afterwards. We shall see.

In a related note, a lot of other companies are teasing their variants on the flip form factor but since most of the teases were in the concept phase we shall see if any actually release.

2024 is shaping up to be an interesting year for retro handhelds.

And more!

Thanks for listening!

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/4zFnjQmO6UU

Blog: https://duckyobrien.com/