Best Handhelds for SNES Emulation

Super Nintendo emulation is the easiest hard problem in this database, and the opposite of the Game Boy Advance problem in almost every respect. The console itself is nothing - a Ricoh 5A22 built around a 65C816 core at 3.58 MHz with 128 KB of RAM - so 415 of the 473 devices in our database that carry a SNES verdict grade a B or better, and 377 grade a straight A. Almost everything sold today runs the library at full speed. What is not solved is the picture, and what is genuinely awkward is a handful of cartridges.

The one thing to understand before you shop

Two things separate SNES handhelds, and neither is speed. First, the panel: the Super Nintendo is a 4:3 console, and most modern handhelds are not. Second, the coprocessors: roughly three dozen of the console's most famous games shipped with an extra processor inside the cartridge.

Both traps are invisible if you shop on chip names and price alone, which is what almost every other buying guide does. Here is why each one matters.

The Super Nintendo is a 4:3 machine, and that is now unusual

A SNES frame is 256 x 224 pixels, but those pixels are not square. The console's video output was designed to be stretched to fill a 4:3 television, which gives it an 8:7 pixel aspect ratio - pixels a little wider than they are tall - and the result is a picture with the familiar 4:3 proportions.

That matters because the panels sold on retro handhelds today have drifted away from 4:3. Of the 473 devices in our console database carrying a SNES grade, 173 use a 4:3 panel - and that is the correct shape for this console. Behind it come 124 devices with a 16:9 panel and 48 with 16:10. On a widescreen screen a SNES game is either pillarboxed - squeezed into the middle of the display with black bars down both sides, wasting a third of the panel - or stretched wide, which distorts every sprite in the library.

This is the reverse of the Game Boy Advance, and it is worth being explicit about the difference, because the two consoles want opposite screens. The GBA outputs a 240 x 160 frame in a 3:2 ratio, so the 3:2 panels that flatter it - 720 x 480, 960 x 640 - are the wrong panels for the Super Nintendo. The panel that is merely acceptable for the GBA, a 640 x 480 4:3 screen, is the correct panel for the SNES. If you own a handheld bought to play Game Boy Advance games, it is probably not ideal for this library, and vice versa.

There is one more wrinkle the GBA does not have. Because 256 x 224 is an awkward size, a 640 x 480 panel is not a clean whole-number multiple of the SNES frame: 640 is 2.5 times 256 and 480 is 2.14 times 224. So on the best budget handhelds you are choosing between two honest images - a full-screen 4:3 picture with the correct proportions but pixels that are not perfectly square, or a pixel-perfect 2x render at 512 x 448 sitting in a small centred window. Neither is wrong. The wrong answer is a 16:9 panel showing a stretched SNES game, and there are 124 devices in our database that will do exactly that unless you configure them.

For completeness: eleven devices in the database have a panel physically smaller than a SNES frame - the 240 x 240 square micro-handhelds like the FunKey S and the RG-NANO - so they cannot show the console at 1:1 at all.

The cartridge coprocessors: the real compatibility wall

Raw performance does not separate SNES handhelds, because even a cheap Rockchip RK3326 grades the system an A. What does separate them is whether they can run the cores that emulate the chips Nintendo and its partners soldered inside some of the console's most famous cartridges.

The SNES base hardware had no 3D accelerator, no fast maths co-processor and a slow main CPU. Rather than release an add-on, publishers put the missing silicon in the cartridge. The list, from Nintendo's own enhancement-chip catalogue:

• Super FX and Super FX 2 - a 16-bit RISC CPU designed by Argonaut Software that rendered the polygons in Star Fox and handled the sprite scaling, rotation and stretching in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.
• SA-1 - the Super Accelerator 1, used in 35 games including Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Kirby Super Star and Kirby's Dream Land 3. It is effectively a second 65C816 running at 10.74 MHz, versus the base CPU's 3.58 MHz.
• Cx4 - Capcom's maths coprocessor, the "Capcom Consumer Custom Chip", in Mega Man X2 and Mega Man X3.
• DSP-1 / DSP-1B - the Mode 7 maths chip in Super Mario Kart and Pilotwings, the two games that defined the console's pseudo-3D look.
• DSP-2, DSP-3 and DSP-4 - one game each: Dungeon Master, SD Gundam GX and Top Gear 3000.
• S-DD1 - an ASIC decompressor that streamed compressed graphics straight to the picture processor in Star Ocean and Street Fighter Alpha 2.
• MSU-1 and the ST010/011/018, SPC7110 and OBC-1 chips - the long tail, including the MSU-1 expansion used by modern ROM hacks to add CD-quality audio.

Here is the part almost no buying guide tells you. These games do not fail because a handheld is weak. They fail because the emulator has nothing to talk to. The bsnes core - the accuracy-focused option - lists a full set of optional coprocessor firmware files, and its documentation states plainly that when that low-level firmware is absent, the core falls back to high-level emulation "where available". That phrase is doing a lot of work: the Super FX, SA-1 and DSP families are covered well enough by high-level emulation to boot, but the S-DD1 titles were hard enough that emulation originally shipped with separate graphics packs until the compression algorithm was reverse-engineered.

The practical consequence for a buyer is simple. If your library runs from Super Mario World to Chrono Trigger to Super Metroid - none of which used an enhancement chip - a $40 handheld will serve you perfectly. If it includes Star Fox, Yoshi's Island, Super Mario RPG, Kirby Super Star, Mega Man X2 or Street Fighter Alpha 2, you want a device with the headroom to run an accuracy-first core, and you want one running RetroArch so you can drop the optional coprocessor firmware files into the system directory.

What actually separates Super Nintendo handhelds

Three things. Performance is not one of them.

The panel, as above. 173 of the 473 SNES-graded devices use the 4:3 shape the console was built for. A 640 x 480 panel is the sweet spot: large enough to show the 256 x 224 frame clearly, cheap enough to appear on $40 hardware, and the right shape.

The coprocessor headroom, which is a question of what core you can run. Snes9x is light and highly accurate, supports MSU-1, and is the realistic choice on low-power hardware. bsnes is the low-level, firmware-accurate option and its documentation is candid that it "is best suited to desktop-class systems with a relatively fast CPU" - but an Allwinner H700 with 1 GB of RAM clears that bar comfortably, so H700-class devices can run the core that handles the enhancement chips most faithfully. This is the single most useful spec on this page, and no retailer lists it.

The buttons, which is the mildest of the three. SNES games want a cross D-pad, four face buttons in the diamond layout, and two shoulders. Almost every device here clears that bar. The SNES never used a six-button Sega-style pad, so a six-button layout is money spent on nothing unless you are also shopping for Genesis.

The ranking: the handhelds that get the panel right

Every device here grades the Super Nintendo an A. What separates them is the 640 x 480 4:3 panel they share - the correct shape for the console.

1. Anbernic RG-35XX Plus — the winner

The RG-35XX Plus is the answer for most people because it is the cheapest well-supported device that pairs the right panel with the right processor. Its 3.5-inch screen is 640 x 480 in the 4:3 ratio the SNES was designed for, so a game fills the display at the correct proportions instead of sitting in a widescreen pillar. Inside is an Allwinner H700 with 1 GB of LPDDR4 running Linux - enough headroom for an accuracy-first core with the coprocessor firmware present, which is what makes the difference on the enhancement-chip games. It grades a straight A on the SNES, and an A on the NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Sega Genesis and PlayStation 1, so it is a genuine all-rounder for the 8- and 16-bit era. It is tracked at $64. Its honest limitation is that it has no analogue sticks - if your library reaches into Nintendo 64, Dreamcast or PSP, that is a different guide.

2. Anbernic RG-40XXV — the same picture, larger

The RG-40XXV carries the identical 640 x 480 4:3 panel and the same Allwinner H700, but stretches the screen to 4.0 inches, which makes the SNES's small text and HUD elements noticeably easier to read. It is a vertical handheld, tracked at $60, and grades an A across the same six systems. Choose it over the RG-35XX Plus purely on screen size and price; there is nothing else between them. If you prefer a horizontal body with grips, the RG-40XXH is the same device turned sideways for $70.

3. Anbernic RG-35XX 2024 — the value pick

This is the cheapest device here with real coprocessor headroom. A 3.5-inch 640 x 480 4:3 panel and the same H700 processor as the winner, tracked at $50 - about $14 less than the RG-35XX Plus for an identical emulation ceiling. What you give up is refinement: the 2024 refresh is the older, plainer build in the line. If the budget is firm and you refuse to compromise on either the panel or the chip, this is the device.

4. POWKIDDY R36S and RGB10X — the $40 floor

Two devices, one experience, split by shape. Both carry a 3.5-inch 640 x 480 4:3 panel and both are tracked at $40, and both have enough power for Snes9x and the SNES library at full speed - they grade the system an A. The R36S is a vertical handheld running ArkOS on a Rockchip RK3326; the RGB10X is the horizontal PowKiddy equivalent. At this price the honest caveat is the core you can run: you will use Snes9x rather than bsnes, so the enhancement-chip games are where you should test your library before committing. Buy one of these if $40 is the budget and the SNES is the whole point.

5. Anbernic RG-28XX, RG-35XX SP and Miyoo Mini Plus — the shape variations

Three more devices on the same 640 x 480 4:3 panel, for buyers who want a particular body. The RG-28XX is the smallest, at 2.83 inches and $48 - the one that disappears into a pocket. The RG-35XX SP is a clamshell that closes over its screen, for $65, which is worth something on a device you carry loose. The Miyoo Mini Plus is the pocket favourite at 162 g and $70, running Linux on a SigmaStar SSD202D with just 128 MB of RAM - which is why everything from Nintendo 64 upward grades an F on it, and why that is irrelevant for a library that stops at the 16-bit era. All three grade the SNES an A.

6. GKD Pixel — the micro option

The only device here that is nearly the console's own resolution. The GKD Pixel has a 2.31-inch panel at 320 x 240, which is a hair above the SNES's 256 x 224, so a game renders at close to native size on a genuinely pocketable machine. It grades the Super Nintendo an A, runs the IUX operating system on an Ingenic X1830, and is tracked at $76. It is a niche device - a 2.31-inch screen is small even by retro standards - but for someone who wants the console's actual pixel density in their pocket, nothing else comes close.

The FPGA and cartridge route

There is a second way to play SNES games, and it is the only one that is not emulation at all. The Analogue Pocket is an FPGA handheld that reads original cartridges and simulates the hardware rather than emulating it, and with its cartridge adapters it plays SNES and Super Famicom carts from the original media. It grades the Super Nintendo an A and is tracked at $220.

Its geometry is the caveat, and it is the same caveat the GBA guide names from the other direction. The Pocket's panel is 1600 x 1440, a 10:9 ratio - exactly ten times the Game Boy's 160 x 144 frame, which is why it is the best handheld ever made for Game Boy, and not 4:3, which is why it is merely good rather than perfect for the Super Nintendo. It also includes Super Game Boy support, so the handful of SNES cartridges with Game Boy hardware inside them run properly - something emulation handhelds handle unevenly. If playing from carts matters more to you than the last few percent of panel geometry, it is the answer.

What about the flagship handhelds?

They run the Super Nintendo perfectly, exactly as a $50 device does, and this guide will not pretend otherwise. A Snapdragon 8-series handheld with a 1080p or 1440p widescreen panel grades the SNES an A - but it also renders a 4:3 console into a 16:9 screen, leaving a large pillar of unused black on either side or stretching the image outright. Of the 124 devices in our database with a 16:9 panel, every one of them is a worse SNES screen than a $50 handheld with a 640 x 480 4:3 panel. Buy the flagship for PlayStation 2, GameCube and Wii, and let the Super Nintendo ride along. Do not buy it for the Super Nintendo.

The verdict

Buy the Anbernic RG-35XX Plus at $64: a 640 x 480 4:3 panel that matches the console's proportions, an Allwinner H700 with the headroom to run an accuracy-first core with the coprocessor firmware, and a straight A grade on the system and five others besides. If you want a bigger screen for the same money, the RG-40XXV is $60. If the budget is $50, the RG-35XX 2024 keeps both the panel and the chip. If it is $40, the R36S or the RGB10X still grades the SNES an A - just expect to run Snes9x rather than bsnes. And if you would rather play from cartridges on hardware than from files on an emulator, the Analogue Pocket is the answer, with the honest caveat that its 10:9 panel is not the console's 4:3 shape.

Sources

• Wikipedia, Super Nintendo Entertainment System - the Ricoh 5A22 CPU and its 65C816 core at 3.58 MHz, the 128 KB of work RAM, Mode 7 and eight-channel ADPCM audio, the Japanese launch on November 21, 1990, the North American launch on August 23, 1991, the European launch on April 11, 1992, the 49.10 million units sold (23.35 million in North America, 17.17 million in Japan, 8.58 million elsewhere) and the 1999 and 2003 discontinuations: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System
• Wikipedia, List of Super NES enhancement chips - the full cartridge-coprocessor catalogue: the Super FX and Super FX 2 by Argonaut Software, the SA-1 (used in 35 games and clocked at 10.74 MHz against the 5A22's 3.58 MHz), the Capcom Cx4 in Mega Man X2 and X3, the DSP-1 in Super Mario Kart and Pilotwings, the single-game DSP-2, DSP-3 and DSP-4, and the S-DD1 decompressor in Star Ocean and Street Fighter Alpha 2: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_NES_enhancement_chips
• Wikipedia, Super FX - the chip's origin at Argonaut Software, its use in Star Fox and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, and its multiple hardware revisions: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_FX
• Libretro Docs, bsnes - the accuracy-focused SNES core, its optional coprocessor firmware files (dsp1 through dsp4, the ST010/ST011/ST018 DSPs, the Cx4 and the SA-1), its statement that high-level emulation is used when low-level firmware is absent, its note that it is best suited to desktop-class systems, its HD Mode 7 scaling and CPU and coprocessor overclocking, and the Super Game Boy and Satellaview BIOS requirements: docs.libretro.com/library/bsnes
• Libretro Docs, Snes9x - the lightweight, highly accurate SNES core, its MSU-1 expansion-chip support, its recommended-for-netplay positioning and its BS-X and Sufami Turbo support: docs.libretro.com/library/snes9x
• Analogue - Pocket's FPGA hardware, its cartridge adapters that read original SNES and Super Famicom carts, its 1600 x 1440 10:9 panel at 615 PPI, and its Super Game Boy support: analogue.co/pocket
• Anbernic - RG-35XX Plus, RG-40XXV, RG-40XXH, RG-35XX 2024, RG-28XX and RG-35XX SP specifications, including the 640 x 480 4:3 panels and the Allwinner H700: anbernic.com