Best Retro Handhelds Under $200

Two hundred dollars is the most interesting number in retro handhelds, and almost nothing written about the market treats it as one. It gets filed as "mid-range" and described in adjectives. In our capability index it is something much more concrete: a hard edge in the data, where four systems that are impossible below it become possible above it, and where one more system stays impossible no matter what you spend.

The count is simple and it is the whole argument. We grade 443 handhelds on eighteen systems, and 376 of them carry a tracked street price. Of those, 255 cost $200 or less and 213 cost $150 or less. Take the priced devices at or under $200 and ask how many can take a straight A - the index top band, the letter A - on the PlayStation 2. The answer is one: the RG477V, at exactly $200. Ask the same group how many can play a Wii U game at any grade at all, and the answer is none, out of 241 devices that carry a Wii U grade.

That is what this guide is about. Not "which handheld is good for $200", but where the line falls, what is on the near side of it, and what the next nine dollars buy.

What the $200 ceiling actually covers

Here is the tier in one table. Every figure counts the priced devices at $200 or less that carry a grade for that system, and every price is the cheapest device in the whole catalogue that reaches that band - not a shortlist, the floor.

Read the last four rows and then read the price column above them, because that is the guide. The PlayStation 2 is reachable at a straight A for exactly one device, at exactly the ceiling. The Wii U, the Switch and the PlayStation 3 are not reachable at any grade by any device in the tier - not playable, not close.

The rest of the table explains why the $200 tier is worth writing about at all. Eleven of the eighteen systems take a straight A for $70 or less, and the pocket-money end is almost comically cheap: $13 buys a straight A on the NES, $15 on the Game Boy and the Sega Genesis, $30 on the SNES, the Game Boy Advance and the PlayStation 1. If your retro library is a 1990s one, $200 is four times more than you need and this page should talk you out of it. The tier only starts to mean something at the GameCube, and it stops meaning anything at the Wii U.

The fifty dollars that change everything

The cleanest way to see what the ceiling does is to compare it with the tier below. The $150 guide on this site already covers that budget, so here is the same question answered in counts rather than adjectives: of the 213 priced handhelds at $150 or less, how many take a straight A on the four hard sixth-generation systems?

Not one. Not a single device at $150 or less takes a straight A on the GameCube (0 of 191), the Wii (0 of 183), the Nintendo 3DS (0 of 207) or the PlayStation 2 (0 of 179). Playable is barely better: 8 of 191 reach a B on the GameCube, 3 of 183 on the Wii, 8 of 207 on the 3DS and 3 of 179 on the PlayStation 2.

Move the ceiling to $200 and every one of those counts moves off zero: 12 of 232 straight A on the GameCube, 9 of 225 on the Wii, 11 of 248 on the 3DS and 1 of 221 on the PlayStation 2. The Wii U count stays at zero in both tiers, 0 of 210 at $150 and 0 of 241 at $200.

That is the entire case for spending the extra fifty dollars, stated honestly: it does not buy you a better version of the same thing, it buys the sixth generation. And it buys only the sixth generation. Anyone who tells you a $200 handheld is a Wii U machine is selling you a device whose own grade sheet says D or F on that row.

PlayStation 2 is the last system inside the line

The PlayStation 2 is the reason this guide has a winner, so it is worth looking at the row properly.

221 of the 255 priced devices at $200 or less carry a PS2 grade. One takes a straight A. 23 are playable at a B or better. 164 grade it an F, which is 74% of the tier failing a console that went on sale in 2000.

The three stops up to that one straight A are all useful, and they are $86 apart in total:

$114, playable. The Retroid Pocket Classic grades the PlayStation 2 a B. It is a vertical handheld with a straight A on all eleven systems from the Game Boy through the Saturn, and a B on the PS2, the Wii and the 3DS - so it runs the generation, at the band where the game works and the frame pacing is not perfect. If the PS2 is a curiosity rather than a collection, this is the cheapest way in by a wide margin.

$160, one band short of full quality. The Mangmi Air Y Pro grades the PS2 an A- and takes a straight A on every other system through the 3DS. An A- is the band below the top; it is the grade the whole guide would settle on if $200 were not available.

$200, a straight A. The RG477V is the only device in the tier that takes the top grade on the system, and it does it at exactly the ceiling. It also takes a straight A on the fourteen systems below the PS2 - everything from the Game Boy to the 3DS - which makes it the only handheld at or under $200 that is complete through the sixth generation.

One more comparison makes the line sharper. Across the whole catalogue, 342 priced devices carry a PS2 grade and 98 of them take a straight A - so a full-quality PS2 handheld is not rare, it is 29% of everything we measure. It simply does not exist below $200. The cheapest straight A is $200, the next is $209, then $219, $220 and $229. There is no cliff after the line; the devices get cheaper-per-grade very quickly once you cross it.

Wii U is the first system outside it

The Wii U is the wall, and it is a strange one because it is so close.

241 of the 255 priced devices at or under $200 carry a Wii U grade. All 241 fail it: 229 grade an F and 12 grade a D. Zero playable, zero straight A. Nine dollars above the line, the Retroid Pocket 6 grades the Wii U an A- and the PlayStation 2 a straight A at the same time.

The full picture above the line is worth having, because it is what the next three purchases look like. 362 priced devices carry a Wii U grade and 51 take a straight A. The cheapest playable device is the Retroid Pocket 6 at $209 (A-), the cheapest straight A is the Odin 3 at $299, and there are more than a dozen devices between $299 and $399 that take the top grade. So the system is eminently doable - it just starts nine dollars after this budget ends.

The two systems beyond it are not close in the same way. The Switch takes a straight A on 61 of 368 priced devices, and the cheapest device that plays one at all is the AYANEO Next Lite at $299 with a B, with a straight A at $399 on the Steam Deck. The PlayStation 3 takes a straight A on 41 of 358, and the cheapest device that plays it at all is the AOKZOE A2 at $599 - playable and full quality are the same device, which tells you how narrow that emulation layer is.

For a $200 buyer the practical version of all this is one sentence: the Wii U, the Switch and the PlayStation 3 are not in this budget and should not be part of the decision. If those are the systems you want, the honest purchase is the original hardware - a used Wii U costs less than the handheld that emulates it, and a Switch Lite costs less than any handheld we grade at a straight A on the Switch.

The thirteen-system answer for $160

If you ignore the PlayStation 2 entirely, the tier has a clean winner and it is not at the ceiling.

Thirteen systems - the Game Boy, NES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy Advance, SNES, PlayStation 1, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, PSP, Sega Saturn, GameCube, Wii and Nintendo 3DS - take a straight A on 108 of the 315 priced handhelds that carry all thirteen grades. Eight of those 108 cost $200 or less. The cheapest is the Mangmi Air Y Pro at $160.

That is the value answer inside this budget, and it is worth being precise about what it means: every cartridge-era and disc-era Nintendo and Sega system through the 3DS, at full quality, on one $160 vertical handheld, with the PlayStation 2 sitting one grade below at an A-. The gap between it and the winner is $40 and one grade band on one system.

If you drop the 3DS, the answer gets cheaper again: 110 of 322 priced devices take a straight A on all twelve systems through the Wii, and the cheapest is the KT-R2 at $159, with the Mangmi $1 behind it. The KT-R2 is the device to buy if the GameCube and the Wii are your target and the 3DS is not, because it takes a straight A on both of the sixth-generation systems for $159.

What to look for

Three things decide this purchase, and the first one decides it on its own.

1. Which side of the line your library is on. Everything through the PlayStation 1 costs $30. The GameCube and the Wii start at $159. The PlayStation 2 starts at $200 at full quality and $114 playable. If your list is 8-bit and 16-bit, the correct answer is a $30 device and this budget is 85% waste. Be honest with yourself here, because the market is full of $200 recommendations written for people whose actual library is Super Mario World.
2. The grade band, not the chip name. Our index grades every handheld per system, and the difference between a B and an A is the difference between a game that runs and a game that runs correctly. The PlayStation 2 is the best example in the tier: 23 devices play it, one plays it at full quality. "Plays PS2" and "plays PS2 properly" are $86 apart.
3. Whether the next generation is in your future. Nine dollars above this budget, the Wii U becomes possible. If you are going to want it, the $209 device is the rational purchase and the whole $200 exercise is a detour. If you are not, buy inside the line and spend the difference on games.

The shortlist

The Pocket Air Mini, $70. The cheapest handheld that runs a GameCube or a 3DS game at all - a B on both - and a straight A on all eleven systems from the Game Boy through the Sega Saturn, which is the entire 8-bit and 16-bit range plus the Dreamcast and the PSP. It plays thirteen of the fifteen systems this guide can reach at a B or better. The PlayStation 2 is a C+ and the Wii a C, so it is the honest ceiling of the "good enough" tier: $70 for everything a cartridge collector needs.

The Retroid Pocket Classic, $114. The cheapest handheld that makes the PlayStation 2 playable at a B, and it does the same for the Wii. Eleven straight A grades through the Saturn, a B+ on the GameCube, a B on the 3DS. It is a vertical handheld, which matters if you play Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games in their original shape, and it is the cheapest device on this page that touches the sixth generation at all.

The KT-R2, $159. The cheapest straight A on the GameCube and on the Wii - 12 of 232 tier devices manage the first and 9 of 225 the second - plus a straight A on all twelve systems through the Wii and an A- on the 3DS. The PlayStation 2 is a B+, so it runs but not at full quality. If the GameCube and Wii libraries are the point, this is the end of the guide and $41 cheaper than the winner.

The Mangmi Air Y Pro, $160. The cheapest handheld in the catalogue to take a straight A on all thirteen systems through the Nintendo 3DS - the complete range this budget can buy except the PlayStation 2 - and an A- on that last system. 108 of 315 priced devices take the thirteen-system set, 8 of them inside this budget, and this is the cheapest. A vertical device, with a C- on the Wii U and a D on the Switch, which is exactly what the ceiling looks like.

The Retroid Pocket 5, $199. The safest buy in the tier. A straight A on thirteen systems and an A- on the PlayStation 2 for one dollar less than the winner, from the brand with the deepest track record in this price band. On the data it is one grade band behind the RG477V on one system; on everything else - support, build, the fact that people have been shipping these for years - it is the device most buyers should order. We are not going to pretend a $1 saving outweighs a grade band, but we will say plainly that the grade band is the only place the RG477V wins.

The RG477V, $200. The winner. The only handheld at or under $200 that takes a straight A on the PlayStation 2, and the only one that is a straight A on all fifteen systems from the Game Boy through the PlayStation 2 at once. 98 of the 312 priced devices we grade on all fifteen of those systems manage the full set and this is the cheapest by $9. It grades the Wii U a C+ and carries no Switch or PlayStation 3 grade at all, so it is complete through the sixth generation and stops there - which is precisely what $200 buys.

The honest counterpoint

Most people reading a $200 guide should spend $70.

The Pocket Air Mini at $70 plays thirteen of the fifteen systems this budget can reach at a B or better, and takes a straight A on eleven of them - the whole 8-bit and 16-bit canon, the Dreamcast, the PSP and the Saturn. Everything above it in this guide is bought with the GameCube, the Wii and the PlayStation 2, and if those three systems are not on your list then the extra $130 is buying hardware for a library you do not own.

The second honest point is that this budget cannot be future-proofed. The Wii U is nine dollars away and the Switch and PlayStation 3 are not in the conversation at any price under $200 - so a $200 purchase is not a hedge against wanting more later, it is a decision to stop at the sixth generation. If you suspect you will want the seventh, buy the $209 device now and skip this tier entirely.

Which leaves the case for the ceiling, and it is a real one. Two hundred dollars is the price at which a single handheld stops being a compromise for a cartridge and disc collection and becomes complete through the PlayStation 2 at full quality. One device does it today, at exactly the number, and the next one is nine dollars behind it. That is a genuinely good deal in a market where the same question cost $300 two years ago - it is just a narrower deal than the adjective "mid-range" implies.

Sources

• Lost In Consoles - the Handheld Capability Index, the per-system grades and tracked prices every number in this guide is computed from: lostinconsoles.com
• Lost In Consoles - the $150 buying guide, the tier directly below this one: lostinconsoles.com
• Lost In Consoles - the $300 buying guide, for what the next hundred dollars buys: lostinconsoles.com
• Lost In Consoles - the PlayStation 2 guide, for the system this tier ends on: lostinconsoles.com
• Wikipedia - the PlayStation 2, released in 2000 and the best-selling console ever made: wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia - PCSX2, the PlayStation 2 emulator these grades measure: wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia - the Wii U, released in 2012 and the first system this budget cannot reach: wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia - Cemu, the Wii U emulator: wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia - RPCS3, the PlayStation 3 emulator: wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia - Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator: wikipedia.org
• Anbernic - the RG477V, the guide winner: anbernic.com
• Retroid / Moorechip - the Pocket 5, the Pocket Classic and the Pocket 2+: goretroid.com
• KT Pocket - the KT-R2: ktpocket.com
• AYANEO - the Pocket Air Mini: ayaneo.com
• Mangmi - the Air Y Pro vertical handheld: mangmi.com

Method: every grade and price quoted here is the frozen value published on each device page in the Lost In Consoles capability index, which grades 443 handhelds on eighteen systems and carries a tracked street price for 376 of them. The tier counts are computed over that dataset in full, not sampled: 255 priced devices at $200 or less, 213 at $150 or less, with per-system denominators that differ only where the index has no grade for a device on that system (241 of the 255 carry a Wii U grade, 253 a Switch grade, 248 a PlayStation 3 grade, 221 a PlayStation 2 grade). A straight A means the index top band, the letter A; there is no A+ in the dataset and A- is the band below it, so "playable" in this guide means a B or better, the site-wide threshold. The floor prices quoted - $13 RGFC520 on the NES, $15 GB300 on the Game Boy and Genesis, $30 G28 and U8 on the SNES, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation 1, $40 R39S on the Nintendo DS, $65 for a straight A on the Nintendo 64, $70 Pocket Air Mini on the Dreamcast, PSP and Sega Saturn, $114 Retroid Pocket Classic for a playable PlayStation 2 and Wii, $159 KT-R2 on the GameCube and Wii, $160 Mangmi Air Y Pro on all thirteen systems through the 3DS, $200 RG477V on all fifteen through the PlayStation 2, $209 Retroid Pocket 6 for a playable Wii U, $299 for a playable Switch and a straight-A Wii U, $399 Steam Deck for a straight-A Switch and $599 AOKZOE A2 for the PlayStation 3 - are the cheapest priced device in the dataset that reaches that band, recomputed for this page. Prices are the tracked street price at publication and move with the market.