A froggy handheld
Christmas season is here and, as usual, I've been desperate lately trying to find a present for my SO. Fortunately, this year I've decided to act early. Since she already received so many books this year, I opted for something more involved, maybe a bit of a gamble, but definitely fun. I guess this is the time to be honest about it: I wanted to have fun too and turn this gift giving search into a little side quest for myself!
What I got: an ANBERNIC RG35XX SP clamshell handheld. It's a little gaming emulation handheld in the shape of a GBA SP, that can play games from most systems up to ~PS1 era. It's a fantastic little device, and one I wanted to try out for a bit. There's a newer model called RG34XX SP that also has two analog sticks and double the RAM, but it's more expensive and has some drawbacks. I decided to stick with the 35XX class device for a couple of reasons:
- the ecosystem for CFWs is great and extensive;
- it's cheaper to buy (even more so when factoring in the 2 MicroSD cards you need to make it work);
- it allows for a bit of customization fun;
- the screen resolution and aspect ratio, while not exceptional for GBA, allow great pixel reproduction on most retro systems;
- it comes in green (her favorite color + the theme of the build).
And yes, I know that calling this project a build is probably an exaggeration, but I can't come up with a better term + don't care.
the ingredients
So, I ordered the device on sale on AliExpress during Black Friday, shipping from the EU (which is a big plus). While waiting for the package to show up, I started making a list of things to do to be able to give her the best experience possible:
- make a romset with most games from early Nintendo systems because that's what she's going to be the most interested in;
- choose a cfw to use on the device, since the stock OS is terrible;
- scrape game artwork and find a good looking theme;
- choose some graphics for customizing the lid.
the procedure
For the custom firmware, I opted for MustardOS, muOS for friends, since it gives you a robust environment with plenty of functionality and customization options. It's technically the more involved of the available CFWs when it comes to setup and maintenance, but, again, I wanted it to be a fun project. For the theme, I have chosen ooimrosabel's Aurora theme since it looks beautiful and has a green variant.
For the romset, I put together a custom mix with complete sets for FC, SFC, GB, GBC, GBA, and GW, which should be enough to give her enough analysis paralysis for months to come. I scraped the artwork with Skraper and organized the folder structure. Btw, if you are into retro gaming and preservation, please consider donating money and/or time to the people at ScreenScraper: their work is super important and benefits all of us nerds.
After setting the device up with muOS and the custom theme, it was time for RetroArch shaders and overlays: I won't waste time describing the process here, just save yourself the trouble and read through Russ's amazing guide.
artsy bits
As it is, this little handheld is looking real good. Nonetheless, I wanted to incorporate a personal touch and make it really hers. Introducing ANBERNIC's little gift for buyers of the transparent case models: you can fit custom stickers inside the lid!!!
I feared that finding the exact dimensions would have been a nightmare but, again, a kind member of the community made them available on reddit (link to the thread here. I fired up Affinity and quickly made a template that I could add custom images into and print on A4 paper. I didn't have any stock of photo paper, so I decided to use some leftover sticker paper from a previous project. If anyone needs it, it's available here.
Since she is a big fan of Abi Toads' work I thought it would be nice to use it as a custom graphic for the lid, plus it also fits nicely with the aesthetics of the project. Here it is after a bit of processing to make the colors stand up a little more:
I knew that disassembling the lid was going to be a delicate procedure, but armed with patience and some tools I managed to fit the sticker inside, replacing the original piece of paper.
[20/01/2026] i forgot about this post
So basically, I completely forgot I was writing this post, which ended up sitting in the drafts for nearly a month. I also didn't really take any pictures of the disassembly and reassembly process, but it was great! The only problem I faced was with the screws that secure the top cover of the lid: screwing them too much made it so that the display panel would show a ton of light bleed, and after a bit of trial and error I found the correct "pressure" to get the best image. The custom firmware I went with ended up being great too, easier to use and setup than I originally thought.
In conclusion, the gift was a success! My SO loved it and is still having a great time with it.
Until next time, bye! Until