Methodology

How the information is established

This site compares retro handhelds. This page explains where the numbers come from, when a piece of information is published, when it is not, and how the site makes money.

The cross-checking rule

Specs start from the manufacturer's official spec sheet, when there is one. A value is displayed ifat least one other source confirms it. When the manufacturer publishes nothing usable,three independent sources must agree exactly. If two other sources agree against the manufacturer, we treat it as an apparent error: the manufacturer's value is set aside and the discrepancy is logged.

Emulation verdicts have no manufacturer source: three independent sources must always reach the same verdict.

If sources contradict each other or are not sufficient, the field stays empty and the page shows “—”. A blank therefore means “not confirmed”, never “missing from the handheld”.

The sources consulted are the manufacturers' spec sheets and public spec databases:

The manufacturer's official spec sheet (AYN, Anbernic, AYANEO…), when it is readable. Some manufacturers publish their table as an image: it is then copied by hand, with a link to the page.
RetroCatalog and RetroDex. They rely on the same community spreadsheet, so they count as a single source.
CompareHandhelds, which says it relies on the manufacturers' pages.
The Retro Circuit, which does not document its sources.
Tests by independent reviewers (YouTube videos, articles): each reviewer counts as one source. The summary is written in my own words, links to the video at the exact moment of the test and carries the verification date. Only systems actually tried on the handheld are kept; a general claim about the chip does not count.

Three sources that agree are not three independent measurements: they may all copy the manufacturer's spec sheet. This is a known limit of the method.

Emulation verdicts

Each system gets one of four verdicts, always with a link to the source used and the verification date.

● perfect: Everything that was tested runs without trouble.
◐ playable: Most games run well, with a few settings to adjust.
◔ limited: Only a few titles run properly; results are uneven.
○ unplayable: The system does not work in any usable way.

Sources use different scales (“Great / Good / Poor”, “Perfect / Great / Playable / Struggles”, compatibility percentages). I convert them to these four levels with a fixed table, and I only keep a verdict when three sources reach the same one. When they diverge, no verdict is published.

Tests written by third parties can count as an additional source, provided the author says they tried that system on that exact device. Capability claims (“the chip handles everything up to Switch”) are not kept.

In-house measurements

When the site measures a handheld itself, the measurement takes precedence over third-party sources: a test done on the device outweighs a copied rating. It is flagged as an “in-house measurement” on the page, with the exact device tested (for example “Thor Pro 12 GB”, which shares its chip with the base Thor). To date there is a single measurement: Switch emulation on the AYN Thor.

The “emulates up to” badge

It is computed, never entered by hand: it is the most demanding system with a confirmed playable orperfect verdict. Because a missing verdict is not a failure, the badge is a reliable minimum: a handheld may do better than what it shows if the sources have not converged yet.

Prices

Prices are collected automatically every day from the official stores of some brands and from European retailers. The site is published from France; what you see depends on the language version:

On this English version, prices are the official-store prices in US dollars, exactly as the brand lists them. They are shown before sales tax, import duties or tariffs, and shipping, which depend on where you live and are charged by the store or the carrier. The European retailers tracked by the site sell in euros with European VAT, so they are not listed here.
On the French, German, Spanish and Portuguese versions, the official-store price is converted to euros at the day's European Central Bank reference rate, then the country's VAT is added (France 20%, Germany 19%, Spain 21%, Portugal 23%) and, up to €150, the €3 flat customs duty the European Union has applied to small parcels since July 1, 2026. These estimates are marked “≈”. European retailers' prices are taken as displayed, taxes included.

The best price only takes into account offers that are in stock and were recorded less than 14 days ago. An older offer stays visible, greyed out, with the date it was last recorded.
A given configuration is compared with the same configuration (memory, version): the variant is shown on each offer. If a store does not sell the reference configuration, it does not appear for that handheld.
The history shows, for each day, the best in-stock price recorded.
Prices are indicative. The price that counts is the one the store displays when you order.

How results are ranked

The catalog is sorted alphabetically by default. You can sort it by power, weight or price.
The “most powerful first” sort follows an indicative chip ranking (generation and tier, from the most recent to the most modest), then the heaviest confirmed system. It is not a benchmark: two handhelds with the same chip are tied, and only the spec sheet details what they emulate.
On a handheld's page, offers are sorted by ascending total price, in-stock and up-to-date offers first, then out-of-stock ones, then outdated ones.
Any commission the site might earn changes neither the order of offers, nor the verdicts, nor the specs.
Only stores for which the site can display an offer appear: the list is therefore not an exhaustive view of the market. A missing store is not a store rejected for quality reasons.

Affiliate links and independence

The site is meant to be funded by affiliate links: when you buy after clicking an offer link, the store may pay the site a commission. It does not change the price you pay.

To date, no affiliate program is active. Offer links go straight to the store and the site earns no commission. This page will be updated as soon as an affiliate link appears.
Every affiliate link will be flagged as such on the page, and carries the rel="sponsored" attribute.
No brand or store pays to be listed on the site, to get a better verdict or a better position.
The site has started testing handhelds itself (see “In-house measurements”); these measurements are kept distinct from third-party sources on the pages.

Limits and corrections

Specs and verdicts come from third-party sources. They may contain errors and change as emulators are updated.
The same model may exist in several versions (chip, memory). The data only concerns the version described on the page.
Does something look wrong? Write using the contact details on the legal notice page, with a source if possible.

The data on this site was last generated on Nov 11, 2026.

Last updated: Nov 11, 2026