FAQ Page

A handheld console built to play the games you grew up with. It has a 3.5-inch IPS screen at 640×480 in a 4:3 ratio — the same shape as the TVs and handhelds those games were originally made for, so nothing is stretched or letterboxed. Dual analog sticks, a proper D-pad, four shoulder buttons, a headphone jack, and a replaceable battery.

It arrives loaded and ready. Turn it on, pick a system, pick a game, play. No account, no download, no setup.

None of the three. Everything is stored on the console itself. There's no account to create, no app to install, no monthly fee, and nothing to renew. It works on a plane, in a cabin, in a waiting room with no signal.

This is deliberate. It's also why there's no built-in Wi-Fi or Bluetooth — see the connectivity question below.

No. Out of the box it's: power on, choose a system, choose a game. The menus are navigated with the D-pad and A button.

There is a deep layer underneath — it runs Linux, and enthusiasts do reflash firmware, install custom themes, and tune emulator settings per game. You can ignore all of that permanently and nothing will suffer.

The two things worth learning in your first ten minutes are how to exit a game and how to shut down properly. Both are covered in our hotkey guide and in the Getting Started section below.

Yes. It's about the size of a large phone and weighs roughly 179g. The face buttons and D-pad are well spaced, and the analog sticks are recessed flush with the shell so it slides into a bag without catching.

If you want extra grip and bulk to hold onto, our Ergonomic Grip is built for exactly that — it's also included in the Complete and 2-Player bundles.

It's one of the most common reasons people buy it — usually a parent who wants to show their kid what they played at that age. It's simple to operate, there's nothing to configure, and no online component to supervise.

Two practical notes for gifting. First, charge it and turn it on before you wrap it, so any issue surfaces while there's still time to sort it out. Second, read the charging answer below — the single most common "it's broken" moment is someone reaching for a USB-C-to-USB-C cable, which will not work with this device.

It depends heavily on what you're playing, so here's the honest spread rather than one flattering number:

Screen brightness makes a real difference — dropping it to 50–70% adds meaningful time. The battery is user-replaceable behind a latch on the back, so this isn't a device with a fixed lifespan.

No to all three, and these are design decisions rather than oversights.

• No built-in Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Nothing needs a connection, so there's no radio draining the battery. Headphones connect through the 3.5mm jack — wired only.
• No HDMI or TV output. This is a handheld and only a handheld. If playing on a television matters to you, this is the wrong device and we'd rather you knew now.

Advanced users can add Wi-Fi with a USB dongle through the OTG port, but it's fiddly, it draws from the same battery, and it can introduce audible noise through the speaker. We don't recommend it for most people.

The console itself is identical across every option — the difference is what comes with it.

• Console Only ($79) — just the RetroVerse Pro 2.0, preloaded and ready to play.
• Complete Bundle ($119) — the console plus the Ergonomic Comfort Grip, a hardshell carrying case, a 3-pack of glass screen protectors, a backup SanDisk Ultra SD card, and a Wi-Fi adapter. Our most popular option.
• 2-Player Bundle ($179) — two full consoles plus two of every accessory above. Built for a household, or for splitting between two people.

If you already know you'll want the case and grip eventually, the Complete Bundle works out cheaper than buying the console and accessories separately.

Here's the real breakdown, system by system:

If you're here for the 8-bit through PlayStation era, this is exactly where the device shines — and that's the majority of what most people play on it day to day.

The 8-bit, 16-bit, arcade, and PlayStation-era libraries — the ones most people come for — run great, and there are more of them than anyone finishes. Like any large preloaded library, you'll also come across a handful of regional or alternate-language versions mixed in, which is normal for a collection this size.

Yes. Search the library here before you order. It's searchable by title and browsable by system.

Yes. The console reads standard files from a microSD card, organized into folders by system. Pull the games card, put it in your computer with a card reader, drop files into the matching folder, put it back.

Step by step, with the folder names and file formats: How to add games.

A wired USB controller can be connected through the OTG port with an adapter. There's no Bluetooth, so wireless controllers aren't supported without additional hardware. For two-player on one screen, both players are sharing a 3.5-inch display, which works for some genres and not others.

Yes — this is one of the genuine improvements over playing on original hardware. Save states capture the exact moment you're in and restore it instantly, regardless of whether the original game had a save system. On most units it's FN + R1 to save and FN + L1 to load.

Games with their own built-in save systems still work normally too. One important caveat — see "my saves disappeared" below.

Yes. The emulator layer supports cheat codes for most systems, and there's a fast-forward function for grinding through slow sections. Both are accessible from the in-game menu.

The console, a USB-A to USB-C charging cable, a preloaded microSD card, a glass screen protector, and a quick-start manual. Bundle tiers add the case, grip, backup SD card, and Wi-Fi adapter listed in the bundle question above.

Everything you need to play is included. Nothing to buy separately.

• Charge it fully before the first session, using the included cable
• Power on — first boot takes about 20 seconds
• Navigate systems with left and right on the D-pad, games with up and down, and press A to launch
• Learn two shortcuts before you get deep into anything: how to exit a game, and how to shut down properly

On most units, hold FN and press Start. That returns you to the game list. On some builds it's Select + Start instead — if the first doesn't work, try the second.

This trips up nearly everyone in the first ten minutes. You are not stuck and the device is not frozen.

The correct sequence: exit the game first, then from the main menu choose Quit → Shutdown System.

A quick press of the power button puts it to sleep and wakes it instantly, which is fine for short breaks. For putting it away, use a full shutdown.

The common defaults on most units:

Shortcuts vary slightly between firmware versions. Full reference: our hotkey guide.

If you're sinking serious hours into something, yes. Your saves live on the microSD card as small files. Put the card in a computer and copy the saves folder somewhere safe. Takes a minute and means a card failure costs you nothing.

USB-C-to-USB-C cables will not charge this device. Not your laptop charger, not your phone's fast charger, not a USB-C-only power bank. This isn't a defect — the console doesn't implement the USB-C power negotiation those chargers require, so they deliver nothing at all.

Use a USB-A to USB-C cable — the rectangular end into the charger, the oval end into the console. Any basic 5V/1A or 5V/2A adapter works. An old phone charger, a USB port on a computer, a power bank with a rectangular USB-A port. The cable in your box is the right one.

Two more things to check:

• There are two USB-C ports on the bottom edge and they do different jobs. One charges, one is for data. Plugging into the wrong one looks exactly like a dead battery. Try the other port.
• If the battery is fully flat, the light may not come on for 30 to 60 minutes. That's normal trickle-charging. Leave it plugged in for a full hour before concluding anything.

Full charge takes 2–3 hours on a 2A adapter, closer to 4 on a 1A. There's no fast charging and a more powerful charger won't speed it up.

Almost always fixable, and usually not a hardware fault. Work through these in order:

• Hold the power button for 10 full seconds to force a complete power cycle, then power on normally
• Reseat the memory card. Power off, remove it, check the gold contacts are clean, push it back in until it clicks
• Check the indicator light. A light on with a black screen means the console is running and the display driver is mismatched — that's a software fix, not a broken screen
• On a first boot after any firmware change, wait a full 10 minutes before intervening. Interrupting it can corrupt the card

Detailed walkthrough with the display fix: Black screen fix guide. If none of it works, email support@retroversepro.com — that's what we're here for.

You don't have to. The console works fully out of the box on the firmware it ships with. Updating is optional — most people never do it.

The main reasons someone updates: to pick up bug fixes, or to resolve a display mismatch where the backlight comes on but the screen stays black (see the question above). If you're not experiencing an issue, there's no need to touch it.

If you do want to update, we've written a full walkthrough: ArkOS Update Guide. It covers the safest way to do it without a Wi-Fi adapter or a PC.

One thing worth knowing before you start: never interrupt the console during or right after an update, even if it looks stuck. The first boot after any firmware change can take several minutes while it finishes setting up — pulling power during that window is one of the few things that can actually cause a problem where none existed before.

Two causes, and the first is far more common.

The console was powered off without exiting the game. Games using their own internal save system write to storage on a clean exit. Holding the power button mid-game skips that. Exit the game first, then Quit → Shutdown System.

The memory card is failing. If saves keep vanishing, games go missing from the list, or it intermittently won't boot, the card is the likely culprit. Email us — support@retroversepro.com — rather than fighting it.

Going forward, save states (FN + R1) are more resilient than in-game saves because they write immediately rather than on exit.

Power off, take the memory card out, check the contacts are clean and dry, and push it back in until it seats with a click. Power on.

If the list is still empty, don't format the card — the console uses a Linux partition structure that a standard computer format will destroy, taking everything with it. Contact us instead.

First check which system it's from. Later-generation 3D titles are at the edge of what this hardware can do and some of them simply won't run at full speed — see the performance table above.

If it's a system that should run fine, open the emulator menu (FN + X) and try:

• Turning off any enhanced or upscaled resolution — run at the game's original resolution
• Switching to a different emulator core for that system
• Confirming performance mode is set to maximum in system settings

Known quirk of the battery reporting software, not a fault in the battery. Run two or three full charge-to-empty cycles and it settles down. A blinking red light at startup just means the charge is low, not that something is wrong.

Usually solved in software. Open the emulator menu (FN + X), find Settings → Input, and raise the analog deadzone from 0 to around 0.15. That tells the console to ignore very small stick movements.

If it persists across every game and every system after that, email us.

Try headphones first — the 3.5mm output is less affected than the speaker. In the emulator menu under Audio, increasing the audio latency setting (try 128ms) resolves most cases. If you've attached a USB Wi-Fi dongle, remove it; it's a common source of interference.

On some firmware versions the minimum volume isn't fully silent. Plugging in headphones cuts the speaker entirely, which is the reliable workaround.

Large preloaded libraries archive titles from every region, including ones never released in English. Nothing is broken — you've landed on a Japanese or European release. Where an English version of the same game exists, it's usually in the library too, listed separately.

Average delivery is roughly 8–9 business days. You'll get a tracking link by email as soon as your order ships, and you can check status anytime on our order tracking page.

We currently ship within the US only.

30 days from delivery, no questions asked for an unused item in its original condition with all accessories and packaging included.

To start one, email support@retroversepro.com for a Return Authorization before sending anything back — unauthorized returns may be refused. Once approved, we'll send a prepaid return label where available.

If your console arrives defective, damaged, or wrong, contact us right away — for those cases we don't need the item back at all. Once we've reviewed it, we issue the refund within 10 business days.

Before you start a return for a device that won't turn on or won't charge, please read the charging answer above. It resolves the large majority of these, and we'd rather you keep a working console than send back a fine one.

Full policy: Refund Policy.

Email support@retroversepro.com. We typically reply within 24 hours. Include your order number and, if it's a technical issue, what you've already tried — it gets you a useful answer faster.