cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/54082392

First Encounter with the V10: An Unexpected Surprise During Hospitalization

Just to be clear: this isn’t a 2026 “must-buy.” It’s a $20 surplus-unit experience.

The real value is GBA pixel-perfect display, not strong performance for every console.

ArkOS is no longer updated on this device, so it only handles basic emulation well.

The $20 price on Xianyu may not be replicable for buyers outside China.

I recently bought a surplus unit. The price-to-performance ratio is still very high, but it may not be suitable for everyone.

Last summer, I was sick and spent a month in the hospital. The internet connection there was quite poor. I thought about buying an open-source handheld to play games, and I stumbled upon the PowKiddy V10. It was cheap, and the gaming experience was decent. This handheld left a deep impression on me. It supports 2x pixel-perfect scaling for GBA games, which looks very different from playing on a phone emulator.

Although this technology is common now, for me personally, the open-source handhelds I bought before the V10 were not suitable for playing GBA games. This device gave me a different experience.

The Awkward Positioning of Being Born Too Late

Recently, I found surplus stock on Xianyu, a Chinese second-hand marketplace owned by Alibaba, priced at only 138 CNY (about $20 USD). It was brand new, a great deal, so I bought a second one.

Its biggest problem is that it was released quite late. The PowKiddy V10 launched in China in July 2024 with a starting price of 198 CNY. However, there are already too many handhelds that can play GBA games with pixel-perfect scaling, such as the Miyoo Mini Plus and the Anbernic RG35XX (2024 version), which have already matured this kind of experience. It has an obvious product positioning problem: players who demand high performance won't choose it, and players who want a hassle-free experience might buy more expensive handhelds.

Hardware Review: A GBA Beast, PS1 is Passable

The specifications of this handheld are as follows. Its biggest feature is that it plays GBA games very well.

There is a habit among Chinese handheld reviewers to test using the GBA game Dragon Ball Advance Adventure. The reason is that this game has vibrant graphics, making it easy to see the display quality of a screen. There is an interesting meme circulating among players: "Did you hit pixel-perfect today?" Many veteran GBA players care about this. The display effect is shown in the picture. Of course, you can use it for testing, and the game itself is quite fun.

Secondly, playing PS1 games is also not bad. Although it is not as suitable as playing GBA games, most games run relatively smoothly. Some games with higher hardware requirements may suffer from frame rate drops. I have no complaints about the hardware, especially since it is quite cheap.

Software Shortcomings: Discontinued System and Pain Points

However, the software aspect is quite average.

First, it does not support independent volume and brightness adjustment buttons; you can only achieve this using button combinations. Also, it defaults to maximum brightness and volume upon reboot. Second, the system updates have stopped. The ArkOS system uses EmulationStation as the default frontend, with RetroArch as the emulator backend. It can only meet basic functional needs. Finally, the DS gaming experience is very poor. It lacks a touchscreen, the screen aspect ratio is uncomfortable, and gameplay isn't very smooth.

Quick ArkOS Hotkeys

If you are new to ArkOS, these common hotkeys may help. On many ArkOS devices, Select + Start exits a game and returns to EmulationStation. Select + R1 saves a state, and Select + L1 loads a state. Select + X usually opens the in-game RetroArch menu. Brightness and volume are often controlled through combination keys rather than dedicated buttons, but the exact mapping can vary by device and firmware version. For the PowKiddy V10, it is best to check the current ArkOS build or test the hotkeys directly.

Buying Advice: Is the $20 Surplus Unit Worth It?

I believe that in today’s open-source handheld market, the system experience takes priority over the hardware itself. It is very suitable for playing GBA games, but that is about it. I hope you truly need the PowKiddy V10, rather than choosing it just because it is cheap. It is best to apply a tempered glass screen protector, otherwise, it easily collects fingerprints.

If you have a budget of $20 USD, would you choose to buy this handheld? Or would you spend a bit more for a safer choice?

(Invidious link)

From the description:

Get the experiment here: https://www.rifftrax.com/mst3k-the-ri...

The RiffTrax Experiments continue with Mummy Theme Park! All the best theme parks have “Theme Park” right in their names, right? That’s why the theme park in Jurassic Park turned out to be such a mess — if only they’d called it “Big Bitey Lizard Theme Park,” the guests would’ve known what they were in for.

We’ve kept this title “under wraps” (yes that’s a mummy pun, deal with it) because it’s truly like no other movie we’ve ever seen. The constant use of forced perspective and special effects will make you ask, “How did the filmmakers do that?” but also “Why did the filmmakers do that?” and, as it goes on, “Why are the filmmakers doing this to me, personally?” Trust that Mike and the bots feel exactly the same way!

It’s an Italian film, so naturally it’s about an American photographer and his assistant/possible girlfriend being sent to Egypt to take pictures of the brand new Mummy Theme Park. The Sheik who built the park reveals that, in an absolute first for mummy-based movies, he violated an ancient tomb and ignored a deadly curse. But he’s not worried about any of that, he’s got mummy soda to sell to tourists!

Little does the Sheik know that an Egyptian sorceress in his employ is still communing with the gods, which gives Pearl Forrester some diabolical ideas. Little do the American photographer and his assistant know that… well, they don’t know much of anything; they’re pretty dopey. Little do Mike, Crow, and Servo know why bad guys keep trying to make evil theme parks in movies, as it never seems to go well. But maybe this time will be different? Take a shuttle to the S.O.L. and find out, it’s time for The Mummy Theme Park!

4/5 Tales of Eternia Remastered perfectly encapsulates and modernizes what Tales fans love about the 2D era of games. The Linear Motion Battle System stands tall as the game’s biggest point of appeal, but there’s also a lot of PS1-era, JRPG charm to find as well. It’s far from the most beautiful remake in recent memory, but the core gameplay, storytelling, and characters are just as solid as they were 25 years ago.

Source: https://www.gocomics.com/super-fun-pak-comix/2026/11/06

(Invidious link)

From the video description:

I beat Mushihimesama on the hardest difficulty, Ultra, on my first full run. Let me explain the route to get through the game and beat one of the most absurd True Last Bosses in shmups.

An incredible run by PAN, here!

cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/48002461

🔗

No transcript available

Original comic:

The full roundup from Nintendo’s November 2026 financial report is as follows:

– Net sales 966 billion yen (down 12.1% year-over-year)
– Operating profit this period – 216.5 billion yen (up 49.1%);
– Ordinary profit this period – 300.6 billion yen (up 27.4%)
– Net profit – 220.9 billion yen (up 11.0%)

– Switch 2 hardware total – 26.35 million
– Switch 2 software total – 73.21 million units
– Switch hardware total – 157.20 million
– Switch software total – 1,593.87 million units

– Mobile, IP related income, etc. this period – 62.7 billion yen (up 87.9%)

Lords of the Fallen II will ship with almost 30 fully distinct weapon movesets, nearly twice the 15 in the 2023 game, according to the latest episode of CI Games’ Lifting the Veil development series. Episode 11, titled Steel & Sorcery, is what the studio calls its most extensive gameplay reveal for the sequel to…

Exzisus is a shooting game released by TAITO in 1987.

Control Cosmo Fighter Robin and defeat the mysterious army infesting the 4th Galaxy using your blaster and missiles.

Each item collected powers Robin up, allowing it to transform into Turbo Jet mode or summon bird and dog animal robots to support you in attack.

Aim for the weak parts of the giant robots waiting at the end of each stage.

It's a good looking game for 1987!

In its financial report, Macronix said ROM fell to 5 percent of its sales. A year ago, it was at 26 percent. Macronix’s chairman noted that capacity is limited and is going to NOR and eMMC memory chips instead.

Analyst David Gibson, who shared the news, pointed out that Macronix isn’t Nintendo’s only game memory card maker. In other words, collectors don’t have to worry yet about physical games being phased out – at least not yet.

Nintendo still has other chip suppliers, but this is a noteworthy development I think.