Anbernic RG35XX Plus vs Miyoo Mini Plus: Which One Should You Buy?

If you’ve spent any time browsing r/SBCGaming or watching retro handheld videos, you’ve seen these two devices recommended more than any others. The Anbernic RG35XX Plus and the Miyoo Mini Plus are the reigning champions of the budget retro handheld space — both under $70, both beloved by the community, and both capable enough to make you wonder why anyone spends more.

But they’re built on completely different philosophies. One packs more hardware and flexibility. The other bets everything on software polish and pocketability. Choosing between them comes down to what kind of retro gamer you are — and where you plan to play.

The Quick Answer

• Choose the Anbernic RG35XX Plus if: you want analog sticks, better PS1/N64 performance, and a more versatile device that handles a wider range of systems.
• Choose the Miyoo Mini Plus if: you mostly play 8-bit and 16-bit games, prioritize pocketability, and want the best out-of-box software experience in any budget handheld.
• My Pick: Anbernic RG35XX Plus — For $10 more, you get analog sticks, Bluetooth, a bigger battery, and meaningfully better performance on PS1 and N64. The Miyoo Mini Plus is a wonderful device, but the RG35XX Plus is the smarter all-around buy in 2026.

Side-by-Side Specs

The spec sheet tells a clear story: the RG35XX Plus has more powerful hardware across the board. But the Miyoo Mini Plus wasn’t designed to win spec wars — it was designed to be the best possible device for a narrower use case.

Design and Build Quality

These two devices look nothing alike, and that’s actually the most important difference between them.

The Miyoo Mini Plus is a vertical, Game Boy-style handheld that fits in your pocket. At just 136 grams, it’s the kind of device you toss in a jacket pocket and forget about until you’re waiting in line somewhere. The build quality is surprisingly solid for the price — the buttons feel good, the d-pad is one of the best in the budget category, and the overall fit and finish punches above its weight class. The community consistently praises how satisfying it feels in the hand for something so small.

The downside? No analog sticks at all. Not even nubs. If a game needs an analog stick, you’re either mapping it to the d-pad (which works okay for some things) or you’re out of luck. This is a deliberate trade-off — Miyoo chose pocketability over versatility, and they committed to it fully.

The Anbernic RG35XX Plus takes the landscape approach, stretching the controls to either side of the screen like a miniature game controller. It’s wider, heavier at 175g, and won’t disappear into a pocket as easily. But it has dual analog sticks, which opens up an entire class of games the Miyoo simply can’t handle comfortably. The build quality is typical Anbernic — good but not great. The sticks are short and a little mushy, and the overall plastic feels slightly cheaper than the Miyoo’s tighter construction.

If you want something that disappears into your life and is always within reach, the Miyoo wins. If you want something that can actually play everything in the budget handheld range, the RG35XX Plus wins.

Winner: Miyoo Mini Plus — The pocketability factor is a genuine lifestyle advantage, and the build quality is slightly more refined. But this is a close call — the RG35XX Plus’s analog sticks are a major functional advantage that matters more for some people.

Screen Quality

Both devices feature 3.5-inch IPS displays running at 640x480, and honestly? Both look great. At this resolution and screen size, you’re getting sharp pixels for retro content — GBA games look crisp, SNES titles pop with color, and even PS1 games are perfectly playable.

The Miyoo Mini Plus has a slight edge in color vibrancy out of the box — the community has long praised its display as one of the best in the budget category. It’s one of those things where you pick it up and think “this looks way better than a $55 device should.” The RG35XX Plus’s screen is also excellent, but side-by-side, the Miyoo’s panel has a tiny bit more punch.

Neither screen is OLED or high refresh rate — you’d need to step up to something like the Anbernic RG556 or Retroid Pocket 5 for that. But for the games these devices are built to play, both screens are more than adequate.

Winner: Miyoo Mini Plus — By a hair. Both screens are excellent for the price, but the Miyoo’s display has a deserved reputation as one of the best in its class.

Emulation Performance

This is where the hardware gap between these two devices becomes impossible to ignore.

The RG35XX Plus runs an Allwinner H700 — a quad-core Cortex-A53 with a Mali-G31 MP2 GPU and a full gigabyte of DDR4 RAM. The Miyoo Mini Plus uses a Sigmastar SSD202D — a much simpler chip with only 128MB of DDR3. That’s not a typo. The RG35XX Plus has roughly eight times the RAM.

8-bit and 16-bit systems (NES, SNES, Game Boy, GBA, Genesis):

Both devices handle these perfectly. No dropped frames, no audio glitches, no issues. If this is all you plan to play, both are equally excellent and you should buy whichever form factor you prefer.

PS1:

Here’s where the gap starts. The RG35XX Plus handles PS1 games with confidence — the vast majority of the library runs at full speed with no issues. The Miyoo Mini Plus can play PS1 games, but it’s “good” rather than “great.” Simpler titles like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night run fine. More demanding games like Gran Turismo or Crash Bandicoot can struggle with frame drops and audio stuttering. If PS1 is important to you, the RG35XX Plus is the clear choice.

N64:

The RG35XX Plus offers “good” N64 emulation — many popular titles are playable, though demanding games like GoldenEye or Conker’s Bad Fur Day will have issues. The Miyoo Mini Plus? N64 is essentially a non-starter. The hardware simply isn’t powerful enough. This is also where the Miyoo’s lack of analog sticks becomes a deal-breaker, since N64 games were designed around one.

Dreamcast and PSP:

The RG35XX Plus can handle some lighter Dreamcast and PSP titles, though performance is “limited” — don’t expect a smooth experience across the library. The Miyoo Mini Plus can’t run either system at all.

DS:

The RG35XX Plus offers “good” DS emulation for many titles. The Miyoo can’t handle it.

The bottom line: if your retro gaming ambitions stop at GBA and SNES, both devices deliver. The moment you want to explore PS1, N64, or anything more demanding, the RG35XX Plus is the only real option.

Winner: Anbernic RG35XX Plus — Decisively. The hardware gap translates directly into a wider library of playable systems.

Battery Life

The RG35XX Plus packs a 3,300 mAh battery versus the Miyoo Mini Plus’s 3,000 mAh. On paper, the Anbernic has a 10% advantage. In practice, it’s more nuanced.

The Miyoo Mini Plus sips power thanks to its simpler hardware. Playing GBA or SNES games, you’ll get roughly 6-8 hours of battery life — more than enough for a full day of casual play sessions. The weaker chip is actually an advantage here, since it draws less power doing the same work.

The RG35XX Plus gets similar battery life on those same lighter systems — around 5-7 hours for 8/16-bit games. Push it into PS1 territory and that drops to 4-5 hours. The more powerful chip draws more juice, and the bigger battery mostly compensates rather than exceeding the Miyoo’s endurance.

Both charge via USB-C at 5W, which means neither is a speed demon on the charging front. Plan on a couple hours from empty to full.

Winner: Draw — Real-world battery life is similar enough between both devices that it shouldn’t be a deciding factor. The Miyoo’s efficiency offsets its smaller battery.

Software and Custom Firmware

This is the Miyoo Mini Plus’s trump card.

Onion OS is one of the best custom firmware experiences in the entire retro handheld space — not just the budget tier. It’s clean, fast, intuitive, and genuinely delightful to use. Game artwork loads smoothly, the menu system is logical, save states work flawlessly, and the overall experience feels polished in a way that’s rare for devices at any price point. The community has poured years of love into Onion OS, and it shows.

If you’re new to retro handhelds and just want to load up some games and start playing, the Miyoo Mini Plus with Onion OS is the most frictionless experience you can buy. Set it up once, and everything just works.

The RG35XX Plus runs its own custom Linux firmware, and the community has developed several solid options including muOS and Knulli. These are good — genuinely good — but they don’t quite match Onion OS’s level of polish. The experience is functional and capable, but you might spend more time tweaking settings and configuring things to your liking.

Both devices benefit from active community development. New firmware updates drop regularly for both, and r/SBCGaming is full of helpful people if you run into issues. See our custom firmware guide for detailed setup instructions for both devices.

Winner: Miyoo Mini Plus — Onion OS is a genuine differentiator. It’s the single best reason to buy this device over any other budget handheld.

Value for Money

At $55, the Miyoo Mini Plus is one of the most impressive values in consumer electronics. Period. For the cost of a couple of fast food meals, you get a polished retro gaming experience that covers NES through GBA with aplomb. If that’s all you need, it’s hard to argue with the price.

At $65, the RG35XX Plus asks for $10 more and delivers significantly more hardware: analog sticks, Bluetooth, a bigger battery, and a much more powerful chip that opens up PS1, N64, and beyond. Ten dollars is nothing in the grand scheme of things, and the expanded capability makes it a better overall value for most people.

The question isn’t really about the money — it’s about what you want the device to do. If you want a pocket SNES/GBA machine with perfect software, the Miyoo at $55 is unbeatable. If you want a device that can grow with your retro gaming interests, the RG35XX Plus at $65 is the smarter investment.

Both devices use MicroSD cards for storage, so budget for a quality card — we recommend the Samsung EVO Select 128GB for either device.

Winner: Anbernic RG35XX Plus — The extra $10 buys a meaningful hardware upgrade that extends the device’s usefulness well beyond what the Miyoo can do.

Score Summary

The scores are closer than you’d expect given the hardware gap, and that’s a testament to how good the Miyoo Mini Plus’s software and design are. It elevates a device with modest specs into something that genuinely delights.

Final Verdict

Choose the Anbernic RG35XX Plus if you want the most versatile budget handheld you can buy. The dual analog sticks open up PS1 and N64 games, the Bluetooth lets you connect wireless headphones or controllers, and the more powerful chip means you won’t hit a wall as quickly when you inevitably want to try “just one more system.” It’s the better device for someone who’s getting into retro gaming and doesn’t know yet where their interests will take them. Buy it on Amazon or direct from Anbernic.

Choose the Miyoo Mini Plus if you know exactly what you want: a pocket-sized GBA and SNES machine with the best software experience money can buy. Onion OS is a joy to use, the form factor is unmatched for portability, and the screen punches way above its price class. If you’re buying a second handheld to complement something more powerful, or if your retro gaming interests genuinely stop at the 16-bit era, this is the one. Grab it on Amazon.

The bottom line: Both of these devices deserve their reputation as the best budget retro handhelds you can buy. The Miyoo Mini Plus is the more charming device — the one you’ll fall in love with for what it does. The Anbernic RG35XX Plus is the more practical device — the one that’ll serve you better as your retro gaming hobby expands. For most people, especially newcomers, the RG35XX Plus at $65 is the better first handheld. But if you already own something more powerful and want a perfect pocket companion, the Miyoo Mini Plus is hard to beat.

Where to Buy

Anbernic RG35XX Plus — ~$65

• Amazon (Prime shipping available)
• Anbernic Direct (manufacturer store)

Miyoo Mini Plus — ~$55

• Amazon (Prime shipping available)

Recommended Accessories:

• Samsung EVO Select 128GB MicroSD — reliable storage for either device
• Samsung EVO Select 256GB MicroSD — if you want room for a bigger library

Both devices use MicroSD for all storage, so don’t cheap out on the card. A bad MicroSD will cause stuttering, save corruption, and general misery. Stick with Samsung EVO Select or SanDisk Extreme.

Last verified: March 2026