Hands on With The Retroid Pocket Duo; A Little More Magic This Time

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

The article says this Pocket Duo was provided free of charge for review, nobody was paid, the vendor had no editorial input or advance screening, and marked links can earn a commission.

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

dash reports that Retroid plans official replacement sticks with conventional caps, expected in its DIY accessories store around mid-November. Fitting them means opening the handheld, and Retroid plans a video guide.

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

The lower screen gives exact 5× integer scaling for DS and 4× for the 3DS touchscreen. The 3DS upper image keeps black bars on the sides at its correct proportions.

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

dash says SNES, Mega Drive, PlayStation and Nintendo 64 games run with plenty of headroom for upscaling and shaders, and left those systems out of the performance tests.

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Every DS game tried in WatermelonDS ran without noticeable slowdown at 4×, with fast-forward to spare and no perceptible delay between the two screens.

internal resolution

4×

filter

Linear

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Metroid: Samus Returns at 4× in Azahar held around 30 to 31 fps on the stock Qualcomm driver, against 27 to 28 fps with Mr. Purple's T30.

internal resolution

4×

renderer

Vulkan

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Super Mario 3D Land at 3× dropped regularly from 60 to around 45 fps on the stock driver. Mr. Purple's T30 made the dips less frequent without removing them.

internal resolution

3×

renderer

Vulkan

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Mario Kart 7 held a consistent 60 fps at 3× in Azahar.

internal resolution

3×

renderer

Vulkan

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D looks and performs well at 4× in Azahar, and dash names it a standout recommendation.

internal resolution

4×

renderer

Vulkan

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Luigi's Mansion 2 are demanding enough that dash suggests lowering resolution, perhaps to 2×. Occasional shader compilation stutter remains.

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Every PSP game tested in PPSSPP ran well at 4× (1920×1088), with 60 fps titles holding that rate and 30 fps titles running at their intended speed.

internal resolution

4×

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance ran well at 2× and 3× in ARMSX2, and WipEout Pulse ran at around 30 fps at 3×. dash also played at 3× with NewPipe on the lower screen, and says more demanding games need 2× or native resolution.

internal resolution

2× to 3×

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! held 60 fps at 2× in Dolphin, Luigi's Mansion held its intended 30 fps, and The Wind Waker played well at 2×. F-Zero GX sat around 50 fps at 2× and reached a steady 60 fps at native resolution.

internal resolution

2×

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Kirby Air Ride ran on the lower screen at 3× with a 1080p NewPipe video on the upper screen, without a hitch.

internal resolution

3×

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Hades ran at around 40 fps in Eden Nightly with Mr. Purple's T30, and Metroid Dread at a stable 35 to 40 fps. Both used a 67% speed limit, with frame generation raising the displayed rate to around 80.

speed limit

67%

frame generation

Lossless Scaling, in Eden

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe ran anywhere from 30 to 45 fps in Eden Nightly and never held steady. dash also calls Super Mario Odyssey a tougher fit.

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Metroid Prime Remake booted only with the system driver, then showed graphical errors and crashed to the Eden menu each time.

Tested hardware: Retroid Pocket Duo

Hades II, TOEM and DOOM + DOOM II would not run in GameNative, and DREDGE was similarly disappointing, even with recommended presets where offered. dash does not count PC gaming among the Duo's strengths.