Retro Gaming Culture

When it comes to emulating our favourite video games from years gone by, we have had a plethora of handhelds to get a hit of nostalgia, each having their own pros and cons. The latest emulation handheld to land in our office is the good looking Waveshare GPM280 Portable Games Console with Raspberry Pi 3.

Right from the Apple like packaging, we knew this one would be special to hold and play. Unboxing the GPM280 we were immediately wowed by its striking looks, which are a nod to Nintendo’s gorgeous Game Boy Micro Famicom 20th Anniversary Edition. Unlike the GB Micro’s metallic casing, the GPM280 case is plastic, with its sparkling metallic hue making it stand out and feeling comfortable in hand. The D-pad and four face buttons sit a tad high, so they will require further depressing compared to the GB Micro. This isn’t a bad thing, especially if you have not touched a GB Micro in a long time. If you have big hands, then you would be aware that the GB Micro was a crippling experience, so luckily the GPM280 is a larger unit, accommodating those of us with larger mits. The two shoulder buttons have a distinct click when pressed which we like quite a lot. In keeping with the GB Micro, the GPM280’s on/off switch, Select/Start buttons and volume rocker are in the identical positions as Nintendo’s cute little handheld, but just that tad larger (again, a good thing!). There is also a TF card slot near the 3.5mm audio jack. And before we forget, the package also includes a protective drawstring pouch, lint-free cloth, screwdriver and very importantly, a 32GB microSD card to get you started and a 5V 3A charger with an Australian plug – a nice touch indeed!

Powering the brain of the GPM280 is a Broadcom BCM2837B0 64-bit 1.2 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor (Raspberry Pi Compute Model 3+ Lite) with 1GB RAM, which is enough power to run most console and computing emulators from the second generation all the way up to the fifth gen with ease. Coupled with the processor is the impressively vivid 2.8″ IPS screen (640×480 resolution), with a laminated toughened glass panel capable of 60 frames per second and a 70% NTSC colour-gamut! We must admit, the screen is gorgeous in real life, so no photos will do it justice in this review. With a 1500 mAh battery, there is enough juice to keep you gaming on the go for a couple of hours before the next recharge.

Being Recalbox fans (Ed: nothing against RetroPie), we opted to go with it on our GPM280. The ease of use can’t be underestimated when it comes to setting up the system. Once Recalbox was up and running, we setup our system on our office WiFi, which allowed us to easily configure settings, monitor the hardware and very importantly, add our favourite games (ROMs) via our web browser – simple drag and drop and you are done! The GPM280 also has Bluetooth connectivity, so there is the option to add external controllers (Ed: due to time constraints, we didn’t test this feature. We will update this review when we do!).

The games truly pop on the GPM280

The quality and versatility of the GPM280 is quite impressive, but the critical question still remains, how does it play games? The short answer is, it plays them darn well and accurate. If you have clean ROMs, then you won’t experience any issues like choppy sounds or frame clipping like we did on a few of our Lynx and Nintendo 64 games. We also ran into button mapping issues on our Sega Genesis / Mega Drive games. Luckily, Recalbox has a plethora of options and settings to dial in things just right.

The already mentioned 2.8” IPS screen feels the right size and is quite clear and bright with the colour gamut making games pop and looking like they are being played on their respective systems on a CRT TV. We didn’t play any heavy text adventure games, so we can’t comment on how the system and screen fare with that gaming genre. For most of the classic titles we enjoy from the late 70s, 80s to the mid-90s, the GPM280 handled them with great accuracy and zero lag. The sound is handled by a built in speaker which does an admirable job. Another nifty aspect of the GPM280 is the power indicator on the Select and Start buttons, just like on the GB Micro – red/flashing meaning battery running low and green meaning you are good to game on the go! Speaking of gaming on the go, we got approximately 1.5hrs of continuous gaming before we had to recharge the 1500mAh battery – we just wish the battery lasted a tad longer.

Conclusion

The Waveshare GPM280 definitely impresses with its build quality and feel, grunty computing hardware and ease of use, but that all comes at a premium price. If you are in the market for a stylish compact gaming system that plays a heap of your favourite games from yesteryear without any issues, has media centre capabilities (via Kodi) and looks like the gorgeous Game Boy Micro Famicom 20th Anniversary Edition, only bigger, then the GPM280 may be for you. Game on!

Product: Wavershare GPM280 Portable Game System
Price: AU$244.55
Store: Small Devices

GPM280 vs Game Boy Micro

Dimensions – it’s a great size!

Disclaimer: The GPM280 handheld was provided by Small Devices for this review.