The new BittBoy: invocate the retro gamer’s paradise with a cheap $40 handheld console
Three weeks ago I received a small pack from China. I’ve been a retro game fan since one of the first version of MAME so, after Christmas, I ordered the new version of the BittBoy.
This Chinese handled console is very cheap and powerful! After seeing a lot of reviews from Youtube, I was very impressed by how a very tiny and light console could manage a lot of emulators into a cigarette pocket size!
The newly released version introduces many improvements.
For only 40$ you can buy a “Gameboy” console form factor with all the current features:
- Loads games from MicroSD card (no games preloaded inside the device)
- Supports game types: NES/FC/GB/GBC
- Save/Load game progress
- Connect your headphones through 3.5mm Headphone Jack
- Have an adjustable screen brightness
- Connect the console to your TV and use it as a joypad
Quick Unboxing
The small box package contains:
- the Bittboy console
- AV Stereo RCA cable to TV Connection
- quick instruction manual in English
- USB charging cable (no wall charger included)
Technical specification
Here below the tech specs: the 2.4" IPS Screen is very bright, size is really small and the battery is the same of the Gameboy Advance so if you need more hours of playing you could simply buy an original one to extend your game time!
- 2.4" IPS Display screen with a resolution of 320x240 pixel
- TV Output — Stereo RCA
- Interface language: English
- 700mAh lithium battery (about 2–3 hours of gaming depending on the brightness of screen)
- Material: plastic ABS
- Size at 6.8x9.9x1.3cm
- CPU: ARM926EJ-S AllWinner F1C500S
- Operating System: “Melis” based on LinuX
Start & Play a game!
Before starting make sure that your BittBoy is fully charged, then follow this simple step by step guide:
- Format the MicroSD card to FAT32 using your Windows, Mac or Linux PC
- Copy game ROMs to the root of the MicroSD card (file format “.nes”, “.gbc”, “.gb” depends on game platform type)
- Insert the MicroSD card into the BittBoy
- Turn on the Bittboy and start playing :-)
In game options
During the game, press the R button quickly, you can access to the settings menu in order to change the display ratio, save & load a game session (3 slots for each game) and change the output display if you use the external cable.
If you press the R button for 3 secs you will go to the main menu.
My final verdict
I personally tested some games that I owned from my original collection (keep in mind that you MUST own the original game to legally play the roms) and everything goes smooth and fine on all platforms.
Console size and the light weight is very impressive, like to have a package of cigarette inside your pocket!
One “noisy” note: you must use the load/save menu of the BittBoy system NOT of the game. In the last case, the game does not work and you must restart the game from the beginning.
I highly recommend the purchase of this console for the value for money, the high performance of the display and battery. Certainly, the quality of the plastics and the yield of the controls is not comparable to that of the most famous consoles but you could not ask for more for 40 $!
RATING 4/5
Update note: Custom Firmware!
During the write of this article, I found lots of rumors for new BittBoy custom firmware and some underground hack team that is working on that. Here below a quick guide to install the beta version:
Note: this is a custom firmware still in beta version.
I’m not responsible if something went wrong to your console so try it at your risk.
For BittBoy Revision 1, you could follow the linked guide (hard to do)
For BittBoy Revision 2, it’s more simple just download the custom image from here (link), write the image on your SD (all that will be wiped so backup before proceed) with Win32 Disk Imager for PC or Balena Etcher for macOS.
That’s all! Insert your SD card into the BittBoy and wait for the new custom firmware to load.
Now you can play more emulators and games: from Gameboy Advance to Sega Megadrive even the NeoGeo Games!
A “must console” if you want to have tons of games: the definitive competitor of all the raspberry handheld Gameboy clones that cost too much. ENJOY!
