Is the Retroid Pocket a good Kemco machine? (Compatibility results 13/3/21)

[shram86]

I don't really like playing games on my phone, so I picked up a Retroid Pocket 2 (not a plus) at the recommendation of someone from the Discord so that I would have a cute little handheld Android gaming device. (You can pre-order a 2+ model for the same price as purchasing a normal 2 from Amazon at time of writing).

I spent most of the last six hours trying out a number of Kemco games to see how they fare. Here are my results:

FULL JOYPAD SUPPORT:

Legend of the Windrider
Dark Gate
Knight of the Earthends
Machine Knight (mobile)
Covenant of Solitude
Rusted Emeth - VERY SLOW
Soul Historica
Destiny Fantasia
Shelterra the Skyworld - VERY SLOW
Cross Hearts Arcadia
Glorious Savior
Fairy Elements
Onigo Hunter
Everdark Tower
Symphony of Eternity
Band of Monsters - SLOW

Besides the two exceptions, the above games work great and with full joypad support, plus are rendered at resolutions that make text readable and don't have graphical bugs that I could see.

The following games either have bad or no joypad support, making them mostly unplayable:

Astral Frontier
Dead Dragons
Elio
Fanatic Earth*
Journey to Kreisia*
Grinsia

Fanatic Earth and Journey to Kreisia ONLY work on this device for me. In simulated touch mode, they are playable, but a bit annoying. Dead Dragons and Elio are only playable with real touch controls.

The following games have glitches or won't run, presumably due to device ram or android version (or incompatible resolution):

Alphadia Neo
Blood of Calamity
Infinite Links
Link of Hearts
End of Aspiration - Bad resolution
Eve of Genesis - Bad resolution
Dragon Plana - PORTRAIT game
Heirs of the Kings - PORTRAIT game

This is definitely not an exhaustive list of all available games, but these are the ones not available on Steam or Switch, to my knowledge.



The screen is nice and bright, and most games fill up most of the viewable space.

The controls feel quite nice, but certain games utilize them better than others. Most only use a couple buttons. (The right side analog is a 4-way slider, not a real analog.)

Speakers are nice and loud and the music comes through clearly.

I'd be more than happy to give other games a try or take videos at request, if anyone is curious.

[Victar]

I intend to stick to console ports of Kemco games, but this is really cool. Thanks for the lists. I have a little interest in Dead Dragons; now I know that this device isn't worth it if I ever decide to play it. I'll just have to deal with touchscreen controls instead.

I'm a little sad to learn that Journey to Kreisia has issues, since the Nintendo 3DS port of that game will no longer be officially purchasable when the 3DS/Wii U eshops close in March 2023, and there are currently no other console or handheld ports of that game.

Grinsia also has a 3DS version and no other official console or handheld version. That game is so generic and bland that I don't see it as quite as much of a loss.

End of Aspiration did have an official PSP digital release as "End of Serenity", for an overpriced $15 (and no other official console or handheld version). I'm not sure whether it's still possible to officially buy on the game a Vita or a Vita TV. End of Serenity is even more generic and simple than Grinsia, though.