The R-series has become the budget handheld that everyone has an opinion about, and the R38S is the model that finally made me stop reaching for my old R36S. I’ve carried it daily for six weeks — train commutes, lunch breaks, the inevitable 1 a.m. “one more level” — and it has earned that pocket space honestly.
What’s in the box
A device, a 64GB card you should not trust with anything you care about, a USB-A to USB-C cable, and a screen protector that is already slightly misaligned in every unit I’ve seen. Standard fare. The build is the story here: the shell has tighter seams than previous R-series units, the shoulder buttons sit flush, and the whole thing weighs just enough to feel deliberate rather than disposable.
The screen
The 3.5-inch IPS panel is the reason to buy this device. Fully laminated, genuinely bright, and at 640x480 it fills a 4:3 frame the way retro games were meant to be seen — no stretching, no ugly pillarboxing. Side by side with last year’s panel, blacks are deeper and the off-axis colour shift is basically gone.
Controls
The dual Hall-effect sticks are the upgrade I care about most. After years of potentiometer nubs that developed drift within months, sticks that simply don’t degrade feel like a small miracle. The D-pad is firm out of the box and loosens up after a week. My only gripe: the stick placement still asks adult thumbs to curl a little too far inward on long sessions.
Performance
Up to PS1, everything is effortless. PSP runs the friendly half of the library well. N64 and Dreamcast are a coin flip — Mario 64 is flawless, anything with heavy fog or transparency wants frame-skip. This is a 16-bit-and-32-bit machine that occasionally flexes into 3D, and pretending otherwise sets you up for disappointment.
Buy the R38S for what it does beautifully — SNES, Genesis, GBA, PS1 — and treat everything above that as a bonus.
Battery and thermals
Real-world battery life lands around five hours on lighter systems, closer to three-and-a-half on PS1. It charges fully in about four hours from a basic 5V brick. It runs warm under PSP but never hot.
The verdict
At roughly 70 euros, the R38S is the most complete budget handheld I’ve reviewed this year. It isn’t perfect — stick ergonomics and the throwaway SD card hold it back — but the screen, the Hall-effect sticks, and the open firmware make it an easy recommendation. 4.5 / 5.