X6 Retro Handheld
Turns out the X6 got an upgrade and we all missed the memo.
Jamumba Lab
How We Got Here
The X6 kept showing up in our sourcing research, but something about the existing coverage felt off. The negative reviews weren't wrong exactly — they were just reviewing a different device. Teardowns from a couple years back show an older hardware configuration: 512MB of RAM, a different OS. The unit we sourced carries 1GB and runs newer software. The performance complaints we expected to confirm never showed up. That gap between what was documented and what we experienced is what this review is actually about.
First Impressions
Right out of the box, the X6 feels noticeably lighter and less premium than the R36S. The plastic reads cheap rather than intentional. It's not offensive, but you'll know immediately that this isn't the same class of device. That said, it sits comfortably in hand and the form factor works.
What's surprising is what comes in the box. Alongside the unit you get an RCA cable (the old-school red and yellow connectors) that lets you hook this up directly to a TV. Most modern TVs have dropped those ports, but if you've got an older set kicking around, it's a genuinely fun option. There's also support for a second gamepad, which opens up two-player play. For a $30 device, that's not nothing.
Where It Holds Up and Where It Doesn't
The screen is genuinely fine. Games look good, everything is readable, and we had no issues with visibility during testing. It won't wow you, but it won't frustrate you either.
Sound is the X6's weakest point. The speaker is front-facing, which is good, but volume control is essentially binary. There are only two meaningful levels: loud and kind of loud. No on-screen indicator, no fine adjustment. If you mute the system and jump between games, you'll catch an audible hiss when audio kicks back in. It's a quirk you'll notice and then get used to.
Headphones are the obvious fix, but there's no 3.5mm jack on this device....which sucks.
Not the X6 You've Seen Reviewed Before
While researching this device, we found teardown footage from a couple years back showing the earlier X6 with 512MB of onboard RAM (HY5DU121622DTP-D43). Our unit is different. It carries the H5PS1G63EFR — 1GB. That's double the memory, and it shows up in practice.
The OS has also changed. It's still unnamed, but it's visibly different from what appears in older coverage. Some of the performance complaints we saw in early reviews — stuttering, rough emulation, audio issues — we didn't encounter. Whether that's the RAM, the OS, or both, the unit we tested runs noticeably cleaner than what those earlier videos document.
If you've read other X6 reviews and walked away skeptical, it's worth knowing you may be reading about a different device than what's shipping now.
The Part That Actually Matters
This is where the X6 earns its keep. The emulation quality is genuinely solid across every system we tested. Games run clean, look good on the screen, and the experience holds up in a way the build quality doesn't suggest it would. The pre-loaded library covers a solid range of classic systems:
Sega Genesis emulation is a specific win here. Sound emulation for that hardware is notoriously difficult to get right, and the X6 gets it right — every game we tested ran smoothly with accurate audio. We didn't find a single title in the supported library that gave us trouble.
The CPS/CPS-2 support is a highlight. That's Capcom's arcade hardware, meaning games like Street Fighter II run on this thing. Neo Geo support brings another 135+ titles. For the price, the breadth of what's playable here is legitimately impressive.
The built-in menu system lets you remap controls, enable turbo mode for arcade games, and manage save states. It's not deep customization, but it covers what most players will actually need.
Two Sticks, No Complaints
The X6 has dual analog sticks, which is notable at this price. Most games let you use either the D-pad or the left analog stick interchangeably without digging into settings. The right stick doesn't see a lot of use in classic game libraries, but it's there.
You also get shoulder triggers on the back, a nice touch that most devices at this price skip. They work as expected.
6.5 Hours
We got 6.5 hours of screen-on time in our testing. For a device at this price, that's a reasonable result — enough for long sessions without babysitting a charger. It won't outlast a full travel day, but it'll handle one comfortably.
The Best Intro Handheld You Can Buy
The X6 is not trying to compete with the R36S. It's a different device for a different buyer: someone just getting into retro gaming who wants something affordable, accessible, and ready to play out of the box. On those terms, it delivers.
The build feels light, the speaker has its quirks, and there's not much to tweak under the hood. But the emulation is solid, the library is deep, the screen is fine, and the price is hard to argue with. It comes with an RCA cable for TV play, supports a second controller, and has shoulder triggers — features you wouldn't expect at this price.
The current production unit also ships with 1GB of RAM, double what older models carried. It runs a newer OS. The performance complaints you'll find in two-year-old reviews don't match what we experienced. Sega Genesis — often the canary for emulation quality — ran flawlessly. Everything the X6 supports, it handles.
Give this to someone who just wants to play classic games without overthinking it. It's going to be exactly what they need.