ANBERNIC RG 476H + GameNative: My $150 2D Steam Pocket
I've been daily driving the RG476H for about six months now. I only heard about GameHub after the noise about its possible privacy issues.
That lead me to try out Gamehub Lite and eventually Gamenative on my Pocket Ace. I was mainly playing Wii U games on the 476H and thought to to give GameNative a go on it. I expected it to be a hassle to find games that actually work on a low-end chip, but the reality? It is surprisingly easy get straight to playing. Deadcells, Hollow Knight and Celeste worked no issue and them working got me going.
It really helped me find new puzzle and 2D platformers that i would have never looked for if I was just using a steam deck or pocket ace, being more powerful devices. Cosmic pebble, Draknek monster games, Pale night, Croaking Around, Merp in Merpworld are just some that I'm totally into all down to this device.
GameNative makes turning this budget handheld into a dedicated 2D Steam machine pretty straightforward. Here are my notes on the experience.
Context & Caveat
First, a quick caveat: any time I call out an experience, issue or feature request with GameNative, it is purely observational. The app is free, actively developed, and the fact that I can easily play my Steam games on a $150 device with a Unisoc chip is nothing short of incredible. My use case is pretty niche, so this is not meant as a ding on GameNative at all. This is my experience so far and some could change with a new build or me learning how to do it better.
The overriding theme is that the RG476H paired with GameNative is amazing for what it can play. Between the solid build quality and the 120Hz screen (which we don't even see in $500 devices—looking at you, Ayaneo). I mostly use it for sofa gaming and short trips since it’s so easy to throw in a bag.
The Hardware Experience
I find the 476H incredibly comfortable, and the screen size really works. The 4.5 inch 3:2 screen on the Pocket Ace seems way smaller. The build quality is solid; I don't mind the weight or the glass front (well, at least until I dropped it while trying to take pictures of it... all good luckily). For me, an 85mm+ height is the absolute sweet spot. The RP5 was my first device, and as capable as it was with that screen, I just couldn't get comfortable with it even after a few minutes, grips or no grips.
GameNative vs. GameHub Lite
I was using GHL but GN is so active, i use the latest builds typically, that I noticed games being more stable and performant so I moved over wholesale.
Transitioning from GHL to GN is generally smooth. Most games just work. From what I can decipher on the Discord, there is a Winexxx Proton version in GH/GHL developed separately, which seems like too big a lift for the GN team to develop, meaning a few titles that worked there might not on GN.
If you look at the library photos, all the games work except two I’m actively trying to get working: Ether and the Elementalist demo. Both run on GHL, but currently hang on GN. Aside from those, I've a repeatable process.
Building a Library: Demos, Demos, Demos
Because the 476H is limited to OpenGL 3.2 (you’ll get a clear warning if a game exceeds this), I found building out the library is risk-free sticking to demos. It is the easiest way to test compatibility and jump right into playing. Itchio, HumbleBundle and GOG are great for discovery and getting better deals than even Steam.
Funny story: I used to buy loads of steam games and refund the ones that didn't work, until I got a very polite, personal email from Steam offering technical support. So... I've stopped doing that and only try games with demos. One quirk: Steam’s demo management is odd. Removing demos from my Steam library didn't make them disappear from GN—some just stick around forever.
Configuration & SD Card Limits
One of the best parts about limited hardware is that there is virtually no tinkering required, well or even possible. You set your configuration once and bar some changes your done:
- Graphics: System is the only driver available/that works.
- Wrapper: Wrapper & Wrapper-leegao are all you need.
- DXVK: 1.10.3 (or the async version) are the only ones that will work.
- Do try the performance emulation settings - its how hollow knight gets to over 50 fps
While GameNative does allow SD card installs (it's an app-level setting), the bus speed on the 476H seems too slow for most games. Larger games (like *Hollow Knight* at 4GB) take minutes if they load at all. Even smaller games fail if they have a directory of lots of files can hang too. Its a case by case basis.
Just keep your games on the internal storage and you'll be fine, if limited in number. I do have some installed on the sdcards, working fine, but its a process to set and unset the write to sdcard option.
Loading times
A bit of patience is needed sometimes. *Hollow Knight* is the largest game I have on it right now and takes 50s or so to load from internal, and everything else is much faster. but the game plays totally fine.
Game Save/Sync
GameHub/GHL never synced my saves at all - I always had run in light mode, so I never thought about it much until I started using GN and picked up more devices. Here's my experience with steam, gog and custom games.
Steam: Major titles usually sync but silently, jumping between devices sometimes throws a local/remote pending save conflict. It’s trial and error, and some games I just accept won't sync.
GOG / Custom**:** No sync at all. But no surprise.
I think the "true" way to handle this is to root the device and run Syncthing (which worked flawlessly on my Retroid Pocket Classic). However, I get weird boot messages when trying to root the 476H, so I’m not pushing my luck. There is Ajax's prefix that you install in a container to sync, but setting that up for tens of containers and managing registry settings per container is a bridge too far for me right now.
The Screen: 120Hz is special
The 120Hz panel is great. I really notice it with Geometry Dash - the 476H genuinely feels better to play than a premium device that costs $400 more but are saddled with 60Hz panels (ahem ayaneo)
The Library (Swipe for Photos!)
My library is currently a mix of a couple of more known games and bright 2D platformers and puzzle games.
Here are the games that all run at 45fps+ (note: with recent changes, most games now need to use the leegao wrapper to function, which doesn't work with the built-in FPS counter):
Steam: Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, Celeste, Mighty Switch Force, Vampire Survivors, Shovel Knight, Geometry Dash, Tiny Thor, Intrepid Izzy, Sunblaze, Spelunky, Trash Quest, and a bunch of great smaller titles (Go Slimey Go, Pale Knight, Drill Bird, Froogos Adventure).
GOG: Teslagrad, Timberman, Trine (maybe this is a touch to slow - still working on whether i like the game enough)
Custom / Itch.io: Celeste, A Good Snowman is Hard to Build, A Monster's Expedition, Croaking Around, Minidoom,the electrifying incident. Shoutout to Merp in Merpworld—the Steam version has audio but a black screen, but the Itch.io version runs perfectly!)*
Two Wishes for the Devs
If I could ask the GameNative team for two things:
Container-level install locations: let us choose the install location per container rather than at the app level.
The GameHub Stretch Option: I know the devs prefer preserving the original aspect ratio, and I respect that since most users are on 16:9 devices. But who knew there would be great 4:3 and 3:2 devices capable of running Steam? Small indie games don't always match resolutions cleanly, and as a born member of the bad eyes club, any screen real estate I can get back would be a godsend. It’s the only feature I truly miss from GHL. Not a hill to die on.
Overall, I enjoy the heck out of playing Steam games on the 476H. It's incredibly easy to load up and start gaming, and having a robust-ish, pocketable, on-the-go 2D platformer Steam Deck is incredible. Its a shame it doesn't show up in Anbernics best seller list - but it makes sense its a little to underpowered, and a little to expensive. However, I think the overall package is outstanding - the retro colorway looks great, controls are solid and a great screen