The Anbernic RG35XXSP, AKA the Gameboy Advance SP

When I was around 4 years old or so, I owned a Gameboy Advance SP, my first ever handheld game console. I loved it a lot, it was a pearl pink color and my favorite game to play on there was Super Mario World. A few years later I received the Nintendo 3DS as a gift, and my dad gave my Gameboy away to my cousin. I loved my 3ds as well and my favorite game on there was Cooking Mama. One unfortunate day I was jumping off the bed of a truck with my Nintendo 3ds in hand and dropped it on a pile of rocks. It was done for, my life of owning handheld game consoles was gone. Right around this time is when the popularity of tablets began to rise and handheld consoles were pretty much the past.

Still, ever since, I would think back to my Gameboy. I missed it a lot. I liked the physical buttons, the portability of the console itself, and the fact that you needed no wifi to play games. But since these consoles were basically discontinued, you could only find them second hand, and the price was pretty high. So I waited and waited hoping one day Nintendo would drop a portable console again, but their only focus right now seems to be the switch, which is not pocket friendly. Then, last year I received an amazon gift card for Christmas, not knowing what to spend it on, and then I saw a video of someone decorating their Gameboy Advance SP, except, it was NOT a Gameboy advance sp. It was an Anbernic RG35XXSP. They sold it on amazon at the time so I put it in my cart and purchased it. After owning it for about 8 months now, I can say I am very satisfied.

This is my decorated SP, and I want to talk about everything I love so far about the console.

(Super Mario World)

I finally get to play Super Mario World again!!!! I was hit with nostalgia hearing the music and seeing the visuals, I was so happy I could cry. Getting used to the buttons was where I admit I had a bit of a struggle, since there are 4 buttons instead of 2 like the original. This device has everything stored on an sd card, so you are able to download game roms online and put them on the device. No need for searching and buying second hand game cartridges. It also allows you to play games from other devices, for example I was playing Castlevania X which I believe is a PSP game. The device itself comes with a lot of pre-downloaded games already which has been fun to try out new games.

(1. Avatar the Last Air Bender 2.Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses 3. Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad)

Surprisingly enough the biggest use I have been getting out of my device is the video option. I have been adding shows, movies, anime and such to my device. It's a perfect device to watch older videos that still have the square aspect ratio. It also has a hdmi port so you are able to connect it to a tv if you would like. I love bringing this device on road trips to watch movies for a few reasons. 1. It stands up on its own since it is foldable. 2. You are not wasting your phone battery. 3. You are not using your phone storage to download something or using your phone's mobile data to watch something online. It even has a jack port for headphones, unlike the original SP, which allows you to play games or watch videos without disturbing other’s silence.

There are a lot of other cool features the device offers such as playing music and reading e-books. I currently have the stock OS on my device, but there are other OS’s to download in order to mod the SP and customize it’s appearance. 

Overall I love my Anbernic rg35xxsp. It perfectly performs in playing old Gameboy games and even allows more ways to use the device. I am still waiting for the possibility of Anbernic to release a device similar to the Nintendo DS since there are some games that can only be played on there because of the double screen and stylus. For now I will cherish my SP in hopes of keeping it forever.

Powering Down,

-Digita1grl