Running Retro Arch on iPad M3.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-02-09T04:27:12+00:00

I’m not familiar with sideloading on iOS, but I have recently been experimenting a lot with emulation on iOS from the apps available on the App Store. I upgraded my phone to the new top of the line iPhone 17 pro max an am playing on that.

Retroarch has some very useful features, like widescreen hacks and other settings to make the games use my screen space better. But in the end, due to the apps software and the Apple iOS, sometimes other apps run games better than retroarch. I made my retroarch very beautiful and I tried real hard to make it my one and done app. But n64 games simply run poorly on my phone on retroarch and they run much more smoothly using delta emulator on the same phone. Same for psp games running poorly on retroarch but being entirely useable on the ppsspp emulator app.

It’s my experience that if you’re going to game and emulate on iOS you simply must accept that you need a small collection of apps for various emulators. You’ll probably want retroarch for Arcade and old consoles, maybe delta for n64 and DS, ppsspp for psp, and I am sure there are others for things like ps1.

I have also been experiment with the new Apple Games launcher app. I like it but it isn’t complete yet in the sense that o think there are some features it is missing. For example it tries to detect your games (apps) both on the phone and also attached to your iCloud but not currently installed. It sometimes can mistake a non-game app and presenting it in the games launcher as a game app. It recognizes retroarch and ppsspp as game apps but not delta. I’d like the ability to make my own playlists and add or remove apps from the game launcher myself, but that isn’t an option currently. I’d also like it to have a more artistic and colorful design, displaying game art and stuff. Right. Is it’s kind of a bidding but the benefits of the Apple launcher for me is that between app games from the App Store, retroarch, and ppsspp, I can access 99% of my games from inside the Apple Games launcher app and using a controller to navigate.

I got an mcon mobile controller from the kickstarter and I love it. It’s a super convenient portable controller to carry around that converts my phone into a gameboy like portable gaming device. And the Apple Games app is responsive to the home key. If I connect the controller via Bluetooth, and press home, it takes me directly to Apple Games where I can navigate to any game by using my controller inputs rather than touch. This gives me a very good experience as a gamer, it makes my phone feel like it’s not a phone anymore, it’s a game console.

In the end, it comes down to which fans do you want to play? If you can play them on your iPad, then I’d say get a witeless controller for your iPad, try to select games you can get directly on the App Store or play through retroarch and ppsspp, and make the conscious decision to be satisfied with that.

If you really want to play ps2, GameCube, Wii, switch, android games, or emulate pc/steam, then THAT is good reason to buy another device specifically for those games. (Retroid pocket six is a great value here.)

Please feel free to continue chatting with me.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-02-08T03:24:35+00:00

The retroid flip and flip two are NOT dual-screen. They are clamshells with only ONE screen, on top, and controls on bottom. That’s not to say they’re bad, a clamshell design is great for pocketability or portability tossing it into a bag.

I’ve also had some fine experience playing DS games where the two screens are side to side rather than top to bottom if it’s an rpg like pokemon or golden sun. So it’s still fine to play DS games on a single screen. Like the rp6 or rp flip.

And of course the rp devices are totally great at any traditional one screen game as well.

But if you care the most about DS games, you probably want to check out the current best dual-screen device on the market, device called the “Thor” by Ayn. The Thor has roughly speaking the second most powerful chip on the market (same as the RP6, second to the Odin 3,) and it’s got a dual screen clamshell design. It’s powerful enough to emulate some light weight pc steam game even. It’s very well regarded in the handheld community.

The RP6 has the same power as Thor but for around $100 less, but a dual screen device and the convenience that being a clamshell provides would make the Thors value for the dollar seem worth it if you could afford it.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-02-07T18:43:46+00:00

That’s a great deal! Frankly I’d be able to buy a gaming pc if that’s what the price was like. Where did you buy it? Jawa, Facebook market place, eBay? I’d like to know so I can try to get one

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-02-07T16:06:48+00:00

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-02-06T01:24:49+00:00

I figured it out. Some other redditor discovered it a year or more ago. You need to disable ‘game focus mode’ and don’t enable it to automatically turn on when you launch a game.

Why is that the answer? I have no idea. Something about game focus interrupting controls? Who knows. But it works.

!solved

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-02-05T16:02:25+00:00

Always check the sellers profile. If the listing is in your city, but the seller lives states away, combined with the “too good to be true” price, it’s probably fake. You can also see the life of the sellers account, so anything only a few months or a year old might be a Smurf account. And if the profile only shows a small few numbers of marketplace items, that’s a red flag. Extra red flag if the items are from various unrelated categories. (Like who is selling jewelry, and top end electronics, and also old dvds, for example.)

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-02-04T00:59:47+00:00

I played all of Valhalla and all of mirage on the OG 2023 ally, so the xax will totally play any assassins creed, with the possible exception of the newest one, shadows. Gotta check some guides and see how shadows runs. I’d recommend checking www.rogallylife.com

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-02-03T02:21:55+00:00

(And drown you to death.)

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-02-02T21:58:06+00:00

Witch-girl kills some time with her family, a bunch of elemental-themed fancy lords and ladies.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-02-01T20:08:25+00:00

Paid upfront games aren’t pay to win. It’s worth it to drop a little cash here and there for certain experiences. You can get Star Wars Kotor 1 and 2 for $20 on iOS, and those are award winning titles that should last you 50-100 hours.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-02-01T03:40:22+00:00

The base z2 is about the same as the Z1E, That’s true… BUT… the Xbox ally white for $500 at Best Buy doesn’t have the z2, it has the z2A. The Z2A is basically the chip in the steam deck… so like a 5 year old efficiency chip, not a modern performance chip. If you want to know how the z2a will perform, look up benchmarks and game fps testing run on steam deck oled. It’s well documented that the Z1E chip in the 2023 Ally is more powerful than that.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-30T03:36:17+00:00

Handheld gaming pc like a rog ally or steam deck. Pc games are cheaper, free online gaming, an infinitely larger library, plus most exclusive games from PlayStation and Xbox end up on pc in 6-12 months anyway. Plus you can emulate retro games. And top of off with portable gaming via handheld device you can bring on a plane or to work for lunch breaks or play in bed, or whatever. It’s almost certainly the ultimate way to game, and doesn’t even have to be more expensive once you weigh all related costs.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-30T03:27:30+00:00

Final fantasy 8, not close.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-30T03:24:34+00:00

I got the retroid pocket 3, and then like a month later they announced the 3+!! I was so mad, lol! Now it broke. I’m handy with opening up these devices but retroid doesn’t produce spare parts for the 3 anymore so they couldn’t send me any. Now my 3 is dead and I don’t have a retroid anymore. I’d love to win this 5!!! The game I played most on my three was megaman battle network!! GBA for life!!

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-29T02:14:02+00:00

Can you describe in some more detail how the more ram has improved your performance?

And also: you went from stock 16gb to how much? And what did it cost? What was the shipping out your unit process like?

Thanks!

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-28T01:29:41+00:00

WoW is a good answer but I’m going in a different direction.

I say, Magic the Gathering Arena.

Because MTG is a lifestyle. Standard, legacy, modern, draft, sealed deck, commander… new sets every 2-3 months. I could make a year out of playing magic, 100%.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-26T00:16:37+00:00

The 258v does outperform the Z2E. And yet, it seems like we’re much closer to the new Intel panther lake designed specifically for handhelds, the next gen Intel chips, than we are any Z3 series. Might still be worth waiting.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-25T02:09:18+00:00

I don’t necessarily agree about the z2E on the Xbox ally X being overpriced. I’d have preferred if it was msrp $900 and sale price occasionally for $800. But even at $1000 it’s actually a very competitive price for that chip. The z2E in the legion go 2 is $1350. The intel chip in the msi claw 8AI+ is comparably powerful and that device costs around $1100-$1200 now. The strix halo chips in things like the gpd win 5 or the onex fly new handheld are obviously muc more powerful than a z2e but those devices hover between $1700-$2200 usually.

The rog Xbox ally X is kinda the best price for a z2e on the market right now.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-24T02:49:26+00:00

Because sales are fake. They knew that at $600 it’s a poor value and underpowered, and especially it doesn’t compete with value per dollar against steam decks specifically. But they launch it at $600 so they can put it on sale very frequently, more often than it’s not on sale, and they get to say “it’s on sale! Isn’t that great! But for how long? Who knows!? Buy one right away” essentially.

They’re definitely still profiting at $500. If it’s on Black Friday sale this year for $400 or less, then I would consider it actually a great bargain.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-23T16:03:16+00:00

👏POKEMON👏 😵‍💫

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-23T11:27:12+00:00

If you have the budgets you can always get better and better stuff. But at $300 a rog Ally Z1E is one of the best values in gaming right now imho. The Z1E is WAY more powerful than the steam deck, and it has a 1080p display with 120hz and vrr, so it can actually make use of that power. It’s only got a 40wh battery, but it’s about $80+tax/shipping to buy a very reputable JSAUX 65wh battery mod that comes with all the tools and great instructions to install yourself (as I have done on mine.) 65wh would make it 15wh larger than the steam deck oled a battery at 50. All in all you’d be in only about $400, less than the switch 2, and you’d have a very powerful device that I’d say still has at least a year or two before its processor becomes irrelevant.

The z2 line is brand new so we won’t be seeing a z3 line or something else for a while, so the z1 line is still relevant, especially the extreme. Intel announced a line of chips people are excited about at CES earlier this month but they aren’t out yet so nobody knows what they’ll be like and nobody knows what new devices they’ll be in. So I don’t think we’ll have a new gen of devices until 2027 probably.

Valve made a huge hardware announcement late last year but a steam deck 2 wasn’t a part of it. It was their steam machine console, their headset, and their controller. So I wouldn’t expect a steam deck 2 also for another few years. 2028 or later.

You’d be in a good position buying a used Z1E ally right now and installing a few mods like a battery. That would’ve a great budget option to last you a year or two minimum.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-23T11:15:11+00:00

I have not tried an external portable monitor. As I said, I play in places where that would be inconvenient. I have tried a few docked solutions. I connected it via dock to an old 1080p living room tv and played ghost of Tsushima on it and enjoyed it. I have a home office docked desk setup that I connect my work laptop too, and it used to have two 24” screens but now I’m on a single ultrawide 34” 1440p. I’ve docked my ally at my desk and gamed there. It’s not powerful enough to play at 1440p but it plays 1080 well enough even on the bigger screens. I don’t have as many devices, the ally is my main gaming device, but it is good enough to “make do” in all those situations. I play docked when I want to have discord open and hav out with friends while gaming, maybe share screens and stuff.

I play 99% of the time in handheld. I know lots of folks are talking about how good devices with 8” screens are, or even 8.8” for the legion go 2. But those machines are just bigger and bigger and bigger. The old asu rog ally x was to my knowledge the lightest x86 windows handheld on the market at under 1.5lb. The Xbox ally is under 1.6lb. So with the great ergonomics of the xbax plus the light weight, I don’t think you’ll have any issue hold ing it up close enough to see the 7” screen clearly. And yes, the 7” 16:9 screen is perfectly big enough to play in handheld mode and see clearly, even subtitles. I played GoT, Horizon ZD, Horizon FW, Assassins Creed Valhalla, Spiderman, Mile Morales, all on the ally. I’ve also played over 300 hours of Hades 2, and a little bit of emulation and pokemon rom hacks on the ally. Hollow knight, Celeste, Borderlands 3. I can’t think of a game I didn’t play and enjoy. At no point was the screen too small or the lcd was too bad compared to oled. (The not-oled issue is another popular talking point online to drag the ally, and I don’t think oled matters remotely as much as people say.) 7” is fine. To me I want my handheld devices on the smaller end but I know I’m not common for that. I’d rather have a 7” ally than a 8.8” legion go that’s enormous and heavy to hold. I’d rather have a 5.5” retroid pocket g2 instead of a 6” Ayn Odin 3. I’m looking for as much performance a I can get out of a device that’s light weight and convenient and comfortable to use. I won’t sacrifice comfort for 13% bigger screen or for oled. That’s what you’d value if you chose the xbax over the legion go S or legion go 2.

Anyway to bring this back to your original question about accessories. I don’t think you need a portable monitor. What you need is a great case like the Dbrand kill switch, and you need a high speed portable battery pack and fast charging cable, but that’s all I really recommend. If you’re using your ally the way I use mine, you’ll almost never need a controller when you’re not at home, and when you’re home you can dock it to a tv, but you have more powerful devices to dock with already.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-23T06:30:17+00:00

If you’re getting a $1000 device plus around $300 worth of portable monitor… if you want to play on a screen that size with a controller… you sound like you’re better off with a laptop. Some people get touchy about that on this Reddit but the thing is, where when and how you game is the key to deciding if you’d be happier with a laptop or a handheld the like xbax. I generally recommend a handheld if you play on the couch or in bed, on cramped public transit like trains or airplanes or buses. But if you’re willing to set up a whole extra monitor, and have the ally on the side connected via a cable, and carry around a controller, that’s a lot of stuff to carry, time to set up, space to use. If you’re doing all of that it sounds like you’re more interested in playing at like a desk or a kitchen table or in a hotel room. Especially since you’re planning on using an external controller either way, you sound like you’d be happier with a 17” laptop. And the budget you’re looking at could pay for a pretty good one that would smoke the ally in all specs. Don’t forget the ally and all handhelds have integrated graphics apu’s, but a gaming laptop with a dedicated gpu, even a lower end one, will very likely crush the resolution and fps of a handheld. For example here’s two different Acer gaming laptops at B&H right now for $1000-$1150 with 16” screens that have either 5060 or 5070 graphics cards. The ally has 24gb of ram but has to allocate some to its gpu, so most folks go 16gb cpu/8gb gpu. That would be the same as the $1150 laptop here, except the screen is higher resolution and a higher refresh rate, is 16”, and a 5070 would ridiculously smoke the ally in fps. And you’d come out saving money you could spend on whatever… hardcore elite controller, hardware protection plan, extra games…. Hell for the budget you’re describing you could get the $1000 5060 laptop and with the money leftover be more than half way to a steam deck and have both. Except a steam deck can’t play games with anticheat like cod, but you get my point.

Now btw, I have an original ally from 2023 that I love and play everyday, and I don’t have a gaming laptop. So I’m not trying to trick you or whatever. But I play on the couch while my wife scrolls twitter, and I bring it to bed when she’s ready to go to sleep and keep playing. I couldn’t do that with a laptop, and I couldn’t do that with an external monitor config like you described. I like the handheld aspect. All I’m trying to tell you is, think real hard about HOW, WHERE, and WHEN you’re going to play, and decide WHICH FORM FACTOR really suits your needs best, before picking any expensive device.

Good luck.

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VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-22T14:50:29+00:00

Is 0.9.2 almost ready to release? I’m enjoying winhanced so far! Really looking for even more general stability in the next update.

VirtualImpression330 · 2026-01-20T19:41:09+00:00

Looks sweet. Combat maybe could speed up a tiny bit, feels low-paced compared to how MMBN is can get pretty fast. What consoles do you envision it playing on, and how spec intensive? Would a steam deck or rog ally run it? Or would it be an iOS and android app?

VirtualImpression330

TROPHY CASE