Menu
Wesley Cheng Home
  • Home
    • Environment
    • Literature
    • Movie Review
    • Philosophy
    • Politics
    • Racism
    • Sports
    • Technology
    • Television
    • Theater
  • About Me
  • Resume
  • Contact
Wesley Cheng Home

Review: BittBoy V3

Posted on August 1, 2019September 3, 2022 by Wesley
BittBoy V3
Price: $40
Find it on: eBay, Amazon, AliExpress, BittBoy
Rating: 9/10

Pros:
👍🏻 Slim, sleek, premium form factor
👍🏻 Eye-popping 2.4-inch IPS screen
👍🏻 Portable

Cons:
👎🏻 No volume wheel
👎🏻 No shoulder buttons
👎🏻 Only emulates up to 16-bit

Every once in a while, there is a product that comes along in a price class in the retro gaming world that becomes a must-have item. For the $40 and under category, that product as arrived with the new BittBoy V3. Aside from the premium feeling, GameBoy clone form factor and eye-popping screen, the BittBoy V3 plays the large majority of your 16-bit library and fits easily in any pocket.

Out of the box, you can tell the BittBoy V3 is a special product. It obviously pays homage to the original Nintendo Gameboy, but is about 1/3rd the size of its predecessor. The casing is a premium matte that feels smooth on the hands and is a clear upgrade from the typical cheap plastic that’s normally found in this price range. The buttons have a similar upgraded feel, and they appear to be built for the long term. I put this in my pocket for a week and had no issues with it.

Once the machine is on, the BittBoy V3 shines even more, with a picture perfect 2.4-inch IPS screen that is as bright as the best smartphones on the market and has outstanding viewing angles. There are other products in the next bracket up in price range that have the IPS display (the RG350, for instance, is double the price at $80), but it is a treat to have one in the $40 category. The 700mAh removable lithium battery gives a solid 3 hours gameplay before needing a recharge, though you won’t get much of a warning when the unit starts to lose its juice. It’ll start fading in brightness, and you’ll have a few minutes to save and power down.

The BittBoy V3 is powered by the AllWinner F1C500S SoC, which means that you’ll be able to play the majority of your 16-bit library. The OS is fairly basic and relatively easy to navigate around. Just push the center system button to bring up things during gameplay such as save/load states, screen ratio and other system settings. A huge drawback of the BittBoy V3 is the lack of a volume wheel. In order to change the volume range, you’ll need to hold the system button down while pushing the up or down button. That said, for such a tiny unit, the volume is quite crisp.

As I mentioned, you can play everything up to the 16-bit level, though there are some games on the SNES emulator that really struggle. I wasn’t able to play SNES Mario Kart, so I settled for Mario Kart on the GameBoy Advance emulator. Other games on the SNES are hit or miss as well, but the F1C500S SoC has no problems playing NES, GB, GBC, GBA and Genesis games. BittBoy advertises PlayStation 1 compatibility, but that’s a stretch. If you can even get a PS1 ROM to load (I couldn’t), the BittBoy V3 has no shoulder buttons, so PS1 gameplay would be a fruitless activity, anyway.

My BittBoy V3 came with an 8GB SD card that had about 100 ROMs preloaded, and there are also other games that are specifically built on the system, including DOOM. To add more games, you’ll need some basic technical know-how to pop the card out, put it into the reader on your computer and drop other ROMs in there. It’s got enough on there to be a decent plug-and-play, but a more avid gamer will want more than what it’s shipped with.

Still, for the price of $40, there is just no beating what you get. If you are OK with staying in the 16-bit category, and want a highly portable, premium looking and feeling retro handheld, this is absolutely worth your time and money.

  • BittBoy V3
  • Retro Gaming
  • Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    • December 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • February 2022
    • November 2021
    • July 2021
    • May 2021
    • November 2020
    • September 2020
    • December 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • April 2019
    • November 2015
    • July 2015
    • September 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • October 2013
    • May 2013
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • February 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • February 2011
    • August 2010
    • May 2010
    • March 2010
    • January 2010
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • March 2009
    • January 2009
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • April 2008
    • February 2008
    • December 2007
    • November 2007
    • October 2007
    • August 2007
    • July 2007
    • June 2007
    • May 2007
    • April 2007
    • March 2007
    • December 2006
    • November 2006
    • September 2006
    • July 2006
    • June 2006
    • May 2005
    • April 2005
    • March 2005
    • February 2005
    • January 2005
    • December 2004
    • September 2004
    • August 2004
    • May 2004
    • April 2004
    • December 2003
    • November 2003
    • October 2003
    • September 2003
    • August 2003
    • April 2003
    • March 2003
    • February 2003
    • January 2003
    • December 2002
    • November 2002
    • October 2002
    • September 2002
    • July 2002
    • May 2002
    • April 2002
    ©2023 Wesley Cheng Home | Powered by WordPress & Superb Themes