Miyoo Mini: A Review of the Retro Handheld Emulator

The original Miyoo Mini is a retro game console that can fit in your pants pocket and travel with you wherever you go, letting you get down on classic games anytime. In recent years, this little handheld has really boomed in popularity in part because of YouTube videos created about it, but also because it’s a quality device and it can run your favorite retro classics quite well at a fraction of the price of other competitors on the market. We’ve seen plenty of companies attempt to have their retro emulation handhelds hitting it out of the park, but none has really done with the Mini was able to achieve.

It has an overall small structure and some very powerful features under the hood. It’s a great handheld for gamers looking to play games while on the go.

This retro console size measures 3.68 x 2.56 x 0.71 inches is size and only weighs a measly 162 grams, making it super easy to carry around. It has a 2.8-inch IPS HD display aesthetically pleasing screen at 640×480 resolution that looks fantastic.

The Miyoo Mini has gotten solid reviews across the board, with many calling it the best cheap handheld console you can buy; and for good reason too. It has that classic nostalgic Game Boy-like design, comes in a pocket-friendly size, and packs a heat of power for how cheap it is.

In this article, we’ll be covering all of the great features and things about this little handheld along with any negatives and downsides you should be aware of as well.

You may also be interested in checking out our Miyoo Mini Plus review too.

What’s It Like?

The Miyoo Mini is a compact handheld console that is designed with pure portability in mind and it’s one of the best handheld emulators out there. Comparison-wise, the Miyoo Mini is about the same size as a pack of cigarettes.

While the screen is a bit small, everything genuinely feels like you’re viewing it in HD because of the IPS screen and its resolution. and it’s genuinely great. This little guy will allow you to play emulation and load games whenever you’re out and about. The screen is 4:3 and is the perfect ratio for playing retro games on.

One notable downside about the device’s screen is that at times you may notice it has a sort of white-ish tint to it and it’ll look almost glowy when going between menus to load up games. That being said, once you’re actually playing games, it’s not as noticeable and you’ll probably forget all about it.

Its d-pad is a bit chonky in the best way possible. One of the worst things that a smaller handheld device can do is make its controls difficult to use accurately. Fortunately, that’s not the case here as the d-pad is excellent and feels very natural to use in games. You’ll feel right at home playing all sorts of genres that require precision like fighting games, platformers, etc.

The four high-gloss action buttons also are nice and feel good to press in. Fans of classic Nintendo consoles will notice the similar color design and how this retro device certainly pays homage to the consoles of yesterday. The same can be said about the Mini’s grey color scheme on its casing and the start and select buttons on the front at the bottom. If you’re not particularly a fan of the retro style color scheme, you’ll be happy to know that the Miyoo Mini also comes in a white color option as well.

There’s an SD card reader slot as you would expect. It offers USB-C charging, a headphone jack that is precariously at the bottom of the device, a volume wheel (like the GameBoy) instead of volume buttons, and the on and off button has LED battery indicators so you’ll know when your device is fully turned off or not.

You’ll find 4 separate shoulder buttons on the back of the device that actually has a surprisingly nice modern click to them when pressed in, similar to what you’d expect these days from quality brand-name controllers.

Miyoo Mini Specs Breakdown

The battery section on the back of the Miyoo Mini can be opened up and is fully accessible if you ever need to get in there to make some adjustments. Speaking of the device’s battery life, it’s a removable 1900MAH Lithium Ion battery which should last you around 5 to 6 hours depending on gameplay.

The device inside is powered by a 1.2GHZ dual-core SSD202D CPU and a “2D Graphics Accelerator” GPU.

You may be surprised to learn that the Miyoo Mini can actually play some rather large PS1 games very well. Considering how small this little thing is, this is an impressive feat. The operating system on the device is nothing to necessarily write home about, but it will definitely get the job done. There’s a basic stock firmware pre-installed that is very easy to understand and just about anyone can pick it up and start playing some games. Its firmware features some emulators like RetroArch, which players can use to install various emulator cores for different systems.

This impressive little device can emulate Gameboy, Mega Drive, Famicom, Neo Geo, Master System, and Wonderswan games impressively well with little to no performance issues at all. One disappointment though is when it comes to emulating GBa games as it falls a bit short of what you’d hope for. It’s a bit of an emulation threshold for it. The framerates achieved while playing Game Boy Advance games is pretty abysmal to say the least.

Summary

This little console is surprisingly good. It has a nice sturdy design and doesn’t scratch or get dented particularly easily. It really does pack a serious punch for its size and it really does feel like a high-quality device that you can tell has the necessary research and development put into it.

While this little handheld emulator shines in many ways, its firmware is a bit lacking. Not that we expect anything particularly amazing on that front, but it is rather basic and takes away from the whole aesthetic a bit. That’s certainly no dealbreaker, but worth mentioning for sure.

The firmware can make messing around with various emulators somewhat difficult and the occasional crash can certainly be a downer at times.

Despite its few drawbacks, if you’re in the market for a new retro handheld device, you should definitely pick up a Miyoo Mini.

Its size and form factor make it perfect for taking with you wherever you go.

Things We Like

We love the resto design and visual aesthetic of the device. It’s small enough to fit in your pocket and can easily be taken with you wherever you go. For how small this thing is, it’s surprisingly powerful.

You can tell this is a quality device that a lot of care went into.

Things We Don’t Like

The firmware can be a bit buggy at times and could be improved. The shoulder buttons are alright and are reminiscent of modern-day controllers, but they could be upgraded. The hazy screen is also sometimes a bit of a nuisance in certain lighting.

Also, be sure to check out our Retroid Pocket 2 review.

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