PowKiddy Delight

Sweet baby Jesus did not bring me my Powkiddy X55 for Christmas, but rather it was a self gift after Julio told me about his and introduced me to the world inexpensive of handheld console emulators. He pointed me to this you tube video (in spanish) that covers all the options available from 0-20 euros (!) that have form factors similar to the original Nintendo Gameboy up to devices that compete with Steam’s handheld consoles (400€ - 1000€). Let me repeat that: devices less than 20€. A hamburger, frys and a drink in most of the hamburger joints in Madrid will set you back more! So just out of absolute curiosity I had to get one experience this first hand.

After watching the afore mentioned introduction video I had to ask Julio to bring his device to work to actually touch it and see the quality of the device, and after touching it and playing with it, it was a matter of hours until I had made a purchase. It is possible to buy these on Ali Express, Amazon, and other sites, but I felt better to go directly to the source and Powkiddy had shipping in Europe (don’t get me started on my problems receiving gifts from the USA from well wishing family members).

So on Thursday December 19th I placed an order for a Powkiddy Model number X55 for a final price of 78.64 €. This price included the X55, 32GB Expansion card (preloaded with games), shipping, and taxes. The X55 is capable of emulating many different systems (the ones with a “*” may not be able to play all roms at full speed):

On Saturday December 28th the X55 arrived. In the end it had been sent from China and made the long trip and run through customs in 7 days (I had thought they would dispatch from Europe to avoid problems):

The packaging was interesting as I think someone probably spent more time wrapping tape around the box than the whole process of building the device:

The quality of the physical device is just incredible and and the user experience is just over the top. As I explore more I realize this is due to an amazing collection of different groups each contributing to make retro gaming possible, starting with the operating system JELOS (Just Enough Linux) that has now morphed into ROCKNIX (Rockchip Linux Gaming Operating System).

The 32GB Expansion card ordered has more than enough games from different eras to get me started and a pleasant Saturday afternoon was spent just checking out the different Amiga games included (ever since I visited my elementary school friend Doug in the late 80’s and he showed off his Amiga I have had an obsession that never has been fulfilled until now).

And I have begun exploring the other options as I noticed the expansion card had little to no Sega games and especially no Sonic the Hedgehog, and to be expected I have found lots of additional stuff out there which will result in lots of time investigating and testing. And in the end, that is what I have always done with video games, spent more time getting them to work their best than actually really playing them!

Thanks for reading and feel free to give feedback or comments via email (andrew@jupiterstation.net).