TL;DR Game Console’s R36 Max 2 has been teased with a larger 4.5-inch 4:3 display and new layout.
The Game Boy-style retro device keeps the same RK3326 chip as the original budget R36 Max.
Pricing and availability haven’t been confirmed yet, but it’s expected to remain a low-cost handheld.
Game Boy-style vertical handhelds are having a moment right now. At the top end, we’ve got premium Android machines like the ANBERNIC RG 477V and AYANEO Pocket VERT pushing serious performance in a nostalgic shell. But not everyone wants to spend $200 or more to replay games from the 90s. There’s still a steady stream of cheap, Linux-based options — with a new one on the way.
A post on X by Retro Gaming With Deadfred (via NotebookCheck) just teased the Game Console R36 Max 2. The user highlights differences with the original R36 Max, such as improved sticks and a larger display, while noting that it keeps the same Rockchip RK3326 chipset as last year’s model.
The original R36 Max arrived at a similar point last year as a sub-$40 vertical handheld. It packed a 4-inch IPS screen with a square 1:1 aspect ratio at 720 x 720 resolution, and it ran on the RK3326, which is a common chip in ultra-budget retro consoles. That means four Cortex-A35 cores and a Mali-G31 GPU, which isn’t winning any benchmark battles but is perfectly fine for 8- or 16-bit gaming, plus maybe some light emulation.
The R36 Max 2 looks like a refresh rather than a full overhaul. The screen grows to 4.5 inches and switches to a more traditional 4:3 aspect ratio with a 1,024 x 768 resolution. For many classic systems, that’s actually a better fit than the old square panel. The D-pad and left joystick also appear to have swapped positions, with the latter switched out for a more arcade-style version.
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As far as we know, nothing else changed under the hood. The same RK3326 sticks around, which isn’t really a shock at this end of the market. When a handheld is aiming to be cheap first and powerful second, stability and cost tend to win out over silicon upgrades.
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