Should I get a Powkiddy V90?

[theoldmototoad50]

Hi, I've been looking for a cheap chinese console emulator thing that has loads of different emulators. Is the Powkiddy V90 good? I've seen good feedback from reviews by The Retro Future and RetroDodo. Does anyone else have it and is it good or not? Thanks

 

[impeeza]

You get what you pay for

 

[StrayGuitarist]

I'm not familiar with that particular device, but I can attest to the fact that 90% of those things are garbage. It's probably in your best interest to look into a modded PS Vita, PSP, or 3DS for portable console emulation, and for the home, the original Xbox, Wii, Wii U and Switch all have amazing emulation/homebrew scenes.

The main reason is because homebrew developers usually make these applications and emulators primarily for themselves, often releasing it to others as a courtesy, and to get feedback from others more experienced developing for the console they're working on. This almost always results in a quality product with care, and attention to detail in its function. That's part of what makes the homebrew scene for consoles so successful in the first place- the passion.

With a Chinese emulation device like the ones you get on Alibaba/Aliexpress and Wish.com, they're mass-produced with the sole purpose of making a profit. This often means cut corners in software and hardware, and a device that'll have shoddy emulation with little to no configuration options, meaning you're stuck with whatever prefab configuration they set you up with, almost always being untested and.. bad.

If you are looking for something to keep hooked up to a TV and play, I'd just recommend a modded Nintendo Wii, they're one of the easiest consoles to hack even for complete beginners, they have an insane homebrew scene stretching back for decades, and a crazy wide list of systems emulated with great compatibility.
If the Wii's lack of native HDMI support turns you off, the Wii U does have HDMI and progressive output without component cables, and supports almost all of the Wii homebrew natively.

For the portable side, it's a little more limited, but you can't go wrong with the PSP or 3DS. I don't have any personal experience with the Vita, so I can't talk about it much-- but the PSP is a bit more of an emulation powerhouse than the 3DS, with it handling PS1 games natively, and the 3DS struggling with most 64-bit era stuff. Although the 3DS has better support for Genesis stuff than the PSP for... some weird reason.

 

[MorpheuZ]

I actually own a Powkiddy V90 and I must say, it's quite a versatile little handheld and it holds up just fine.
Just don't expect it to play PS1 titles and other systems that require a bit of juice to emulate, without issues.

It holds charge very well and fits nicely in your pocket.
The form factor is just what you expect. It's basically a GBA SP with tactile buttons and shoulder buttons which are
as responsive as you'd expect.

It's a nice detail that it charges with USB-C as well.
The one I bought came with a crappy micro-sd card that held the firmware and a variety of
shitty chinese rom collections, that's easily replaced.
I would recommend that you replace the firmware with this: https://github.com/TriForceX/MiyooCFW

It's actually a nice device and well worth the money.