Anbernic is back again with an announcement that made me yell out loud, and then quickly begin second-guessing:

Two new emulation handhelds styled after the PlayStation Vita.

As a noted Vita sicko — and one who is in the process of working on a PS Vita retrospective episode for Into the Aether patrons — this immediately feels like the kind of reveal that should be one of the most exciting of the year until we take a second to think about the current state of emulation and Anbernic’s recent track record.

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Make no mistake: Anbernic has cornered a very specific market of affordable handheld emulators that are a step above the cheap, plasticky TikTok Shop trash but comfortably below Retroid and AYN’s higher-end offerings. If you want a vertical handheld that can play everything up through the Sega Dreamcast library for ~$100 or less, Anbernic has your back. Prefer horizontal form factors? They have that, too. Scrolling through their product lineup is a dizzying experience.

But we’ve started to see Anbernic branch out a bit in the past 6 months, getting more brazen in their "inspirations" releasing products like the RG34XX and RG34XX SP — dead ringers for the original Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Advance SP, but with two extra face and shoulder buttons. These were followed more recently by the RG DS, a sub-$100 dual-screen handheld which was initially advertised as a low-cost way to play the Nintendo DS and 3DS libraries.

Upon release the RG DS was lambasted for its weak processor and false advertising, as it was not only underpowered for most 3DS games, but also struggled playing some standard Nintendo DS games at full speed and native resolution. While subsequent patches have gone live and custom operating system developers have started supporting the RG DS, this has only fixed the experience of playing Nintendo DS games — 3DS is still out of the realm of possibility without a fair amount of tinkering. Even still, this makes the RG DS a compelling offering for those longing to revisit the original DS’ library. For under $100, the device becomes a contender against even purchasing original hardware due to its support for save states, large library management, and the fact that it can also emulate plenty of other systems as well.

All of this leads me back to the RG VITA, what should be a dream handheld of mine (although I’d argue the AYN Odin 2 Mini accomplished this in 2024). The first and most crucial point when it comes to this device is that PlayStation Vita emulation is not in a great spot. It’s still a burgeoning space rife with pain points for more casual users, and compatibility is grab-bag levels of random. I’ve spent a lot of time experimenting with it, and while I’ve managed to get some of my favorites running at full speed on powerful hardware, the whole experience is rough enough that I end up doubling back to my original Vita and playing on that instead. This isn’t to discredit the work being done on Vita3K — the emulator in question is in active development and will, I’m sure, get better in time — but to build an entire product around this software feels like advertising the RG DS as a 3DS replacement all over again.

Also like the RG DS, I think the true potential lies in its ability to become the go-to device for fans of the PSP. Depending on both price and specs, a handheld in the shape of the Vita running PPSSPP and allowing you to map the second joystick on a per-game basis alleviates the main issue with the PSP itself. The lack of a second analog stick is a true obstacle for some games which force you to contort your hands and move the camera through 3D space, but my best experiences with games like Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and Me & My Katamari were all found via the quality-of-life provided by emulation.

I said at the end of last year that my dream for 2026 handhelds was a PSP-like akin to the RG34XX, but in retrospect I think the PlayStation Vita form factor is a much better option here.

Once again though, I’m concerned about specs and pricing. What could the difference be between the standard and Pro models? Will Anbernic be opting for the same chipset as the $150 RG Slide? Will it run Android, and will the screen be OLED like the original PlayStation Vita?

There are a lot of open questions here, but — as per usual — my excitement for the RG VITA is based more in speculation and hope than hard facts. The hard facts we have are that these handhelds are coming soon, which means more information is right around the corner.

Expect to hear more about this on Next Portable Console.

As a quick, final aside: God, I wish this thing wasn’t using the Nintendo layout for its face buttons.

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