G350 emulation guide: which games run well?

What the RK3326 chip can really do

The G350 is built around a Rockchip RK3326 chip: four Cortex-A35 cores running at up to 1.5 GHz, a Mali-G31 MP2 graphics processor and 1 GB of LPDDR3 RAM. It is a modest platform and a familiar one in the retro handheld world. It is comfortable when emulation mainly needs consistency, as with machines from the 1980s and 1990s. It reaches its limits when the original system relies on heavier 3D or on hardware that is complex to reproduce. No setting really changes that: there is simply less processing headroom.

The factory system is a 64-bit Linux with the EmulationStation menu, which sorts games by system. Each system runs through an emulator, sometimes with a choice of several. Results can differ noticeably from one emulator to another, and from one game to another. So it makes more sense to think in families of systems than to expect a promise for each title. It is the fairest way to judge what the console will do for you.

8 and 16-bit consoles, classic arcade and handhelds

This is where the G350 is most at home. 8 and 16-bit home consoles run very well, as do classic arcade games and handheld systems, including the GBA. With these families the chip has headroom to spare, so there is usually room for a display filter or save states. The D-pad, the four face buttons in a diamond, SELECT and START cover most controllers from these generations. You can play without remapping everything, which makes short sessions very enjoyable.

The 3.5-inch IPS screen shows 640 × 480 pixels in a 4:3 ratio. Games designed for 4:3, which covers most home consoles of those eras, fill the screen with no black bars. Handhelds whose original screen had a different shape are shown with bars or scaled, depending on the emulator settings. For arcade games, it all depends on the shape and orientation of each original cabinet's screen.

PS1: a large part of the library runs very well

PS1 is often the pleasant surprise on a chip of this size. A large part of its library runs very well on the RK3326, with a picture that sits naturally on the 4:3 screen. The two analogue sticks at the bottom of the front, and the four shoulder buttons on the back, L1, L2, R2 and R1 side by side, let you reproduce a full controller from that generation. You may need to check the button mapping in the emulator, especially for the rear buttons.

"A large part" does not mean everything. Some games need a different setting or a different emulator, or stay less smooth than others. If a game you own runs poorly, work through the emulator options before drawing conclusions. Also bear in mind that a disc image takes up far more space than a 16-bit cartridge, so the games card fills up much faster.

N64, PSP, Dreamcast and DS: it depends on the game

These four systems sit at the edge of what the RK3326 can do. How well they run depends heavily on the game and the settings. Some lighter games behave well, while others stay choppy or show graphical glitches however much you tweak them. The usual levers are internal resolution, frame skip, the choice of emulator core and sometimes the system installed on the card. Think of these families as a bonus to explore, not the main reason to choose this console.

Two practical points. The DS had two screens: on a single 4:3 screen you have to pick a layout, side by side, stacked or with one main screen enlarged, depending on what the emulator offers, and none is perfect. The PSP had a widescreen display, which appears with bars on a 4:3 screen. Finally, PS2 is not supported: emulating it is clearly beyond this chip.

Two microSD cards: system on one, games on the other

The G350 has no internal storage. It uses two microSD slots: TF1/INT on the left side for the system and TF2/EXT on the right side for games. The standard version comes with a 64 GB card, and the manufacturer states support for cards of up to 256 GB. The space you can actually use after formatting is always less than the stated capacity. Keeping system and games apart has a real advantage: you can reinstall the system without touching the card that holds your library.

Community systems are also available, such as ArkOS, dArkOS, ROCKNIX and PAN4ELEC. Some owners install them to try other emulators or settings, particularly for the more demanding systems. Switching systems is at your own risk, though, and it pays to be methodical. A few simple precautions save time and protect your saves:

• Back up both cards to a computer before changing anything.
• Keep an untouched copy of the original system card.
• Change one setting at a time so you know what helped a game.

Why this guide has no game list

You will not find a game list, a number of titles or any download links here. This guide is published by the G350 shop, an independent retailer of the G350. The shop provides no games, no titles and no links. Owners should only play games they hold the rights to, and that is the approach behind every tip given here. This is not legal advice: the rules vary from country to country.

There is still plenty to enjoy within those limits. Homebrew games, new titles made by independent developers for older systems, run in the same emulators as the classics. Many are free or sold directly by their creators, who set out their terms of use. For your own games, check the rules where you live before making any copy. Homebrew and legally owned games: that is the only scope of this guide.