You Don't NEED an Expensive Console

[00:00] - Gaming has gotten

[00:03] So today, we're trying some

[00:04] actually affordable gaming

[00:07] Starting with this, the Nex Playground.

[00:09] Now, this thing was all

[00:12] In fact, this actually outsold

[00:17] if you can believe that, on

[00:19] - No, I believe it.

[00:20] is that this is a device that is designed

[00:22] to almost kinda bring back

[00:24] It is a lot of like,

[00:27] (item shatters)

[00:29] - Did my phone just fling

[00:31] - [Alex] (laughs) Yeah, it did.

[00:32] - Now, we paid, I think,

[00:35] - [Alex] We paid $240.

[00:37] - [Austin] 240 bucks.

[00:38] Now, this used to be like,

[00:40] however they've seen price hikes.

[00:42] - Ooh.

[00:44] - Bust a Move, oh, I like it.

[00:46] It's got a little camera sticking out.

[00:48] Ooh, kind of dense, like

[00:50] There was this whole thing

[00:53] where everyone decided they wanted to make

[00:54] a $100 little micro console,

[00:57] and that that was gonna be the future.

[00:58] Turned out that that was

[01:01] I mean, it's so simple.

[01:02] I assume, on the inside,

[01:03] just a glorified smartphone.

[01:05] HDMI, power adapter, and

[01:08] Now, this is not a controller.

[01:10] It is a remote.

[01:12] What the hell?

[01:13] What a weird little like...

[01:14] It's so long.

[01:16] (symbols chime) Why is

[01:18] Does it stay on the...

[01:19] - [All] Oh.

[01:20] - Hey.

[01:22] when you're not using it.

[01:23] - It's actually like a nice,

[01:24] delightful little piece of hardware,

[01:25] but is it actually any fun to play?

[01:28] So we've got it plugged in now.

[01:30] So it's telling me to use the

[01:32] Here's some stuff our

[01:35] We don't share your stuff

[01:37] I don't know if that's legally binding,

[01:38] but, sure, let's go for it.

[01:39] Avoid clothes with patterns, long sleeves,

[01:41] or colors that match your walls.

[01:43] This is the rare time I'm not wearing

[01:44] some absurdly annoying looking shirt.

[01:47] Cool, great.

[01:48] We'll see how robust it is.

[01:49] I hope it's not that finicky,

[01:51] 'cause you remember when

[01:53] Kinect was actually good.

[01:54] It wasn't just a camera.

[01:54] It actually had a number

[01:57] Oh, my God, hi, it's me.

[01:59] Punch the balls, punch the balls,

[02:00] punch the balls, punch the balls.

[02:01] So we have a starter pack

[02:05] Bowling, Starri, Home Run Heroes, Dora,

[02:09] sort of get the idea this

[02:11] Ah, here it goes.

[02:13] So here's the thing that a lot of people

[02:14] criticize the Nex Playground for.

[02:16] It comes with a few games.

[02:17] It also has the Play Pass.

[02:19] This is, essentially, their

[02:21] like Xbox Game Pass or whatever,

[02:25] You can only sign up for the Play Pass.

[02:27] Is it a yearly subscription?

[02:28] Like how does the Play Pass actually work?

[02:30] - [Alex] That'll be $89 for a year

[02:34] (Austin mumbles)

[02:35] or $49 for three months.

[02:38] - What the hell math is that?

[02:40] So you're not only paying $240

[02:44] but another $90 a year just

[02:47] Let's see what happens if

[02:48] and I just play the stuff that's included.

[02:50] Let's do Fruit Ninja,

[02:52] 'cause that feels like

[02:54] Don't move my hands, don't move my hands.

[02:56] Ah, I don't remember if Fruit

[02:58] but I feel like I've done this

[03:00] Slice some stuff, ooh, ho-ho-ho.

[03:03] - Oh.

[03:05] That's actually not bad.

[03:07] I want to try Starri.

[03:09] Even though this is gonna

[03:11] Rhythm games feel like what's, obviously,

[03:14] you're meant to do with this, right?

[03:15] Little DDR action, except

[03:18] Do I want to learn or

[03:19] to Imagine Dragons?

[03:20] Can I not do either?

[03:21] Apologies friends

[03:22] for the copyright music

[03:24] We're just gonna have to change

[03:27] Performance seems not great.

[03:30] ♪ I don't want to be the (bleep) ♪

[03:32] Oh, dude, it's like

[03:34] Wait, okay, I probably should

[03:36] (Alex laughs)

[03:38] I see, I will freely

[03:41] the target audience for

[03:42] This is not like a

[03:45] This is designed as a toy that

[03:48] that's, you know, for like party games

[03:50] and that kind of thing.

[03:51] I'll say, though, that the

[03:54] I don't know that I want to

[03:57] Maybe I do, but I'm not gonna find out.

[03:59] Who wants to pay a

[04:03] - Boo.

[04:05] except Xbox Game Pass, sometimes,

[04:06] but may I present to you the Trimui Brick.

[04:10] I feel for various like

[04:14] we've tried a lot of little emulators,

[04:15] and I will tell you they've

[04:19] over the last few years.

[04:20] This one was below $100, right, Alex?

[04:24] - $80.

[04:25] Your thoughts on emulation aside

[04:27] and how you source your ROMs?

[04:30] I keep all my

[04:33] So there's a 3.2 inch IPS display.

[04:35] It has a metal back shell,

[04:38] Dude, that's actually really small.

[04:40] - Aw.

[04:41] for context.

[04:42] Well, it's not gonna be

[04:44] This is the Analogue

[04:47] my favorite sort of

[04:50] Look at how much bigger

[04:53] The reason this is not in the video,

[04:54] it is technically $250.

[04:56] It's just usually out of stock,

[04:57] and it's been around for a few years.

[04:59] Buttons, not bad.

[05:01] Oh, actually, it's kinda...

[05:02] Oh, the Analogue Pocket died.

[05:06] Oh, it does come with a micro SD card,

[05:09] which I'm sure is pre-populated for me.

[05:13] So we had some LEDs, and, oh, oh,

[05:16] actually, wow, there's a lot here.

[05:17] Whoo, wow, that actually

[05:20] So you've got classic games, Castlevania,

[05:23] Bomberman, nostalgic games.

[05:24] I'm not familiar with this interface.

[05:26] What are we gonna search for to make sure,

[05:27] of course, it's not on here?

[05:29] How about Pokemon?

[05:30] There's no Pokemon on here, good, glad.

[05:33] - [Alex] So the processor's

[05:37] - So fairly weak, I've got

[05:39] Let's give it a try.

[05:40] Wait, this is the Game Boy

[05:43] (Alex laughs)

[05:44] I mean the screen looks fantastic.

[05:46] In fact, it's almost a

[05:48] Performance looks great. I mean

[05:50] I mean it's Game Boy Advance, right?

[05:51] You have PPSSPP, okay.

[05:55] Ooh, this might be much for the PSP.

[05:58] Also, I'm realizing

[06:00] I'm very limited in the kind

[06:03] I mean, it seems to run okay,

[06:06] Let's maybe try a PS1 game.

[06:08] Ace Combat, let's go.

[06:09] (bright music)

[06:11] Speaker's actually not bad.

[06:12] This plays really well.

[06:13] In fact, I would almost say

[06:15] it almost plays smoother than the PS1.

[06:17] This thing is pretty damn

[06:20] Buttons feel good, the screen's fantastic.

[06:22] We're probably gonna want

[06:24] in the kind of games you play on this,

[06:25] but, honestly, this might be

[06:27] like my favorite little emulator

[06:29] if we were gonna ignore the next one

[06:32] I'm about to show you, at least.

[06:33] (eyebrows blink)

[06:34] May I present to you, my

[06:38] - You're Thor?

[06:40] The Thor is probably the most exciting.

[06:44] I didn't even want to call

[06:45] because this is a full on Android device.

[06:48] Now, we are cheating a little bit,

[06:50] because this was actually featured

[06:51] on Mystery Tech recently with Kyle.

[06:52] You can go check that video out,

[06:53] but it is meant to be much

[06:56] or 3DS style dual screen emulator.

[06:58] So from the outside, like

[06:59] Like it's kinda like sort

[07:01] but it actually has active cooling,

[07:02] and that's because this thing

[07:03] actually has some real performance.

[07:04] Remind me again, what's the spec?

[07:06] 'Cause this is a much

[07:08] - [Alex] This is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

[07:11] - That's a flagship chip from

[07:13] and one of the downsides with this one

[07:15] is that, you know, the Brick came

[07:16] preloaded, ready to go.

[07:18] This is a little bit more

[07:20] because it actually requires some setup.

[07:22] So I believe the top display

[07:25] The bottom was 4x3,

[07:27] so you have almost reminiscent

[07:32] So it kind of sunk it in

[07:33] and because it's running Android,

[07:35] you can actually play

[07:37] just as Android apps and games, too.

[07:39] Alex, what's the price

[07:43] - [Alex] So... (laughs)

[07:46] There's like five

[07:48] The very, very cheapest is $250 now.

[07:53] We bought kind of like the second

[07:55] to highest tier.

[07:56] - [Alex] And we bought

[08:01] - The lite version, I believe, just has

[08:03] mostly just less performance, right?

[08:05] That's the main thing that's missing.

[08:05] - Yeah.

[08:07] powerful enough to run our RPCS3, right,

[08:09] actually, like PS3 emulation?

[08:10] - [Alex] I'm not gonna

[08:12] perfectly obviously.

[08:13] - Why don't we play some, ah,

[08:15] Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, why not?

[08:18] Almost all of these emulators

[08:21] As you can see, I've loaded up my game,

[08:23] and it's running on the bottom display.

[08:25] (bright music)

[08:29] There we go, okay, I did it.

[08:30] - Yay.

[08:33] - The speakers and especially

[08:37] Dang, dude, that's

[08:39] I've never played

[08:41] on this before.

[08:42] This feels like it's a puzzle.

[08:43] I need to figure out how

[08:45] He's gonna Rain Dance so I

[08:48] Okay, come on, you got it, my boy.

[08:50] Ah, there we go. (claps)

[08:53] I am Pokemon master, and the

[08:58] Is it cheating to

[09:00] when I'm talking about $250 items?

[09:02] Maybe, but I would say that

[09:05] does offer a lot of the same

[09:07] sort of features at 250

[09:10] by the time you watch this video,

[09:12] half these items might have

[09:14] It's just what's happening at this point.

[09:16] If you want a emulator that's gonna handle

[09:19] sort of like lighter weight things,

[09:21] like the Trimui Brick is

[09:23] If, however, you want to play stuff

[09:25] that's a little bit more modern,

[09:26] this does technically have the horsepower

[09:28] to, at least, give it a fair shot.

[09:30] On the emulator side, I'm feeling good,

[09:33] but who wants to play old games?

[09:36] I want to play new games.

[09:39] - [Alex] How new?

[09:40] - Well not that new.

[09:41] We only have 250...

[09:42] (people laugh)

[09:43] Now, if you're looking for a name brand,

[09:46] Sony or Xbox or Nintendo handheld,

[09:50] your options, at this point, under $250

[09:52] are almost non-existent.

[09:54] However, there are a couple,

[09:56] and one of which would be

[09:59] Now, this is a very nebulous

[10:04] because not only why this

[10:06] it's now $250,

[10:07] it's not really a standalone game console.

[10:10] So if you're unfamiliar of the Portal,

[10:12] essentially, it looks like a handheld,

[10:13] but there's no like

[10:15] It is entirely reliant on streaming.

[10:17] The primary use of the Portal

[10:18] is to use it alongside your

[10:21] directly from your PS5 to the Portal.

[10:23] The other use for the

[10:28] which is a thing you

[10:32] and I'll say that this is actually

[10:33] a fantastic piece of hardware to use.

[10:35] So it's, essentially, a DualSense

[10:36] with a giant tablet stuck to the middle.

[10:38] It sucks, 'cause this is like the price

[10:40] that you used to pay to get like a PSP,

[10:42] but at this point, that's not happening.

[10:45] Let's play some Ghost of Yotei.

[10:46] Oh, is this...

[10:48] It wants me to buy it.

[10:49] - Oh, oh, I remember.

[10:52] - [Alex] It's also frozen.

[10:53] - That's fun.

[10:54] PS5 it's connected to right here,

[10:55] connected via ethernet

[10:57] I think the PS5 fell asleep.

[10:59] - [Alex] I...

[11:00] - It's on, it's off!

[11:02] The PS5 crashed, great, don't you...

[11:05] (device beeps)

[11:05] Look, it's doing an angry beep.

[11:06] It is usually better

[11:08] It's just bugging.

[11:10] Assuming that this is a smooth experience,

[11:11] which, normally, it's better than this,

[11:13] help me out here, Alex.

[11:13] The Portal itself costs now $250.

[11:17] - Yes.

[11:20] you need the top tier of PlayStation Plus.

[11:24] - [Alex] That is $20 a

[11:28] - The performance and the quality level

[11:30] of it is pretty good, but you'll see,

[11:32] I mean there's definitely latency, right?

[11:33] Like, again, this is like

[11:36] So right now, the PS5

[11:38] It's plugged in via ethernet,

[11:42] but it's playable for the kind of game

[11:43] that you would normally play at 30 FPS.

[11:45] I mean I'm not dropping a lot of frames,

[11:46] but it definitely does not feel...

[11:48] Oh, yeah, now, we're dropping frames.

[11:49] I just wish it wasn't so reliant on the,

[11:51] honestly, not very good

[11:54] If you really like the idea of the Portal,

[11:55] I'll be honest with you, you

[11:57] pair it to your phone, and

[12:00] It's almost like it's

[12:02] to suggest you to do, isn't it?

[12:04] Well, may I present to

[12:08] Now, full disclosure, while this video

[12:10] is not sponsored by GameSir,

[12:12] with GameSir in the past

[12:14] The idea with this, and, again,

[12:17] for a bunch of other options,

[12:20] I don't know, a whole lot.

[12:22] It not only watches beautiful

[12:25] emphasis on the beauty.

[12:28] Your phone has, not only games

[12:31] but, also, cloud streaming, and, usually,

[12:33] your phone's gonna have a

[12:36] than something like that's

[12:37] and the real advantage here with this

[12:39] is that this is one of

[12:42] handheld controller options

[12:44] that are certainly not that expensive,

[12:45] just right off the rip.

[12:46] Alex, how much do we

[12:49] - [Alex] This is, by far,

[12:54] - Now, this does say, technically,

[12:55] is designed for Android,

[12:57] however, my understanding,

[12:58] in a second, is it also works on iOS,

[13:00] 'cause it just shows up as a

[13:03] - Yeah.

[13:04] Hall-Effect sticks,

[13:07] You have a USB-C port on the

[13:10] Now, this is not as full featured

[13:12] as something like a Backbone,

[13:13] which also has an aux

[13:16] I'm not complaining too much about that.

[13:18] Hmm, it feels decent,

[13:20] a little bit more travel on the button.

[13:22] Wow, I think it's fricking big

[13:25] is pair it with the ultimate

[13:30] - [Alex] You mean the thing

[13:32] - No, ah, it gets a little warm.

[13:34] So instead of like having

[13:36] like a really like rigid sort of grip,

[13:37] it's like this sort of these like rubber

[13:38] little like kind of

[13:41] also, you can see, it tilts.

[13:43] I like that a lot, because,

[13:44] especially with like a

[13:46] which is a little bit thinner than normal,

[13:47] the port doesn't go in

[13:49] 'cause it's not expecting

[13:51] That actually feels pretty

[13:53] Why don't we play a little bit of Control,

[13:55] shall we, my friends?

[13:57] - [Alex] Wow, Control with the controller.

[13:58] - If you have an iPhone, and

[14:02] it is absolutely worth five bucks.

[14:03] Look at this, man.

[14:04] Look at how freaking good

[14:07] those Hall sticks do feel really smooth.

[14:10] Obviously, if you're pixel peeping,

[14:11] this is not quite as nice looking

[14:14] but I'll be honest, it

[14:17] So again, we've paid 35 bucks.

[14:18] So don't expect it to, you know,

[14:20] have a bunch of crazy

[14:21] but as far as a controller,

[14:23] this sort of works smoothly

[14:26] I guess, let me be very honest with you.

[14:28] We're looking at a lot of

[14:30] If you don't already own a

[14:34] that should be your first stop,

[14:35] and especially with the phone like this,

[14:36] like it's still lightweight enough

[14:37] that I can just kind

[14:42] not to say that the

[14:44] is buy a controller for your phone,

[14:45] but you should buy a

[14:47] Hey, everyone, remember, five seconds ago,

[14:48] when I gave some very

[14:51] Not to say that the

[14:53] is buy a controller for your phone,

[14:54] but you should buy a

[14:56] - [Alex] You know, quote,

[14:57] - Okay, how about buying a Switch Lite?

[14:58] - [Alex] Well, I mean,

[15:00] - (laughs) I will say

[15:03] I was the world's biggest Switch Lite fan.

[15:05] At 200 bucks, this was

[15:09] to get into the Switch and,

[15:14] However, I will say, as much

[15:18] it is about at the end of its rope.

[15:21] This is a Switch Lite that,

[15:24] actually, now costs $230.

[15:27] So this also saw price hike.

[15:28] - [Alex] That's not how

[15:29] It was supposed.

[15:30] - To get cheaper.

[15:31] and there are still Switch 1 games

[15:33] being released, but I think everyone

[15:35] has very, very quickly decided

[15:37] that the Switch 2 is the way forward.

[15:39] The amount of games that

[15:40] for the original Switch,

[15:41] I think, is gonna dwindle very fast.

[15:43] Now, I'll say that if you're

[15:46] of an adventurous fella,

[15:47] you can actually do a lot

[15:49] So we built one where we swapped it out

[15:51] with an OLED display, which

[15:54] to the picture quality.

[15:55] The other thing I would recommend

[15:58] which is really what I think

[16:00] I mean, we're talking like 100 bucks?

[16:02] I mean...

[16:03] somewhere in that region.

[16:04] - If you just care about

[16:06] which, for me, a Switch is almost always

[16:08] a portable, this sort of a console,

[16:09] then the Switch Lite is still

[16:12] Like one of the things I

[16:14] you can toss this thing in a bag

[16:15] and kind of forget it's there.

[16:16] (Austin sighs)

[16:18] Well, if you know what I'm

[16:20] I wish that they would

[16:22] The whole reason why

[16:24] is just, if you are a gamer,

[16:28] but that's one of the things

[16:29] that I do want to try to highlight

[16:30] is that there are still options,

[16:32] and there's some unique options out there

[16:33] that I think a lot of people

[16:37] but might be worth a look like...

[16:42] You don't have to follow me down.

[16:43] It sounds like, listen like...

[16:44] Okay, yeah.

[16:45] I'm gonna pop up.

[16:46] I got it, like this.

[16:47] the Evercade, the Evercade VS-R.

[16:49] There's a couple of

[16:51] It is a true throwback to

[16:57] So the Evercade actually

[17:01] Now, the games you're

[17:03] are largely older titles.

[17:06] From Amazon, we paid...

[17:08] (Austin gulps)

[17:10] How much for this like hmm...

[17:11] - [Alex] We paid $120.

[17:13] - I don't think it comes with any games,

[17:15] and I know that when we...

[17:16] We bought just one game

[17:18] Wow, the controller's huge.

[17:20] What the hell?

[17:22] - You can tell it's definitely

[17:24] because it's literally just a

[17:27] and a center button, and then we have the,

[17:29] oh, the Evercade itself.

[17:31] Oh, that's kinda weird.

[17:33] So it's got micro USB?

[17:38] No, micro USB?

[17:41] - [Alex] It was released in 2021, so yeah-

[17:44] - Oh, it's old, I didn't realize

[17:45] it's been around for that long, oh, okay.

[17:46] You have two different cartridge slots.

[17:48] I wonder, is that because you can just

[17:49] kind of easily swap between games?

[17:51] Let me get this thing set up,

[17:52] and we'll see if spending 100

[17:55] and something dollars plus games,

[17:57] which might be a little bit

[18:00] Okay, yes, I would love

[18:03] I remember I used to do that every time

[18:04] I plugged in my Super Nintendo.

[18:06] (Alex laughs)

[18:07] Apparently, this one's

[18:09] (arcade music)

[18:11] - [Alex] What day is today?

[18:14] - What day is today?

[18:15] Let's say I want to get Tomb

[18:19] How to buy?

[18:19] So instead of downloading it,

[18:22] you just buy the physical cartridge.

[18:24] Can I download, oh, I can play Old Towers.

[18:27] So you get a free monthly game with this,

[18:28] no subscription needed?

[18:30] - [Alex] Yes, now, I do believe that

[18:33] it's like just the one game a month.

[18:35] - Oh, that's weird, okay, cool, got it.

[18:37] (arcade music)

[18:39] Ah okay.

[18:40] You know what this reminds me of?

[18:41] The old puzzles in Pokemon,

[18:45] Why don't we actually try,

[18:46] 'cause we did actually

[18:49] the one and only Duke Nukem collection

[18:52] that not only has Duke Nukem:

[18:55] but Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes.

[18:57] Ooh, oh, I like that cartridge, dude.

[19:00] It reminds me of like

[19:02] or like a really shrunk down

[19:05] Yes, perfect, so our games are here.

[19:08] - [Adriana] The one that...

[19:09] Okay.

[19:11] - What game did you

[19:12] (Austin laughs)

[19:14] What a (quacks) intro

[19:16] (Austin laughs)

[19:19] Yeah!

[19:20] Is that Linus Tech Tips?

[19:22] - Ha.

[19:25] Pshh, bro, go up.

[19:28] Oh, we can go into...

[19:29] That's water?

[19:30] You know what, let's

[19:32] I think that seems like maybe

[19:33] a game that actually

[19:35] Wow, that looks balls, but you know what?

[19:38] This is also not for me.

[19:39] Let's try the last game here,

[19:40] which is one I think I most want to try?

[19:43] No okay well (quacks).

[19:44] Why am I surprised, why am I surprised?

[19:46] Oh, we can go into Bootylicious.

[19:47] Let's go in to investigate.

[19:49] Oh no okay.

[19:50] Sorry, I'll leave Bootylicious

[19:52] Wah! (quacks)

[19:53] What do we think about this?

[19:55] 'Cause the hardware

[19:57] I don't know if the

[19:59] I've never played some of these games

[20:00] on the original hardware, but

[20:02] but my bigger question is

[20:05] - [Alex] For the one that you're holding

[20:06] in your hand right now, we paid $30.

[20:09] - It's a lot of money.

[20:10] It very much leans toward

[20:14] the Amiga and Commodore 64 kind of gang,

[20:17] and maybe not to call everyone

[20:21] but if you had a Commodore 64, no offense,

[20:25] but if you want this for the

[20:28] I'm curious, what do you think

[20:29] about the $250 and less

[20:33] Is there anything that you

[20:35] Let me know in the comments below.

[20:37] Until next time, my friends,

[20:38] I'm gonna go get acquainted

[20:41] (Alex laughs)

[20:43] of course, I don't...

[20:45] (upbeat music)