New N64 games, AYANEO's big oopsies, and a classic PSP RPG translation
đ Hello and welcome to another edition of The Memory Core! Yesterday was my son's birthday party, so I spent the day making cake and sandwiches. Sorry for the delay!
It was a pretty busy week for emulation and handhelds, with companies cramming their latest releases in before the Chinese New Year starts.
But before I get to that, I want to remind everyone that there's now an RSS feed. I've (almost) finished migrating over all of the old newsletters, and I hope to add a few recommended newsletters and other resources to the website soon.
I also have the option to turn on comments for posts on the website, but I'm still on the fence. I'd love to build a positive community for discussion, but I don't want to spend time moderating comments. Let me know if you feel strongly either way.
Scroll to the bottom for 28 brand new Nintendo 64 games.
Handheld highlights
đ There were a crazy number of handheld launches this week, but the craziest was the AYANEO Pocket S Mini. This was set to be the company's big comeback, with shipping starting immediately via the website, but a miscommunication with the supplier meant it shipped with a 4,700mAh battery instead of the advertised 6,000mAh cell. Buyers get a free Pocket AIR Mini to make up for it, but it's still a pretty bad look for a company that's still on thin ice. [AYANEO]
đĒ AYANEO also launched a new Windows handheld called the KONKR FIT. Not to be confused with the Android-powered KONKR Pocket FIT, it comes with either an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 with 16+512GB or HX 470 with 32GB+1TB. They're not cheap, but you can pre-order now and shipping starts at the end of April. Or at least that's what the company claims. [AYANEO]
đĢ´ The MANGMI Pocket Max launched this week, and in an effort to make it a better value compared to the AYN Odin 2 Portal's incredible discount, it now includes two microswitch modules with every Super Early Bird purchase. I've been testing this one all week, and I have to say it's easily my favorite streaming device. [MANGMI]
đ ANBERNIC teased its next handhelds, the RG VITA and RG VITA Pro. As the name implies, they are 16:9 devices heavily inspired by the PS Vita. The company hasn't (publicly) announced specs, but I'd temper your expectations for Vita emulation. I suspect this will be a killer budget PSP device, but ANBERNIC couldn't call it the RG PSP due to trademark issues. It also has ABXY buttons instead of Sony's iconic cross and shapes, but again, that's likely due to trademarks. [YouTube]
đ Speaking of ANBERNIC, Gamma has finally released his custom firmware for the RG DS, which fixes pretty much every complaint reviewers and users had. It's only available for Patrons until April, when it will be free to download for the general public. [Patreon]
đ MagicX appears to have more new handhelds just around the corner. A teaser for the Two Dream Light and Two Dream Pro shows a pair of promising 4.5-inch 4:3 devices that may be solid mid-range alternatives to ANBERNIC's latest handhelds. Watch for more details on this in the coming weeks. [Reddit]
FPGA focus
đ Analogue announced even more limited-edition colorways for the Analogue 3D. The "Prototype Limited Editions" mimic unreleased N64 colors and will go on sale on February 9, shipping immediately. There are also matching 8Bitdo 64 controllers, but those won't ship until April. Personally, I'm tired of these FOMO releases, but at least the A3D is easier to buy than the company's previous consoles. [Analogue] [8Bitdo]
đ Thankfully, the best 8Bitdo 64 controller, which features buttons that match the original controller, is available and shipping now. [8Bitdo]
đī¸ Pixel Cherry Ninja interviewed the developer behind the Analogue 3D core, Murray Aickin, AKA Mazamars312. It's two and a half hours long, but he provides new details about the seven years he worked on the project in secret, as well as a few exciting new features that could be coming soon, like Wi-Fi support. [YouTube]
đšī¸ The open-source FPGA handheld Game Bub released a production update this week and announced a new Discord server to discuss the project. Check out the post for details and a link to join. [Crowd Supply]
The emulator report
đ Citron dropped a major "Pathfinder" update this week, with improvements to the UI and a new mod manager. This should make it easier than ever to play Switch games with mods, although it's only available on the PC version for now. [Git]
â¨ī¸ ScummVM version 2026.1.0 is now available, with more than two dozen new games supported. Dubbed the "Like a Version" update, it also features an upgraded keymapper and text-to-speech, but again, only for the PC version. There are performance upgrades across all platforms, however. [Website]
đĢ§ The stylish frontend iiSU released a new 0.0.5 Alpha build, with a massive upgrade to the UI, dual-screen functionality, and scraping. It's been great to watch this one grow, and I'll be revisiting it now that I have finally have a Thor (my first one was stolen in the mail). [GitHub]
đĨŗ Last week I wrote about Epic Games support tentatively coming to GameNative, but now there's an official release with support baked in. Release 0.7.1 also adds a neat dual-screen mouse feature with works like a laptop touchpad, as well as inital support for experimental Snapdragon 8 Elite drivers. [GitHub]
Retro archives
đĢ The N64brew Game Jam 2025 has officially come to a close. You can download all 28 game submissions from the Drive link and play them via software or hardware emulation. The theme was "Repair" after the Right To Repair movement that gained steam in 2025. [Games] [GitHub Repo]
â Tales of Phantasia: Cross Edition, an enhanced version of the RPG classic with streamlined combat, now has a full fan translation. It also has a few quality of life improvements that make it an even better experience than the Japanese PSP title. Check out the tutorial to learn more, or download the patch at the link. [Tutorial] [GitHub]
đž An upcoming Steam game called Future Knight incorporates the look of old Game & Watch LCD handhelds into a hand-drawn 2D shoot-em-up with some seriously grotesque bosses. Check out the trailer to learn more, or add it to your wishlist to get notified when it's closer to release. [YouTube] [Steam]