R36S Max Review: Is the Bigger Screen Worth It?

The R36S Max is the standard R36S with a bigger screen and a bigger battery. It swaps the R36S's 3.5-inch vertical body for a 4.0-inch IPS display in a wider, horizontal shell, and it runs for around eight hours instead of six. The card, the games and the systems it emulates are identical.

So the real question is not whether the Max is better. It is whether half an inch of extra screen and a couple of extra hours of battery are worth the difference in price for the way you play. This review walks through the screen, the battery, the build, the game library and the two models it sits between.

What is the R36S Max?

The R36S Max is the mid-range model in GameBro's R36S range. It is a self-contained retro gaming handheld: you charge it, turn it on, and pick a game from a menu of more than 40,000 titles that are already on the included card. There is nothing to download, install or configure.

Where the standard R36S uses a tall, Game Boy-style vertical layout, the Max is horizontal. The controls sit either side of the display the way they do on a PSP, which gives your hands somewhere to rest and puts the shoulder buttons under your index fingers rather than at the top of a narrow body.

Underneath, it is the same class of hardware as the rest of the range, so emulation performance is broadly the same. The Max is an ergonomics and display upgrade, not a power upgrade. That is worth being clear about up front, because "Max" can read like it means "faster".

Is the 4-inch screen actually worth it?

Going from 3.5 inches to 4.0 inches sounds marginal on paper. In the hand it is more noticeable than the numbers suggest, because screen area grows faster than the diagonal does. You are getting roughly a third more glass to look at.

Where that shows up most is in games that were never designed for a tiny screen. PlayStation 1 menus, PSP interfaces and RPG dialogue boxes are all easier to read. If you have ever squinted at an item list in a Final Fantasy game on a small handheld, the Max fixes exactly that complaint.

Where it shows up least is in 8-bit and 16-bit games. A Game Boy screen was 160×144 pixels, and a NES frame is not much bigger. Those games look great at 3.5 inches and great at 4.0 inches; the extra size mostly just makes the pixels larger.

The panel itself is IPS, which is the part that matters for image quality. Colours stay consistent when you tilt the device, and brightness is adjustable from the quick menu, so it is usable outdoors in daylight and comfortable to play in bed at night.

How long does the battery really last?

GameBro rates the R36S Max at 8+ hours, against 6+ hours for the standard R36S and the R36S Ultra. That makes it the longest-running handheld in the R36S family.

Real-world runtime always depends on two things: screen brightness and how hard the emulator is working. Game Boy, NES and Mega Drive games barely trouble the processor and will comfortably meet or beat the quoted figure. PlayStation, Dreamcast and PSP titles are more demanding and will pull the number down, as will running the backlight at maximum.

In practical terms, eight hours covers a London to Edinburgh train and back, a long-haul flight, or most of a week of half-hour commutes. It charges over USB-C, so the cable you already use for your phone will top it up. If battery life is the deciding factor for you, our retro handheld battery life comparison puts these figures next to the rest of the range.

How does the R36S Max feel to hold?

Better than the standard R36S, if you have larger hands. The horizontal shell is wider, with contoured grips that let your palms carry the weight instead of your fingertips. For a two-hour session that difference is real, and it is the single most common reason people choose the Max over the R36S.

The trade-off is pocketability. The vertical R36S slips into a coat pocket without much thought. The Max is wider and is happier in a bag, a large jacket pocket or a case. Neither is heavy, but one of them disappears into your clothing and the other does not.

Buttons and D-pad feel consistent with the rest of the range: a firm, clicky D-pad, responsive face buttons and dual analogue sticks for the systems that need them. It is offered in seven colours, one fewer than the eight available on the standard R36S. Which of those are in stock varies by delivery, so the product page is the place to check.

What games does the R36S Max play?

The same library as the rest of the R36S family: a 128 GB microSD card pre-loaded with more than 40,000 games from over 20 systems. The headline systems are:

• PlayStation 1 — the library the bigger screen flatters most
• PSP and Dreamcast — selected titles, again well suited to 4.0 inches
• SNES, NES and N64 — the Nintendo home-console back catalogue
• Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance — with a backlit screen the originals never had
• Mega Drive, Master System and Game Gear — the full Sega side
• Neo Geo, arcade, Atari and PC Engine — plus a long tail of smaller systems

Because the Max shares its hardware class with the standard R36S, expect the same compatibility picture: everything up to and including PlayStation 1 runs smoothly, while the heaviest N64, Dreamcast and PSP titles are the ones that occasionally dip. You can also copy your own legally owned ROMs onto the games card if you want to expand the library.

What comes in the box?

• 1 × R36S Max handheld console
• 1 × 128 GB microSD card, pre-loaded with 40,000+ games
• 1 × USB-C charging cable
• 1 × user manual

Every GameBro order ships from UK stock with free delivery, a 12-month warranty and 30-day returns, so there is no import wait and no customs charge on arrival.

R36S vs R36S Max vs R36S Ultra

All three play the same games from the same size card. They differ in screen, shape, battery and wireless features.

Put simply: the Max is the battery-and-screen model, the Ultra is the wireless model, and the R36S is the pocketable, cheapest model. Our R36S review and R36S Ultra review cover the other two in the same detail.

Who should buy the R36S Max?

The Max makes most sense if you recognise yourself in one of these:

• You have larger hands. The horizontal grip is the most comfortable in the range for long sessions.
• You play PlayStation, PSP and RPGs. These are the libraries where a 4.0-inch panel genuinely changes the experience.
• You play in long stretches. Eight hours means a full day of travelling without a charger.
• You do not need wireless. If WiFi and Bluetooth are not on your list, there is no reason to pay more for the Ultra.

Skip it if portability is your priority, or if your library is mostly 8-bit and 16-bit. In both cases the standard R36S gives you an almost identical experience in a smaller, cheaper package.

The verdict

The R36S Max is the R36S you buy when comfort matters more than pocket space. The 4.0-inch screen and the 8-hour battery are the only two things that change, but for PlayStation, PSP and RPG players they are the right two things.

It is not a faster machine, and it should not be bought expecting one. What it is, is the most comfortable way to play the same 40,000-game library, with the longest runtime in the range and a screen that makes text-heavy games far easier on the eyes.

If that sounds like your kind of handheld, see the R36S Max product page for colours, current availability and customer reviews.