R36S vs Miyoo Mini Plus: Which Budget Retro Handheld Wins?

The R36S and the Miyoo Mini Plus are the two handhelds people shortlist when they want a cheap, pocketable way into retro gaming. They share the same 3.5-inch IPS screen at 640x480, but underneath they are built for different jobs: the R36S is a quad-core machine with two analogue sticks that reaches into the 3D era, while the Miyoo Mini Plus is a smaller, WiFi-equipped 2D specialist with no sticks at all.

If your library is Game Boy, SNES, Mega Drive and PS1, both will make you happy. If it includes N64, Dreamcast or PSP — or anything that needs a stick — only one of them is in the running. Here is the full breakdown.

R36S vs Miyoo Mini Plus: how do the specs compare?

Is the screen any different?

No, and this is the part that surprises people. Both handhelds use a 3.5-inch IPS panel running at 640x480 in a 4:3 shape, which works out at roughly 228 pixels per inch on the Miyoo Mini Plus. That 4:3 ratio is the classic retro shape: SNES, Mega Drive, NES and PS1 games fill it almost exactly, and Game Boy titles scale onto it cleanly.

You will not pick a winner here in a blind test. Both are a long way clear of the washed-out TN panels used by the very cheapest no-name handhelds, and both are bright enough for indoor play at well under full brightness.

Which chip is more powerful?

The R36S, by a wide margin. It runs a Rockchip RK3326 — a quad-core Cortex-A35 clocked at 1.5GHz with a Mali-G31 GPU and 1GB of RAM. The Miyoo Mini Plus uses a SigmaStar SSD202D, a dual-core Cortex-A7 at 1.2GHz with 128MB of RAM and no meaningful 3D graphics hardware.

That is twice the cores, a higher clock, a real GPU and roughly eight times the memory. For 2D emulation none of it matters — both chips finish a frame of Super Mario World with time to spare. For anything 3D, it decides what you can play at all.

What can each one actually emulate?

The honest summary: the Miyoo Mini Plus is a superb 8-bit, 16-bit and PS1 machine and stops there. The R36S matches it on all of that and then adds a curated slice of the 3D era — a selection of N64 and Dreamcast games, plus lighter PSP titles. Neither is a brute-force emulation box, so treat N64 and above on the R36S as a bonus rather than the reason you buy it.

Our best N64 games for a retro handheld guide is a good place to see which titles are realistic at this price level.

Do analogue sticks matter?

More than the spec sheet suggests. The R36S has two analogue sticks and a full set of shoulder buttons including L2 and R2. The Miyoo Mini Plus has no sticks at all, and only one pair of shoulder buttons.

For 2D games that is fine — a D-pad is what those games were designed around, and the Miyoo's is excellent. But a stick is not optional for Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Crash Team Racing, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo or any PS1 game with analogue control. If those are on your list, the decision is already made.

Which has better battery life?

The R36S carries a 3500mAh cell rated at 6+ hours; the Miyoo Mini Plus has a smaller 3000mAh battery, but a far more frugal dual-core chip to feed, so owners typically report similar real-world endurance on 2D games. Both charge over USB-C.

The practical difference shows up when you push the R36S into PS1 or N64 emulation, where the bigger battery is working harder. If you want substantially more stamina, the R36S Max steps up to a 5000mAh cell rated for 8+ hours. We compare the whole range in our retro handheld battery life guide.

Which is more pocketable?

The Miyoo Mini Plus, comfortably. It measures 78.5 x 108 x 22.3mm and weighs around 150g, which is genuinely jeans-pocket small. The R36S is the larger device — it has to be, because the body has to house two analogue sticks below the screen — but it still slips into a coat pocket or a bag without thinking about it.

If you want the absolute smallest thing that plays SNES games on a bus, the Miyoo wins. If "fits in a jacket pocket" is small enough, the extra size buys you controls.

Does either one have WiFi?

The Miyoo Mini Plus has 2.4GHz WiFi; the standard R36S has none, and no Bluetooth or HDMI either. WiFi on a handheld this cheap is genuinely useful: with OnionOS it lets you copy ROMs and save files over the network, sync saves and use retro achievement services without pulling the card out.

On the R36S you manage games by taking the microSD card out and using a card reader, which is a two-minute job once you have done it once — our guide to adding games to the R36S walks through it. If you would rather not, the R36S Ultra keeps the R36S approach and adds WiFi and Bluetooth.

OnionOS vs ArkOS: which firmware is better?

Both devices run Linux underneath, and both have strong community firmware. OnionOS is the reason the Miyoo Mini Plus has stayed relevant for years: it is polished, fast to navigate, handles box art and save states neatly, and makes the most of the WiFi. It is the standard the rest of the budget category is measured against for user experience.

The R36S usually ships on ArkOS, a long-established Linux distribution for RK3326 handhelds. It is less glossy than OnionOS but it is built around a far wider spread of emulators, including the 3D systems OnionOS has no hardware to run. Both support per-game settings, save states and box art; ArkOS simply has more to configure because the device can do more.

An R36S bought from GameBro arrives ready to play, with a 128GB microSD card pre-loaded with over 40,000 games across 20+ systems, so the firmware question is one you can ignore entirely unless you want to tinker.

Which is better value in the UK?

The R36S is £34.39 from GameBro, and that price includes the pre-loaded 128GB card, UK stock, free delivery, a 12-month warranty and 30-day returns. The Miyoo Mini Plus is not sold by GameBro and is typically an import or a specialist reseller order in the UK: expect to pay more than the R36S once delivery is included, wait longer for it, and have a harder time if something arrives faulty.

That availability gap is worth as much as any spec at this price. A handheld that turns up in two or three days with a UK business behind it is a very different proposition from a parcel that takes several weeks and has no realistic returns route.

Which should you buy?

The verdict

The Miyoo Mini Plus is the better pure 2D pocket machine, and OnionOS is a joy. But the R36S plays everything it plays, adds N64, Dreamcast and lighter PSP, gives you two analogue sticks, and arrives from UK stock ready to play for less money. For most buyers it is the more complete handheld.

Want more detail before you commit? Read our full R36S review, see how it fares against Anbernic in R36S vs RG35XX, or browse the rest of the sub-£50 field in our best retro handhelds under £50 guide.