Begun the DS/3DS Clone War has

[HoloDust]

Zippy6 said:

Finally got my Thor a couple of days ago. Very impressed with the efficiency. Runs Mario Kart 7 at 1080p with only 4.5w. Battery life is great. It's very nice having a device with a 6" screen that's actually pocketable.

Tried out PC gaming with gamehub lite for Dirt 3 and I was impressed. There's something going on with framepacing as even when I had locked 60fps in-game it wasn't as smooth as it should have been, but still, ended up bumping up the resolution to 1080p as locking at 40fps felt about the same so might as well. Not sure how much I'll actually use it in practice but it's impressive I can just connect my steam account, download old games and play. Probably runs a lot better than PS3/360 emulation ever will on it so for those era of games it's great.

So 4px is reliable after all? Managed to dodge the taxes?

Kristof81 said:

The problem I have with DS/3DS format is that they're super uncomfortable to hold for me, so I wouldn't even consider buying one.
When it comes to handheld emulation in general, Steam Deck is versatile and affordable. The DS emulation in particular works great with two monitors setup. It's not out of the box solution, and it's finicky to configure, but when it works, it's an ultimate DS/3DS experience IMO. Example: https://steamdeckhq.com/tips-and-guides/how-to-play-3ds-games-dual-screen-with-citra-and-steam-deck/

Compared to candybar handhelds, yeah, they are less comfortable. But they fit pretty much everywhere, even 7" AYANEO Pocket DS, which is significantly bigger than Thor, can be easily slipped into even smaller satchel (something I use), unlike candybars with same screen size.

Personally, I find that Deck, Switch 1/2, ROG Ally and all the similar devices fall into separate new category of Portables, as opposed to usual pocketable Handheld category - though, technically, all handhelds are portables, so Luggables is probably more correct.

Last edited by HoloDust - on 12 November 2025