Ayaneo initially made a name for itself as being a purveyor of Windows handhelds, but that reputation has shifted over time to one of the company being a maker of gaming handhelds in general. Sure, there have been some mini PCs along the way too, but by and large Ayaneo has been sticking to its mantra of "real gamers know gamers." The Ayaneo Pocket Micro is yet another edition to the company's wide array of products, and I'm a massive, massive fan.

To give a recap of what this device is, it's pretty clearly "inspired" by the GameBoy Micro or a Neo Geo X. It's got a 3.2-inch screen, two analog sticks, a D-Pad, ABXY buttons, L1, L2, R1, R2 buttons, start and select buttons, and a home button and an Ayaneo button. It comes with a MediaTek Helio G99, active cooling, one USB-C port, and a fingerprint sensor. The MediaTek Helio G99 isn't exactly a powerful chip, but given the screen size and form factor, it's not really going for powerful console emulation.

With that said, the inclusion of two analog sticks is somewhat misleading because of that. There aren't many retro consoles that have two analog sticks. There's nothing necessarily wrong with getting extra options, but it feels like this device is somewhat cosplaying as something that it isn't. As well, it's more expensive than similarly specced alternatives, though Ayaneo is positioning itself as a premium brand, particularly with the build quality of this device.

Ayaneo Pocket Micro: Pricing and availability

The Ayaneo Pocket Micro comes in at a price of $189 for the early bird deal with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Upgrading to 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage costs $219 for the early bird deal, with the full price coming in at $219 and $249 respectively.

What I like

Great build quality, decent software, good games library

The Ayaneo Pocket Micro has a lot to love. From its fantastic build quality to the decent software that it comes with, you'll have a good time with this device. Aya Space is pretty well fleshed out here, with a hotkey you can press like on the company's Windows handhelds to bring up an overlay that can control things like the fan and system speed.

In my testing, I've been able to play a decent number of titles that I was actually kind of surprised it could handle. The company advertises PlayStation 2 and GameCube emulation, which in my experience, has been a little bit of a stretch but in some cases is totally plausible. In PlayStation 2 games, I've had the best experience emulating PAL versions of titles, as these run at 50 FPS rather than 60 FPS. As for GameCube, the official version of Dolphin has had trouble emulating some titles, but I was able to get a decent experience using Dolphin MMJR2. The Dolphin team doesn't recommend using anything but official builds of Dolphin, so stability may vary.

As for older consoles and handhelds, like the Game Boy Advance, the Ayaneo Pocket Micro is perfect. Its 3:2 aspect ratio at 960x480 (exactly four times the resolution of the Game Boy Advance) lends itself fantastically to GBA games so that they can play in full screen. I have had no issues with performance on older consoles and handhelds, and the Ayaneo Pocket Micro handles them perfectly.

On top of that, the battery life is surprisingly decent, especially when not pushing the handheld to its limits. Game Boy Advance games can be played in power saver mode, enabled from the Aya Space overlay. This turns off the active cooling and limits performance considerably. When playing retro titles, it's been perfect, so I'd recommend enabling it when you're not trying to play intensive games.

However, when it comes to intensive games, don't write it off entirely. NetherSX2 (a patched version of AetherSX2) has been great for PlayStation 2 emulation for the titles that work, and I was able to get The Simpsons: Hit & Run working to a pretty decent level just out of the box. I'm sure you can extract more performance with some tweaking as well, so I'm happy with that. Plus, PSP emulation is perfectly fine, which means that you'll get use out of the two analog sticks without any problems.

Finally, you can obviously play Google Play Store games as well, and I played Minecraft without any problems. You don't just have to emulate software on this device, so you can use it as a one-stop shop for a lot of games if you'd prefer. However, there's a little bit more to that that we'll talk about in the next section.

Build-quality-wise, the Ayaneo Pocket Micro feels fantastic, and while I was worried about the sharp edges, this hasn't actually been an issue at all. It's a bit heavy in a good way and feels very premium.

What I don't like

Software jank and a self-identity crisis

The Ayaneo Pocket Micro can be a little bit janky in terms of software and in a few different ways. AyaSpace is mostly polished, but there have been a couple of occasions where I've tapped it and waited for it to appear, taking several seconds. Plus, the Android 13 build on the Ayaneo Pocket Micro is very barebones, with a custom launcher making up the majority of the changes that Ayaneo has made to the device.

However, if you're looking to buy this to use the Google Play Store, be careful. Apps that use the Play Integrity API before launching will not work (a common anti-piracy and anti-cheat measure), as it does not meet Google's outlines for basic integrity, strong integrity, or device integrity. Finally, my device has been identified as a FOSSiBOT DT1 tablet, which I discovered is because the Ayaneo Pocket Micro is using the build fingerprint from that particular device to identify this Android build. I don't know why that is the case, but could be related to why this device fails integrity checks.

As for the build quality and design, there's one physical trait with the Ayaneo Pocket Micro that I'm quite surprised by, and that's the lack of a headphone jack. There is no headphone jack on this device whatsoever, which feels like a strange design choice to make for a retro gaming handheld. Wireless audio is simply not the same as wired audio, and while you can use wired audio over USB-C, that isn't the same thing. Plus, there isn't even an adapter in the box. For a company that typically gives you all of the adapters you could ever want and need in the box, I was sorely disappointed by that decision with the Pocket Micro.

Finally, the price is a killer for some people. Ayaneo has been positioning its products as a premium option in a sea of same-old-same-old products, and for the most part, it has been working. I don't mind the price too much because of that, especially given that the build quality is fantastic. However, if you're a more price-conscious consumer, then you'll likely be put off by the pricing of this, and I can't blame you.

Should you buy the Ayaneo Pocket Micro?

You should buy the Ayaneo Pocket Micro if:

• You want to play retro games on the go
• You don't mind spending a little bit extra
• You like a uniquely designed handheld

You shouldn't buy the Ayaneo Pocket Micro if:

• You want to play PlayStation 2 and GameCube games consistently
• You want to use wired headphones for your gaming sessions
• You're price conscious

The Ayaneo Pocket Micro is a fantastic gaming handheld that I don't mind recommending as a product. It's unique, it looks great, and it's decently powerful. However, if you're banking on playing more intensive consoles, then this frankly isn't it for you. Retro games are where it's at with this handheld, and you can't really rely on playing anything more intensive than that.

In a sense, I'd treat the Ayaneo Pocket Micro in the same way that I treated the Anbernic RG35XXSP. Take any console released after the Dreamcast as a bonus, and you'll absolutely love the Ayaneo Pocket Micro. If you're buying it with more modern consoles in mind, prepare to be disappointed.