You’re new in the retro handheld scene and after a lot of research you finally pulled the trigger and ordered a device. Whether you decided on an entry-level console, like the Miyoo Mini (Plus) or the Anbernic RG35XX, or a more powerful one – you will need a reputable SD card.
In this article you will find out why you shouldn’t use the included SD card and what to get instead.
Table of Contents
Included SD card
If you order a device overseas, chances are the included SD card is of a no-name Chinese brand. These are usually bad and are known to be prone to failure resulting in loss of save data and everything else on the card. Imagine playing an RPG only for the SD card to suddenly die 40 hours in – what a headache.
This is why, as a general rule, you should always use a reputable brand.
Best SD card for retro gaming handhelds
The two most popular brands used for retro gaming consoles (and a lot of other devices) are Samsung and SanDisk. These SD cards are generally of high quality and you can’t really go wrong with either of them.
I would divide their models in segments of most affordable and best performance:
Affordable
These will give you the best bang for your buck and are also the ones I mostly use myself. With their pricing at about $10 (for the 128 GB version) I regard these as best value and will be more than enough for your retro gaming device.
Performance
These are top-tier SD cards and would definitely be overkill for a pocketable gaming device. However, some people want use the best ones available and this would be it in my opinion.
Runner up
With the plethora of different brands manufacturing SD cards there are a couple of others worth mentioning: Kingston, Lexar, Transcend and PNY. These are not in the same level of quality as SanDisk or Samsung but might work just as good – it’s really up to you.
Remember, all cards can fail, it’s just less risky using one mentioned above.
What capacity should I get?
There are some factors which needs to be considered in choosing the right capacity of the SD card:
Device and emulating capabilities
The retro gaming console itself and its emulating capabilities is of great importance regarding what size of SD card you’ll need. For example, two popular devices are the Miyoo Mini Plus and Anbernics RG35XX, which can emulate up to PSX games. These would need less capacity compared to a device able to emulate e.g. PS2- and GameCube games.
This simply boils down to the question you need to answer: What will be emulated and how big are the games?
Most systems below PSX doesn’t need that much capacity and you’ll probably be fine with even a 16 GB SD card. It’s when you plan to emulate systems like PSX and upwards that a bigger capacity card is preferable – which leads us to the next factor to consider:
Game library
Do you have a big library of games and want to fit them all? Some people like to have full sets of games for all capable systems and this of course affects how much capacity you need.
On the contrary, others like to minimize the amount of games on their retro gaming console to get rid of the overwhelming feeling of a enormous amount of games (decisions, decisions, decisions…).
In the end it’s completely up to you and how you’re planning to use the device.
Other use cases
Some retro gaming devices has the capability of both music- and video playback. It’s just something to weigh in if your interested in that use case.
Conclusion
Get rid of the included no-brand SD card (keep it as a backup) and buy a high quality card of a reputable brand, in my opinion, either SanDisk or Samsung.
To figure out what size/capacity you need, use the table below as a starting point:
| Emulated systems | Capacity SD card |
|---|---|
| 16-bit and below | 16 GB – 32 GB |
| PSX and below | 64 GB |
| N64/Dreamcast and below | 128 GB |
| PS2/GameCube and below | 256 GB – 512 GB |
If you’ll want to fit pretty much full libraries of games, increase one size/bracket. Do the same if you plan to listen to music and/or watch videos.
Throughout this article I have mentioned two popular retro handhelds – the RG35XX and Miyoo Mini. To wrap this article up, my recommendation for these particular devices (and equivalent) would be a Samsung Evo Plus/SanDisk Ultra 64 GB SD card increased to 128 GB if you plan to have a big library of games.
If you like this article, please leave a comment or consider following us on our social media-platforms for more retro handheld gaming content.
