R36S
The one that started it all — 3.5" vertical, the retro-handheld default.
- Resolution
- 640 × 480
- Battery
- 3200 mAh
R36 handheld buying guidesSeven handhelds.
Seven handhelds.
One honest answer.
The R36 family all look the same and all claim the same thing. We put the specifications side by side, say which model is genuinely better for what, and send you to the live Amazon listing — no invented discounts, no countdown timers.
How we compare
01
Specifications, not adjectives
Screen, resolution, chipset and battery for all seven models in one table you can actually scan.
02
No prices to go stale
Amazon changes these prices weekly. We send you to the live listing rather than printing a number that will be wrong tomorrow.
03
Claims labelled as claims
Sellers quote game counts that include duplicates and regional variants. We repeat their figures and tell you what they are worth.
04
We say when we do not know
Two models have no listing we trust enough to link directly. Their buttons run a search instead, and we say so on the page.
Model picker
What matters most to you?
Seven models, one honest answer. Pick the statement that sounds most like you.
The line-up
Every R36 handheld, ranked by who it suits
Ordered by how often we would recommend them, not by price or by what the seller pushes hardest.
R36 Ultra
4.0" screen plus WiFi — the only model here with online multiplayer.
- Resolution
- 720 × 720
- Battery
- 3000 mAh
R36H
Horizontal layout — the shape most people find comfortable.
- Resolution
- 640 × 480
- Battery
- 3000 mAh (replaceable)
R40S Pro
Dual joysticks and WiFi on a 3.5" body.
- Resolution
- 640 × 480
- Battery
- Not specified by the seller
R36S Plus
R36S ergonomics with the larger 4.0" 720×720 panel.
- Resolution
- 720 × 720
- Battery
- Not specified by the seller
Side by side
The whole family on one screen
Amber marks the leader in the rows where more is genuinely better. Layout and chipset are not scored — neither is better in the abstract.
| Specification | R36S | R36 Max | R36 Ultra | R36H | R40S Pro | R36 Pro | R36S Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | 3.5" IPS | 4.0" HD IPS (tempered glass) | 4.0" IPS (tempered glass) | 3.5" IPS (4:3) | 3.5" IPS | 3.5" IPS | 4.0" IPS |
| Resolution | 640 × 480 | 720 × 720 | 720 × 720 | 640 × 480 | 640 × 480 | 640 × 480 | 720 × 720 |
| Layout | Vertical | Vertical | Vertical | Horizontal | Vertical | Vertical | Vertical |
| Chipset | Rockchip RK3326 | Rockchip RK3326 quad-core 1.5 GHz | Open-source Linux system | Rockchip RK3326 · 1 GB DDR3L | Linux system | Linux system | PK3326 · Linux-based |
| Battery | 3200 mAh | 4000 mAh | 3000 mAh | 3000 mAh (replaceable) | Not specified by the seller | 4000 mAh | Not specified by the seller |
| Emulators | 20+ systems | 30+ emulators | 20+ emulators | NES through PS1 | 10+ systems | 30+ emulators | 20+ systems |
| Games claimed | 10,000+ games | 18,000+ games | 20,000+ games | 15,000+ games | 15,000+ games | 30,000+ games | 10,000+ games |
Game counts and emulator totals are the sellers’ own figures. See the full comparison for what they actually mean.
Before you buy
The questions everyone asks
Are these consoles legal?
The hardware is entirely legal — it is a small Linux computer running open-source emulators, and emulators themselves have been ruled legal.
The grey area is the games. Sellers advertise units "preloaded" with tens of thousands of titles, and those ROMs are almost always distributed without the rights holders' permission. Nothing stops you from wiping the card and loading games you own, which is what most long-term owners end up doing.
What is the difference between all these models, really?
Four things, and everything else is marketing: screen size and resolution, battery capacity, whether the body is vertical or horizontal, and whether it has WiFi or hall-effect sticks.
The processor is a Rockchip RK3326 across most of the family, so raw performance is broadly similar. That is why our comparison page lists the specifications side by side rather than declaring a single winner.
Why do you not show prices?
Because any price we printed would be wrong within days. Listings in this category change price constantly, and the Amazon Associates agreement only permits displaying a price that comes live from Amazon with a timestamp.
Rather than show a stale number, every button here sends you to the live listing where the current price is the one Amazon is actually charging.
Do the advertised game counts mean anything?
"20,000+ games" counts every ROM on the bundled card, including hundreds of regional variants, hacks and duplicates of the same title. A unit advertising 40,000 games does not have twice the library of one advertising 20,000.
What matters far more is which systems it emulates well. Everything in this family handles 8- and 16-bit libraries comfortably; PlayStation 1 is where the models start to diverge.
Can I add my own games?
Yes. Every model here takes a microSD (TF) card, and adding your own files is a matter of copying them into the right folder on that card.
This is also the strongest argument for the R36S specifically: it has the most documented custom-firmware options, so if you want to change how the device boots or looks, it is the one with the most guides written for it.
How long does the battery actually last?
Sellers quote between five and ten hours depending on the model. In practice, screen brightness and which system you are emulating matter more than the rated capacity — PlayStation 1 emulation drains a battery considerably faster than Game Boy.
The R36 Max and R36 Pro have the largest cells at 4000 mAh. The R36H is the only model with a battery you can replace yourself.