Which R36 model should you actually buy?
There are seven models in this family, they look nearly identical in listing photos, and the marketing copy for each one claims to be the best. This guide is the shortest honest route from "I want one of these" to a specific model.
Last reviewed
Start here: the R36S is the default answer
If you want one recommendation and no further reading, buy the R36S. It is not the best-specified model in the family — the R36 Max beats it on screen and battery, and the R36 Pro beats it on joysticks. It is the right default for a different reason: it has by far the largest user base.
That user base is worth more than a bigger screen. It means more custom firmware images, more tested compatibility lists telling you which PlayStation 1 titles run cleanly, and an answer already written for almost any problem you hit. On the rarer models you are frequently the first person asking.
Buy the R36 Max if your sessions run long
The R36 Max is the comfort pick. Its 4.0-inch 720×720 panel is both larger and denser than the R36S's 3.5-inch 640×480, and the difference is most obvious in menu text and in the pixel art of 16-bit titles.
It also carries a 4000 mAh battery against the R36S's 3200 mAh. If you are buying this to fill a commute or a flight rather than ten minutes at a time, that difference is the one you will feel.
Buy the R36H if vertical handhelds hurt your hands
Six of the seven models are vertical, in the Game Boy shape. Adults with adult-sized hands frequently find that shape uncomfortable after half an hour — the strain concentrates in the thumbs.
The R36H is the horizontal one. You hold it the way you hold a normal console controller. Internally it is close to an R36S, so you are not giving up capability to get the shape.
It also has the only user-replaceable battery in the family, which is unusual at this price and is the reason some R36H units outlive their sealed rivals.
Buy the R36 Ultra only if you want multiplayer
The R36 Ultra shares the Max's 4.0-inch 720×720 screen but has a smaller 3000 mAh battery. On paper that makes it a worse Max.
It has one thing nothing else here has: WiFi, and with it networked multiplayer on the emulators that support it. If playing a two-player classic against someone who is not in the room appeals, this is the only model in the family that does it. If it does not, buy the Max instead and take the extra battery.
Buy the R40S Pro if you need two sticks
Most handhelds in this class give you one analogue stick. That is fine for 2D libraries and awkward the moment you reach something built around a right stick for camera control.
The R40S Pro has two, plus shoulder buttons and WiFi. The seller publishes no battery figure, which is why we do not quote one — if all-day runtime is a priority, this is not the model to guess on.
The two models we would not buy blind
The R36 Pro and the R36S Plus both have genuine appeal on paper. The Pro's hall-effect joysticks are the only real fix for stick drift, and the Plus is simply an R36S with the larger panel.
Neither, at the time of writing, matches a single Amazon listing we trust enough to link directly. The listings that come back are a mix of relabelled units and cross-listed products from other model lines. That does not mean the models are bad — it means you should read the specific listing carefully rather than assuming it is the device in the photographs.
Specifications that should not sway you
Two numbers dominate these listings and neither should carry much weight.
- Game count. "40,000 games" counts regional variants, ROM hacks and duplicates. It is not twice the library of a unit claiming 20,000.
- Emulator count. Every model here handles 8- and 16-bit systems comfortably. The differences appear at PlayStation 1 and above, and no listing tells you how well those actually run.
What every model in this family gets wrong
The bundled microSD card is the cheapest part in every box, and it holds the operating system as well as the games. When one of these consoles dies early, a failed card is the most common cause — and because the OS lives there, the failure presents as a dead console rather than a dead card.
Budget for a branded replacement whichever model you choose. It is the single highest-value thing you can add.
The one-line answer
First one: R36S. Long sessions: R36 Max. Sore hands: R36H. Multiplayer: R36 Ultra. Two sticks: R40S Pro. Everything else is a detail.