As a fortunate early beta tester, I can finally share my review of the Heyup Retro Gaming Box! Please consider this is not the final release, so there could be differences.
[PACKAGING]
It comes in a really nice box, definitely something that deserves to be exposed and not trashed. Inside, it has the minimal but sufficient setup to get started:
- 2 x Bluetooth Controllers that heavily resemble DualShock 3. They require 2x AAA batteries (not included for me). They are lightweight and feel really good when playing.
- A USB Bluetooth receiver for the controller. Once attached, it immediately finds both controllers without extra setup.
- A 12V AC adapter. Mine had a UK plug, and unfortunately, as I live in Italy, I had to use another AC adapter from an old modem.
- A full-size HDMI cable.
- A micro SD (mine was 32GB) already attached and shipped with a sufficient number of games to start playing.
[HARDWARE]
The console itself is probably base on an Android TV box with a fit-sized firmware on it. It has all the connection ports you may need: an Ethernet plug, a microSD reader, 2x USB ports, a 12V jack for AC power, and surprisingly an AV Output!
This AV output may be the killer feature of this box, as this allows an almost direct (with a cheap jack to RCA adapter) connection to your grandmother’s CRT TV!
However, I only did test PAL output, so I can’t guarantee it will work with NTSC, and momentarily there are no entries in the configs that let you change the AV output mode.
[SOFTWARE]
The OS is really nice yet simple and makes the whole experience really plug and play. You can play almost every title up to the PSP. Mine comes shipped with a few games for each platform; however, many of them were the Asiatic version, so I had to put my own ROMs. This is something I already reported; in the final release, games included must consider the region of the buyer.
It also has a section dedicated to online playing; the feature itself is really nice, though I didn’t find any player in the few times I tried.
In the complex, the OS is nice, though the version I tried still has some bugs (e.g., the games you starred are not persistent after reboot) and some missing localizations. It also comes with YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok installed. I don’t know if it’s possible to add other apps, but I don’t think this should be the core of this system. The OS has OTA upgrades.
[EMULATION]
I didn’t encounter any framerate drop or errors in the games I tried. The emulator offers the possibility to change the aspect ratio of the game and tweak the graphic quality and save/load in up to 10 slots every time you want (not every emulator supports this feature, PSP doesn’t, as I remember). I honestly think more settings and customization should be added for the emulator, like RetroArch does. One feature I miss, for example, is the ability to map a button to speed up the game and one for rewind.
Adding additional ROMs is straightforward and involves extracting the SD card and putting the ROMs in the corresponding folder of the emulator. You can also add a cover image (renamed with the same name as the ROMs) so it will nicely show up in the ROMs viewer.
Summarizing pros and cons:
PRO:
- A really plug and play solution for retro gaming
- Controllers are lightweight and feel very nice
- AV output for connecting to an old CRT monitor
- OS is nice and hassle-free.
CONS:
- Controllers require 2x AAA batteries, not included for me
- It’s unclear if AV output supports both PAL and NTSC
- The whole OS still needs to be polished and it’s not absent from bugs.
- Additional tweaking and settings could be added to the Emulator
- ROMs included are not many and for now don’t take care of your region (I expect this to be addressed in the final release)
My final impression is positive, and I think the product met my expectations :)
