Veteran members of the site may recall that we reviewed the Revo K101 Plus a few months back, and found it to be an excellent means of playing old and dusty Game Boy Advance software on more recent hardware. The system has been tinkered with and improved of late, with better controls and a fancy new transparent case design - so we thought it was worth a revisit - but in video form.
As you can see in the footage below, our resident video expert Alex has put the clone system through its paces and does a commendable job of explaining the appeal - and shortcomings - of this cheap and cheerful handheld. It's not a perfect offering by any means, but when you take into account the cost - this thing is only $69.99 - then the package is rather impressive.
You can order the Revo K101 Plus direct from the manufacturer here, or from its Amazon store.
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Comments 24
The d pad on the tingle tuner is one of my favorites
looks neat....
Still a better alternative to playing GBA games on the WiiU.
Yes, I still want the GBA Virtual Console on 3DS.
Sexy looking device! I'm even a little tempted now.
Although the GPD-XD is more a priority due to the range of systems it can play, admittedly it wouldn't play my original games though.
What do the X and Y buttons do though? The GBA never had these, and they don't look like they'd be featured on the named devices emulated, which I guess are emulated in GBA mode.
@RupeeClock They're mapped to the shoulder buttons.
They didn't mention it on the video but... Is it capable of running SNES? ... am I even allowed to ask that?
I tried buying it from them, it took more than 7 months to ship, I moved, it went back to Singapore. When I complained they said: "you can buy another at the store."
I just hated their service, I got my money back thanks to PayPal.
Finally! Been waiting on this my whole life.
@Savino I'd actually love to do something on Brazilian clone consoles!
Looks cool, but I'll stick with my GBA and GBASP.
I don't really get why you say
when half of the extra features don't work well and could be done better on other hardware (official or otherwise).
On top of that, most places I've been to are selling GBAs and GBASPs for around $40 which...isn't that bad really. With this, you get more features, sure, but as stated above they don't all work flawlessly, so...meh.
However, I will concede that sleep mode is kind of cool. Way better to have it on the console than built into games.
@Browny Considering they had emulation issues outside of Game Boy ROMs and throningermine8 saying X and Y are mapped to the L and R buttons, I'd imagine the answer to that is a "no".
@Browny You might wanna click that "You can order the Revo K101 Plus here" link below the article to find out more...
But the short answer is no; there is a SNES folder mentioned in several reviews, as well as a Megadrive folder, but none of the ROMs you put in there seem to load up til now. That may change in the future with a firmware update, but that's not a given. For now it's GB, GBC, GBA & NES. Here are two more extensive review & play testings of the device on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ITPHdXfsKQ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMHbl_-_VME
@kyuubikid213 There are no "emulation issues": the only two things that don't work are SNES and Megadrive/Genesis emulation, at least for now, but a future update might fix that. Other than that you have 100% compatibility with GBA carts and ROMs, and near 100% compatibility with Game Boy (Color) and NES ROMs, even offering multiplayer in NES games and that will also let you upload a NES game to your official GBA by means of a link cable. That and the much better screen should offer enough reasons to consider this.
You might want to check out the links to some more detailed reviews I posted in the comment above...
@kyuubikid213 The X and Y button thing is a complete non-issue, seeing as none of the emulated systems has more than two buttons besides the GBA, and the shoulder buttons work just fine in that one.
$70 is still pretty expensive all things considering...
I still have my precious GB Micro... So I'm fine.
@Fuz I forgot I had the Gameboy Micro, I'll have to get it out - it's awesome.
Love this presenter. So fun to watch him, the passion and knowledge just pours out of him. Keep it up!
Looks cool but I will stick with my original GBA with a bright back lit screen mod. This this is perfect. It has the form factor of the original GBA with the brighter back lit screen of the SP and I love the ability to play GB and GBC games on it. I'm all for original hardware. If you don't want to go through the hassle of adding a back lit screen yourself you can get some really well done modded GBAs from E-bay. That's what I did and I LOVE it!
Meh, if it can't play original Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridge then it's crap and crap like this can't be compare to the mighty GBA SP2 which could play all things Game Boy in beautiful backlit. Also why they added an X & Y buttons there when you can't even load and play Super NES roms or PlayStation titles accurately on the unit? I mention those two platforms cuz those two library make best use of the diamond layout.
@Browny Nope, it could run the SNES rom via emulator but the game runs slow as a snail. You best just play all your illegal stuff on the PSP instead.
@mjc0961 Jeez....a bit hostile, aren't we? It's not as if it were suggested that people throw their existing GBA SP's in the trash.
I see this as an interesting alternative to genuine hardware, with it's own pros and cons. But hey, that's just my opinion.
@retro_player_22 I have to second the vote for the PSP being the ultimate portable emu machine, imho.
I've got an insane amount of emus and games on mine and have logged countless hours playing it. I can't recall the last time I actually played a PSP game on my PSP. lol
I've retired the ol' PSP though, and replaced it with a Vita. Of course, I'm simply emulating a PSP on it. The benefit of it is being able to enjoy all my emus on that gorgeous OLED. It's totally worth it. In fact, it's absolute bliss.
Oh and in the video you state that it looks like a GBA. Well, actually I don't think it does at all. lol
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