Quick Summary
A retro games handheld has appeared that bears a striking resemblance to the PlayStation Portal.
It's a darn sight cheaper though and capable of playing more than 30,000 classic titles. Just don't expect it to work with your PS5.
The handheld games console market is having a boom period right now, with the likes of the Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go and MSI Claw proving successful.
Lets also not forget about the Nintendo Switch, which effectively kickstarted the latest craze, and the PlayStation Portal – Sony's latest answer to portable gaming, albeit one that's intrinsically linked to a home PS5.
It may be limited in scope, but the rapid nature in which stock has flown off shelves show just how much its been embraced by PlayStation fans.
Its popularity hasn't been missed by the retro games console market neither. The manufacturer of the M-series of budget retro handhelds has clearly been... inspired, shall we say... by the PS Portal, with its latest model owing much to the Sony device.
To be honest, it seems like the design and look of the M25 Handheld Game Console listed on GeekBuying (via Notebookcheck) is the only thing it really has in common. The Chinese device runs on Linux and, as far as we can tell, will not support PS Remote Play and therefore won't be able to play your PS5 games.
It will though play more than 30,000 classic games across 25 preinstalled emulators – including SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy, and arcade (MAME). Considering the chipset it boasts – the Rockchip RK3566 – it's unlikely handle anything too intensive, although the included hands-on video shows Crash Bandicoot running on a PSOne emulator, so there is some wriggle room.
Certainly, for its price of under £70, it seems to have a fair handle on plenty of the games shown. It also comes with a 4.3-inch LCD display with a 480 x 272 pixel resolution, so should be fine for casual retro fun. And its 3,000mAh battery will reportedly run for up to four hours, so that's decent enough too.
Just don't think you're getting a PS Portal-style experience and you'll be fine.
