👋 Hello and welcome to another edition of the Memory Core! I’ve been away for more than a month now, but I’m finally back!

On that note, this will be the last newsletter that I send… from this platform. Starting next week, I’ll be switching to Ghost, an independent, open-source platform with lots of features you guys have been asking for (hello, RSS feed).

Hopefully it doesn’t cause any major disruptions in email delivery, but I wanted to give you all a heads-up that there might be some hiccups. There will also be a new (WIP) website, but it won't be much more than an archive of newsletters.

Anyway, more on that next week. For now, here’s a roundup of emulation and retro gaming news. Scroll to the bottom to become the Rat King.

P.S. If you haven't already, consider signing up to get every new edition in your inbox, free of charge.

Handheld highlights

🔋 MANGMI announced the full specs for its second handheld, the Pocket Max. It will have a 7-inch 144Hz FHD AMOLED, Snapdragon 865, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage, and a huge 8,000mAh battery. I’ll be getting one in for review, but at this point, I just hope the price is under $250. [X]

💸 One week after promising to delay future releases to focus on shipping existing orders, AYANEO revealed the Pocket S Mini, which has a 4:3 screen and a premium all-metal design with the same feel as the Pocket S2. To me, the all-glass front looks a little plain compared to the Pocket ACE, but that was one of my favorite handhelds of all time, so I may be biased. [AYANEO]

🆕 AYANEO also finally gave us a look at the KONKR FIT, an x86 Windows device that shouldn’t be confused with the Android-based KONKR Pocket FIT, although it absolutely will be. It packs a 7-inch AMOLED, Ryzen AI 470, 80Wh battery, and the same linear/analog trigger toggles as its smaller Android sibling. [AYANEO]

🐌 The Retroid Pocket 6 is finally shipping, but slowly. The company writes that the factory producing its OLED screen implemented a new system to calibrate screens faster, so shipments should start ramping up very soon. Black models will be shipped first, which almost makes me regret ordering the Rainbow model (just kidding). [Discord]

🤔 The TrimUI Brick Pro is nearing release, and there are some interesting surprises in store. The first is the addition of two sticks, which more or less fit thanks to the larger 4-inch screen. The second is that it appears to dual boot Android/Linux, with enough power for PS2 emulation. I’ll believe it when I see a spec sheet. [TrimUI] [Reddit]

FPGA Focus

🕔 Hyperkin’s handheld Sega Genesis, which is capable of playing real carts, has been delayed, but not canceled. It was first announced at the beginning of 2024, with nothing but radio silence after that. In fact, we don’t even know if it will be FPGA or software-based emulation. Now, the company says the hardware is finished, but there are still some software bugs to fix. Again, I’ll believe it when I see it. [X]

🖼️ For those of you who bought an Analogue 3D, there’s a new companion app called A3D Manager that adds some functionality and QoL features. Those include custom artwork for games and per-game settings, which probably should be part of the stock experience anyway. Check the link to start the onboarding process. [Website]

The Emulator Report

🚗 The biggest news in the emulator space has been the proliferation of new drivers for the Snapdragon 8 Elite and 8 Elite Gen 5. I can’t keep up with the rate of release of these things, but it does seem to be showing some early results. I’ll come back to this once the dust settles, but you can grab experimental drivers at the links if you want to test (and maybe break) your device. [KIIMCHI] [StephenMXZ] [whitebelyash]

🌴 If you don’t want to break your device, there’s good news for you too. The Eden team has been hard at work to improve performance on stock drivers. Stay tuned for an official update on this soon. [Discord]

🎮 RPCS3 posted a video highlighting the team’s achievements in 2025, and it’s worth a watch if you haven’t been keeping up. The highlight is that 70% of the PS3 catalog is now playable, and most of those games now run at higher framerates. [YouTube]

💮 Azahar released an update that brought some significant improvements to Android 3DS emulation. The biggest improvements come from turning off VSync by default, which results in a noticeable reduction in input latency. Make sure you grab V2124.1, which has some bugfixes found in the original release. [GitHub]

🧑‍💻 Always wanted to make your own emulator? Now you can, thanks to a new game called EmuDevz. You’ll still need significant programming knowledge, but it can serve as an introduction to emulation development for anyone who feels a little intimidated. [Steam]

Retro archives

🛥️ Harbour Masters 64, the team behind the excellent Zelda OoT and MM ports, released a new port of Super Mario 64. The game has been fully decompiled since 2019, but this port is significantly easier to install and use. Check it out at the link, or watch the (goofy) YouTube trailer for a sneak peek. [YouTube] [GitHub]

👏 Earlier this month, a new Quest 64 recomp was released for PC. This was one of my favorite games as a kid, and despite how bad it was (and is), it still holds a special place in my heart. The recomp maintains the original gameplay (for better or worse), with better visuals and framerates. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s one that I will personally be watching closely. [GitHub]

🧱 LEGO announced a new set depicting the final battle in the N64 classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (spoiler alert: Ganondorf is Ganon). It’s much smaller than the Deku tree set, but it still runs $130. It’s available for pre-order now and set to ship on March 1. That’s just two days after the three new Pokémon sets drop, for all you brick nerds out there with cash to spend. [LEGO]

📲 Retro-inspired RPG Sea of Stars is officially coming to mobile. It will have full controller compatibility, so you can play it on your Android gaming handheld without having to deal with emulation jank. [Play Store] [App Store]

🐀 This morning a massive ROMhack for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters dropped, and it’s a must-play for fans of the SNES fighting game. It makes the game’s boss characters (Grandmasters Rat King and Karai) fully playable (and balanced), with other tweaks to graphics and gameplay. The dev even created box art and a printable manual, which you can find at the link. [Romhacking]