How to get and install ROMS to handhelds

[RESROMS]

You can purchase these handhelds from:

GKD350H - https://droix.net/collections/retro-gaming-handhelds/products/gkd350h-retro-handheld
RG350 - RG350 Retro Gaming Handheld - https://droix.net/products/rg350-gaming-handheld
PocketGo v2 - PocketGo v2.1 Retro Gaming Console - https://droix.net/collections/retro-gaming-handhelds/products/pocketgo-v2
RG300 - https://droix.net/collections/retro-gaming-handhelds/products/rg300-retro-gaming-console
Retroflag GPI - RETROFLAG GPi Plug and Play Retrogaming Console Handheld - https://droix.net/collections/retro-gaming-handhelds/products/retroflag-gpi-case

And our full range of handhelds at Retro Gaming Handhelds - https://droix.net/collections/retro-gaming-handhelds

Where to download ROMS​

You can find them at many places including:

ROMs / ISOs - Page 1 - Rom Hustler - http://romhustler.net/roms
Vimm's Lair: Preserving the Classics - https://vimm.net/?p=vault
The ROM Depot | Home - https://theromdepot.com/

If you are looking for legal ROMS you can find a great collection at PDRoms - Homebrew 4 you › Almost daily console and handheld news! - https://pdroms.de/

Managing ROMS​

Archived ROM files

Many emulators can handle archived files such as .zip, .7z and .rar while some do not support it. It is recommended to extract all ROMS except the Arcade and Neo Geo ROMS. When extracted they are usually faster to load than when archived and it ensures compatibility with all emulators.

You can use the free archive program 7zip at 7-Zip - https://www.7-zip.org/ to extract all your ROMS


Organising your ROMS

It is recommend keeping an organised folder structure if you are planning to add many games for systems. By making folders for each system it allows for easier finding of games and also faster loading times. Make a folder for each of the systems you plan to add games for.

If you have a large number of games for a system, you can organise it further into sub-folders such as A-F, G-L, M-S, T-Z. This makes it faster to load the list of games, and also saves time for you scrolling to get to a game beginning with R for example.


Click for larger image

Where to find the ROMS folder on the Micro SD Card​

Bittboy

The Bittboy has its operating system and ROMS on the same Micro SD Card. If you insert the Micro SD Card into your PC you will see four new drives. Select the last drive and you will see a bunch of folders and files. Go into the roms folder and you can copy the games there.


Click for larger image


RG350, RS-97 and LDK

You have two options with these devices. You can copy ROMS to the internal Micro SD Card or another to use in the external slot. Personally I would recommend using an external card as it saves having to open the devices to remove the internal one.

External Micro SD Card

Simply format the Micro SD Card to FAT32 and you are ready to copy over your files. Right Click on the Micro SD Card in Explorer and choose Format from the menu. The File System must be FAT32 only otherwise the device will not recognise it.

Click for larger image

All other options can be left as default. Click on Start to format the Micro SD Card and once completed, it is now ready to use.

Internal Micro SD Card

If you have installed RETRO FW, select the last drive in Explorer and you will see a bunch of folders and files. Go into the roms folder and you can copy the games there.


Click for larger image

Copying files to the Micro SD Card​

If you followed the folder and sub folder structure, all you need to do is highlight all of the folders on your PC


Click for larger image

Right Click and select Copy from the menu.

Click for larger image

Go to the roms folder on your Micro SD Card, Right Click on the folder and choose Paste from the menu.

Click for larger image


The folders containing all the files you had highlighted will now be copied to the Micro SD Card. This may take some time depending on the number and size of the files as well as the speed of your Micro SD Card.


Click for larger image

Once it has completed copying, Eject the Micro SD Card and you can then remove it from your PC, then put it back into your device.

 

[Dave C]

They should work fine providing they are the proper format of the ROM. I have tried a few homebrew titles on emulators and not had issues.

 

[Landon]

Retropie is for Raspberry Pi based devices and is not compatible with devices such as the RG350.

Sorry I’m new to the whole emulator thing. Does anyone sell a preloaded card for the rg350 with more then 2500 games. I’m looking for the entire gba gb library.

 

[Dave C]

Sorry I’m new to the whole emulator thing. Does anyone sell a preloaded card for the rg350 with more then 2500 games. I’m looking for the entire gba gb library.

We do not sell them. If you follow the guide you can install them yourself.

 

[Steve Ovell]

Hi. I'm also new to the whole emulator thing, I've recently bought the RG350 and the RG300. I want to download a good and working MAME emulator, which one works well on these machines and has loads of roms!!

 

[Dave C]

Hi. I'm also new to the whole emulator thing, I've recently bought the RG350 and the RG300. I want to download a good and working MAME emulator, which one works well on these machines and has loads of roms!!

The RG350 at https://droix.net/collections/retro-gaming-handhelds is the best choice for MAME at the moment.

 

[cameron1210]

Do .zip and .save files run on the bittboy pocketgo, and the RS-97?

 

[Dave C]

.zip is an archive format so it depends on the actual emulator if it supports it. some emulators with larger games such as PlayStation is not supported as it will need to extract the file before running.

.sav files are usually an exact copy of what the game would save to on the cartridge for example. Most emulators will support this.

 

[mfnor]

+1 for the PocketGo v2. I love this one. Regarding the legal roms, beside the PD ROMs website I suggest this website ROM Packs - Download Free ROM Collections & Packages - https://www.rompacks.com/. By the way the links to the GKD350H, RG350 and RG300 are broken. Can anyone fix them so I can see the other consoles?

 

[BenDroiX]

+1 for the PocketGo v2. I love this one. Regarding the legal roms, beside the PD ROMs website I suggest this website ROM Packs - Download Free ROM Collections & Packages - https://www.rompacks.com/. By the way the links to the GKD350H, RG350 and RG300 are broken. Can anyone fix them so I can see the other consoles?

I fixed the RG350 link. But the GKD350H and RG300 aren't being sold by us anymore, so we took the listings down.

The RG300 was just like an RG351V but weaker and without a stick.
The GKD350H was like a -slightly- more juiced up RG350. But poor build quality (only one stick, and no L2/R2) stopped it from gaining any real traction in the market.

 

[Jabett]

Is there a way to play the old Touhou games on these handheld emulators? Specifically Touhou 1 through 4, released exclusively on the NECPC98XX series (a computer exclusive to Japan in the 90s, now discontinued). I hace them on PC working fine, I'd just like to have something to do on the go.

 

[BenDroiX]

Is there a way to play the old Touhou games on these handheld emulators? Specifically Touhou 1 through 4, released exclusively on the NECPC98XX series (a computer exclusive to Japan in the 90s, now discontinued). I hace them on PC working fine, I'd just like to have something to do on the go.

I would imagine it's not too different from running other PC-98 games on the system.
The custom firmware 351ELEC has a PC-98 emulator, but apparently the Touhou games are just a tad outside of the handheld's reach for "good" performance.
There's some footage of 4/5 being played on an RG351P, but it's a year old. So make of it what you will.

I'd grab some random shmups (DoDonPachi, etc.) on MAME or some other better-emulated platform for your bullet hell fix imo.