I mentioned loving [[Less Doomscrolling More Silly Lil Tech Toys|silly tech toys]] like my handheld emulators to the point that I've amassed a collection of them. After spending some time with the Anbernic 34XX, it might be my favorite of the bunch. This isn't because it's that much different from the rest of my collection - it has the same internals, more or less, as every other Anbernic handheld. No, what sets it apart is purely in its form factor, which is apparently more important to me than I realized. --- ## Old Man Waxes Nostalgically The GBA is the first console I ever owned for me, myself, and I. Before that, I used my birthday money to get the console, while my siblings would use theirs to get actual games for us to play. This was efficient, but it also led to the sibling bickering that I'm sure you can expect. But the GBA my mom got me was mine, to the point that I sharpied my name on it on the back the minute I yanked it out of the box. That, along with a copy of **Golden Sun**, are a core memory for me from 2001. The GBA's library would subsequently be one of my favorites ever, before it would get dethroned by the 3DS. The GBA to me is one of the most "video-game-ass" video game consoles out there. If you closed your eyes and were asked to think about a handheld game console, I'd be shocked if its vague shape showed up in your brain before anything else (except for maybe a Game Boy if you're in your late 30s lmao). It's a thing that looks fun to just hold and start using whenever you see it laying on a table. ![[Thoughts on the Anbernic 34XX-20250126155635854.png]] Look at how cute it is! Just looking at it evokes nostalgic memories from me, and nostalgia is exactly what I've been in the mood for lately. ## Anbernic Capitalizes on Waxed Nostalgia All of this is to say that the 34XX knows exactly what it's doing, and it does it very well. This thing is a near 1:1 replica of the original Game Boy Advanced. You can tell because when I pulled it out, my mom straight up thought I had found my old GBA somewhere. ![[Thoughts on the Anbernic 34XX-20250126160031047.png]] But it's not - it's honestly an upgrade in every way, with a bigger screen (the "34" in 34XX actually stands for the system's 3.4 inch screen), a back-light, and extra buttons. I'd really like to take a moment and focus on the new X & Y buttons in particular - the way Anbernic stealthily added them in by painting over them with the colorway so that the 34XX would still look like a GBA is ingenious design in my opinion. The new shoulder buttons are cool too. Despite looking like a GBA, it's still an SBC, meaning you can put all sorts of stuff on it, all the way up to the PS1 as far as games - though I'll get to why I don't think that's a good idea in a second. You can put custom firmware on it[^1], and enjoy all the modern QOL that comes with playing an emulated version of your game: fast-forward, save states, auto-saving, sleep mode, and so on. It's awesome, but again, that's not much different from other handheld emulators. So what makes it stand out? ## Old Man Plays Nostalgically I mentioned that the 34XX can play up to the PS1. By "up to," I mean it can also play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, SNES, Sega Genesis, so on and so forth. Pro-tip if you get one of these things: don't use any of that shit. Just play GBA games on it. That's what I've been doing, and it's been an absolute blast. The 34XX was purpose-built for GBA games, nearly exclusively - it has the same 3:2 ratio for its screen, as well as integer scaling, so GBA games look perfect on it. It emulates[^2] the feel of the GBA to the point where I forget I'm not actually using when as I play on it. Playing anything else just doesn't make sense comparatively. This isn't just nostalgia talking by the way - when you get a handheld emulator like one of these, it's easy to get overwhelmed. "Wow, this thing can play *all* my old games!" you say excitedly, before dumping 1000 roms on it, getting overwhelmed, and never playing anything. ![[Pasted image 20250126163240.png]] I think there's something to be said about enjoying a device that's good at doing one thing very well. In fact, I think that's the best way to experience most things. I love my eReader for the same reason - yeah, I can read books on my phone or tablet, but the best way to do it is on a device purpose-built to read books. And that's how I feel about the 34XX. It has the smallest library of roms on its SD card compared to any of my other devices - exclusively GBA games. It's been a lovely experience going back in time with this form factor, remembering carrying my GBA and a pack of AAs everywhere with me as I played **Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced** during a trip to Sudan. I don't feel the urge to tinker with it or try and figure out what I wanna play next, because for all intents and purposes, my 34XX is a GBA that plays GBA games. And that's pretty cool. [^1]: I'm personally big on MuOS [^2]: heh