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The Miyoo Mini Plus is one of those devices that gets retro gaming exactly right in a small space. A 3.5-inch IPS screen, a vertical pocket-sized body, and software that gets out of the way so you can just play. It’s the kind of handheld you pick up for ten minutes and put down an hour later.

A note before I get into it: the Miyoo Mini Plus has retired from the K-TEC range. This guide still answers the question in full — what it plays, where it shines, where it stops — because plenty of people are searching for exactly that. If you’re here to buy, I’ll point you to the device that took its place at the end.

A pocket device built for the 2D era

Everything about the Miyoo Mini Plus is sized for the games it was made to run. The 3.5-inch IPS display has a 4:3 aspect ratio — the native shape of most of the consoles it emulates — so games display at their correct proportions without stretching or letterboxing. The vertical form factor keeps it genuinely pocketable, and the d-pad and face buttons are surprisingly good for the price.

This is a device built around the 2D era. It handles everything up to the 32-bit generation beautifully. Push it much beyond that and it runs out of breath, which I’ll be honest about below.

What it plays — and where it stops

The Miyoo Mini Plus’s emulation ceiling sits around the original PlayStation. Here’s how that breaks down.

Arcade — the golden age

From the earliest black-and-white arcade boards through to the fighters and beat-em-ups of the mid-nineties, the Miyoo Mini Plus covers the golden age of coin-op gaming. Capcom’s CPS I and CPS II hardware — the boards behind some of the most fondly remembered arcade games ever made — runs well, as do the earlier single-board classics that defined the era. The later CPS III boards are a step too far for the hardware, but that’s a small corner of the arcade library.

If arcade is your main interest, this device delivers.

Home consoles — from the 8-bit era to PlayStation

This is where the Miyoo Mini Plus shines brightest.

The 8-bit generation — the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System, the home consoles that brought arcade-style gaming into the living room with save batteries and larger game worlds — runs flawlessly. The 16-bit generation, the era of the Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive and a huge leap in graphics and sound, is equally strong. These are the systems the device was built for.

The 32-bit generation is represented by the original Sony PlayStation, and it runs well, with smooth performance across the library. The device can’t handle the more demanding 32-bit and 64-bit consoles of the same era — no N64, no Saturn — but for the biggest name of that generation, it delivers.

Handhelds — the Game Boy family and beyond

Nintendo’s handheld line runs from the original monochrome Game Boy through the Game Boy Color and the 32-bit Game Boy Advance, which brought home-console-quality gaming to your pocket. The competing handhelds of the era are covered too.

The Game Boy Advance library in particular feels made for this screen — same form factor, same 2D philosophy.

Home computers — Spectrum, Commodore, Amiga

For anyone who grew up in the UK in the eighties, this is where the nostalgia really lands. The ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and Commodore Amiga are all supported. The cassette-loading wait times are gone; the games themselves are exactly as you remember.

Getting home computer games feeling right on a gamepad takes more work than you’d expect — games designed for a keyboard need their controls mapped to the buttons — but it’s a genuine highlight of the device.

Why Onion OS matters

A Miyoo Mini Plus running stock software is fine. A Miyoo Mini Plus running Onion OS is something else.

Onion OS is the community custom firmware that replaces the stock interface with something faster, cleaner, and built around how people actually play. The standout feature is GameSwitcher — the ability to jump between games without quitting, losing your place, or sitting through a menu, with auto-save and auto-load handling your progress quietly in the background.

When I configured the Miyoo Mini Plus for K-TEC, Onion OS was the foundation. Every supported platform tested and tuned, the interface set up the way a player would actually want it, and the whole thing signed off so it was ready the moment it came out of the box.

K-TEC have configured a beautiful device. The software works smoothly, and the constant auto save feature is fantastic. Switching between games you are playing is so easy. This device has honestly been a revelation, showing just what can be achieved by a company (British — hooray!) that knows what it is doing. You pay a bit extra but that pays for the configuration which works so well. It is worth it.

— Mark Adams

The Miyoo Mini Plus has retired from K-TEC

I don’t sell the Miyoo Mini Plus anymore. Devices move on, and the Miyoo has stepped aside for something that does the same job for a new generation of players.

That device is the BATLEXP G350. Same pocket-friendly vertical form factor. Same 3.5-inch 4:3 IPS display. The same instinct — a small device built for the 2D era — carried forward with more modern firmware and a broader platform set.

The G350 runs on dArkOS, a Debian-based custom firmware that’s more up to date than the ArkOS builds many competitors still ship. It covers everything the Miyoo Mini Plus does — the arcade golden age, the 8-bit and 16-bit home console eras, PlayStation, the Game Boy family, the home computers — and pushes a little further, with partial Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and PSP plus basic Nintendo DS support. Every platform is tested and tuned, exactly the way the Miyoo was.

It ships with brand-name storage and K-TEC’s Lifetime SD Card Guarantee — if the card ever fails, I replace it. Free UK delivery, UK-based support, and a device that’s ready to play the moment you open the box.

Not sure which device?

If the G350 sounds right, you can see it here.

If you want a larger screen, dual-boot Linux and Android, or push further up the generations — N64, Dreamcast, even some PSP done properly — the Anbernic RG-353V is the step-up. For Nintendo DS done right, on a real dual-screen clamshell, the Anbernic RG DS is the one.

And if you’re not sure, get in touch. I’m happy to talk you through the options — no pressure, no upsell, just honest advice from someone who spends their days doing this.