R36S vs Miyoo Mini Plus: Budget Retro Handheld Showdown

Specs at a Glance

These two are usually discussed as near-equivalents at different prices. They are not — they are different shapes of device with very different silicon, and the table shows why the choice is rarely close once you know what you want.

What the CPU Difference Actually Means

The gap here is larger than the clock speeds suggest. Cortex-A35 and Cortex-A7 are both efficiency cores, but the A35 is an ARMv8 design and the A7 is a generation older ARMv7 part, and the R36S has four of them against the Mini Plus's two, at a higher clock.

The RAM gap matters just as much and is easy to skim past: 1 GB against 128 MB is roughly an eightfold difference. Emulators for the systems both devices handle well — 8- and 16-bit consoles — fit comfortably in 128 MB, which is why the Mini Plus feels fast at what it does. But it is a hard ceiling: heavier cores simply have nowhere to live.

The practical dividing line is the same one described in our hardware breakdown. Both devices are excellent through the 16-bit era. Only the R36S reaches PS1 comfortably, and only the R36S attempts N64 and Dreamcast at all.

Design and Ergonomics

These are not two takes on the same shape. The R36S is a landscape device with grips, like a small game controller; the Mini Plus is a vertical slab in the original Game Boy tradition. Which one suits you is mostly about what you intend to play and where.

R36S Ergonomics

The R36S is modeled after the RG351P design, featuring prominent hand grips on both sides that make it comfortable for extended sessions. At roughly 180–190 g it is still light enough for a commute, though noticeably more substantial than the Mini Plus. The button layout is familiar — PlayStation-style face buttons, two shoulder buttons per side, and centered analog sticks.

Miyoo Mini Plus Ergonomics

The Mini Plus is smaller and vertical, closer to a chunky original Game Boy than to a controller. There are no grips to speak of — you hold it in your palms rather than by the sides — which is comfortable for shorter sessions and genuinely pocketable in a way the R36S is not. Build quality is notably high for the price; Miyoo's manufacturing consistency exceeds that of many R36S units, which vary between vendors.

The trade-off is directional input. A vertical body with no analog sticks is ideal for the systems it targets and simply cannot serve the ones it does not.

Display Quality

Both devices use a 3.5-inch IPS panel at 640×480 resolution. The screen quality difference is about consistency rather than specification.

The Miyoo Mini Plus is widely praised for its display uniformity and brightness. Miyoo sources screens from consistent suppliers, resulting in vibrant, bright panels across virtually all units. Maximum brightness is high enough for comfortable use in most indoor environments.

The R36S display varies between production batches. Good units have excellent screens; some batches produce dimmer or slightly lower-contrast panels. For users buying blind online, the Miyoo Mini Plus offers more predictable display quality.

Performance Comparison

The two devices target the same emulation tier but have meaningfully different hardware architectures.

CPU and RAM Differences

The R36S uses four Cortex-A35 cores with 1GB of RAM. The Miyoo Mini Plus uses two older ARMv7 Cortex-A7 cores at a lower 1.2 GHz with only 128 MB of RAM. The A35 is the newer of the two designs — ARMv8 against the A7's ARMv7 — so the R36S is ahead on core architecture, core count and clock speed simultaneously. There is no axis on which the Mini Plus's CPU is the stronger part.

In practice:

• NES, SNES, GBA, GB/GBC: Both devices handle these perfectly at full speed
• PlayStation 1: The R36S handles this tier properly. The Mini Plus can run PS1 titles, but the missing analog sticks rule out a large part of the library regardless of framerate
• Nintendo 64: R36S only, and even then selectively. On the Mini Plus the absent stick is the blocker before performance is
• Dreamcast: Neither is reliable. The R36S at least attempts it; the Mini Plus is not in this conversation
• PSP: A curated subset only, and only on the R36S — 2D titles and visual novels run well, demanding 3D does not. See our PSP emulation guide for what is realistic. The Mini Plus is not a candidate

N64 on Miyoo Mini Plus

N64 is not a close contest, and RAM is only part of it. The Mini Plus has 128 MB against the R36S's 1 GB, and two older ARMv7 cores at a lower clock against four ARMv8 ones. But the decisive problem is physical: the Mini Plus has no analog sticks. The N64 controller's stick is not optional in most of that library, so even where the CPU could keep up, the controls cannot. If N64 matters to you at all, this row settles the comparison on its own.

Software Ecosystem

Miyoo Mini Plus — OnionOS

The Miyoo Mini Plus has its own well-liked custom firmware ecosystem, centred on OnionOS. MiniUI is the other common choice and is a separate project rather than a fork of it — its own description places it as a descendant of MinUI, itself a distillation of the Trimui Model S launcher — so the two do not share settings, saves or feature sets. OnionOS is exceptionally polished with a clean, game-focused interface and one of the best out-of-the-box experiences in budget retro gaming. The Miyoo community is large and passionate.

However, the Miyoo platform is limited to Miyoo hardware — the community firmware doesn't benefit from the broader RK3326 ecosystem that the R36S enjoys.

Wi-Fi on Miyoo Mini Plus

Like the RG35XX Plus, the Miyoo Mini Plus has built-in Wi-Fi. This enables RetroAchievements, wireless scraping, and netplay — features that require a USB Wi-Fi adapter on the base R36S. For users who value these online features, this is a significant advantage for the Miyoo.

Final Verdict

Choose the R36S if:

• Budget is the top priority
• You want better N64 and PSP emulation performance
• You prefer a larger, controller-like grip
• The RK3326 firmware ecosystem appeals to you — Rocknix, dArkOS and the community ArkOS build all have R36S images, where Miyoo firmware runs only on Miyoo hardware

Choose the Miyoo Mini Plus if:

• Display consistency and build quality matter more than absolute performance
• You mainly play up to PS1 — the sweet spot of both devices
• Built-in Wi-Fi for RetroAchievements and online features is important
• You want the most polished out-of-the-box experience (OnionOS)
• Pocketability matters — the Miyoo is more compact