📰 New article from RetroRGB

HyperBoy+ Virtual Boy ROM Cart – Final Batch?

https://retrorgb.com/hyperboy-virtual-boy-rom-cart-final-batch.html

Ever wonder what it feels like to dust off a ’90s relic and give it a modern twist? Kevin Mellott just announced the likely last run of his HyperBoy+ Virtual Boy flash cart, and it’s causing a nostalgic stir.

The HyperBoy+ is a 32‑mbit single‑flash cartridge you load via PC—compatible with every retail and homebrew VB title you can find. At $215, the carts are slated to ship this spring, but they’re truly limited: Kevin bought the final batch of those quirky four‑color eInk screens (black, white, red, yellow), and the other internal parts have reached end‑of‑life. In short, once these ships, you’ve got a collector’s item.

Don’t despair if you miss out; Kevin still churns smaller batches of alternative VB carts—Mr Cart and HyperFlash32—each with its own quirks (size, speed, flash capacity). A quick side‑by‑side look will help you pick the right fit for your retro library.

Bottom line: snag a HyperBoy+ now if you want the most “complete” VB experience, or explore the other options before they too fade into obscurity. Happy hunting!

📰 New article from Retro Handhelds

Anbernic RG G01 Review: Not Quite There

https://retrohandhelds.gg/anbernic-rg-g01-review/

If you thought “another cheap controller with a screen” was just a gimmick, meet the Anbernic RG G01 – a $40‑ish joystick that actually tries to be clever (it even tracks your heart rate). On paper it’s impressive: 2.5‑inch IPS display, electro‑inductive sticks, Hall‑effect triggers, 1 kHz polling and a 21‑hour battery. In practice the execution feels half‑baked.

The button feel is a mixed bag. Micro‑switch face buttons have a tiny travel that some will love, while the short‑throw trigger toggle is oddly loose and hard to confirm when it clicks. The D‑pad sits too high and can be a pain to reinstall without bending clips. Sticks and long‑throw triggers, however, are solid and drift‑free.

Ergonomics suffer from the added screen height; shoulder buttons become fiddly after a few rounds of shooters or racers. Extras like macro buttons, gyro, vibration and a phone mount work, but they’re cramped or flimsy. The on‑device software is functional yet clunky, and the heart‑rate sensor takes forever to activate – you’ll probably never use it.

Bottom line: the RG G01 isn’t broken, just over‑promised for its price. If you really want a built‑in screen, wait for a sale on the Manba One or stick with proven sub‑$50 options like the Fantech EOS Pro IIS. Otherwise, there are better bang‑for‑your‑buck controllers out there.

📰 New article from Retro Handhelds

Game Over: Sega CDX

https://retrohandhelds.gg/game-over-sega-cdx/

Picture this: it’s 1994, Sega rolls out a sleek black box that looks like a Discman on steroids and calls it the CD X—the ultimate “why‑not‑both?” gadget. For $399 you got a Genesis, a Sega CD, and a portable CD player all in one compact unit (known as the Multi‑Mega overseas). The idea was noble: revive the flailing Sega CD by bundling it with the beloved 16‑bit console.

In practice, the CD X was an expensive compromise. Its tight chassis trapped heat, its top‑loading drive inherited the notorious reliability issues of the original Sega CD, and battery life as a portable player was abysmal. Even though it could run every Genesis cartridge, all Sega CD titles (and even the 32X add‑on) felt dated—by then the CD library was riddled with FMV fluff and missing true killer apps.

Sega pulled the plug just months later when the 32X and Saturn arrived, relegating the CD X to a collector’s curiosity. Today it’s prized for its quirky design, but fixing one is a nightmare. The CD X stands as a textbook case of “more of a bad thing isn’t better”—a stylish reminder that stacking two flops never makes a hit.

📰 New article from TorrentFreak

Belgian Pirate Site Blocking Order Targets Cloudflare and Google, But Not Their DNS

https://torrentfreak.com/belgian-pirate-site-blocking-order-targets-cloudflare-and-google-but-not-their-dns/

Belgium’s “two‑step” pirate‑site blockade is getting more surgical, and this week it turned its sights on illegal IPTV streams.

Broadcasters RTL Belgium and RTBF won a court order that forces the country’s five big ISPs—Proximus, Telenet, Orange Belgium, Mobile Vikings and DIGI—to block the domains of five shady IPTV services (LEMEILLEURIPTV, BESTIPTVABO, ATLASPRO12, OTT PREMIUM and MIJNIPTV) and any future mirrors. The ban is DNS‑based, but here’s the twist: the order doesn’t ask Cloudflare or Google to block at the resolver level.

Instead, both tech giants must act as infrastructure providers: Cloudflare must stop serving the sites if it’s acting as CDN/host, while Google must pull the domains from its search index, ads network and relevant cloud services. Their public DNS resolvers (including Google Public DNS and Cloudflare 1.1.1.1) are left untouched—a concession likely tied to Cisco’s ongoing appeal over earlier DNS‑blocking mandates.

What this means for users is simple: your ISP will cut off the IPTV sites, but you can still resolve their names elsewhere—though you won’t find them in Google search or on Cloudflare‑hosted pages. The case underscores how Belgium’s blocking regime keeps tweaking its scope in real time, and it may set a precedent for future European orders that target infrastructure without throttling public DNS.

📰 New article from Retro Handhelds

Retro Handhelds Weekly: Handhelds with Knobs, Xbox on Android, Tariff Updates, and More

https://retrohandhelds.gg/retro-handhelds-weekly-edition-87/

If you thought handhelds had hit their design ceiling, think again—this week’s roundup proves the opposite. GameMT is rolling out the Pocket Super Knob 5000, a gloriously over‑the‑top Android box that basically says “knobs are back” (and it lands in April). Meanwhile, Lenovo and ASUS quietly announced they’ll stop pushing driver updates for the Legion Go’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme, hinting AMD might be pulling the plug on support entirely.

On the competition front, ASUS’s ROG Xbox Ally isn’t selling as fast as hoped, despite early hype that it could dent the Steam Deck’s market share. In software news, an Android‑native Xbox emulator (a fork of xemu) has hit GitHub—early, hungry for resources, but a tantalizing glimpse of console gaming on phones. And if you’ve ever dreamed of Dreamcast in your browser, a Flycast‑WASM core now lets you stream those classics via EmulatorJS.

A quick glance at the broader scene shows price hikes looming for Lenovo devices, an official Evercade wireless controller arriving soon, and a slew of new RetroArch cores promising Xbox, PS3, and Wii U emulation—still in alpha, but worth keeping on your radar. Grab a coffee; the retro handheld world is anything but static.

📰 New article from RetroRGB

Modding The Zelda Game & Watch

https://retrorgb.com/modding-the-zelda-game-watch.html

Ever wondered if your dusty Game & Watch could moonlight as a pocket‑sized retro console? Tito from Macho Nacho Productions just proved it can—by turning the little handheld into a full‑blown emulation machine.

In his new video he walks through a fairly advanced mod, swapping out the original firmware for GnWManager and loading a curated SD card of classic titles. The hardware hack isn’t for first‑timers, but the end result is a sleek, feature‑rich device that can run everything from NES to Game Boy games—all on the same 2‑inch screen you’ve been pressing “Start” on for decades.

Why care? Besides the cool factor, this shows how far the Game & Watch modding scene has come after five years of tinkering. There are simpler “jailbreak” routes if you just want basic homebrew, but Tito’s setup packs the most bang for your buck—full‑screen menus, save states, and a tidy SD library.

If you’re curious, check out the GnWManager install guide on GitHub and the pre‑modded emulator collection to see what’s possible. And hey, if the video sparked joy, consider tossing a few bucks Bob’s way on Patreon. Happy hacking!

📰 New article from Retro Handhelds

The Legend of Zelda Series Turns 40!

https://retrohandhelds.gg/the-legend-of-zelda-series-turns-40/

Four decades ago, Nintendo slipped a green‑clad kid and a princess into our living rooms, and the rest is legend—literally. On Feb. 21, 1986 the original Legend of Zelda burst onto the NES, turning Shigeru Miyamoto’s childhood wanderings in Kyoto into a sprawling, time‑bending adventure franchise that still feels fresh.

Why does it matter? Because Zelda has been the playground for gaming’s biggest “what if” experiments: Ocarina of Time’s dungeon design, Majora’s Mask’s three‑day loop, Breath of the Wild’s physics‑driven open world. Each new entry rewrites how we explore, solve puzzles, and even control a hero who can be a boy, a wolf, or—occasionally—a bunny.

The series also boasts a chameleon‑like art style, from 8‑bit pixel charm to Wind Waker’s cartoon seas and the lush, Studio Ghibli‑inspired vistas of Breath of the Wild. Its influence ripples through titles like Assassin’s Creed, Elden Ring and The Elder Scrolls, proving no one else can quite capture that mix of whimsy and epic questing.

Bottom line: Zelda isn’t just 40 years old; it’s a living laboratory for adventure gaming—still daring us to pick up the controller, pull out our swords, and save Hyrule…again.

📰 New article from TorrentFreak

ProtonVPN Fights French Pirate Site Blockades, But Court Rejects Overblocking Fears

https://torrentfreak.com/protonvpn-fights-french-pirate-site-blockades-but-court-rejects-overblocking-fears/

Ever tried watching a live match on a “secret” stream, only to hit a VPN wall? ProtonVPN just found out the hard way that French courts aren’t shy about ordering it to block pirate sites – and they’ve already won.

In late January Paris handed down two separate injunctions against Proton (the Swiss‑based VPN). One targets 16 domains streaming Premier League games; the other goes after another 16 sites peddling Top 14 rugby. The orders run until each season ends in mid‑2026, and they’re “dynamic” – meaning any new mirror can be added on the fly.

Proton fought back with every argument in its playbook: jurisdiction questions, net‑neutrality violations, WTO trade rules, and even the technical impossibility of blocking only French users. The court brushed each one aside as vague or unsubstantiated, noting no concrete evidence that a global blackout would result.

The verdict? Proton must block the 31 domains (one overlap) but won’t have to plaster the ruling on its site or pay Canal+’s €30 k claim. Meanwhile, French right‑sholders are also pushing Google DNS and ISP blocks, so the battle is far from over – and Europe’s top court may be the next arena. Bottom line: if you’re using a VPN in France to dodge piracy filters, expect more “access denied” screens heading your way.

📰 New article from Retro Handhelds

Our Handhelds and Tariffs: An Optimistic Future?

https://retrohandhelds.gg/our-handhelds-and-tariffs-an-optimistic-future/

Turns out the Supreme Court doesn’t love the “trade war” drama nearly as much as the headlines suggest. Last year’s sweeping tariffs were deemed unlawful, potentially clearing the path for cheaper imports. However, don’t throw away your wallet just yet. The current administration has already slapped a temporary 10% global tariff on everything (except electronics) to replace the old ones.

It’s a complicated, ever-shifting bureaucratic chess match. While the threat of those crazy high China tariffs (which were up to 140% at their peak) might be fading, the government is just swapping one tax for another. For now, companies are still figuring out how to adapt—some are eating the costs, while others are stockpiling inventory to avoid the fees.

The moral of the story? In the world of tariffs, nothing is set in stone. Things will change again, and we’ll find a way to keep playing those retro games without breaking the bank. In the meantime, let’s just keep our fingers crossed and wait for the next update.

📰 New article from Retro Handhelds

Hyper Street Kart is the Mashup I Want in a ROM Hack

https://retrohandhelds.gg/hyper-street-kart-is-the-mashup-i-want-in-a-rom-hack/

Ever feel paralyzed by the sheer number of games and handhelds sitting on your shelf? You’re not alone.

Sometimes the best cure for choice paralysis is a wild mashup, like Hyper Street Kart: The Road Warriors. This isn’t just a Mario Kart skin job; it’s a genuine love letter to the SNES era. The developer has completely overhauled the track layouts, added new pixel art, and replaced items like Turtle Shells with Fireballs.

The gameplay feels snappy, though you’ll need a delicate touch—the drift physics are much looser than the original, so don’t expect your kart to stick to the road.

Here’s why you should play:

• New Twists: Tracks change terrain mid-race, and the physics require a different driving style.
• Visual Overhaul: Character palettes swap instantly (Bowser becomes Blanka, for example).
• Battle Mode: Classic balloon popping is included, though it’s strictly for couch co-op.

It’s a fresh take on an old favorite that proves sometimes the best way to find a new gem is to stop looking and just start driving.