Anbernic RG40XX H vs RG40XX V

Most of our comparisons come down to weighing one set of specs against another. This one doesn't, and that's what makes it fun. The RG40XX H and the RG40XX V share the same chip, the same RAM, the same lovely square-ish screen and the same battery. On paper they are twins. The only thing Anbernic changed is the shape, and the shape changes everything about how the thing feels in your hands. So forget the spec table below for a second (it'll tell you they're near-identical anyway) and think instead about how you actually play.

The H is horizontal, and that's a comfort thing

The H lays out like a chunky GBA or a small controller: screen in the middle, buttons either side, and crucially a pair of proper analogue sticks. That last bit matters more than it sounds. Anything built around twin sticks, like the PS1 games that put the camera on the right stick, really wants the H, and even the single-stick systems, N64, PSP and Dreamcast, feel better with a stick sitting right where your thumb already rests. The horizontal grip also just sits better for a long evening. Your hands wrap around it, your thumbs fall naturally onto the face buttons, and you can settle in for a couple of hours without your wrists complaining.

The trade-off is pocketability. The H is wider, and while it'll still go in a coat pocket or a bag without drama, it's not the thing you forget is clipped to you. It's a sofa and commute machine more than a standing-on-the-bus machine.

The V is vertical, and it's built for pure retro

The V stacks everything tall, screen up top, controls below, like a Game Boy. It's genuinely pocketable in a way the H isn't, small enough to palm and light enough to hold one-handed while you're doing something else. For the 8-bit and 16-bit era, for your GBA and Game Gear and Mega Drive libraries, this is the shape those games were meant to be held in. There's a real charm to it that a horizontal device can't quite replicate.

Be clear-eyed about what you give up, though. The V has one analogue stick, not two, and it sits low in the bottom corner. For pure 2D that's a non-issue, most of those games never wanted a stick in the first place. One stick also covers the N64, PSP and Dreamcast, which only ever had one. Where it runs out is anything built for twin sticks, and tucked down in the corner it's there for the odd game that needs it rather than for hours of 3D. That's the ceiling on the vertical as a do-everything device. The V knows what it is, and it's happiest when you let it be that.

Same performance, so ignore it

Worth saying plainly because people expect a catch: neither is faster than the other. Same silicon, same screen, same everything under the shell. Whatever one of them can run, the other runs identically. So there's no "but the H handles PSP better" hiding here. The only reason 3D leans towards the H is the second stick and the grip, not the raw power. Pick the body, and the games run exactly the same either way.

So which shape is yours?

Buy the H if your library reaches past the pure classics, if you play anything that wants two sticks, or if you value a relaxed grip for longer sessions more than you value slipping it into a jeans pocket. It's the more versatile body, and it's the one I'd hand someone who isn't sure yet where their tastes will land.

Buy the V if you're a 2D purist, if it's mostly Game Boy through Mega Drive for you, and if carrying it everywhere matters. It's smaller, it's charming, and for what it's built for it's an absolute joy. Just go in knowing the single stick is a real boundary for 3D, not a quirk you'll work around.