a) I can see why a company like this would bake in invasive permissions and telemetry, and b) They did so. They have a wonderful product. One interesting thing though is that each time GameHub Lite releases an update, pointing out the shadiness of some of GameHub’s ideas…the next official GameHub update makes the product better and less of a privacy nightmare.
It’s an odd situation, but like you said, at least we have options!
As-is the thing has sold a ton despite no new games existing really.
Their numbers were announced, it’s sold 10.36m units so far, but these stats were from before the new Pokemon game was released. So…I’d hazard far more than this!
Like most, it never really interested me. I just liked the clamshell self-protecting design. The 3D slider was firmly set to the ‘off’ position for me!
I’ve never really been into any Pokemon games before, but I am getting closer to wanting to try sink into one! How beautiful is the upscaling for 3DS games on the Thor?! The games just sparkle. I have gotten slightly distracted by Metroid Prime 2 though…
I’d recommend keeping an eye on something like Buyee (or one of several others that do the same thing!). Keep an eye on Mercari on there, sort by ‘newly listed’ and you’ll get a deal. I’ve bought a lot of Nintendo consoles using that method, and have got some amazing deals!
Metroid: Samus Returns (I’m obsessed with Metroid)
But I’m also playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for the very first time on the AYN Thor at the moment. I’ve never stuck with it, and I’m enjoying it so much. What a game! I’d have expected the ancient age would make it less of a game, but nope. It’s perfect!
There’s so many more, but that’s a nice little cross-section of GREAT games :)
One thing I’ll add, since reviewing the AYN Thor, I have been playing a LOT of 3DS games. Upscaled and looking so beautiful. I just love the games they made for this console. I wish the Switch had more…pocketability? But seeing how the size increased for the S2, I don’t expect that will come about again :(
Thank you so much, I’m really glad you enjoyed this one. A few more are on the way, slowly. The team who make Decky Loader should be soon-ish. Also GameHub Lite (since emulating Steam games on Android is fascinating to me!), and a handful more planned.
You can use things like GameHub/GameHub Lite (a community fork which strips the telemetry), or Winlator. This can run far, far more taxing games than just the little indies. Tomb Raider (2013), Halo MCC, Fallout New Vegas, Silksong, Dave the Diver, Hades II and so on. There is tinkering sometimes, but its getting more and more impressive as time goes on.
Its up to you if you want to plan for the future and buy the ‘Max’ version (with more RAM), but for all that’s possible now, the 12GB version (the Pro model) is more than enough.
It will 100% play small indie games, but remember some games are weird. They’re fickle and refuse to work (I think one of the Deus Ex games refuses to play, I might have read that somewhere?). So it might be a case-by-case basis. If it helps, do a search for AYN Odin 2 (or AYN Odin 2 Portal) + GameHub or Winlator. They share the same chip and have plenty of users sharing their experiences!
You don’t need that same software. The principle is still the same though, you’re loading ROMs of games on there. The 3DS console method simplifies it because they created their own freeshop, but with this, you’re going to load the ROMs yourself.