{"slug": "my-retrogaming-handheld", "title": "My retrogaming handheld", "summary": "The article summarizes the author's experience purchasing and setting up a BATLEXP G350 retro gaming handheld. Key steps included replacing the stock operating system and ROMs, installing PortMaster for additional games, and applying custom hotkey mappings, though the device lacks internet access for cover art. The author notes that the Game Boy-like form factor can be uncomfortable, recommending a grip accessory.", "body_md": "I recently came across this magazine article and learned a few interesting things:\nI made up my mind about buying one of these but didn’t right away. Instead I started lurking subreddits like r/R36S and r/SBCGaming. There I learned some more:\nWith all this info I settled on buying a BATLEXP G350 instead (BATLE with a single ‘T’).\nAfter using it for a while I noticed its Game Boy form factor can be a bit straining on the hands, so it’s probably a good idea to also buy or 3D-print a grip for it.\nThis is a very fun hobby that’s completely orthogonal to the actual playing of video games. The fun comes from:\nAs with the R36S, I read recommendations to change the stock OS and romset from the BATLEXP.\nbrew install --cask balenaetcher\n)I overwrote the .dtb and Image files in the BOOT partition with those linked in the video\nLater I saw some issues with the right stick which I fixed by installing these other files.\nLater later I realized that the file in that post is the same I was already using, so maybe I didn’t copy it right the first time or overwriting it just resets broken things.\nMoving on with the setup, I downloaded the base and 64gb versions of the Tiny Best Set Go from the internet archive and manually distributed the ROMs into the corresponding system dirs from the EASYROMS\npartition of the SD card.\nNext, I installed portmaster from these instructions.\nInstall.Full.PortMaster.sh\nfile.EASYROMS/tools/\nEASYROMS/tools/PortMaster/autoinstall/\nand following any other port-specific instructions. This typically means dropping some game assets at EASYROMS/ports/<gamename>/\nI applied some hotkey re-mappings recommended by the video and some extra ones to handle save state slots.\nSince the BATLEXP has no internet access, and it’s not straightforward to add images manually, I have no preview covers in the menu.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/my-retrogaming-handheld", "canonical_source": "https://olano.dev/blog/batlexp", "published_at": "2026-02-22 21:00:16+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-23 19:38:22.856191+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["hardware", "open-source", "products"], "entities": ["BATLEXP G350", "R36S", "Tiny Best Set Go", "PortMaster", "BalenaEtcher", "EASYROMS"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/my-retrogaming-handheld", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/my-retrogaming-handheld.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/my-retrogaming-handheld.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/my-retrogaming-handheld.jsonld"}}