Select Page

A VERY in-depth review of the Anbernic ARC (Linux and Android)

by | Dec 21, 2023 | Anbernic, Setup Guide | 3 comments

BUY THE ARC: https://shrsl.com/4cq2z

These are my actual notes, there may be minor spelling and grammar errors, but the content is the reasearch I put into the video on youtube.

Check out my Sega vs Nintendo spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KmnSWOqPPx9KLIcB8AnjdfoYRZe3Q9fRgzLl5rG6E78/edit?usp=sharing

INITIAL SETUP EXPERIENCE

  • I am hoping I am not just getting used to these devices but they were already set up when they arrived

  • Android – simply press the Game Mode button and pretty much everything works

  • Linux is the easiest with everything ready to go immediately

  • I had to update my firmware for Linux to run a bit better but I did get mine sent from Anbernic at Launch

  • So for the easiest system go for Linux… it’s also cheaper but watch the Linux section for some of the shortcomings

  • I had to change MD emulator on Android Console Option >  Input Ports > Auto – 6 Button Gamepad

  • Shaders, filters and overlays are already done! – cycle through some systems with overlays and filters

  • You can “hack” the controls for games that use a joystick by mapping some of the dpad controls to the extra face buttons and shoulder buttons. God of War for example can have two of the dpad controls on maybe Z and C and the the other two can be on L2 and R2 – show this in action

ANDROID

  • No playstore or google services

    • Pro: better performance on this low end chip

    • Con: difficult to integrate with you Google apps however you should get most things on Aurora – try installing Spotify

    • Installed Aurora Store so I could download my paid version of PPSSPP gold, and my other paid apps, but I think I am going to put GammaOS on here or wait for a final CFW Linux build

    • See if I can get google play services

    • Can’t play alot of Android games

    • Although this Android build is okay I would opt for GammaOS but there is quite a setup if you’re up to it – video on the way

  • GammaOS – does some of the setup for you, may have performance improvements

LINUX

  • Anbernic’s best Linux build yet

  • Lends some GarlicOS concepts

  • Retroarch is separate from other emulators, and games are organized accordingly

  • I like the overlay for MD in linux

  • Very nice overlay for PSP aswell

  • Shortcuts:

    • Brightness: F + Volume +/-

    • Power down: press and hold power until you see a prompt

    • In-game menu: F

  • PROBLEMS WITH THE STOCK LINUX:

    • No scraping?! https://www.skraper.net/ – just make sure if you add ROMS to have the images labeled the same as the ROM and placed in the correct folder.

    • No OTA updates, I really hope this gets fixed

    • Can’t customise controls for Dreamcast in the standalone emulator, I tried to do this in RetroArch but without a touchscreen I couldn’t get it right (I got this going in Android, though)

    • No way of exiting an N64 game except pressing and holding the power button. But RetroArch works fine for N64 but you may run into trouble with higher end games

    • Sega Saturn – emulator menu is mapped to select button, emulator includes saves

  • UPDATING ANBERNIC FIRMWARE:

  • Retro Arena Installation

  • I am sure more Custom Firmware will be available soon, so at this point I feel its better to deal with the shortcomings of the Anbernic Linux system, I kinda like it warts and all!

PREPARING SATURN ROMS (OR ANY CD SYSTEM ROM)

  • Download CHD man: https://wiki.recalbox.com/en/tutorials/utilities/rom-conversion/chdman

  • Uncompress the CHDMAN zip file to somewhere like your documents folder

  • But keep the zip file just in case (there’s a high risk of accidentally deleting the system files)

  • Drag your bin and cue files for all your games (not too many at a time or it will take VERY long – maybe to 5 – 10 at a time)

  • Double click on the CUE-GDI-ISO to CHD.bat file

  • The process will start and export the .CHD files to the CHDMAN folder

  • Move your new CHD files to a safe place

  • Delete the rest (DON’T delete the CHD man files!)

  • That’s it!

GENERAL GAMEPLAY

Gameplay is more of a showcase rather than performance test – due to the button layout some games just don’t work. You can map them but I doubt people want to be mapping every game. We will focus on Dreamcast and Saturn.

  • DREAMCAST – linux

    • The controls seem to be mapped for the games provided and you arent able to map them for anything else – to be more flexible you’ll need the Android version – but there are so many other games to play it’s a pretty decent compromise

    • ON ANDROID you will have some freedom to map controls if you want

    • Only utilised a 4 button setup

    • Capcom vs SNK Millinium Fight 2000 works very well

    • Capcom vs SNK 2 Millionaire Fighting plays really well

    • Capcom vs snk 2000 also works very well

    • Crazy Taxi plays fine but music stutters

    • Crazy Taxi 2 plays well but music stutters

    • Ecco the dolphin – defender of the future – some audio stutter, but controls don’t work – it plays well in Saturn and you can remap controls there

    • Fatal Fury Mark of the Wolves – fighting game – really cool fighting game – 4 button layout-plays well

    • Frogger 2 – Swampy’s Revenge – a really fun 3d platform – plays well

    • Gauntlet legends – plays with no audio

    • Golf Shiyouyo plays well

    • Heavy metal – geomatrix – 3d fighter with guns – plays well

    • King of fighters dream match 1999 – plays well

    • Mag force racing – controls don’t work and there’s no audio

    • Marvel vs capcom – clash of super heroes – plays very well

    • Ms Pac-Man – plays well

    • NBA 2K – lots of audio stutter in cut pieces – too much stutter and controls don’t work

    • NBA 2K2 – same as above

    • Re-volt – plays well – very cool RC car racing game

    • Ready 2 rumble boxing – plays well – controls work

    • Rippin riders – snowboarding game – plays well

    • Sega GT – plays surprisingly well

    • Sega rally – no sound

    • Sega Rally 2 – massive audio stutter – does not play

    • Sonic Adventure (my ROM) 2 dpad not mapped

    • Sonic adventure dpad not mapped

    • Soulcalibur plays well

    • Soulcalibur 2 works well

    • Star Wars Episode 1 Jedi Power Battles plays fine

    • Street Fighter Alpha 3 plays very well

    • Street fighter Alpha III Third Strike – really nice version of street fighter – shoryukens were quite easy with Ken on this

    • Super Street Fighter II X (JAPAN) more classic s

    • tyle street fighter plays perfectly

    • Tech Romancer good lord what a cool game! It was released late to the US and EU and is a blast with robots fighting with rockets and flames. Where has this game been all my life!

    • Tennis 2K2 quite a lot of slow down but the buttons work so if you want to try tweak it you can but I doubt it will work very well – try on Android

    • Test Drive V Rally plays well and uses shoulder buttons which takes a bit of getting used to but this form factor is perfect for it

    • The last blade 2 – The heart of the samurai – very cool japanese swordfighting game – plays well

    • TNN Motorsports Hardcore Heat – a dirt road racing game, works well with these controls. Steering isnt super responsive which works well for a dpad

    • Tony Hawk’s Pro skater 2 – a little bit of stutter in the beginning but plays wellgjhg

    • Virtua Fighter plays well

    • Virtua Tennis Sega Pro – stutter in intro, plays okay – better than 2K

    • Zen-Nippon Pro Wrestling – pretty cool japanese wrestling game and plays well

    • Zombie Revenge – pretty cool zombie game and plays well

  • SEGA SATURN (on Linux)

    • Used mostly european versions

    • Astal is a SEGA original, it plays well and is great alternative platformer

    • Bug! Is a comical 3d platformer that plays well

    • Bulk Slash is a japan only release, it’s quite hard to play but pretty cool, you can transform into a jet and you need to shoot stuff

    • Burning rangers started up but then crashed

    • Daytona USA – plays well

    • Die Hard arcade makes use of three buttons and is a pretty cool 3d beat em up – it’s pretty violent!

    • Dragon Force is a strategy based RPG that seems to be working fine

    • Duke Nukem 3D – actually seems to play well

    • Galactic Attack is a very nice airplane shooter but needs a bigger screen

    • Guardian Heroes is a pretty complex beat em up with swords and magic

    • Manx TT – pretty cool biking game that works well

    • NBA Action – couldn’t play due to mapping

    • Nights into dreams – seems to be playing well and is quite a disorienting action RPG

    • Saturn Bomberman – works well and could be a nice one to play via hdmi

    • Sega Rally Championship – works well – just strange blue artifacts in the render

    • Shining the Holy Ark – RPG – poor man’s Zelda! Seems to be playing well

    • Sonic Flickies Island plays well

    • Sonic R works well but I just don’t like this game

    • Street Fighter the movie – nice because it uses all the buttons

    • Street Fighter Alpha 2 is exceptional and uses all the buttons

    • Street Racer is quite a fun cart racing game – actually uses 6 buttons

    • Virtua fighter is a night 3d fighter that uses 3 buttons and works well

    • World hero perfect loaded fine but the characters didn’t render

    • x-men children of the Atom did not load

    • x-men vs street fighter played but the audio went berzerk

3 Comments

  1. Jel C
    Jel C on December 27, 2023 at 12:21 pm

    Do I use the same SD card that came with the device to update the firmware? Does it need to be formatted first in order to burn the ISO file using Win32 Disk Imager ?

    Reply
    • admin
      admin on February 22, 2024 at 10:29 am

      Hey there you should use a new SD card for the new firmware. The new card will be formatted to exFAT which should work perfectly

      Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *