In a world seemingly wanting to forget the glory days of the Nintendo 3DS, the Ayaneo Flip DS stands as a heroic handheld homage. Sure, it also just so happens to be a premium Steam Deck rival that can run the latest PC outings at higher frame rates, but let’s be real, it’s the fact that it wields dual screens that caught your eye in the first place. I’ve been using the portable in place of my beloved Deck for a few months now, and a few minor caveats aside, it’s safe to say this mini rig is the most versatile handheld I’ve used to date.
Calling the Ayaneo Flip DS unique feels a little silly, especially since it borrows its design from one of the best gaming handhelds ever. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not remotely a bad thing, as it’s no different than when Nintendo revived its Game and Watch format to create the original DS. The point I’m making is that breaking away from the portable PC blueprint used by the likes of the Steam Deck OLED is well worth doing, and while I can think of a few examples of innovation backfiring in recent years, the Flip DS isn’t one of them.
With prices starting at $946 / £743 ($845 / £664 if you take advantage of Indiegogo early bird discounts), it’d be wild to tell every player to pick up a Flip DS. As a company, Ayaneo tends to avoid the ‘one size fits all approach’ in favor of making a variety of portable devices with different use cases. Simply put, if you have no emotional attachment to the NDS/3DS era of handheld .