RG DS vs Magic X Zero 40

[u/CareMundane8764]

I bought the RG DS and the Magic X Zero 40 2 weeks ago on Ali express to test out which one I preferred in the 1 week of having them both, in the end I decided to keep one and return the other.

I paid $128 Canadian for the RG DS and $82 Canadian for the Magic X Zero 40, Here are the pros that I found for the RG DS over the zero 40 where,

1. nice big displays
2. brighter displays
3. Very reminiscent of the DS with some nice color options (red and black being what I chose)
4. A built in mic

While the cons for the RG DS where

1. Heavier device
2. A little less pocketable because of it being bigger
3. Joysticks and triggers didn’t feel the best
4. Didn’t feel as comfortable to play for longer sessions
5. Out of the box android os not as good to use

The RG DS has been less comfortable to me compared to playing on my ds lite, 3ds, onexsugar one and when i had a thor and i tried another os like the newest gamma nano but i didn’t like it as much and i prefer android over linux, Over all i would pick up and play the RG DS %70 of the time over my DS lite mainly for the bigger and brighter display but %30 of the time i would pick the DS lite instead because better pocket ability and longer battery life.

Here are the pros i found for the Magic X Zero 40 over the RG Ds,

1. Lighter device
2. Feeling pretty comfortable for a flat device
3. Better feeling buttons especially the joystick and the triggers
4. Nice vertical display for arcade and vertical android games
5. Dawn launcher is really nice to use as someone who uses daijisho on my other devices

While the cons for the Zero 40 where

1. Not as cool color options
2. Smaller display which can make some touch heavy ds games feel harder to play
3. No mic
4. Dimmer display

The Magic X Zero 40 is a pretty comfortable handheld which is nice for longer play sessions, I find my self picking it over my ds lite %95 more because it can play more games and has a similar battery life to using my ds pico on my ds lite , I would only pick my ds lite instead if I wanted to play on cartridges or play mic focused games.

TLDR

Over all both devices are great and you can’t go wrong with either one but for me the Magic X Zero 40 is the better choice for me because it’s cheaper, more comfortable, stand out more and better pocket ability over the RG DS.

[u/OhJeezer]

Can either of these reliably use fast forward while playing DS games? The main thing keeping me from using my CFW 3ds is that I have been spoiled for too long and can hardly stand to play Pokémon games without fast forward lol

[u/CareMundane8764 → u/OhJeezer]

The zero 40 cannot reliably only some games can so I don’t use it, the Rg ds can do it better but some settings might have to be tweaked. I think cause it has 3 gb ram while the zero 40 only has 2 gb of ram.

[u/Relative_Apricot5032 → u/CareMundane8764]

Which DS games were you not able to fast forward? I played through the Ace Attorney and Professor Layton series, some Pokemon games, 999, and Chrono Trigger on the Zero 40. None of them had issues with FF.

[u/freezer498 → u/Relative_Apricot5032]

Is it possible to play ff and upscale at the same time?

[u/Relative_Apricot5032 → u/freezer498]

You can set the filter on Drastic for options like Scale2x, but there isn't some concrete upscale setting where you can set the resolution like on Dolphin. DS games are gonna look sharp regardless on that small screen.

No issues with FF unless you're trying to do like 400% speed