Last year, Hardkernel took some time away from Arm and x86 Linux SBCs with the launch of ODROID-GO retro game console powered by Espressif Systems ESP32 processor.

The console could be programmed with the Arduino IDE, and the $32 price tag made it a popular item despite the limited processing power fo the ESP32 dual-core processor. The good news is that the console got an upgrade with ODROID-Go Advance equipped with a Rockchip RK3326 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor coupled with 1GB RAM to run Linux, and featuring an upgraded 3.5″ wide-viewing angle color display.

ODROID-GO Advance specifications:

SoC – Rockchip RK3326 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ 1.3GHz with Mali-G31 MP2 GPU

System Memory – 1GB DDR3L @ 786Mhz, 32 Bits bus width

Storage – 16MB SPI Flash for bootloader, Micro SD Card slot (UHS-1 Capable interface)

Display – 3.5″ 320×480 TFT LCD (Wide-viewing angle display, MIPI-DSI interface)

Audio – 3.5mm earphone stereo jack, 0.5Watt 8Ω Mono speaker

USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port

Input Buttons – F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, A, B, X, Y, Direction Pad, Left Shoulder, Right Shoulder, Analog joystick

Expansion – 10-pin header with I2C, GPIO, IRQ at 3.3Volt

Battery 3.7V/3000mAh Li-Polymer battery Up to 10 hours of continuous game playing time Charging time – 2.5 to 3 hours when the device turns off. 4 to 5 hours while playing games.

Power Supply – 5V/1.5A max via 2.5mm DC Jack

Power consumption – Game emulation: 250~350mA, Power off: 0.1mA

Dimensions – 155x72x20 mm

Weight – 170 grams

The console runs Ubuntu 18.04 64-bit with Linux 4.4.189 as well as a modified EmulationStation front-end with Libretro, and GPU accelerated OpenGL-ES on DRM-FB. This enables emulation of the following platforms in the trial BSP:

Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari Lynx

SEGA Game Gear

Nintendo Game Boy, Game Boy Advance (gba), Game Box Color (gbc)

SEGA Master System, Mega Drive (aka Genesis)

Nintento NES, SNES

NEC PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16), PC Engine CD

Sony PlayStations (PSX), Portable Play Station (PSP)

Sega CD (Mega CD)

More game console are likely to be supported over time. You can see some of the games running on ODROID-GO Advance in the video below including Sonic 3 on Genesis, Tekken 6 & Patapon on PSP, Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation One, Super Mario Kart on SNES and several others.

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ODROID-Go Advance is in the final stages of development, and Hardkernel will send some engineering samples to community developers next week to improve the software. The game console will be sold for $55 at the end of January 2020. You’ll find more details in the Wiki and the forum thread announcing the new console.

Thanks to Tim for the tip.