Can you trust those emulator adverts on social media channels? Philip Bates bought the R36MAX to find out…
Okay, I caved. The temptation of playing games from my childhood was too great. Like many, I saw those ads on Instagram promoting an emulator that boasted thousands of games, and those ads were non-stop. Some were clearly nonsense, as evidenced by the number of comments either calling them out (before being deleted) or by the onslaught of five-star reviews. Nothing gets wall-to-wall five-star reviews. They were fake. But then, oh, some were really tempting.
The advertisers, of course, know what they’re doing. They know the big-hitters in their arsenal. So, yes, I caved. But I did my research first. I found what I thought to be decent advice on Reddit: users telling other poor tempted souls which Instagram ads were scams and which had a bit more weight behind them. These generally told me to avoid the ones actually advertised on social media because these were just bad imitations or simpler emulators you can’t trust but at dodgy prices – we’re typically talking dirt-cheap, a sure sign that it isn’t what it purports to be.
Cheap vs. expensive emulation consoles
Emulator consoles can be cheap because they’re unlicensed, so the manufacturers and sellers don’t have to pay the makers for old games. Other emulators are expensive, but you get what you pay for, so the hardware is generally a lot sturdier and more dependable; ditto the customer support, which, in the case of Instagram- and X-advertised emulators, is basically non-existent.
So I found the emulator that looked best for me and shopped around. That is, the R36MAX, the basis for a lot of those ads, but bought not from anywhere pushing their wares on social media. Instead, I turned to Amazon first, and found there were numerous iterations and even more third-party sellers. There’s even an R36S (a variant of the larger MAX) site, dedicated to selling those exclusively.
Seeing as Amazon basically only sold emulators via third-parties, I turned elsewhere. I went to What Geek, a well-presented site with a range that includes “real” consoles, controllers, keyboards, and more, alongside the emulators. The site had a good deal on a 128GB R36MAX, including a discount for first-time buyers, so I got something that boasts 30,000 games… for £35.19.
Sounds too good to be true? Oh, dear reader, it really is.
What is the R36MAX?
The R36MAX looks like a Game Boy as drawn by someone who’s only seen one once, a long time ago. It looks a bit deformed and chunky, but also more or less ergonomically fit for purpose. Indeed, What Geek boasts that “R36 Pro and R36 Max feature upgraded back keys and a grip designed to fit the natural curve of your fingers, providing a more comfortable and ergonomic gaming experience.”
For some baffling reason, the middle button, a sort of thumb stick, is a miniature football. I’d say the hardware itself is pretty decent. I opted for a see-through blue plastic console, because it felt delightfully ‘90s/early-noughties, certainly appealing to the boy in me who never owned a Game Boy Color.
And initially, I was wowed by the emulator. It’s a little fiddly, but it comes with an instruction booklet – alongside its own case, which is a neat addition – so you can quickly figure it out. (The manufacturer seemingly knows that anyone turning to an emulator is the type of gamer who likes physical media and nostalgia, and balks at every modern console demanding you download everything. You could buy an Evercade EXP instead, of course…)
Emulated platforms on the R36MAX
The main screen opens with the option to access games pertaining to specific consoles, from the NES to the PSP, with deviations into the worlds of arcade games. Specifically, this version has games from:
- Capcom Play System I
- Capcom Play System II
- Capcom Play System III
- MAME (that’s the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator)
- PC Engine
- Nintendo Family Computer
- Family Computer Disc System
- Super Famicom
- NES
- SNES
- Nintendo 64
- Game Boy Color
- Game Boy Advance
- Nintendo DS
- SG-1000
- Sega Mega Drive
- Sega Genesis
- Dreamcast
- Game Gear
- Neo-Geo
- Neo-Geo Pocket
- Neo-Geo Pocket Color
- PlayStation
- PSP
No doubt, there are some there you won’t have heard of. I certainly hadn’t. Nonetheless, there are some Big Names on there, like the SNES (my first console), the original PlayStation, and the DS.
Navigate to All Games, and you’re faced with a seemingly-endless scrolling page of titles. It’s impressive. You get a heady mix of well-known franchises like Sonic and lesser-known/entirely obscure games. That’s a positive: you can discover a lot of new entertainment just by flicking through titles. The screen is split into the list of games and the game art on the left, plus a brief synopsis. Well, sometimes. More often than not, this is rendered moot by a huge number of games (even the industry giants like Street Fighter) having no art or synopsis available.
Chinese version?!
You’ll also see titles sourced from various territories, so many of those thousands of listed games will be present numerous times, but with “(Chinese version)”, for instance, next to it. And yes, the writing is in the respective languages, so if you’re invested in narrative, you’ll need to keep your fingers crossed for an English edition of what you’re after.
The glitches hit you early on. With the title screen, for instance, you can scroll a bit, then slow down… or intend to, because your emulator might decide to carry on scrolling, unaided. It’s a minor thing: just press up on your joystick to stop it. It’s annoying, but you expect such things from a console that’s cost you less than £40. So too, the fact that you have to turn the console off and on again to exit a game; generally, the “Exit Game” settings don’t seem to work.
Pokémon Yellow isn’t mellow
I found what I was looking for. Something to jettison me back to the mid-nineties — Pokémon Yellow. It was an infuriating game back then (“here, have a Pikachu as your first Pokémon; oh, by the way, the first gym has loads of rock Pokémon, so electric attacks are pointless”), but I found significant joy in just booting it up and playing a few minutes of the opening. The theme tune kicks in, and you’re nine years old again.
I didn’t get too far because that’s just a trial. If something went wrong, I didn’t want to have caught a Zapdos then not been able to save the game. Still, it was a real thrill, reliving a game that quickly grew on me (once I’d defeated Brock, the leader of that aforementioned gym).
I saved it. Shut the emulator down. Then powered it back up. Navigated back to Pokémon Yellow.
Ah. It hadn’t saved.
I tried again.
Uh, why was Pikachu upside down?
Yep, the orientation of the screen had gone, so everything was flipped. I thought I’d try out another game, just in case this was an isolated case. It was, but then, trying to open Pokémon Silver, the game loads and I find that I’m actually playing… Oh, who knows? It’s an obscure title no one in the history of the world has ever heard of. The system can’t seem to find the game I actually want to play.
Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does nothing that a spider can
Now, I’m a big comic book fan, and some of my happiest gaming memories from when I was a kid are of playing the PlayStation Spider-Man games. The first one is on the R36MAX, and truth be told, it’s the main reason I wanted the emulator. I loaded it up. The soundtrack immediately catapulted me back, and I’m in love with gaming again. The cut-scenes started up, with Peter Parker taking photos for the Daily Bugle at a demonstration by Dr Otto Octavius. Also in the crowd is Eddie Brock, who, of course, is consumed by the alien symbiote and becomes Venom again. It’s joyous. Simply joyous.
The game started and I tested out the controls. Spidey can jump up high. He can run, he can fight, and he’s got to get across New York City fast. And he can’t. Because, of course, the PlayStation instructions aren’t relevant, and I tried every combination to get Spidey to webswing. Just one little web, Pete. Please?
He fell to his death. Spider-Man No More, indeed.
Don’t spend money on the R36MAX
I went back to Pokémon Yellow and the orientation was still wrong.
What’s more, it seemed to be spreading to other games – the menu was fine, but that’s it. I looked for advice online, but nothing seemed to work. I’m no Linux expert; I’m like, I suspect, most people who pick up the R36, or similar emulators.
If I could do it myself, I wouldn’t need to buy an emulator online.
And so, the system is defunct. The R36MAX is now apparently useless. Money down the drain. But worse is the fear that I may never get to play the beloved titles of my youth ever again. It’s a heartbreaking feeling, but perhaps all that glitters is not gold, and those memories are safer locked away, perfect and untouched.
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Philip Bates is a professional writer and editor, and contributes articles to Gaming Retro.
He is also the editor and co-founder of the Doctor Who Companion. When he’s not watching television, reading books ‘n’ Marvel comics, listening to The Killers, and obsessing over script ideas, Philip Bates pretends to be a freelance writer. He enjoys collecting everything. Writer of The Black Archive: The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang, 100 Objects of Doctor Who, and Companions: More Than Sixty Years of Doctor Who Assistants.