SJGAM M21 aka R36S Mini: is it the handheld we didn’t ask for?

It’s really difficult to research SJGAM handhelds when they continue naming them after guns. I would think that would effect their sales as well. When it was announced that SJGAM was releasing the M21 many online were calling it either a New Miyoo Mini with sticks or New Mini R36S. I’ll be honest I don’t get the Miyoo Mini comparison. It’s not all bad but both those statements are far from the truth.

I’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around people constantly saying the Game Console R36S is a clone of the Powkiddy RGB20S since its launch. I only bring that up because that comparison is being made online again here with the M21. So I’m going to start by straightening the record. The Game Console R35S was a clone of the Powkiddy RGB20S not the R36S. The R36S is a clone on the Anbernic RG353VS. If you were around the retro handheld space during the insanity that proceeded the R35S launch followed by an almost immediate R36S launch using the same SOC I would imagine it to be burned in your mind like my own. One only need to look at the handhelds to find direct correlation. Rant done.

The M21 is no doubt an attempted clone of the R36S. There was changes made to the buttons both face as well as rear shoulders, the DPad, the joysticks, overall handheld height and most importantly the SOC. I’m sure all these changes were made because they were all complaints people have of Game Consoles flagship handheld. In fact I made a video on how to swap almost all these things out for better options. If you are looking down at the R36S in your hands right now wishing they were better…. (You can view that video here)

This makes me completely understand why SJGAM made the decision to make these changes. The problem is they obviously didn’t test the changes they made. The DPad on the R36S has an issue with the membranes for example. The membrane that’s in the M21 is so stiff now that you get false diagonals. It’s difficult to select a game while scrolling through the menus without a false diagonal putting you into a completely different game console category. Though the M21 has eliminated most micro switch’s which is a huge help with how loud and clicky they can be in the R36S.

SJGAM also traded out the joysticks. This is a big pain point for some who use them regularly on the R36S. In changing the joysticks they also eliminated R3/L3 as the new sticks aren’t clicky. I would argue that they aren’t as accurate but I’m so used to hall sticks I wouldn’t be able to tell you by feel. The menus are so locked down out of the box you have no way to check them either.

The face buttons on the M21 are one of the rising stars. They have good space, clearance, size and a glossy finish. This was a positive upgrade. The problem is you can’t remap without access to Retroarch and in many different consoles they are mapped incorrectly, PS1 is very evident. Some games will allow you to change the layout within the game. That honestly wasn’t a big thing when developers were coming up with ways to make you suffer through their titles so it’s not often an option.

The back buttons on the M21 are about the right amount of clicky. They also seem to have a more precise tolerance as they don’t rattle nearly as bad. Different heights would make them easier to tell apart but I’m not going to be picky seeing as they are so much quieter.

It’s pretty awesome that they adjusted the hight. The R36S has always been a little tall no matter what your thoughts are on which handheld they cloned. This also makes the M21 more pocketable. That and the removal of the booty from the R36S. The change from button to difficult to switch um switch, helps with not turning on your handheld in your pocket I guess.

The volume buttons being on the back is something that has never really mattered to me. I think it started with the MagicX XU10 and there have been a few handhelds along the way with this layout as well. Oddly the volume buttons are the loudest buttons on the M21.

The handheld is advertised as a being able to use as a home console. There are different bundles with controllers offers as well as an HDMI output in the top. As far as I can tell however with the lack of Bluetooth or WiFi you are going to be stuck using their proprietary controls making this effort by SJGAM pointless. Nobody wants to pay for those garbage controllers.

The handheld is light enough and doesn’t feel hollow. If it wasn’t made of such cheep plastic it would likely feel like a premium device. I don’t expect much from these budget handhelds in way of build quality. This doesn’t excite or disappoint me, it’s exactly as one would expect. It did come with a pre-installed screen cover so that’s a win.

Lastly the N909 SOC. I spent 3 hours trying to figure out what else the cpu is used for. The problem is if you google M21 you go down a gun loving rabbit hole. Then you search for N909 and it’s mostly people asking WTF the N909 SOC is based on the M21 release announcement. I know its dual core and one core operates at 1.2GHz while the other operates at 1.8GHz. This makes me think it should easily perform similarly to the RockChip RK3566. In fact the SD card that comes with the handheld has RK3566 printed on it.

I’m not convinced that the firmware is nerfing this handheld so much. Though we have seen similar performance caused by firmware in past devices. This worries me a bit because unless a dev randomly picks this up and somehow falls in love with crappy controls we likely won’t get custom firmware here. Which is totally mind boggling as I really enjoy SJGAM’s M19. The controls on the M19 aren’t nearly as bad either. I’m not sure why manufacturers haven’t figured out to keep the things people like and ditch the crap. Everything to make this work halfway decent is available and I’m certain I probably have all the parts. But for your consumer expecting them to change all this out on a $40 handheld seems like an expensive stretch. The sticks alone are half the cost of the handheld if you don’t go Hall effect.

But what should we truly expect from a $40 handheld? I understand we have been spoiled by a few but the reality is getting something loaded with thousands of retro games for half the price of a current title is kinda a steal (literally). We have been spoiled by the likes of Anbernic and occasionally Powkiddy getting cheap handhelds that out perform our expectations. If SJGAM hadn’t made a couple decent handhelds prior to this I might give them a pass. They have also made more awful devices. There has to be manufacturers that fit right here in this category which right now is kind of SJGAM.

But seeing as SJGAM can make decent handhelds and seem to skip quality control on 2 out of 3 they release I have a hard time recommending the M21 to anyone. The fact is it’s getting harder to recommend any of their handhelds knowing their quality is a game of Russian Roulette. So what I’m trying to articulate is the value is about right in the Retro Handheld market but I’m not even going to let my kids try suffering through getting into a game less play it on the M21.

Have you tried the SJGAM M21 I would love to know your thoughts?

I’ll play with this some more and if there is any changes worth mentioning I’ll come back and admit defeat.

GameOn

CellPhish