Impressions: Mante GBA Cartridge Handheld

Happy Mid-Autumn, everyone 🎑!

This time I got my hands on a rather unusual handheld. The community calls it the “underwear machine,” because the thing is shaped like a pair of briefs.

What makes it special is that it takes actual GBA game cartridges, and the design is clearly a bit of a nod to the GBA.

It’s quite cheap — under 280 yuan. I don’t know what the processor is; probably a Rockchip. The OS is a heavily customized Linux. The biggest visual highlight is the front panel: a single piece of glass, and it looks genuinely nice.

Sadly, that’s where the good parts end.

First, the cartridge slot. I assumed it was hardware-emulating the GBA, but once it arrived I saw it’s software — it dumps the cart contents first, then runs them in an emulator. So why not just use an emulator directly? It loads faster too. Was the cart slot built purely to take your pants off to fart?

Next, the buttons. I can only say they’re bad. Terrible. Utterly finished. The D-pad rubs against the shell, and diagonal inputs get dropped. Anything remotely intense is out of the question — forget fighting games, I doubt it can even handle a shmup.

Then the screen. Officially it’s a “high color gamut” panel, 7500K cool temperature. To my eye it’s blinding. No idea what other users say.

Sure, it’s very cheap, but the godawful buttons, the blue-tinted screen, and that pants-off-to-fart cartridge feature mean that even at 280 yuan it loses to the ~100-yuan R36S or Powkiddy stuff. Verdict: not worth buying. I’ve already returned mine.

That’s it.