ARCADORA Pandora SAGA Arcade Game Console 3D Games 6800

 

I’ve ran MAME on a PC for many years, but it never felt the same playing it on a computer with a keyboard compared to the fond memories of being down the arcade as a kid. I was a little skeptical at first, especially as there are a lot of fake boxes claiming to be a SAGA EX2, when they aren’t and this claims to be a 3A box, but they don’t make SAGA EX2, it’s by PSA!

However, this is the real deal, it’s a PSA dual board SAGA EX2, with a Cortex A9 – Quad Core 2.0GHz CPU with a MALI 450-MP8, making it currently the best performing Pandora Box on the market, beating the latest version from 3A which is the Pandora Box EX, which has a Cortex A55 2. 0GHz & MALI-G31 MP2.

Apparently although the 3A’s EX has more powerful hardware, it seems to under perform and the Cortex A9 (18s / SAGA / EX2) are the ones to buy currently.

I love the form factor of the dual controls in one unit, it makes it more of an intimate experience when playing with another person, just like it was in the old days of the arcade, literally rubbing shoulders with your opponent as you battle.

The box itself is of standard build quality, and the buttons and joypad feel sturdy and responsive.

The system is plug and play with tonnes of classic arcade games pre-loaded on a 64GB SD card.

What I love about Pandora is the fact it doesn’t just play old 80’s arcade games via MAME, but plays Nintendo NES / SNES & N64 games, Game Genie, Turbo Grafx, Sega Mega Drive (Genisis), Saturn & Dreamcast, it even plays PlayStation games, it’s literally a one-stop arcade console that is going to provide years of fun.

I have already purchased a 128GB SD card and will be copying the games over doubling the available space so I can add more of my favourite games, some of which I have already done as a test, so now have PlayStation’s Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 & 2 (N64 version buttons don’t work – as other reviewer mentioned – so installed the PS version!), I also now have Grand Theft Auto 2 & Resident Evil 2.

The only complaint I have is there are no button identifiers and the manual is wrong, as it seems A/B/C are on top row, so I’m going to have to work out what buttons are what and label them myself (not found the customise button feature yet!).

Also when installing a new game, it’s a bit of a pain having to create install files and XML files and renaming files to meet the format requirements and when installing a new game is says “Installing null”, yet the game then loads and plays fine, so not sure if I’m doing something wrong or it’s a bug in the installer.

EDIT: (I wasn’t creating the XML fully, now it shows the name of game being installed 🙂 )

All in all I’m very happy, especially when considering the price paid as well as getting Amazon Prime delivery and buyer protection. I’ve looked, and I’d struggle to purchase all the components from AliExpress and put them together myself for the same price, let alone the weeks I’d have to wait for delivery and then the ball ache if things go wrong.

So if you want the latest arcade console, for a decent price with amazon buyer protection, you can’t go wrong with this one!