Powkiddy Y6 GameStick Review

When Gogamegeek offered to send me the GameStick Y6, I was a little apprehensive due to similar products on the market that, let’s just say, left me a little underwhelmed. I was a little worried that I would yet again be disappointed. But I can honestly say that I am pretty impressed with what the Y6 has to offer fter my time testing it out.

Powkiddy are better known for their gaming handhelds, of which I have tested and reviewed quite a few over the past few years. So, I was really surprised when Gogamegeek contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in this HDMI dongle that promises to turn any big or small screen into a retro gaming device within seconds.

The Y6 is powered by an Amlogic S905X2 processor with a four ARM Cortex-A53 1.8 GHz core and 1GB of RAM. The Y6 also comes with 8GB of internal storage, which might not sound like much, but the one Gogamegeek sent me also came with a 64GB SD card crammed with over 10,000 games.

Whilst on paper the Y6 may not be the most powerful retro gaming device on the market, even though Powkiddy claims that the dongle will play games up to N64, PSP, and even the Nintendo GameCube, I’m pretty certain it will not be able to play GameCube (unfortunately, the card supplied by Gogamegeek did not include GameCube games).

However, don’t be downhearted as what it can play, including PSP, the Y6 does extremely well. In fact, I was so impressed by what it could play that I often sat with a smile on my face in disbelief that such a small device could play this well whilst I sat in my motor-home on a short trip away.

The Y6 comes pre-installed with the EmuELEC operating system, which for all those readers who are familiar with the OS, will know how well it runs. The front end is very easy to navigate and use and really is pick-up and play with no setting up needed, unless you want to tinker around with things. It actually reminded me of a Pandora’s Box front end, which has tabs for listing the games, platforms and search function.

The Y6 also has a very easy game saving feature when you press the Start and Select button on the controller. The two controllers that come with the Y6 are your average PS look-alike controllers, which connect to the Y6 via the included Bluetooth dongle. They aren’t great, but they do the job.

The Powkiddy Y6 GameStick is selling for $49.98 at Gogamegeek’s website, which considering that you get 2x controllers, Dongle and 1x Bluetooth adaptor (also includes power cable), is an extraordinarily good value.

I 100% recommend buying this, even for a little stocking-filler for the kids (or adults). It’s not perfect, and some games do stutter a little, but most of the time, it plays great….grab one while you can!!

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