{"id":1040,"date":"2026-01-24T04:16:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/24\/retro-handheld-maker-anbernic-has-a-new-gamepad-with-a-screen-and-heart-rate-sensor\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T04:16:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:16:51","slug":"retro-handheld-maker-anbernic-has-a-new-gamepad-with-a-screen-and-heart-rate-sensor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/24\/retro-handheld-maker-anbernic-has-a-new-gamepad-with-a-screen-and-heart-rate-sensor\/","title":{"rendered":"Retro handheld maker Anbernic has a new gamepad with a screen and heart rate sensor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>File this one under &#8220;Things that make you go, &#8216;Hmmm\u2026'&#8221; <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/gaming\/you-can-now-buy-anbernics-budget-ds-clone-but-dont-get-your-hopes-up-for-3ds-emulation-183140820.html\" data-i13n=\"cpos:1;pos:1\">Retro handheld maker Anbernic<\/a> is <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/anbernic_china\/status\/2014674553310769376\" data-i13n=\"cpos:2;pos:1\">launching<\/a> a new controller with a screen. But unlike Nintendo&#8217;s Wii U controller, there&#8217;s no second-screen gaming capability here. Instead, the display is designed to &#8220;make customization intuitive and effortless.&#8221; Oh, and the controller also has a heart rate sensor. Because, hey, if you&#8217;re going weird, I say fully commit!<\/p>\n<p>The Anbernic RG G01 has a 2.5-inch HD display that the company describes as an &#8220;HD smart screen.&#8221; The idea is to remap buttons, program macros and change other settings without requiring software on a connected device.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/gamepad_2.jpg\" data-crop-orig-src=\"https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/gamepad_2.jpg\" alt=\"A person's hands holding a gamepad that has a screen on it. It shows their heart rate.\" data-uuid=\"013cbf2f-f769-4e75-82fe-d17901116611\" \/><figcaption>You, too, can monitor your heart rate while gaming.<\/figcaption><div class=\"photo-credit\">Anbernic<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, Anbernic says the heart rate detection helps you &#8220;monitor your well-being during intense sessions.&#8221; I would hope that folks with heart conditions would use something other than a gamepad to monitor their pulse. And I don\u2019t know why anyone else would be worried about that while gaming. (Too many Red Bulls?) Regardless, Anbernic seems to be leaning into the novelty \/ curiosity space here, so at least it fits the motif.<\/p>\n<p>The RG G01 connects in three ways: Bluetooth 5.0, 2.4Ghz wireless and over a wire. It supports onboard calibration for the triggers, joystick and 6-axis gyroscope. There are four programmable buttons (including macro support) on the backside. The company promises a 1,000Hz polling rate in wired and wireless modes. The gamepad is compatible with PC, Switch, Android and iOS.<\/p>\n<p>We don&#8217;t yet know when this glorious oddity will arrive, other than &#8220;coming soon.&#8221; We also don&#8217;t know how much it will cost. But you can watch the launch video below and see if it&#8217;s your type of strange.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Engadget at https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/gaming\/retro-handheld-maker-anbernic-has-a-new-gamepad-with-a-screen-and-heart-rate-sensor-201651899.html?src=rss<\/p><p>Please credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/obagg.com\">OBA Blog<\/a> &raquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/24\/retro-handheld-maker-anbernic-has-a-new-gamepad-with-a-screen-and-heart-rate-sensor\/\">Retro handheld maker Anbernic has a new gamepad with a screen and heart rate sensor<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>File this one under &#8220;Things that make you go, &#8216;Hmmm\u2026&#8217;&#8221; Retro handheld maker Anbernic is launching a new controller with a screen. But unlike Nintendo&#8217;s Wii U controller, there&#8217;s no second-screen gaming capability here. Instead, the display is designed to &#8220;make customization intuitive and effortless.&#8221; Oh, and the controller also has a heart rate sensor. Because, hey, if you&#8217;re going weird, I say fully commit! The Anbernic RG G01 has a 2.5-inch HD display that the company describes as an &#8220;HD smart screen.&#8221; The idea is to remap buttons, program macros and change other settings without requiring software on a connected device. You, too, can monitor your heart rate while gaming.Anbernic Meanwhile, Anbernic says the heart rate detection helps you &#8220;monitor your well-being during intense [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-share"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/obagg.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}