V90 Miyoo CFW: You've Got a Perfectly Good Clamshell at Home

Many, including ourselves, have dubbed 2024 the "Year of the Clamshell" if you've followed the news in the vintage handhelds sector this year. We should take time to appreciate the clamshell we currently have as the resilient little handheld it could be before going all in on the impending Miyoo Flip or Anbernic RG35XX SP.

The Powkiddy V90, which has been a fun and affordable alternative for a few years, has some life left in it, as demonstrated by the new MiyooCFW 2.0. Let's now examine the community's efforts to extract as much value as possible from this value clamshell.

The only reason I bought my V90 was because it was a clamshell, and the entry fee was just about $35 during a deal. One may now be purchased for less than USD 25. Folks, this is worth it. This is an everyday driver, not the car you keep immaculately maintained in the garage. Even if the 15-year-old beater isn't very attractive, it has personality and has always been able to get you where you're going.

Compared to the price tags on some of the more recent high-end devices, accepting a minor loss if the v90 is lost or damaged is much simpler because you can carry it in your pocket when you're out and about. However, a premium feel was never intended for the V90. It's just pleasant. Everything about it feels like it's punching far above its e-waste class, and the controls and feel are solid, considering the entry-level cost.

The CFW

You know emulator handhelds are frequently only as good as the community developers who support them. Fortunately, some still believe in the V90 and are far more intelligent than I am.

You can download the firmware beta version 2.0 from Github. The release page describes all of the firmware's functional and attractive features.

To write the image file to your device's SD card, flash it using software like Rasberry Pi Imager or Balena Etcher. As with most handhelds, I recommend purchasing something from a reputable manufacturer for your peace of mind because the cards that come with the gadget are pretty subpar. You do not want to spend a lot of effort building a game library only to lose all of it due to data corruption. For affordable storage choices, watch our Deals of the Week.

Reinstall the SD card in the device after flashing. The Miyoo flash screen and a setup menu ought to appear. When the menus prompt you to verify the device you use with the firmware, you should undoubtedly affirm that you are using the V90. The gadget will proceed to configure everything for you after you accept some license details from the developers. You will know everything has been successfully installed when you see the green scrolling Miyoo CFW loading screen, similar to the original Game Boy.

All you have to do next is transfer your Rom collection to the SD card. The now-supported FTP and SSH transfer protocols are only two of the ways you can accomplish this. The simplest method I've found for a Windows computer is to connect the card and device to your computer using USB-C, then move the games to the SD card's primary partition's Roms folder. The boot partition would be the only thing visible if you plugged the SD card straight into a Windows computer, and that isn't where you want to store your games. The /leading/roms/ directory is where you should go and dump everything.

Game On!

Once your V90 is loaded with your preferred games, all you have to do is play them. Although PSX is feasible, the experience is inconsistent, so try different things and find what suits you. In the 16-bit and previous eras, this gadget excelled. Since this is an SP clone, the GBA is a pleasure to use on the console, and the firmware is primarily responsible for this fantastic tiny screen's functionality.

Don't think of this gadget as another item to be tampered with and returned to the shelf. With enough personality to make you fall in love, the V90 is a capable alternative for playing your favorite retro games on the road due to the diligent efforts of community developers.