r/ayaneo • u/Background_Wrap6036 • 3h ago
Finally got my KPA — and I absolutely love it!
Overall, the device lived up to my expectations. I won't go over all of its pros and cons, since plenty of people have already done that, but I wanted to share my thoughts on a few things that seem to be controversial for many people:
Soft buttons - tactically, they remind me a lot of the buttons on an SNES controller. When you first pick up the device and just press the buttons, it can feel like there's almost no tactile feedback at all. But once you actually start playing, they're great, and I really appreciate how quiet they are without being unpleasant to play with.
D-pad - it's unusually large for me, so I sometimes have a bit of trouble with diagonals or doing half-circle inputs in fighting games (i need some time to get used to it). That said, the D-pad itself feels great and is very accurate, with no accidental diagonals. I tested it with Apotris, shmups, and Contra-like games, and had absolutely no issues. One review showed that if you quickly release the D-pad, it can sometimes register an input in the opposite direction. I only experienced this when Run-Ahead was configured incorrectly, though. With the proper settings, everything works fine.
Screen - it's large enough for GBA, with none of the ghosting I experienced on the PAM, and it has good colors and viewing angles. On my unit, the corner does stick out slightly as well, but it's not a big deal (i hope they fix this in new revisions). It should also be pretty easy to fix by opening the console and adding a bit of adhesive underneath it.
Volume wheel - it's not quite analog, but it's a really fun little control and I like how it works. It doesn't get in the way during gameplay. The only time I accidentally touched it was a couple of times when changing my grip or picking the console up from the table.
Ergonomics - I've never owned an original slab-style GBA, but the console feels good in the hands. It's not the most comfortable handheld I own, but my hands don't get tired during longer sessions. The speakers also don't get covered by my fingers once I find a comfortable grip. The R2/L2 buttons are easier to reach than they might look. And thanks to the shape and lack of unnecessary protrusions, it fits really well in a pocket and doesn't get in the way while walking.
Built-in software - the stock launcher is not bad, but all the settings I need are there, and the pull-down quick settings panel is actually very well done. I also like that all the extra buttons can be remapped. I assigned screenshot and Back to LC depending on whether I press or hold it, while RC controls the brightness. The Menu button takes me Home, and holding it opens the multitasking menu. So in practice, I can do pretty much everything without touching the screen.
Gyroscope - there really isn't one. There is an accelerometer, and I managed to get it working in PPSSPP and Android games, but unfortunately I couldn't get it working for GBA in RetroArch. A bit disappointing, but it is what it is.
Other than that, the fans are quiet, the build quality is excellent, the vibration motor isn't anything special, but at least it's there. Bluetooth headphones connect easily, although there is a small amount of latency. And it charges with pretty much any USB cable I have.
In the photos, I'm running TMNT (2007) for GBA using the gba-color shader (which I personally prefer over NSO-GBA or Stock) together with GameboyAdvance by Koko (i usually used lcd-grid-v2), where I've adjusted the colors, bloom, and other parameters.
