It felt like an eternity, but it’s finally here. My Ayn Thor Pro arrived and holy hell this thing is incredible. If you’re not familiar, the Ayn Thor is a dual-screen Android handheld made by Ayn. This is the same company behind the Odin series of devices, if you’re into retro handhelds. The design is obviously inspired by the Nintendo 3DS, but it packs considerably more power under the hood. Demand has been high enough that it’s pre-order only and after waiting two months for it to arrive, finally getting a hold of this thing feels earned. I’ve never actually owned a Nintendo 3DS. I did borrow my brother’s Nintendo 3DS XL for an extended period at one point, but it mostly ended up collecting dust on my desk. I owned a Nintendo DSi XL with an R4 cart for a while, but like so many of my devices from that era it eventually got hocked. My Thor actually arrived right in the middle of Wii’re Going Back, so I’ve had to exercise some self control and wait for May to be finished before fully diving in.
Without further adieu, here we go…
The Ayn Thor doesn’t come cheap, especially once you get into the higher spec models. Even the box and packaging has a premium feel, which is always a good sign out of the gate. Picking the device up, it’s noticeably larger and heavier than a Nintendo 3DS or 3DS XL, in a good way. I dunno about you, but I’m a little sick of how incredibly slim and sleek everything has to be these days. That might be a bit ‘old man yells at cloud‘, but I’ll happily take the extra heft in my devices if it means a bigger battery or extra features I’ll actually use. The Thor’s clamshell design makes it genuinely pocketable, depending on what you’re wearing, which is no small feat for something this capable. The plastic construction with the all-glass front looks and feels unreal. One of the more common complaints is the reflective front glass and while I agree plastic might have been a more practical choice, it hasn’t really bothered me and I reckon the issue has been blown a little out of proportion. The face buttons carry that same premium feel and while the recessed sticks are somewhat small, they feel solid and built to withstand some punishment. The buttons, triggers and ports all feel like they’ve been placed exactly where you’d want them, maybe with the exception of the USB-C port although it hasn’t really caused me any issues. It clearly resembles the 3DS, but it doesn’t feel like an imitation. Ayn really nailed the look and feel here.
It looks and feels great, but what can this thing actually do? The short answer is: a lot. All your older systems are a complete non-issue. Naturally, I fired up NHL ’96 on the Sega Mega Drive within a few minutes, as is tradition. Everything from Atari through to PS2 and GameCube runs incredibly well, with very little tweaking required. Nintendo Switch handles great too, with most hiccups seeming to be emulator-side issues rather than limitations of the hardware, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is definitely no slouch. Nintendo DS and 3DS emulation are clearly huge selling points and both upscale beautifully across those dual OLED screens. I’ve been reading up on high resolution texture packs as well, which I’m keen to dig into at a later date. PC emulation is a huge deal on the Thor too. Apps like GameNative and GameHub make it more accessible than you’d probably expect. I haven’t gone too deep into that side of things just yet, but it’s definitely on the list. Especially with Steam cloud saves. For now, I’m kicking off my first playthrough of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and I’m having an absolute blast with it.
Taking the Thor out of the box, it’s essentially a blank canvas running Android. There’s a handful of Ayn-specific software included to tweak things like controls and adjusting preferences, but beyond that it’ll function like a standard install of Android. You could absolutely just leave it that way too… if you’re some kind of savage. I think most people prefer a frontend to give it a proper console-like experience and there’s a few worth knowing about. Please be aware, all of these frontends will require some manual setup. Cocoon is my top pick, it’s a highly customisable emulation frontend built specifically with dual-screen devices like the Thor in mind. Once you’ve got Cocoon set up, it actually feels like you’re using a dedicated handheld console. ES-DE will be immediately familiar to anyone who’s owned a retro handheld before. It’s a paid option on Android, but I’ll never not recommend it and it works well alongside its companion app on the bottom screen. There’s also iiSU, a community-driven frontend that’s heavily focused on presentation. It’s currently still in alpha, but it’s definitely one to keep an eye on. All three are worth a look, but I’m currently enjoying Cocoon and I can’t recommend it enough on the Thor.
There’s a few official accessories available for the Thor direct from Ayn and I picked up a handful of them. The carry case is great and the Thor fits snugly whether the grip is attached or not. Fair warning though, as the community were quick to point out, it has a distinct plasticky smell. I’m sure it’ll air out eventually, but it’s definitely worth knowing about. The tempered glass screen protectors for both displays are well worth grabbing too, I didn’t really find them too fiddly to apply either. Just take your time. The TPU grip feels nice in the hand, it’s soft with a slight texture to it and slots neatly onto the bottom of the device. One thing worth noting, if you haven’t applied the bottom screen protector perfectly the TPU grip WILL lift it up. I found that out the hard way and had to reapply mine. It’s a decent grip, but it definitely runs a little small. I’ve got medium to large sized hands and found myself wanting a little more to hang onto. I’ve since ordered a third party option. ProtoPrintLab on Etsy make a much larger grip that comes bundled with a stylus that can be stored in the grip itself and I’m pretty keen to give it a crack. I’m still waiting for it to arrive, so I’ll report back at a later date.
Well, for a first impressions post this one definitely got away from me a little. The Ayn Thor Pro gave me plenty to talk about, so hopefully that tells you something. I haven’t had nearly enough time with it to give it a proper verdict just yet. That’ll come in the full review. I definitely went in with some pretty high expectations after months of waiting and reading up on it. Somehow, it still managed to exceeded them. The build quality is absolutely there, the dual OLED screens are incredible, the performance is unreal and the community getting around this device is one of the best around. There’s still heaps more to dig into here. PC emulation, new accessories when they arrive, more time with Cocoon and the other frontends and whatever rabbit holes these dual screens open up that I haven’t even discovered yet. If you’re on the fence about pulling the trigger on an Ayn Thor, I’d say stay tuned. Then again, probably just go buy one. They’re currently pre-order only, so you’ll be looking at about two months before it shows up anyway.
Where to Buy an Ayn Thor:
There’s only two options on where to buy an Ayn Thor new.
1. Ayn’s Official AliExpress Store
2. Ayn’s Official Website
Note: Ayn’s Official AliExpress store is currently running a sale.
The only real difference purchasing on AliExpress will be that you’ll need to extend the delivery date as this is a pre-order. To do this:
- Login to your AliExpress account and navigate to ‘My Orders’
- Select your Ayn Thor order
- Select ‘Extend Delivery Time’ or ‘Extend Processing Time’
- Enter how long you want to add, I’d suggest going with the maximum available.
Extending the delivery or processing time doesn’t mean your Thor will take that long to arrive. It simply gives Ayn enough time to build and ship your order before AliExpress automatically closes it out per their policy.
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