Thank you, definitely appreciate the sub and happy it has saved you some time! I actually got this unit to "try" to solve the problem that other reviewers had with it. That and I love the form-factor :)

Very welcome! I try to be quick and direct and add as little "fluff" as I can. I'm also wanting to explore adding additional cores. If you learn of any really cool tips you think should be added to the page, please comment here (or message on FB) and let me know. Really enjoying this unit.

Thank you so much Mark! I hope this video and guide are helpful for you with the A13. I also bought one long after its release and have yet to open the box to it to test. I've had so much come in I just can't keep up. Please let me know how it works on the A13, I have been thinking of doing a quick update video for all the emulation devices I've missed. Thank you also for your kind comments regarding the channel, I appreciate you also!

@@WagnersTechTalk you’re very welcome. I’ll do my best to keep you updated on if the A12 guide works or not. As I understand it, it should. PLEASE do some content on the A13 if you can. I’d love to see it and I’m sure many others would too! Thanks again, sir.

Hi Mark, I know it's been about a year, but I didn't forget our conversation about the A12/A13 and released a video tonight that you may find helpful. You can find it here, if interested: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fsl0pKqYv9PXlX0.html

@@WagnersTechTalk I don’t know how you thought to reply to my comment with this link to your new video, but I appreciate it so much! You’re awesome, my friend.

@@mvanalst2003 I remembered first reading your comment while going through a Burger King drive-through (ours is terribly slow -LOL). After that, I knew at some point I would need to revisit the PK A12/13. There were a few versions of Batocera that were released prior to this, but didn't work very well (memory issues, etc.) I contacted one of the key developers on the Batocera team, shared my experiences and he said in v36 he may be able to make the memory management a bit better. Well, he (Nicolas) did - it's very stable. After making this video, I went back and found your comment and just wanted to let you know about it. I know it took A LONG time, but it really makes the machine so much more useful (minus the 2 caveats mentioned at the beginning). Especially if you want to play games on emulators that the stock microSD doesn't support. I don't forget folks like you that leave such kind and memorable comments. I may not make the video quickly (depending on the situation), but I don't forget and appreciate you! Thank you Mark 😎

You are SO WELCOME Bill! I'm very happy you found it helpful and were able to use it to create your own game list. Kind greetings from the USA!

Very welcome, hope you find it helpful! Got some more ideas I'm experimenting with as well 😃

@@WagnersTechTalk please keep experimenting. This hardware is so good... worth investing sometime and getting it fully customised. Definitely the menu system needs a better look.

Thank you Roy!

Very welcome, thank you for watching! I may check out the CFW as well, I've only had the unit since Wed of last week (unboxed on Sat), so there is much more to try out. I appreciate your request and kind comments.

I think you'd be disappointed with the CFW for this unit. It's still rather incomplete & unstable, battery life is bad & features are broken while using it such as the HDMI out. For me those things are a dealbreaker.

They are great for the price, agreed. They also have an A13 model which folds up that you might be interested in checking out as well.

@@WagnersTechTalk Yeah I saw that, definitely looks neat, although I already have the a12 which is perfectly fine for me. From what I understand I don't think the a13 is much better aside for the more portable design & slightly larger screen.

Ok, wasn't sure if you had the a12 already. The a13 is basically the same machine, just a different shell.

@@WagnersTechTalk Yeah, although I've heard ppl say that the a13 has a nicer display? I thought the a12 had an IPS display but have seen other ppl say that it doesn't?

Thank you and Yes Sir you can! There is also an A13 model that you may find interesting, one of these days I'll get around to reviewing it 😀

Very welcome! Most likely because the games on the A12 (at least mine) were in Chinese and the scraper isn't able to resolve the name of the game/rom file names to identify the game. I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect that is the reason. Using your own game list of rom files will likely be fine. Cheers from Alabama!

It's been a long time since I've reviewed this console. I don't recall if I did or not honestly.

Emulation Station will run on a PC, however I personally have not tried it yet (I always use a Pi). There is a link here to ES running on a PC, at this time I'm not much help beyond that. But, it's on my to-do list to learn it and provide more info: wagnerstechtalk.com/pka12/#Getting_the_Artwork

Among many options, here's a few: the built-in thumbnail downloader in recent version of Retroarch, the one available in Launchbox (even the free version should be enough) or the dedicated Skraper app (yes, spelled with a K) , which is probably the best choice since it's a general purpose scraping UI not tied to any specific emulator/frontend format

Thank you Rich! The full use of RetroArch on this device is not enabled. When you press the back button, that's all that is available. You can't modify any of the emulation settings, unfortunately.

That's a bummer. Thanks for letting me know

@@WagnersTechTalk Man, that is certainly a shame. I can see why ppl would want custom firmware, however it's useless if it's not complete and breaks features of the unit such as HDMI output.

Thank you, happy you enjoyed it! The PKA13 looks like it uses the same type of menu system the scripts above "may" work (I don't have one to test). The A9, which I also don't own, looks like you can just copy your own games to the microSD card in the appropriate folder to play them. In either case, I'd recommend making an image copy of the microSD as shown in this video/page and then try adding your own games. Again, A13 looks like it will work with this script but I've only tried it on the A12. Hope this helps!

@@WagnersTechTalk Sure thing, and it may prove quite useful... Weighing pros and cons, comparing the PKA13 to the Pandora Box DX model, which is clamshell and similar in design... Pandora has it's perks and charms, but sometimes adding your own games, and ability to save games can be hindered. Also costs a good $70-90 more, so the A13 may get the edge there, no doubt. I'm facing a hurdle myself, there's a $20 handheld "FC3000 Family Pocket Handheld", real nice emulation, it's got a sweet look to it, and comes prepackaged with nice icons and images for each game. In the firmware itself, say you want to add a game, you need to change the .xml document I believe, and add each game like "[Virtua Fighter 2=Virtua Fighter 2.png]" and so forth. Fine if I wanted to add a game at a time, but for a bit more compiled list, I wasn't sure if there's any corners to cut, using filenames/game titles, and adding ".png" to the end... It's a passion project, I figure, it's certainly not a $300+ handheld, but most of the time it's not the price I'm looking at... There's videos around, and sure I may be missing any work that's been done on it yet, but still pretty obscure, though favorable device, as most Sega consoles work nicely on it. It can run CPS, FC, GB/C, MD, MS, GG and maybe(?) SG-1000, I'm not sure.. I've bought a few of these things with the sole intention of enhancing the out-of-the-box experience, even if it's simple as updating game art. The DIY scene has been very therapeutic, and exciting to me all these past 2 years, so your work has been invaluable, you run great presentations both on KZfaq and your own site... Experience levels may vary, though you provide many guides "for Dummies/Noobies", so I'm sure the holidays should be very kind to you! I feel soft strife, thinking maybe I am making shopping for me harder, but proof shows greater that persons are more of a gift than anything on Wish or Amazon. 😂😋😁 I'll treat myself, or someone else, but even the upcoming holidays, I'm content, so long as everyone is well and cared for. Your work makes it a lot easier, maybe shopping for "that guy who has everything", or introducing/sharing vintage games with friends and loved ones, but it wouldn't be anything if not for imagination, and heart! So thanks again for sharing the insight, inspiration, laughs and love for gaming, it's been like a rebirth as far as my love for gaming goes.. PS3 and 360 were good fun, but the farther games "advance", the more I can't tell much difference, be it with storylines or polygon counts. Reminiscing is great fun, but discovering games I'd never known, or ones long forgotten, is a sweeter deal than any loot crate or pre-order bonus could provide. Always looking forward to the next video, whatever the topic, it's enlightening and fine as coffee in the morning, some creators "explain" so fast, you're fumbling over the same 5 seconds of a video to see what you'd missed. So cheers, again, keep up the amazing work, and I wish you all well!! Thanks for your help. It's dangerous to go alone. 🤯😂👍🍻

Thank you, I really appreciate it! Always learning and trying new things, don't hesitate to let me know what you do/don't like in any of the videos. If you get the PKA13 and use the scripts, please let me know if it works for you. There are so many devices out there, I can only cover a small percentage of them but have fun trying. I do enjoy the new games, but definitely play Retro games far more than more recent titles. Thank you so much for watching and for your kind comments!

@@WagnersTechTalk A little development, Wicked Gamer & Collector reviewed the PKA13... They opted for "English", over the standard "Engelish", but I'm pretty sure it's a 1:1 firmware copy. 😂 Thanks again, and I'll be happy to try it out, if the day comes. Take care, and hope you and yours have a Happy Thanksgiving!

There will be a game-play video, this one was to focus on creating a game-list in English so you know what the heck you're playing 😃 If I added game play, it would be 30+ minutes long and take away from the main focus of this video. But spoiler alert, I've played every system it supports (some using their roms, some I added) and no major issues. I've created custom game-lists for 5 cores, I do have more to add. I want to curate my game lists a bit more for the next ones rather than dump everything i have to it. Also working on some other interesting ideas to improve the PKA12.

@@WagnersTechTalk 😄 Ok buddy keep up the hard work 👍

How about Engelish? :)

I'm still curious the etymology of "Engelish" ... Have had a couple handhelds with similar options. 😂

There are some Windows utilities as well as using gparted on Raspberry Pi. I have some instructions and links here (for the RG-350) but the same concept: wagnerstechtalk.com/rg350tips/#Expand_Partition

@@WagnersTechTalk thanks man! the DiskGenius works like magic!

I know it's been over a year since you asked this question, but for anyone who needs it I created a common guide here which explains how to backup a microSD/restore to a new one and also expand the partition: wagnerstechtalk.com/common/#Expand_a_Partition It's a bit more detailed and may be more helpful

I don't have an A13 at present, sorry don't know the answer. Happy to hear the program worked on the A13!

@@WagnersTechTalk thanks for your promt reply. I really appreciate it. The A13 is the same software as the A12. Did you figure out a way to remap single games or Neo Geo for the A12?

I didn't have a need to remap the buttons on the A12, sorry don't have anymore info on that. My focus was on creating custom game lists which was a big issue on the A12 since most games were in Chinese 😀

@@WagnersTechTalk no problems. thanks for all your hard work. you've made this system really usable.

Hi Alan, it's been awhile I know. But released a recent video on the PK A12/A13 that you may enjoy. You can find it here, if interested: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fsl0pKqYv9PXlX0.html

Thank you, definitely will check it out! I did notice the RG552, but totally missed the A12/13.

@@WagnersTechTalk The A12/13 version also worked on my Coolbaby RS18 (same stock OS and UI, chipset I guess) but had some issues. Couldnt get ps1 to run (can with default OS) and even had issues with some of the lower end systems. In the end I just went back to original OS But ofcourse it may work just fine on the a12 and 13. Had folders for dreamcast and psp.. Cant imagine that device running those very well though. Im sure you'll give a test in anycase.

Batocera 34 on A12/13 is a little unstable. At least its what I have noticed. Need many restarts as games simply don't load after a while. A bit of a pain. Batocera also pretty sluggish overall even with stock theme.

@@berva Yeah, Id imagine it would be a little laggy in the UI. The A12/13 version also works on the Coolbaby RS18 but also laggy. (Tested) Id guess it may also work on the X2. But it does at least give you more options to run additional emulators.

@@fonzitheman the bigger problem is that when you exit a game in batocera the next game might not work. It's like the core in retroarch is not shutting down correctly. Only way I have managed to get things going again is a full reboot.

I don't know of any images to download, you can reach out to Powkiddy here: powkiddy@163.com (found on their website : powkiddy.com/pages/about-powkiddy )

Thanks man! you by chance do not have a backup image of yours?

Definitely seeing artwork for MD here: \settings es\MD\pic , maybe you're looking in the wrong folder? 28 .png files, created long before my video from Sept. 2020. Here's the full list: Directory of D:\settings es\MD\pic 08/02/2020 02:11 PM . 08/02/2020 02:11 PM .. 05/04/2020 11:39 AM 150,260 Aero the Acro-Bat 2.png 05/04/2020 11:39 AM 123,412 Alien 3.png 05/04/2020 11:40 AM 85,975 Alien Soldier.png 05/04/2020 11:40 AM 111,816 Altered Beast.png 05/04/2020 11:40 AM 88,543 Boogerman - A Pick and Flick Adventure.png 05/04/2020 11:40 AM 84,222 Castlevania Bloodlines.png 05/04/2020 11:40 AM 87,960 Dai Makaimura.png 05/04/2020 11:40 AM 96,414 Doraemon.png 05/04/2020 11:40 AM 136,658 Dynamite Headdy.png 05/04/2020 11:41 AM 109,038 Escape From Mars Starring Taz.png 05/04/2020 11:41 AM 208,646 Joe and Mac Caveman Ninja.png 05/04/2020 11:41 AM 164,079 JuJu Densetsu.png 05/04/2020 11:41 AM 61,543 Kujaku Ou 2.png 05/04/2020 11:41 AM 76,622 Mega Turrican.png 05/04/2020 11:41 AM 81,070 Mick and Mack as the Global Gladiators.png 05/04/2020 11:42 AM 135,606 Midnight Resistance.png 05/04/2020 11:42 AM 60,407 Rainbow Islands Extra.png 05/04/2020 11:42 AM 67,151 Risky Woods.png 05/04/2020 11:42 AM 128,513 Ristar The Shooting Star.png 05/04/2020 11:42 AM 66,388 Robocop Vs The Terminator.png 05/04/2020 11:42 AM 158,331 Rocket Knight Adventures.png 05/04/2020 11:43 AM 142,680 SONIC and KNUCKLES 3.png 05/04/2020 11:43 AM 87,997 Splatterhouse 3.png 05/04/2020 11:43 AM 93,066 Strider Hiryuu.png 05/04/2020 11:43 AM 94,446 Sunset Riders.png 05/04/2020 11:43 AM 115,642 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.png 05/04/2020 11:43 AM 148,355 Toejam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron.png 05/04/2020 11:44 AM 146,140 Two Crude Dudes.png 28 File(s) 3,110,980 bytes 2 Dir(s) 19,582,124,032 bytes free

@@WagnersTechTalk your pics list identical with the both SDs Card from the Seller! BUT: The MD Games are in chinese and extracted they are numbered .... (romname equals Picturename?... i don't think so). The Game names for MD are different on the card. The game on the seller card are not: like this: "095 Altered Beast.bin" My Custom SD: game\MD\Sonic - Autumn Mix.md settings es\pic\Sonic - Autumn Mix.png Works for any other system too! I could try to rename roms from md to bin or zip them....maybe then works the last system folder that won't. What do you think?

Also, it's the game_strings_en.xml or in your case the game_strings_ch.xml that has the game names (in Chinese). If you're seeing artwork but the text is Chinese, that's the reason for this utility: wagnerstechtalk.com/pka12/#Building_your_Custom_Game_List . To allow you to easily generate your own game list. Hope this helps, I may not 100% understand the issue.

@@WagnersTechTalk I did'nt want to install python! So i wrote my own listgenerator in VBS for Arcade and for consoles a Batch script to rename and clean file listing. I translate mame names directly with the script from an extracted xml/txtfile from the emulator. Works all fine... im good. But for this problem...it's no listing problem. It's the same on both seller cards. And my custom card like you told me (128gb) is full of custom roms and working images...... The Preview images for MD are the same like yours. The Roms for MD are different. This is understandable that it won't work! But for custom: only MD won't show me a preview...it's strange (Firmware is also "ENGELISH")

I think the images you mentioned shouldn't go to \settings es\pic\Sonic - Autumn Mix.png but instead \settings es\MD\pic\Sonic - Autumn Mix.png from your example. You could try a .zip version of the game, but I don't think it will matter. Are all other systems working except MD?

The microSD card should have the directories shown in this video. If not, you'll have to contact the seller, I'm not able to provide an image of it as it includes games.

Did you copy the games based on this wagnerstechtalk.com/pka12/#Copying_the_Files_to_the_Powkiddy_A12 . Not sure exactly what you're saying. did you generate the game list? If you generated the game_strings_en.xml and copied it to the appropriate \settings es\FC\string sub folder, then copied your games (Roms) to the \game\FC sub folder you should see the list of games in English. Selecting one would then launch the associated rom. Keep in mind, after it generates the .xml file, it also renames/copies the renamed roms to the \ConvertedGameNames folder (where the command is run). Those are the games you copy to the \game\FC sub folder. Hope that helps!

I'm working on getting one for review, my "guess" is yes it should. But won't know for sure until I (or someone else) gives it a try.

Tried it on my a13 - and it worked - have been able to add crash bandicoot which worked ok - but other arcade roms don't seem to be supported..

@@danielroach5415 hey thanks for the input.. too bad compatibility is low. Maybe it is your Romset version?

@@Guitario666 strangely just putting the zip files in a new folder on the card, and running it through the "files" section worked fine!

I'm not near the machine, but check the file type on your original microSD in the PS sub folder that held a few games. That same file type(s) should work for you.

@@WagnersTechTalk Yeah, tried all that. Tried basically every format you can get them in and none are supported.

After it’s run, you’ll notice it created one or two folders in the same directory where the genGamelist.py was run. These folders are ConvertedGameNames and GameImages. Also, you’ll notice a file that was created called game_strings_en.xml. All of these artifacts will now need to be copied to the microSD card on your Powkiddy A12.

@@WagnersTechTalk Thank you Sir, got it all sorted now.

Just the emulators you see from the menu is all it supports. However, a few months ago I did find that Batocera .34 was released and installed it on this machine. While it "mostly" worked, it would sometimes stop launching games every so often. I think there was a memory leak or something similar. It may be fixed in .35, haven't tried it yet.

@@WagnersTechTalk Yeah, the current custom firmwares are still a bit broken & none support HDMI out I don't believe, which is a complete dealbreaker for me. While I know it's free & all which is nice, I'm not really a fan of half assed CFW releases that are half done. I'd prefer that more ppl who work on those just wait til they're finished to release them. I'm fine with the supported emulators tho, that's not really what I was asking. Sega CD & PC Engine CD would of course work thru the standard Genesis & PC Engine emulators, figured that was a given. CD games are not going to have their own emulator. Was just wondering if they did indeed work in those standard emulators.

It has it's own custom firmware with a a limited version of RetroArch. AFAIK, no way of adding either without removing the A12 PCB and some custom mod with a RPi4.

Yeah, it's a bit of a pain having to update the .xml file and why I created the python code to generate it. However, see my prior reply regarding batocera.

@@WagnersTechTalk Thanks a ton for creating that for us by the way!

Very welcome 🙏

Haven't tried that, it might work or it might not. Making an image backup was the guaranteed way to make it work so I went with that. But, you do bring up a good point worth investigating!

Tried this it doesn’t work. You need to flash the sd card from the back up.. however whatever size of the flashed sd card will become 32gb.. not really sure how to expand it. Cause In retropie theres way to expand.

@@MrLennon50131The SD needs to be formatted to FAT32, Win10 can only do FAT32ex, a different format on a 64 GB card. You may need to download software to format the (64 GB) SD card. I think you can drag across the original files that way, from old to new card via PC.

@@MrLennon50131 Hi. This has happened to me. A 128g card became a 30gb and has no space for other games. Did you find out how to keep the disc space by any chance?

@@timmytimkins4379 Diskgenius.

The first image is a copy of the contents on the microSD that the A12 shipped with.

@@WagnersTechTalk Yeah, I tried doing exactly what you did but the disk imager program couldn't find anything because there wasn't an image to find...am I supposed to first make an image of the contents of the Micro SD?

Not sure if you've seen this, but I documented everything I did here: wagnerstechtalk.com/pka12 . Not sure what you mean by there wasn't an image to find, if you installed it into a SD Reader it should locate it and allow you to make an image backup. Can you browse the contents of the microSD? If so, there is definitely an image there. Just need to check whatever you're using to read the microSD.

@@WagnersTechTalk Yeah, I can browse the Micro SD's contents, but it's just the folders...no disc image of any kind.

Yep, that's all it is just folders with files. When you make a backup "image" (see web page above), that creates the image file which is a backup of those files+folders that you're seeing now. Make more sense now?

Perhaps you missed the commands to run here: wagnerstechtalk.com/pka12/#Prerequisites ?

@@WagnersTechTalk my god I had the same problem.... I am a little challenged when it come to technical terms on PC.. when you say Open a command-window/terminal I was looking for it in python folder for like 20 min. but I eventually realized it was on CMD. It took me in total of 4 days to get me a proper working list for my GBA and it was great fun thank you Wagner.

If you need step-by-step instructions, you can find them on my common task guide here for both the backup, restore and resizing of the card: wagnerstechtalk.com/common/#Backup_Clone_a_Drive

@@WagnersTechTalk thanks but that's where I just came from. You basically just mirror what you said and showed in the video. I must not be understanding something... besides Win32img not seeing an image file on the SD... I'm also not sure where it would be putting the read image file to. As I haven't been asked for a destination folder or path or anything. Irrelevant as like I said the image app doesn't see an image file to read from the SD... SD works normally on my PKA12 though...🤷🏻‍♂️ Just can't make a backup. It's a crummy time to be asking for help so feel free to ignore...

You're creating an image file when you select the READ button with your original microSD inserted into the computer (the one that came with the A12/A13, etc). When you do, it reads the contents of the microSD and saves the contents to the file name you gave it. Then, when you remove the original A12 microSD, insert your destination microSD card (new card you'll be using), you select the filename during the read/backup and then WRITE (button) it to the new microSD. Hope this makes it clear :) Happy New Year!

@@WagnersTechTalk Have a good one...but it claims there's no image file on the card...😁 If I'm supposed to be CREATING an image file, then why would win32img claim there's no image file in the target path when I click the read button...

To create a backup, it needs to know where to put the info. that it's "READING". Give the backup a filename(.img), put it somewhere on your computer, READ the backup (from the source microSD). Once that's done, remove the original microSD. Insert the destination (NEW) microSD, make sure you select the .img file that you just backed up and then WRITE that image to the new microSD.