[Sarah J]

Quick question about the Qinux BittOne. If I’m in the middle of a game and have to stop, can I just pause it and come back later, or do I lose progress? I know some retro handhelds have save states but I’m not sure if this one does. I usually play in short bursts so this would be handy. Thanks!

[MeryVip]

Save states are the main reason I stick with handhelds for short sessions, so I get the concern. I have a habit of pausing mid level and coming back hours later, and it usually holds fine as long as the battery doesn’t die on me. That part is on me for forgetting to charge it though.

[Ella Voss]

Save states on these things are usually hit or miss, and I wouldn’t assume the BittOne handles them well just because it’s an emulation handheld. Mine lost a state once after the battery got low, so pausing and walking away isn’t something I’d trust for long breaks. Fine for a quick stop, not for days.

[Lisa Bass]

I don’t think pausing mid game is going to hold your spot on this one. Mine starts back at the title screen if I leave it sitting too long. Save states are the only thing that actually works for me.

[Kelly Sun]

Mine actually does keep the spot if I hit the power button instead of just leaving it sitting. Came back a few hours later and it picked up right where I was, so pausing alone isn’t the whole story. Might depend on the emulator though, I’ve only really tried it with the older platformers.

[Dani Moon]

Mine doesn’t really hold a pause if you just leave it sitting, but shutting it down mid game and coming back worked fine for me. Not exactly a save state, more like it just remembers where you were.

[Old Dave]

I went into this thing thinking the pause would be like a real console where you hit start and it just sits there waiting. That lasted about a week before I stopped trusting it.

What I ended up doing is just treating the power button as my pause. I shut it down mid game, come back the next day, and it drops me right back where I was. Not every game, mind you, but the ones I actually play do it fine. So my opinion shifted from “this thing needs a proper pause” to “eh, close enough, I’ll take it.”

Where it falls apart for me is when I leave it sitting on the pause screen and walk off. I’ve come back after maybe an hour and it was still there once, other times it wasn’t. There’s no consistency, so I quit relying on it. Doesn’t bug me the way it used to though. Once I changed how I use it, the whole complaint kind of went away.

If you’re doing short bursts like you said, the shutdown thing will probably cover you. Just don’t expect the pause button to be a real pause, because it isn’t. Took me a while to stop being annoyed about that and just work around it.

[techguy22]

Pause is the wrong thing to rely on here. I messed around with one of these emulation handhelds last year and treated it like my old Game Boy, just hit pause and set it down on the couch. Came back after dinner and the thing had gone to sleep on its own and booted me out to the menu. Progress gone. Learned pretty quick that “pause” on these devices is not the same as a real console pause.

What actually worked for me was the save feature inside the emulator itself, not the pause button. Most of the emulators on this kind of handheld have a save state option buried in the menu, and if you use that before you put it down, you can pick up right where you left off. It’s one extra button press but it solves the whole problem. I got in the habit of doing it every time I stopped, even for a few minutes, and never lost anything after that.

So the short answer is yes, you can come back later, but not by pausing. You have to save. Once you get used to it, short burst gaming works totally fine on these things.

[LauTop]

Pause works fine on mine, no idea what you guys are doing.

[Emma__L]

I’ve had mixed luck with that kind of thing on these handhelds. Half the time it works, half the time I come back and it’s sitting on some menu screen. Not a huge deal for me since I mostly play in short bursts anyway.

[Devon Lee]

I poke around the settings menu when I first get a handheld just to see what save options are built in. Takes two minutes and saves a lot of guessing later.

[Elena Voss]

I’ve had mine for a few weeks and the actual pause button is unreliable, but the emulator menu usually has a save option buried in there. Takes a bit of digging but it beats losing your spot.

[HanSolo]

Depends on the emulator honestly. Some let you suspend and come back hours later fine, others drop you back to the menu if you leave it sitting too long. I just close the game and reload if I know I’m done for the day.

[Sant_five]

I wouldn’t count on the pause button alone for that. On mine I usually just close the game through the emulator menu and it picks up from the last save fine, but I’ve never trusted leaving it paused for hours. For short bursts that’s been good enough for me.

[Alex Miller]

I’ve only had mine about a week so I’m still figuring that out myself. Closing the lid or leaving it sitting for an hour or two has been fine for me so far, but I haven’t pushed it much past that. Short bursts are kind of what I do too, so it’s been good enough.

[Nina White]

Not sure about this exact one, but on most of these handhelds the pause button just stops the game, it doesn’t save anything. If you power it off while paused you’re probably starting that level over. Real save states are usually a separate thing in the emulator menu.

[Sarah J]

Thanks for all the replies, that clears it up for me. I mostly wanted to know before ordering so I don’t get caught losing a level mid-play. Sounds like I can make it work either way, so I’ll probably grab one.

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