Amkette Evo Fox Game Box review: Delight for retro game lovers

Price: Rs 8,999

Specs: Android OS 9, Air Remote, GamePad controller, over 100 preloaded classic games, Quad-core processor, Mali G31 3D, 4GB RAM, 32GB onboard storage, microSD card slot, two USB ports, one HDMI port, Bluetooth, WiFi, Ethernet

In the box: Game Box, voice-enabled remote, wireless gamepad, HDMI cable, power adapter

If you are an 80's kid, chances are you still long for classic games such as Super Mario, Contra, Donkey Kong, Street Fighter 2, Pac Man. And you have searched low and high to get your hands on it. But maybe unsuccessfully so. The first glimpse of hope was when Nintendo announced the mini DS version just to get to this specific market. But all it brought was despair to Indian audience as the console was never released in India. But as they say, there is light at the end of the tunnel - the Amkette Evo Fox Game Box will finally bring joy to that 80's child in you.

Unlike new age gaming consoles, Amkette's Evo Fox Game Box is a compact, squarish box that connects through an HDMI cable (included in the box). This Android box comes preloaded with over a hundred retro games. I had to log in using my Google account, post which I was able to play some of my all-time favourites, Super Mario, Pac-Mac,Contra III, Street Fighter II, amongst other games. Although it took me some time to master controls on the gamepad, playing some of my childhood favourites was much fun. The controller works just fine when fully charged. But there was a lag in registering input when low on charge, resulting in missing strikes, jumps and more. I was even able to run ROMs of many more classic games from the pen drive that I downloaded from the internet.

More Android games can be downloaded from the Play Store. I downloaded games access genres including Asphalt 8, Ski Safari 2 amongst others and the gaming experience was just fine. There wasn't any shutter lag. The gamepad controller was supported by most of the games that I tested. It comes with a few preloaded apps and I had close to 25GB of storage to download games and apps. Thankfully, I was able to remove the preinstalled games too. When short on storage, the memory card slot can come to rescue.

Other than gaming, it bundles up as a streaming box too. I was able to stream videos on YouTube, Hotstar amongst other apps. It's a great all-in-one device as it also supports video conferencing apps such as Zoom, Google Meet that can be downloaded from Aptoide App Store. But the limited USB ports (two in this case) is a spoiler. Both the controller and remote have their respective dongles, which leaves no USB port for connecting an additional device or a pen drive. To connect my Microsoft webcam, I had to remove the gamepad dongle and vice-versa.

Running Android OS 9, the box is powered by a quad-core processor with a Mali G31 3D graphics chip and 4GB RAM. The overall performance across apps and games was smooth, with no signs of lag. Although not a big fan of the user interface, I got used to it in a few days.

For the price - Rs 8,999 - the Amkette Evo Fox Game Box is a great box offering the best of all worlds - a retro gaming console, Android gaming with gamepad support, a smart streaming box and video conferencing solution (with added hardware).

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