The Nex Playground is basically what happens when a handheld console dreams big, skips its morning coffee, and decides it can be “everything at once.” It’s small, it’s portable, and it tries to pack in more features than a Swiss Army knife on a sugar rush. Retro gaming? Check. Modern-ish emulation? Check. Random button combos that make you question reality? Double check.

Holding it feels like gripping a tiny arcade in your hands—one that may or may not spontaneously remind you why you thought playing 2000s flash games on a touchscreen was a good idea. The games are a mix of charmingly nostalgic and “wait, this exists?” weirdness, which is perfect if you enjoy both discovering hidden gems and mildly panicking over whether the console will survive the next firmware update. The Nex Playground: it’s quirky, chaotic, and capable of turning a five-minute session into an existential dive into gaming history.