Summary of "Odin 3 Emulation and Performance Testing"

Overview

Russ (Metro Gamecore) ran extensive emulation and PC/Android gaming tests on the Odin 3 (Snapdragon 8 Elite) to establish a baseline before any custom GPU driver (Mesa/Turnip) support.
Overall: raw CPU/GPU power and RAM are strong — many systems run very well — but compatibility/visual issues often stem from graphics drivers and emulator/back-end maturity rather than pure performance.

In RetroArch → Settings → Video: set output to Vulkan for better core compatibility and to enable Slang shaders.
Use shader subframes = 2 on the Odin 3’s 120 Hz display for smoother motion.
Typical shader stack Russ uses:
- Subframe BFI (CRT beam simulator) from Slang (turn off LCD anti-retention; set scan direction = 0).
- Append a CRT effect (Slang → CRT Royale vanilla is his favorite).
- Save as a global preset (or per-system presets where needed).
For handheld OLED CRT feel: apply LCD 3x shader and color correction for GBA/GB/GBC as desired.
Dolphin (GameCube/Wii): prefer the OpenGL backend and choose shader compilation mode per game (specialized / hybrid Uber / exclusive Uber) via long-press → Edit Game Settings → Graphics.

Recommended baseline: Vulkan + Slang shaders in RetroArch. Save shader stacks as global presets and use per-game presets for exceptions.

Game Boy / Game Boy Color / Game Boy Advance
- Run fine; use 3x/7.5x scaling + LCD shader. OLED hides side bezels nicely.

NES, SNES, Genesis, arcade: excellent performance; CRT shaders + beam simulator give an authentic look and improved motion clarity.

RetroArch support is limited — use Mupen (Moopin core) + AngryLion backend.
Standalone Mupen offers better upscaling but fewer features compared to RetroArch.

FlyCast core supports upscaling and widescreen cheats; pairs well with CRT shaders.

Beetle Saturn (accurate, demanding) runs well; Odin 3 can handle the demanding core + shaders — one of the best Saturn experiences on Android handhelds.

Runs very well; 3x upscale is smooth. Odin 3 can push higher (up to 5x / 4K when outputting over USB-C).

Excellent compatibility — ~20 titles tested, many ran plug-and-play on the OpenGL backend.
Most genres performed well, including heavy hitters (GT4, Jak 3, God of War II, Sly Cooper).
A few engine-problematic games persist (e.g., Dirge of Cerberus still struggles, variable performance ~80%).

Playable but requires per-game shader compilation tweaks. Exclusive Uber is safe but demanding.

Hit-or-miss on Android; emulator is early in development and driver differences matter.
- Some games (Wind Waker HD, Yoshi’s Woolly World) work well.
- Twilight Princess shows UI/map issues in places.
- Breath of the Wild can run ~720p @ 30–40 FPS but suffers background flicker — improved on other devices with Turnip/Mesa drivers.
- Some titles (e.g., Mario Tennis Ultra Smash) are currently unplayable.

Surprisingly good progress — Russ tested 16 games; ~12 were playable at native 720p.
Many 3D-engine titles ran decently (Mirror’s Edge, Devil May Cry).
Some games crashed or froze (Prince of Persia, Burnout Paradise, Enslaved, Dead or Alive 5).
Note: app UI may not show the latest release dates but the back-end continues to be updated.

~40 games tested; performance generally excellent but compatibility/graphical bugs are the main problems on Snapdragon 8 Elite.
~10 of 40 titles had issues (flickering, inverted colors, crashes). Roughly ~25% of titles that play on 8 Gen 2 may fail on 8 Elite due to driver/compatibility differences.
Example issues:
- Light flicker / textures: Octopath Traveler 2, Super Mario Odyssey (lighting flicker in some scenes).
- Severe texture problems: Risk of Rain 2 (ground), Dragon Quest 3 (heavy flicker).
- Color inversion: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (menus), Sonic Mania (appearance inverted but playable).
- Ori and the Blind Forest: behaves poorly across emulators (transcript listed as “Ary and the Blind Force”).
- Xenoblade Chronicles DE: different emulators break different assets (ground vs. character textures).
Tip: try Eden first (best compatibility on 8 Elite thanks to active devs), then Citron, then Kenji NX. Developers actively push fixes — Russ reported Eden devs provided settings that improved some titles (e.g., Metroid Prime Remastered went from crashing to loading, though some texture issues remained).

Odin 3 is notable for local PC gaming because of a powerful SoC and lots of RAM; many Steam games are playable but not on par with dedicated handheld PCs like the Steam Deck.
Examples:
- Hellblade: needed 720p low + FSR quality to be somewhat playable (~26 FPS average); Steam Deck was much smoother (60+ FPS).
- Hades 2: playable but with background shimmering; Steam Deck smoother.
- Resident Evil 2: playable (~30–40 FPS with stutters); Steam Deck gives more consistent 60 FPS.
Conclusion: great for experimentation and portability; not a full replacement for the Steam Deck for high-end PC play.

Odin 3 excels at local PC streaming (apps like Apollo and Artemis) — very low-latency decoding; a great option for playing heavier games without taxing the handheld.

Netflix app doesn’t work (Play certification issue) — prevents Netflix-login-required games (e.g., Netflix’s Red Dead offerings) and direct streaming through the Netflix app.

Use Vulkan + Slang shaders in RetroArch as the baseline.
Save shader stacks as a global preset; create per-game presets for exceptions.
For demanding systems, choose the most compatible core (Beetle Saturn, FlyCast, Beetle PSX) even if it’s more demanding.
For Wii / Wii U / Dolphin, experiment with shader compilation modes per game — save per-game settings.
For Switch titles with graphical issues, test multiple emulators in order (Eden → Citron → Kenji NX) and follow active GitHub/pull requests for fixes.
Expect improvements once third-party Mesa/Turnip (Turnup) drivers are available for Snapdragon 8 Elite — many graphical glitches are driver-related, not raw performance.

Odin 3 + Snapdragon 8 Elite is a very powerful and versatile handheld: excellent for many retro systems, GameCube, PS2, PSP, Dreamcast, Saturn, and surprisingly good for PS3 and PC game experimentation.
The biggest pain points are driver/emulator compatibility (graphical flicker, color inversion, crashes) rather than raw frame-rate.
Emulator teams are actively developing fixes, and custom drivers (Turnip/Mesa) are likely to substantially improve compatibility in future.

Russ — Metro Gamecore (video author / tester)
Eden developer (unnamed) — provided game-specific settings and improvements
Emulator projects / tools mentioned:
- RetroArch; Beetle cores (PSX, Saturn); Beetle PSX HW; SwanStation
- Moopin (Mupen) + AngryLion backend; FlyCast (Dreamcast)
- Dolphin (GameCube/Wii); RPCS3 (PS3 app)
- Eden (Yuzu fork); Citron; Kenji NX (Ryujinx-based)
- Apollo / Artemis (streaming); GameHub
Platforms/devices referenced: Odin 3 (Snapdragon 8 Elite), Odin 2 (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2), Steam Deck / Valve

If you want, I can extract a concise compatibility list per game you care about (works / partial / broken) from the titles mentioned.