I purchased the “12TB Hyperspin, Launchbox, Retrobat, Playnite, Teknoparrot 5-in-1 Hard Drive” (henceforth referred to as the Kinhank 12TB eHD or simply Kinhank eHD) on July 9th, 2026 for $390 USD. It was delivered about two weeks later on July 21st, 2026. I’ve spent about a month with the device, and I have thoughts. For ease of use, I’m going to place my observations into four broad categories: things I expected to be good, things that I expected to be bad, things that were unexpectedly good, and things that were unexpectedly bad. Let’s get started, shall we?
The Expected Positives
First, the obvious: 12 TB of retro games is a LOT of games. While the games in question are divided among a wide variety of systems and eras of video games, over 30,000 games are included on the eHD. If you thought your gaming backlog was bad before, well, I have some bad news for you if you buy this eHD. You also get actual, tangible hardware, which is a perk in the era of digital store fronts and the AI tech pricing apocalypse.
I also found the device to be easy to set up (as simple as sliding the HD into the enclosure, ensuring it had power, plugging it into my machine, and running the associated software, “R-Core”). I didn’t need to go ROM hunting, I didn’t need to manage emulators or front ends (e.g. Retrobat, Hyperspin, etc), and all the necessary BIOS files were included. It was about as “plug-and-play” of an experience as I could’ve expected, honestly.
Again, I don’t want to understate how much gaming this eHD opens up! That’s a win in my book, and I’ve found a number of favorites, old and new, thanks to this product. Unfortunately, that’s where the expected positives end. Get ready, because it’s time for the expected negatives.
The Expected Negatives
As I expected (based on the reviews I perused before making the purchase myself), the device has a number of “gotchas” that any potential buyer should be aware of. Let’s start with the headline feature: “30,000 games!” It sounds great in theory, but: 1) a non-trivial amount of games are, frankly, shovelware. I’m sorry, but I don’t want or need a copy of, “Driver’s License Test Prep DS,” even as a curiosity. Also, 2) I’ve found the sheer number of games difficult to manage. Even just picking out favorites from a list that large is taxing. I’ve yet to do it for the PS2 or PSX, which have 600+ and 1,800+ games respectively, even though I KNOW there are games on each console I’d really like to play.
What’s more, a non-trivial portion of the games are still readily available via digital and physical outlets. This is most prevalent in the “Playnite” front end, which includes a full TB of pirated games (e.g. “Devil May Cry 5,” the “Final Fantasy 7 remake,” “Resident Evil 7,” “Elden Ring (Deluxe Edition),” and six different versions of “Angry Birds,” for no discernable reason). Yikes! The fact that these games also come with virus warnings from Windows is icing on the crap cake, and was more than enough of a reason for me to delete them immediately.
The “Retro Bat” front end also included about 200 Switch games, which I have mixed feelings about. Playing the “Big N’s” games doesn’t really bother me, especially since I own copies of most of them. Playing the indies that got included, though? That feels a lot more icky. At present I’m researching which of the indies I’m interested in are available on other platforms (e.g. STEAM), and purchasing legitimate copies where possible.
That about concludes my list of “expected” negatives. Plenty of unexpected issues cropped up over my time with the device, however. Let’s dive into those next.
The Unexpected Negatives
While the eHD includes a variety of emulators, not all of them are set up. For example, I had to open YUZU (Switch emulation) to set up controller bindings before I could play anything. Also, even when the emulators work, not all games work with their associated emulator. “Castlevania: Lords of Shadows” for the 3DS, for example, ran at about 1 frame per second when I tried to play it, despite having a PC that is many times more powerful than a 3DS.
Speaking of DS and 3DS: 1) the touch screen mechanics are sub-optimal on a non-touch monitor (obviously). Though you can set your mouse to act as the cursor, it doesn’t feel like original hardware. Also, 2) other features on original hardware, like gyroscopes / rotation, require additional set-up and tinkering (if they work at all). In short, while most of the games I’ve tried “just work,” that cannot be said across the full library of games on offer.
The problems don’t end there, either. Some of the front ends are really, really annoying. The “Hyperspin: Attraction” front end comes to mind in this regard. I understand that the “attraction” front end is meant for use in an arcade, and that pulling out all of the stops in terms of lights and sounds in that context makes sense. When I’m just trying to play some games in my office with headphones on, though? Two words: sensory overload. Also, despite the fact that the eHD has over 30,000 games, no “retro” arcade games make an appearance. Some more modern-ish arcade games appear, but it’s pretty slim pickings on that front, too.
I think that speaks to a larger problem with the eHD and the “30,000 games” headline in particular. Does the eHD have a preposterous number of games? Yes! Are all of those games worth your time and energy? Absolutely not. Will the eHD have all of the specific games you want to play? Again, absolutely not. I won’t deny that the eHD does come with a lot of classics and “bangers.” If you buy it hoping it will include any particular game aside from the most obvious, though, you’ll probably be disappointed. (I, for example, was hoping for more showings from the “Ape Escape” series, but was met with disappointment as only the original on PSX and its remake and spin-offs on the PSP were included.)
There’s two more problems with the “30,000 games” headline worth pointing out. First there’s the fact that the aforementioned number includes games from other regions (notably: Japan, Korea, and China). While some of these games also include translations, not all of them do. While this only represents a small percentage of the games on offer, it’s still disappointing and leaves me wondering why untranslated games were included at all.
The other issue is one I’ve alluded to before but that I’ll spell out now. A game library that large means decision fatigue (or it certainly has for me). Sometimes, it’s not enough to decide what game I want to play; I also have to decide which version of that game I want to play. It can become quite overwhelming, and sometimes leaves me wondering if my hobby is to play these games or to organize them.
The problems don’t end there, either! While we’re still on the subject of software, you can’t alter the front ends without things breaking. For example, if you pick a different skin / theme for Retro Bat, some folders disappear and are no longer accessible (e.g. the “hacked” Nintendo ROMs). The eHD also includes a number of unlicensed games, including softcore porn games. Yikes! It’s very soft softcore porn, but it’s still not something I’d want a kid stumbling on.
Also, while the device is relatively easy to use if you opt for the “Core-R” software, diving into the eHD to extract ROMs, emulators, and BIOS files is more of an excursion. It doesn’t require a proverbial PhD in tech tomfoolery, but a GED in tech and some patience is a pre-requisite if you want to move some portion of the games on offer onto a retro gaming do-dad (like an Anbernic RG35XXSP, for example).
Take this last complaint with a grain of salt, but I’m skeptical of the availability of after-purchase support. The “contact us” page on the Kinhank website is laughably empty, with their email address being listed as, [hello at domain dot com]. Yikes! That’s not a good sign. There is a Discord server that is pointed to in the documentation on the eHD, but I could easily see a less technically savvy customer being dissatisfied with that. In the end, I did not end up reaching out to Kinhank for support. They might offer excellent customer services for all I know! Given the red flags on offer, though, I’d bet on getting ghosted long before getting tech support.
The Unexpected Positives
I don’t think anyone will be surprised to learn that the hardware you get can be purchased separately for less, even considering the AI-driven tech price apocalypse we find ourselves in. At time of writing, the “UGREEN External Hard Drive Enclosure” runs about $30-40 USD, while a refurbished 12 TB Hard Drive sits at around $300 USD (on average; I saw them for as low as $275). This brings the total spend to $340 (+ tax!). Given that the final purchase price of the device was $400 USD, that’s not all that bad. I’m sure the amount of time saved not having to find all these games myself was significant (if I could find said games at all). Ultimately, I was expecting to get less of a deal on hardware, so this definitely belongs in the “unexpected positives” category.
The other unexpected positive was that I’ve already found SO MANY new games to play! These aren’t games that I played during my childhood or games I have any particular nostalgia for. Instead, they’re games that caught my attention while browsing the collection on offer. (The fact that many of the included games include a community ranking out of five stars doesn’t hurt either). This is how I discovered, “Summon Night: Swordcraft Story,” for example. I’m sure I’ll find many more gems, too; like I said before, though my backlog weeps, I can’t imagine myself running out of games to play for years.
Conclusion
If you’re a retro enthusiast on a budget, it’s difficult to recommend this device when most Linux-based devices on the market (like the Anbernic RG35XXSP) include a collection of games that will likely include the classics (i.e. what I’d guess most people actually want to play). If you are a retro gaming enthusiast with cash to burn on a device that archives tens of thousands of games, however, the Kinhank is worth your attention. If you don’t also have the time and willingness to tinker, however, I would proceed with at least some caution. While most games and systems will work well from what I have tested, that isn’t true across the board.
If you are the aforementioned retro enthusiast with money (and at least a little time to burn), you’ll also have to WANT to play the original, “unvarnished,” version of said retro games. While there are some affordances by way of emulation (e.g. save states), game design has evolved a lot over the last 50+ years, and not every game will have the benefit of those lessons. What’s more, a potential buyer shouldn’t approach this device with the hope of any particular game being included, as there are no guarantees they will be.
Was this purchase worth it for me, then? I doubt I’ll ever play a fraction of the games on the eHD. With that being said, I’m pleased to have them at my disposal. It means that I’ll have all the games I could ever want to play on my retro do-dads, and I have access to many old favorites as well. Ultimately, while I can only recommend this device with caveats (for the myriad reasons listed above), I do think it could work for the right person. Speaking for myself, while it certainly wasn’t a sound financial investment, I’m also confident that I’ll get more hours of play and enjoyment out of it than the cost of admission, so I’d call that a win.
UPDATE: the device has reappeared on Amazon for $300? While it’s a kick in the shins for me (goodbye, $100 USD), I do think it makes the device that much more enticing to purchase. With the protection of Amazon’s return policy, you could always send it back if it doesn’t meet your needs.
