TUTORIAL: Happy Chick transforms your Android TV-Box into a retro machine with games

Today we present our User Guide for Happy Chick, the simplest emulator with which we can turn our SmartPhone, Android TV-Box, tablet or mini PC into a complete retro machine. Happy Chick is an application that automatically combines emulators and game rom downloads in the same package, you don’t have to configure anything complicated just run and play. In this article we will see how to execute and configure it in a simple way and we review the security options to limit the access of this app to our device.

Check our List of recommended Android TV-Box or mini PC models.

Table of Contents

WHAT IS HAPPY CHICK?

Happy Chick (xiaoji) is a Chinese app that offers us in a fully integrated system of emulators for Android Smartphone, Android TV-Box, iOS or Windows PC, controller configurator and rom download manager. To play ROMS we just have to find the desired title in the app, click download to install the game and then run it to start it, there is nothing else to worry about.

Popular emulators: NES, SNES, GBA, MG, DREAMCAST, NDS, PS1, CPS1/2/3 …
Not supported: PS2, PS3, GAMECUBE, 3DS, WII, XBOX

REQUISITOS GENERALES HAPPY CHICK

The emulator Happy Chick is compatible with a USB or BT Gamepad that are easier to connect only those of the X360 and PS4/3 type are the most compatible but we have others, even if we are lucky they can be used by the TV-Box’s Bluetooth adapter.

Bluetooth gamepads will not work if EmuELEC cannot detect our Wifi / Bluetooth chip.
Xbox S / Xbox 360 / Xbox one (via cable) Does not work on BT!
Steam Controller (Only with the dongle)
Sony PS4 (connection manual) / PS3 / PS2 (with USB adapter)
8bitdo SF360 Pro (BT and cable)
Logitech F310
Hori Horipad Switch controller
USB RetroPad Adapter (Used to use original console controls)
Switch joycons – Not recommended

Download and install

The Happy Chick emulator has a specific version for the Android TV-Box that is designed to be used with the Gamepad, this greatly facilitates the use of this environment on a device that does not have a touch screen such as a mobile phone or tablet. We will only have to download the APK of the app and install it to start using it.

Download Happy Chick for Android TV-Box
Install APK from any file explorer.
Inside Settings > Applications > Happy Chick > Permissions > We disable all except access to internal storage.

Basic use and configuration

Using Happy Chick on an Android TV-Box is extremely simple, we just have to start the app, enter the category of games that interest us, search for the game and install it. Once these steps are done, we will have it in the My games section to play with it.

Pressing Select within a category we can filter the titles with different options.
In each game we have the option to assign several controls to play with up to 4 players.

Each game system has a different control configuration, when starting up we will be shown a graph of how the keys are distributed, we can change this configuration in the general settings device.

Pressing Start + Select we activate the on-screen Menu within the game.
In the On-screen menu we have the option to adjust screen size and save / load games.

HAPPY CHICK FOR SMARTPHONE

Download and install

Happy Chick also has a specific version for mobile phones that is designed to be used with through the touch screen, although we can also use a physical Gamepad if we activate it in settings. We only have to download the APK of the app and install it to start enjoying it.

Download Happy Chick for Smartphone.
Install APK from any file explorer.
Run and change the language to English to make it more understandable. Manage> Settings> Language> English
Inside Settings> Applications> Happy Chick> Permissions> We disable all except access to internal storage.

Basic use and configuration

The Happy Chick emulator on a smartphone is quite convenient to use due to its integration of all emulators and the download of roms. We just have to start the app, enter the games category that interests us, search for the game and install it. Once these steps are done, we will have it in the Play section to play with it.

When starting each game we will have to enter Single = start normal / Archive = Load game
In the game we will see the touch controls on the screen, at the bottom in the icon of four circles we have the Settings.

The general settings menu is in Chinese but here you can see a translation, the rest will be shown in English. We have many different adjustment options in the Gamepad section we have several configurations depending on the system to emulate.

HAPPY CHICK FOR WINDOWS

Download and install

This is the least interesting option of Happy Chick and much of this app for Windows is only available in Chinese and when it is run, emulators are also shown in this language. There are many other alternatives in the western sector with English or Spanish languages that are much easier to use, we also leave a capture with a partial translation as a guide.