The GCW Zero is designed to play games by homebrew/indie game developers, as well as run emulators for classic gaming systems. Therefore, the software infrastructure is open-source and available on GitHub.[5]
Reviews have generally been positive, and focused on the emulation capabilities of the device. Steve Tilley, writing at the Toronto Sun, acknowledged the unintuitive interface and the copyright-infringing nature of many ROMs. Still, he thought highly of the device, describing it as like "holding a chunk of my childhood in the palm of my hand".[8] Tilley repeated these thoughts while presenting a segment for Reviews on the Run where he scored the device 7.5/10; his co-host, Raju Mudhar agreed.[9] David Heywood, writing at Micro Mart, praised the device's excellent build quality, and its use of an operating system which was already well established for handheld consoles.[10]
The GCW was noted for the limited availability of game titles since the release.[11]
