The Caanoo is not a direct competitor of handheld consoles like Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable, but rather an alternative open source device.

Because of that, any software that is compatible can be run without the need to create custom firmware or other homebrew applications.

[citation needed] The Caanoo had only four commercial retail games:[2] Asura Cross, Propis, Rhythmos, and Wiz Party.

The Caanoo can run several applications that emulate consoles[3] or computer systems, such as DrPocketSnes for the Super NES, GnGEO for the Neo-Geo, Hu-Go for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, PCSX ReArmed for original PlayStation games, MAME4all for arcade games and Picodrive for the Mega Drive/Sega Genesis and its add-ons, as well as freeware homebrew games/applications.

Caanoo is not compatible[4] with software built for previous GPH devices (such as the GP2X Wiz) without an application to allow it to do so.