The Game Boy might be dead but you can make it, and the Game Gear and Atari Lynx, live again thanks to the Analogue Pocket.
Now that the 3DS is running on fumes, and the Switch Lite has been released as its de facto replacement, the era of the dedicated portable console seems to be over.
It started back in 1989, with the release of the original Game Boy, whose success spawned rivals such as the Sega Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, and Atari Lynx. And the new Analogue Pocket console can play games for all of those systems.
If you’ve got an old cartridge for any of those games you just slot it into the Pocket and it should work straight away, although support for non-Nintendo formats won’t be available at launch.
The Pocket looks like an old school Game Boy but the 3.5” LCD screen runs at 1600×1440, so the resolution is massively increased. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack, a rechargeable lithium ion battery, a microSD card slot, a USB-C charge port, and…. a good old-fashioned Game Boy link cable port.
A Switch style docking unit will also be sold separately sometime after launch, allowing you to connect the Pocket to your TV (analogue or digital), plus support for dual USB inputs and Bluetooth controllers.
That’s not all though, as the Pocket also includes a dedicated chip meant to allow fans and developers to create brand new games for the format.
The extra FPGA chip not only allows for homebrew software but the support for MiSTer means that the Pocket could end up being an emulation fan’s new best friend. It almost certainly means that support for old arcade coin-ops and other, non-portable, consoles and computers will be added as soon as fans get their hands on it.
There’s even a music sequencer and synthesiser called Nanoloop, if you just want to make your own chiptunes.
What formats does the Analogue Pocket support?
When it’s first released the Analogue Pocket will only run cartridges for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance. But after launch support for the Sega Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, and Atari Lynx will also be added.
Since they’re still recent enough for Sony to be precious about them it’s very unlikely that support for the PSP or PS Vita will be added and it’s the same for Nintendo’s DS and 3DS family of portables.
The only problem is the Pocket doesn’t have a firm release date, beyond sometime next year, and projects like this do tend to get delayed an awful lot. When it is released though it should cost $199 (£156).
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