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Analogue Pocket – Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

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Analogue Pocket – is the best thing since sliced bread!

It may have taken 11 months from ordering to receiving the Analogue Pocket, and let us tell you all, it has totally been worth the wait!

With multiple handhelds on the market that emulate classic systems from yesteryear, we honestly didn’t know what we were missing out on till the Analogue Pocket arrived! The FPGA (OpenFPGA) based system is like playing on the original hardware, and this is where the Pocket shines – rising well above the myriad of handhelds on the market which use software emulation to play our beloved old video games. Comparing FPGA to software emulation is like comparing a Formula 1 race car to a Totoya Camry racing at Monaco – both will get you to the finish line, but one will get you there far far quicker (and in style).

By now you would have worked out that we are fans of our new gadget from Analogue. Yeah, the wait was excruciating at times, but we are glad we hung in there, as this has now become our choice for handheld gaming. We were very impressed with the quality and premium feel of the Pocket (and it’s packaging), being on par with Apple Inc. – yep, it’s that good!

The Analogue Pocket looks and feels like a premium piece of electronics – which it is, but it’s components are what makes it impressive. The Pocket is designed around a 3.5”, 615 ppi, LCD, which is a first-in-class. With a 1600 x 1440 resolution, the Pocket has 10x the resolution of an original Game Boy. The display is even made from Gorilla® Glass, with pro level colour accuracy, dynamic range, and brightness. We’d argue that the Analogue Pocket is the best piece of handheld hardware to play video games, bar none.

But wait, there is more to this amazing piece of kit! Not only does this Analogue product play games,  it’s for making music too! The Pocket has a digital audio workstation built in called Nanoloop. It’s a synthesizer and a sequencer. Designed for music creation and live performance. Shape, stretch and morph sounds. Capture music or play and sculpt live – you too can be a chiptune maestro! You can also connect the Pocket to your Mac, PC or other hardware with MIDI & Sync cables.

Remember how we said to wait as there is more? Well, there is more to this device, that’s what makes it impressive. If you like to tinker in game development, then you’d be pleased to know that you can bring your gaming ideas to reality with zero programming knowledge with GB Studio! GB Studio is an easy-to-use drag and drop retro game creator, allowing you to generate proprietary .pocket files and then run them off your SD card.

The Dock is a must-get accessory for the Analogue Pocket!

The pièce de résistance of the Pocket is that it’s designed for FPGA development. Analogue added a second dedicated FPGA just for developers to develop and port their own cores. With access to Analogue’s proprietary hardware and scalers, it opens up the platform for developers to create amazing feats on the system.

At the time of writing, there have been quite a few cores created specifically for the Pocket, from classic gaming consoles like the Atari 2600/7800 and the Odyssey 2, to the Master System, NES, SNES, Mega Drive and everything in between. Getting these cores and setting them up has never been easier – we used RetroDriven’s Pocket Updater to do all the fiddly stuff like finding the right cores, downloading and configuring them. If you are a masochist, you can go and find the individual cores and set them up, or you could make things easier for yourself by bookmarking the OpenFPGA Cores Inventory site.

Welcome to the family

Setting up the cores on the Pocket is a cinch with RetroDriven’s Pocket Updater tool

The flexibility, power and premium componentry is what sets the Analogue Pocket apart from other handheld systems. The fact that it is FPGA based is a total game changer – pun fully intended. With a thriving development community, we are starting to see what this machine is capable of. The future does look quite bright for the Pocket, and that’s us saying that while we await our PC-Engine, Neo Geo Pocket and Atari Lynx adapters to arrive! Coupled with the Dock, the Analogue Pocket is truly the best thing since sliced bread in the video gaming world.

Tech Specs – Pocket:

  • Compatible with Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance game cartridges (and Game Gear, PC-Engine, Atari Lynx and Neo Geo Pocket via separate adapters)
  • 3.5″ LCD. 1600×1440 resolution. 615ppi
  • 360° display rotation (tate mode)
  • Variable refresh display
  • Rechargeable lithium ion 4300mAh battery (6-10 hour gameplay time & 10+ hour sleep time)
  • All buttons mappable/reconfigurable
  • Stereo speakers
  • micro SD card slot
  • USB-C charging
  • Original-style link port (woohoo, link action!)
  • 3.5mm headphone output

Tech Specs – Dock:

  • 1080p HDMI output
  • Bluetooth and 2.4g support for wireless controllers
  • 2 USB inputs for wired controllers
  • Up to 4 player support (4p Bluetooth, 2p 2.4g, 2p wired USB)
  • DAC compatibility (coming soon)
  • Power Dock on from controller



Lego Ideas: Game Boy Colour Transformer “PRISMATIS”

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We love Lego Ideas that have a nostalgic link to our past, just like this Game Boy Colour Transformer “PRISMATIS” by Baron Von Brunk.

Built in 2017, this particular Lego Ideas entry is based on an iconic full-size 1990s Game Boy Color, with its crisp lime green colours, a battery case on the back that comes off to store two batteries that double as missiles – how clever! Baron tells us that the transformation process is straight forward without the need to remove parts. The Transformer arms and hands are articulated with individual fingers on each hand – talk about attention to detail! Oh yeah, how cool is that speaker vent – another great touch to this very cool Lego Ideas entrant.



Introducing the WiiBoy Color – The Awesomely Portable Wii

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If you were impressed with Pixeljunkie’s playable mechanical LEGO Street Fighter II arcade machine, then there is no doubt you will be fully gobsmacked by Ginger Of Mods’ WiiBoy Color creation – a portable Wii, which is similar in size to the Game Boy Color!

This creation took 9 months of meticulous work, from printing the shell, to fitting all of the components, like the motherboard and display, resulting in the superb and unique WiiBoy Color!

The ‘Shut up and take my money’ meme would be a massive understatement right about now!


source: Ginger of Mods

 

Analogue News: Could It Be The Release of the Analogue Pocket?

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We told you all about the Analogue Pocket last October, however, with the current world health situation, it seems that their scheduled release plans in 2020 were impacted, till now?!

Analogue tweeted last night (Australian time) with a simple message, “Jul. 27, 2020 8am PST”. Could this date be the release of the Analogue Pocket? Chances are that it is, but we’ll know more in a few days.

Unfortunately for those of us in Australia, we’ll have to stay up late (1am AEST, Jul. 28, 2020) to check out what the news/announcement is. Make sure you all set your alarms.

Let the excitement (and speculation) begin!

Meet Analogue Pocket: The Game Boy, Atari Lynx, Game Gear and Neo Geo Pocket Color Killer

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Oh wow, we hope you are sitting down for this! Let us introduce you to Analogue Pocket™

If you know about or have any of Analogue’s consoles, like the Mega Sg, Nt Mini or Super Nt, you know that their Pocket handheld will be one special and amazing gaming unit.

First and foremost, the Analogue Pocket is not another handheld that will just play ROMs! No sirree, this multi-video-game-system portable handheld will be able to play over 2,700 Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance game cartridges. So don’t throw out or sell those carts, because the Pocket will be able to play them all! Oh yeah, the Analogue Pocket will also have a digital audio workstation (called Nanoloop) with a built-in synthesizer and sequencer – a tribute to portable gaming!

But wait, there is more! As if this thing wasn’t already mouthwatering enough, the Pocket will also have cartridge adaptors in the future for you to play other handheld systems’ carts, like the Sega Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Atari Lynx and others! There will also be a special dock (future release) allowing you to output your games to a TV and charge the console at the same time – you’ll also be able to use Bluetooth or wired controllers when the Pocket is docked.

Engineered with two Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), the Analogue Pocket will allow developers to create and port their own work to the handheld. Basically, once the Analogue Pocket is in the hands of users, it’s going to get even better! Wow, when we hear FPGA (no emulation!), we know this thing is going to blow everything away in the handheld market!

The Analogue Pocket is slated for a 2020 release at a cost of US$199.00. To say we want one would be the biggest understatement ever!

Analogue Pocket Tech Specs:

  • FPGA-based system (two FPGAs inside)
  • Compatible with Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance game cartridges (Using special adaptors, you’ll also be able to play Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear and SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color titles on the machine in the future)
  • 3.5″ LTPS LCD. 1600×1440 resolution. 615ppi
  • Rechargeable lithium ion battery
  • All buttons mappable
  • Stereo Speakers
  • microSD
  • USB-C charging
  • 3.5mm headphone output
  • Original Game Boy-style link plug

image source: Analogue

 

Hit That Perfect BittBoy – Review

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Remember Bronski Beat’s “Hit that perfect Beat”? You know the one, “I’ve got that feeling, That perfect feeling, That perfect feeling all over me. Beat boy, Beat boy, Hit that perfect beat boy, Beat boy, Beat boy” – yeah, it’s a great 80s electropop tune.

We have no idea why we started this review with Bronski Beat, perhaps it’s due to the name of the new little portable games player, BittBoy! We can’t seem to get the bloody tune out of our head now! Let’s cut this diversion and get back on track! The New BittBoy – is a little Game Boy lookalike that allows you to play your legally owned NES/Famicom, GB and GBC roms from your own microSD card via its built-in NES/Famicom, GB and GBC emulators. That’s it in a nutshell.

Cool specs and features right on the box!

Before we go into how it plays, let us tell you how it looks and feels. The cuteness of this little player is striking and familiar. It’s familiar in the sense that if you ever held a Game Boy (or its many variants, like the Game Boy Pocket), then you’ll feel at home holding the new BittBoy, albeit at a shrunken level. Since it is small (and cute), if you have large-ish hands, then you may experience some cramping. If however your hands aren’t the size of a lion’s paw, you’ll find that BittBoy’s D-pad and buttons feel almost as good as Nintendo’s Game Boy, which is a good thing. The layout of the buttons borrow heavily from the SNES pad, which is a great blueprint to assimilate. The click of the buttons feel good, but they aren’t exactly Nintendo quality, but still good enough as we expected them to feel cheap. Oddly, the black fire buttons feel the best to press for us. So far so good! Oh yeah, don’t be fooled by the screen either, the 2.4″ IPS screen is vivid, bright, and displays games in either LCD (16:9) or CRT (4:3) format, without any stretching or distortion in either of these aspect ratios.

Looks and feels good

We now know that it looks good and feels ok, but how does it work and play? With its built-in emulators, all you need to do is ensure the BittBoy is fully charged and then insert your microSD loaded with your legally owned NES/Fami, GB and/or GBC roms and you are good to play.

Once you turn on the BittBoy, you are greeted by one of the three built-in emulators. Selecting the emulators is as easy as flicking the D-pad to the right (and left). The next step is to select a game by using the D-pad by going up and down the list and pressing the select button to load the game. Exiting back to the emulator menu is an easy one button press on the round R (reset) button. Since there are no separate volume and brightness buttons or dials, BittBoy has cleverly interfaced these controls by using specific button pressing sequences – a very clever design. Another neat feature is the save and load, so you can save your progress and then load it back to kick off where you left off. If you don’t want to bother peeps next to you on the bus, then the 3.5mm headphone jack is there for you to immerse yourself with some 8-bit ditties.

Let’s play – NES/Fami, GB and GBC games!

Playing our handful of NES games we found that the emulation was accurate without any noticeable lag. We thought that the small form factor would hamper gameplay, but to our surprise, we were running Mario from left to right, jumping on blocks, collecting mushrooms and stomping on Goombas with gleeful ease. The GB games were just as good (Tetris is still a killerapp!), however, the emulation couldn’t display that distinct ‘green hue’ from the original Game Boy – a minor gripe really.

Playing some sweet (NES) Super Mario Bros!

The new BittBoy provides around 3 hrs of gaming via its 700 mAh lithium battery before it needs recharging using its packed-in USB cable. Charge time is fairly quick, so you will be back gaming in no time. The package also includes an AV/composite cable to connect the BittBoy player to your TV (via the 3.5mm headphone jack). This is quite novel and a great feature, however we loved using the BittBoy as a portable game player.

There are plenty of handheld systems that can play your old video games, however these usually require some level of hacking and tweaking to make them work. The new BittBoy fills this void by offering folks a pocket-friendly handheld system straight out of the box that can emulate the NES/Famicom, Game Boy and Game Boy Color. If you want a player to emulate other systems, then the BittBoy is not for you, but on the other hand if you are in need of a reasonably priced portable emulator that looks great, feels good and doesn’t pretend to be more than just a NES/Famicom/GB/GBC player, then the New BittBoy is for you.

Product: New BittBoy
Price: US$39.99 / AU$59.99
Available: Now via RetroMini
Package:

  • BittBoy handheld system
  • USB charging cable
  • AV cable

LCD vs CRT – it’s your choice!

Before we play some Tetris, it’s Super Mario Land time!

Super Mario Land in LCD (16:9) aspect ratio

Super Mario Land in CRT (4:3) aspect ratio

The New BittBoy has some beautiful lines

The top of the unit has the microSD slot and ON/OFF switch

The bottom of the BittBoy reveals the 3.5mm jack (headphones + AV/TV out) and USB-C connector for charging

Oo’er, this is one gorgeous little handheld

Disclosure: The New BittBoy system was kindly provided by BittBoy for this review.

 

Classic Gaming Consoles Redesigned as Cars

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Here is something to ponder, what if classic video game consoles were made into cars?

Ponder no more, as Jennings FordDirect from the UK has answered our question – check them out!

image source: Jennings FordDirect

[story source: technobob]

 

Retro Handheld: Burger King Game Boy Color

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This is an old one, but we thought it was still worth repeating, in case you missed it the first time around.

If you were lucky enough to have had a meal at Burger King in 2000, you may have been handed a plastic replica of the Game Boy Color which had analogue games built in.

Fast forward a decade and a half and that cute little Burger King Game Boy Colour toy with its analogue games has been DIY hacked with a Raspberry Pi Zero stuffed inside, morphing it into an awesomely cool and working Game Boy Colour emulator! Wish we were this clever.

[original story and images via Technobob]