The Game Boy Is Back (Kind Of) Thanks To The Analogue Pocket
Strap on those nostalgia goggles, because the Game Boy is back... kind of. Analogue, the company behind some of the most celebrated remakes of retro hardware (the NES, Super NES, and Sega Genesis, namely) is taking a crack at re-creating the experience of handheld retro gaming next year.
Called "a tribute to portable gaming," the Analogue Pocket is effectively a Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance. It replicates, and notably enhances, the hardware of handheld consoles past. This is no emulator. It can, however, use adapters to run non-Nintendo compatible titles that were originally enjoyed on the Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket, and Atari Lynx. Talk about nostalgia.
The more modern editions to the console are the 1600x1440 pixel display — which makes even the oldest of oldies crystal clear — as well as an SD card slot, stereo sound, and a lithium ion battery so that you're not constantly rifling through the junk drawer for double-As.
But wait! If you can believe it, there's more. For the musically-inclined (especially those who love jamming to 8-bit beats), the Analogue Pocket comes with a built-in audio workstation called Nanoloop. Nanoloop supports a synthesizer and sequencer for creating sick beats and even performing them live if that's your thing.
And there's still more. Analogue is a big supporter of preserving games from the past. Therefore, the company added a second field-programmable gate array chip (FPGA) for "developers to develop and port their own cores." Analogue believes that this way, it can give independent developers the opportunity to do "some amazing things."
One last thing: you may have noticed that the Analogue Pocket is missing an HDMI port. That's because you'll need the Analogue Dock to put your Pocket on the big screen, which in turn lets you play with wireless Bluetooth controllers if you really want the classic couch experience. The Dock isn't bundled in with the Pocket, and its price as of yet to be announced, but we'll be sure to update once we know more.
The Analogue Pocket has a price tag of $199, so If digging out your old Game Boy cartridges sounds like fun, you'll be able to do so come 2020.