Today, Analogue announced pre-orders open for their latest product, the Analogue Pocket to start on August 3rd, 8am PST / 11am EST. Shipment starts May 2021. It’s a wait but at least there’s a release window. The Analogue Pocket looks to replace your portable gaming needs with updating your games to scale for high resolution gameplay or even on the big screen. Pocket’s screen designed at 3.5″, 615 ppi, LCD, 1600×1440 resolution. That’s about 10x the resolution of the original Game Boy. Players can put their Pocket to sleep without distributing their game, so need to turn it off if you have to answer a phone call for work. To make it feel more nostalgia, Pocket gives screen options to players who wants to play their games in their original screen view. Who doesn’t want to play their Game Boy games in the classic green colored palette?
Additionally, you can use the Pocket for more than just games, such as making music. Pocket has a built-in workstation called Nanoloop where you can built midi tracks. Create, capture music or play live. Making the device a multi-media device. You can also attached your little media player to your PC or Mac to create midi tracks.
To play up to four players and/or on a 1080p output for your television, there’s a dock (sold separately). Connect your wireless 8BitDo Bluetooth or 2.4g controller directly to dock for wireless play. Some games, such as Pokemon trading, can use a sync cable to make it happen. You can also sync up to four devices for multiplayer gameplay.
Below are official specs for each piece of hardware from the Anologue website:
Analogue Pocket Specifications
- Compatible with Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance game cartridges.
- 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 9
- All buttons mappable
- Stereo speakers
- micro SD card slot
- USB-C charging
- Original-style link port
- 3.5mm headphone output
Dock Specifications
- 1080p HDMI output
- Bluetooth & 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 compatible
- Power Dock on from controller
Adapters Specifications
- AP_01 Game Gear adapter
- AP_02 Neo Geo Pocket + Neo Geo Pocket Color adapter
- AP_03 Atari Lynx adapter
Developers looking to built games for the Pocket can do so with GB Studio. Allowing very little to none programming knowledge and allows you to generate proprietary .pocket files with GB Studio and run them off your SD card.
The Pocket comes in white or black for $199 USD and comes with a USB-C cable. This will let you play your Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games right off the bat, making it over 2,780 cartridges playable. That doesn’t stop there. Customers can purchase adapters to play their Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color and Atari Lynx games. Unfortunately you have to purchase each adapter separately for $29.99 USD. To play on the big screen, you’ll need to purchase a $99.99 USD dock to play your portable games at 1080p. If you need protective gear or additional cables, that’ll cost extra too. All these items are available to look at now on Analogue’s store. We just hope that there’ll be enough in-stock and not have to wait months for an update for a possible restock.
Analogue Pocket beings pre-orders on August 3rd, 8am PST / 11am EST. Shipment starts May 2021.