The Analogue Pocket – a modern reimagining of classic handheld consoles that can play cartridges from the Game Boy family as well as other cart-based handhelds – has finalised its design and features in preparation for release in 2021.
The design, which still looks like a classic Game Boy as designed by Sony’s PS4 concept artists, has had its start/select/home button cluster moved from the right-hand edge to the bottom centre of the console for ease of reach. The power button on the side of the unit can be used to sleep and wake the console, providing the ability to pause and resume games.
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While the 1600×1440 resolution screen offers 10x the resolution of the original Game Boy and has display rotation and a variable refresh rate, the Pocket also has an Original Display mode that replicates an original Game Boy, Game Boy Colour, or Game Boy Advance screen as it was, “quirks and all”.
The Pocket’s dock – which works akin to a Switch dock for HDMI-out to TV functionality – has had its USB C connector recessed to provide extra stability when the console is attached. It also supports up to 4 controllers via Bluetooth, 2.4g, and USB.
Much like classic Game Boy consoles, multiplayer between Analogue Pockets can be done with the use of link cables, which will be sold separately.
Talking of cables, Analogue has also developed new MIDI and Analog sync cables for use with Nanoloop, the Pocket’s music creation software. Nanoloop is built into the Pocket, and cables can be used to bring your chiptune creations into a Mac, PC, or other music hardware.
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The Pocket isn’t just a music creation tool, though. Analogue has partnered with GB Studio to allow users to create retro-style games for the system. The ‘drag and drop’ interface allows game development with no coding experience, and created games can be played on the Pocket from an SD card. Analogue is launching a FPGA developer program to support this.
Alongside the Pocket, Analogue will launch a series of accessories, including screen protectors, a hard case, and the all-important cartridge adaptors to allow Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Colour, and Atari Lynx games to be played on the console.
If you find the idea of a Game Boy for the year 2020 appealing, the Analogue Pocket will be available to pre-order from August 3 at 8am PT. The console will ship in May 2021.
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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer.
Source: IGN.com Analogue Pocket Features Finalised Ahead of 2021 Launch