https://www.analogue.co/

anyone own one of these analogue pockets or related systems? i just bought one and the SuperNT to play both my gameboy and SNES games, and they're shipping sometime this year idk when maybe soon maybe not. the company is super backed up.

i'm trying to stock up on all the Gameboy games that I had as a kid. I still have mostly all my pokemon games, but just re-purchased the zelda handheld games, and probably am gonna pick up a few others. like Turok. i played that game all the time.

does anyone here own any similar systems and prefer / not prefer using these systems over emulators? I tried actually trying to re-create the original feel of playing classic games a few years back and bought both a Sony Trinitron CRT and hooked up my SNES with an S-Video cable, but it's such a hassle so i'm hoping the Analogue consoles will be able to recreate that same feeling.

I do love what Analogue has produced, but I've opted to stick to the real deal home consoles so far. Fortunate enough at this time in life to have a 32" Trinitron flat screen CRT and all the old gaming systems I can ever want. When I was wanting a Sega Genesis, a system I didn't own as a kid but had definitely played a bit, it made financial and nostalgic sense to just get a Genesis Model 2 and play on the CRT. But to improve the quality, of course I bought the HD Retrovision component cables. Then I ended up purchasing a RetroScaler 2x (clone of the Retrotink) when I wanted the ability to just play on a huge screen and relax on the couch. Forget what I said about financial sense.

For someone who isn't already established and invested in retro game equipment, getting one of Analogue's systems and some type of flash cartridge is very much the right answer. I do think the handhelds are a bit steep in price, seeing as my needs are met by modified Gameboy/GBP/GBC systems, which you can buy a few of for the same price. Flash carts or multi-carts available for those as well. All of this is quicker and easier to get one's hands on than any of Analogue's systems. With Analogue deciding to discontinue some systems, the price on those will sadly be ridiculous as well.

Another factor would be the problems any system can have due to age. You probably can buy one that just works, but they can show up grimey and with issues reading games. It's a gamble you take sometimes on what you're going to get, and so I'm always prepared to open systems, games, and accessories up for cleaning or potential repairs. Most people don't want to do all that, nor purchase a simple tri-wing screwdriver and/or "game bit" which they very likely don't posses and won't need again. They are possibly going to get scammed, paying far too much for a non-authentic or reproduction cartridge. At this point though, if you want physical cartridges then reproductions can be the only cost effective way to get many of these games onto the shelf for someone who knows what they're really worth. There's an additional benefit of having a new internal save battery in each cart.

I have that full size C64 that allowed me to try out the Commodore 64 and put myself farther back in time than I was even alive for. Good enough for me! I guess I do have a limit, because I don't want to spend time trying to fix decades-old computers. I had an itch for a 90 to early 00s gaming computer but the Steam Deck absolutely works well enough for that! If I were smart with my money and better at lettings things go, I'd definitely just be emulating everything on the Deck.

I was very tempted to get an Analogue Pocket, but emulation works very well on the systems that the pocket covers. I've got a RG35xx and it's working great, I don't notice any emulation issues, so the FPGA isn't a factor for me. FPGA in general is a pretty amazing technology. I hope it continues to evolve so we get more options for game preservation. But for my budget, and the age of games that I want to play, emulation is still my best option.

mine finally got shipped so i'll post what i think in the coming months. gonna be clutch for these flights i have coming up

Hey friend, did your device come in? Was it good on the airplane trips?

yeah this thing is very cool and nice to have for trips for sure. I ended up buying Zelda: Oracle of Ages to play along with a few other games I had and a carrying case. Made my 6-hour flight a lot more bearable.

The one fatal flaw about this console is that the game is almost fully exposed, which means if you put the device down a little too harshly, the game might wiggle out of the connector just enough for your game to freeze, which happened once when I had to put it down on the tray table on the plane. It's pretty damn annoying to remember to put it down super gently, but other than that, it's a nice lil console.

Dude you gotta get yerself a Miyoo Mini Plus, slap OnionOS on one and you have yourself a pretty nifty emulation machine. Only plays up to the PS1 due to its gameboy controls but its seriously cool and pocket sized, makes a great gift too.

Do not look up tinybestset on Internet Archive if you're interested ;)

never heard of it but that's the cutest little console i've ever seen in my life lmfao

Its cheap and powerful for the price, definitely worth the money

I have a Miyoo Mini! I haven't played much on it recently, but it was getting me through this year's winter season.

There were rumors of Miyoo making a flip-style device, like the GBA SP, which would also have an analog stick. I've been looking forward to that since most of my gaming is PS1-era and I just can't swing it with the d-pad controls.

Ultimately what made me stop playing was too much freedom to play anything. I ended up playing the romhack Pokemon Brown, which turned out to be very obviously made by a teenager. Something about the sensation of playing this labyrinthine, glitchy, grammar-error-riddled Pokemon game on a real-feeling console just melted my brain right out of my ears. I got a weird burnout I haven't recovered from. The worst part was that the game wasn't even that bad, it was just surreal.

It was absolutely an unforgettable experience, so I still recommend fan consoles overall.

Funnily enough I felt the same way lol, so many games yet not a lot I'd actually play though it don't bother me as I'm a notorious data hoarder anyways and like having a little archive of games on there, make great gifts too as they are rather cheap and easy to setup; slap OnionOS and a 128gb micro sd card in there and you'll easily make someone's day.

I mostly played Pokemon romhacks too and Xenogears which I really need to finish at some point as it's a brilliant game and I wish to finish it eventually.

It's a shame Miyoo hasn't released their flip model yet, Amberic has beat them too it by months now and I'm afraid they are stealing their thunder with that analog stick support which allows for N64 and Saturn compatibility. They oughta step up their game soon.

Friend, check out "Retrograde Amnesia" podcast, they do an audio-style Let's Play of Xenogears with a big emphasis on understanding the bonkers story and I really enjoyed it.

As for fan-made systems, I got rid of my 35XX and got a Retroid Pocket 4 Pro not too long ago. It's android based so it's such a pain to setup and get just right, but I've got it now and really enjoying GBA and PSP games on its wide screen. Excellent device. I really like being able to pair my bluetooth earbuds on it and not disturb anyone in the house.

I had an RG35XX for a while and really enjoyed playing through some GBA and GBC games on it, but the form factor kind of sucked, then I went to an android controller for my phone and that was great, OLED makes retro games look amazing, stopped using it as I was spending too much time gaming when I should've been doing other stuff.

The Analogue pocket is really interesting from a technical standpoint but that form factor just puts me right off, its super uncomfy looking, the 35XX was a nightmare for anything intensive due to how small and square it was, the pocket looks worse.

One of these companies will come out with a GBA original shaped device with decent specs at some point and that'll be me set for life.

honestly, I think if I had a modded gameboy advance with a backlight, that would be the ultimate portable console. I loved the design of that handheld.

the SP was definitely a step backwards

I had a modded AGB-001 for a while actually, and while it was really fun doing all the mods to get better sound and an IPS screen and stuff it wasn't really worth it. It went through AA's like crazy and it was expensive enough that I kept babying it. Eventually I managed to break the whole thing when I dropped it while changing out a membrane.

The modding was more fun than actually playing the thing...

lol well thanks for this lol now I'll never get one.

i completely forgot about those things being battery suckers. Shocked to hear about it breaking after a drop, I figured the older gameboys were rock solid

Don't let me put you off! It was a really fun little project and it wasn't that hard, buying AA's was a bit annoying but it wasn't that bad, it felt cool.

The Gameboys all are tough, but I had the unit butterflied open and it took a spill onto a tile floor from waist height, right onto the internals. Modding them involves soldering a couple delicate wires into stuff and just kind of sandwiching the case over a thick screen with ribbon cables on the back of it, I don't think that helped.

Looks like Anbernic have started teasing that very thing. It's not got specs for above ps1 really. Anything prior it should handle same as all of the handhelds they've released in the past 4 years.

I still have my original RG350 that I like playing on. I don't really play much story heavy or intensive since i'm not often sitting down and playing for as long as I used to. I did get the RG35xxSP and its nice, although i've heard about issues with the batteries being a bit dangerous on some early shipments. Its nice and I did a mod to make the buttons quieter but i've started developing a softer spot for my original 350.

I saw it, looks like their next "upgrade bait device", in six months time they'll launch a version two with a non terrible button layout. I've gone off these devices completely tbh, when the retroid pocket 6+ whatever comes out next year I might try and snag a 5 on ebay for cheap, but I've generally stopped paying attention to them.

I was sorely tempted by the SP when it was announced and I'm glad I stayed away, because they had tons of problems and some of the design decisions are stupid. I think you're right to stick with what you've already got, upgrading is almost never worth it.

I've been feeling like that more and more with tech as time goes on. There's already more good games to play and stuff to watch through my current gear than I can reasonably get through in a decade, so why upgrade?