The Price of the Pocket is $219 + shipping not $299. For me it was $248 to my door. The Pocket is hardware emulation which is better than software emulation in pretty much every way that matters.
I decided to stick with my PS Vita, it has way more options anyways. I also go an ambernic RG35XX and I have no regrets. If I want my save files on an actual cart ill just flash it to them lol.
I got a limited edition analogue pocket in december of 2023. Personally I have gotten my bang for my buck out of it, especially since the firmware updates that allow for the fpga cores to read roms out of the micro sd card. It’s convenient and plays everything I want it to play from the atari to cps2 arcade cabinets and everything in between. Prior to this my n3dsxl was my dedicated retro handheld and it has the added benefit of homebrew cfw and the ds and 3ds library. Different handhelds for different purposes I guess. My biggest gripe with the analogue pocket is that the sleep function on pokemon games WILL WIPE YOUR SAVES and its an issue that has yet to be addressed by analogue, which seems like a massive oversight considering people with gba carts would be the target audience for this. It could be cheaper to find a gba donor console and give it a flashcart, ips screen, battery, speaker and usb c mod but that’s also dependent on how much work you want to put in for a dedicated retro handheld that only has access to the gb/gbc/gba library.
The sound not a standout? I was blown away by the sound. The game boy was only mono, so finally being able to play game boy games in stereo on the pocket has been a revelation.
Always felt like a status anxiety device, twice the price so you can re-live the misery of lugging cartridges around. Already compared poorly to the 351V at the time of release but nowadays with the 35XX, Miyoo Mini and 405V it really feels irrelevant.
Well worth it for anyone that played the original titles and really enjoys retro gaming. Hardware emulation is a lot better than Software emulation. It responds better, feels better, sounds better and has a lot less glitches.
I think a better alternative to the Analogue Pocket is the FunnyPlaying FPGA GBC 🥹 it was like 83 bucks all said and done. Now you have to put it together yourself and it doesn’t play all the same systems as the pocket but it’s also under 100 bucks and can play everdrives and original cartridges 🥹 I do own both but for me the pocket is great for at home arcade consoles. I dislike Analogues marketing and price but I think if you break down what you can actually play on this and the community are making a lot of fun games as well I think the price is more palatable 😂 I do think it’s overpriced but it’s also a lot more powerful than the funnyplaying one and the screen is better resolution although the quality of the funny playing one is very very nice I don’t think you’re losing much.
