Digging into the Analogue Pocket, a portable FPGA game system 

I work in the Aerospace industry, and when you said that the marketing for the device touted both FPGAs, despite making one inaccessible, it reminded me of a board we'd got recently. They basically did the same thing; except this board cost close to $100 k.

Wow, someone who can actually disassemble and explain the pcb and its components like a professional, you get a like and sub sir, nice content!

Really love your video- the deep technical breakdown and in depth review of the software is excellent. Subscribed!

I like your editing and style, great review, even better breakdown.

i got a pocket when it first pre ordered in like 2019 waited almost 2 years for it but i love it. Your channel is great!

Love my pocket. It’s a love letter to the Gameboy. Tip - noticed you switching screen emulations by going into the menu - just hold the analogue button down and use left right on the d-pad to go between them without menu diving.

How did i miss this channel for so long? SUBBED

I discovered your channel today, and I like it. Quality content.

It looks extremely well built 👌🏼 glad to see that the insides look so good.

Came here intriged by the 8-Bit Guy wall tiles in the background. Stayed for the great content. Thank you!

Really interesting and informative video. Thanks for sharing!

great video! -first time viewer, really enjoyed

I absolutely love your videos. They are extremely well made. The professional information is also explained in a way that normal gamer like me can easily understand. You deserve more views!

Awesome review! Great videos on your channel! I’ve subscribed!

@24:20 DAMN!! That aluminum kit looks B E A UTIFUL!! That hand held sitting on the stand (at the time stamp) just looks perfect! Absolutely love that look and presentation!

Quality content. I've enjoyed watching it. Keep it up.

This was great! I just got my Pocket as a gift and totally love it. I’m interested in swapping out the buttons for different colors and was worried about breaking something, but it seems like it should be pretty simple.

Brilliant coverage. Subbed!

Would love to see a comparison of the analogue pocket with software emulation devices like the anbernic type of devices. Great video! 👍

I was very doubtful because of the long wait times. And I'm kinda glad I didn't place an order when it first came up. I _did_ put myself on the list for when they're in stock again, and then they unveiled the transparent ones. Made sure I was ready at the time for orders (because we knew they'd sell out immediately), placed my order and had it about 2 weeks later. Have been enjoying it ever since, it really _is_ my favourite handheld to play GB and GBC games on. And I do have an original GameBoy Light and plenty of handhelds that could play those games before, so this definitely says something.

Fantastically made video. Thanks!

Thorough and professional. I'm getting used to this! Love Analogue's tech.

Another great video. Thanks ken.

Great quality video and the content too.

I first became attracted to Analogue's FPGA solutions because I happened to have a large library of physical cartridges I wanted to showcase and demonstrate on my streaming show. They were just a practical solution for me to do that with minimal tinkering or modification skills. I never expected them to gain this sense of allure or even "snob factor". Every time I mention how I play my cartridges, I go out of my way to mention "you dont need fancy stuff like this, just enjoy the games in a way thats meaningful for the experience YOU want". Also, if you don't want to play original cartridges, this thing is not at all practical, running cores is a nice option, but if you just want a rom machine, there as such better choices available for less money. Though I will say, this device has the best looking portable screen I have ever set my eyes on.

Excellent well researched video.

What?! 875 Subscribers! Dude this channel is insanely under rated! High quality, thoughtful, educational, and insightful all while being entertaining! I'm definitely subscribing.

Love your videos Ken! Keep it up!! I've had my Analogue Pocket for a while and it's fantastic. I just wish it was more of a horizontal form factor like the Gameboy Advance or Sony PSP as I dislike the claw like grip when holding onto the device!!

Why is this channel so underrated

Ordered a black one on the 16th. Can’t wait to get it 💪🏼

I ordered it and received in less than a week. I bought the full package with dock, adapters, screen protection.... I had a bad surprise with the shipment blocked by custom... The UPS shipment to France was 80$ and the custom taxes was 105$. That's is very expensive in the end but it's the best console I've had in hand by far. I'm playing Golden Sun with my 7yo son and that is great! Thanks for the quality video Ken!

Thanks for a great look at the AP I'm loving mine I have had it for about a year. I picked up the dock for it about 5 months ago and it's really increased the amount of use of a device I loved before the dock makes the arcade and consoles games a lot more fun. I hope there's an Atari Lynx Core soon I know that would look fantastic on the AP display.

Great video! Very indepth!

Interesting and informative video. I'm still on the fence about investing in one. For now I have the good old original hardware, for which I am very thankful. Throughout this video I kept feeling like I was watching someone who snuck into the 8-Bit Guy's studio to record while he was away.

Great content! thanks for the video.

Best video I’ve watched on the Pocket and explaining the internals. I’ve had a Pocket for about a year and feel that Advance games that require the use of the shoulder buttons (Minish Cap) did make the device pretty uncomfortable. The device is great though and I play it daily.

I love my pocket. I’m looking forward to the next update with the classic screen modes for Open FPGA

Just going to make you aware. The analogue pocket with shipping and the customs charges(to the uk) came in at £340 in total when I purchased on launch. That price has now gone up. It’s not far off the price of the mister. Great video though 😊

I got the orange transparent one and with the open fpga cores got to play some systems I had never played before (PC Engine/Turbografx16, Neo Geo and GameGear). Fun times.

I missed a mention to the Analogue Pocket Dock when comparing to the Mister. But awesome video. Thank you

Nice teardown and technical insight. You mentioned comfort 3 times and how it wasn't an issue, but I had to buy a grip to avoid hand cramps after no more than 20 minutes of play.

Why am i just finding this channel? Why is there no subs, jesus this is great

Great video

Just found you and I can see the influence that the 8-bit guy has had on your videos/setup, but I’m here for it! I think this kind of content is sorely missing from RU-vid amongst all the noise. Finding someone who goes in depth on interesting topics is a welcome surprise. I hope you keep making videos for a long time! Subscribed!

Thanks for the extensive research. I wonder how they use Cyclone 10 and whats the advantage of that. I suspect it is used to act as changeable peripherals when loading different game system. The Mister may have to actually use some of the GATE to do the same thing. But the different approach can cause the cores not easy to port from one to the other.

Excellent video Ken! I've watched a couple today and you can definitely see the effort you put in. I've been debating on the Analogue Pocket for a while, especially now that extra cores can be added. The screen looks truly amazing, and the actual device itself is gorgeous to behold. For me, though, I think I'm going to stick to software emulation devices. Between Analogue always being out of stock, and the added cost of shipping to Australia ($60 if I just want the console, up to $100 if I want the dock and acrylic case), it's not something I can really justify keeping the money around for. Not when devices like the RGB30 will get 90% of the way there, and cost $100 shipped. Sure it's not a pixel-perfect 10x of the DMG screen, but 720x720 is enough for exactly 4x integer scale rendering, or 4.5x if I'm okay with a little fuzziness. Analogue definitely make excellent hardware, but it's definitely boutique stuff and a little past the point of diminishing returns for me.

Before I picked up my miyoo mini 2 and later my RG405M, I thought this one was the absolute best looking device on the market. It really is greatly appealing but the factors like price and wait just doesn't work for me. I'm also super disappointed to hear you find the SP unhinged uncomfortable. I wanted to get that kit and turn both my SPs into sturdier metal systems, but I'll reconsider for now. Solid video sir. I thought the channel had far higher subs for the level of quality you're pushing out

Hope this channel really pops off

I would absolutely kill for a screen like this on an emulation handheld. It's beautiful, and so are the shader/modes. One day, hopefully. I'd pay a premium for, like, a miyoo mini with 1440p and gpu.

I like mine but I find the bottom part is very sharp on my pinky where I kind of hold it. I also feel like you would benefit from being a tiny bit thicker. I'm usually a fan of the DMG 01 style but I can see why people wish it looked like an advance

Great video review and tear down. I hope I can buy a Yellow one, but I have to buy from resellers because Analogue doesn't ships to my country.

I honestly got one of these on accident. I told myself if i couldn't get an AP, i was gonna get the Anbernic 405V. Got an AP and love it honestly.

The purchasing process is frustrating and I think artificial. I wished there were more options available for portable FPGAs. Ironically, I was tasked to fix a portable Ultrasound Machine for my friend's friend who sometimes does house calls to farms. Both are Veterinarians. I don't know why he thought I could fix a machine like that, since while yes I have some TECHNICAL prowess and literally all the tools to do it, I've never done anything like that. LUCKILY for me, it was a super simple fix since the people at the company decided let's put a giant heat pad on the part of the board that doesn't have any chips. Loaded it up with heat sinks, installed a fan that zapped power from an internal USB header that had pass through holes, which meant no soldering needed, and got it working. The point of the story is, it was using an FPGA chip, weirdly enough. A Cyclone IV I want to say. I've never seen an FPGA chip in the wild like that. As for the machine, after a few of my hacks, she says it has never overheated again, and can be used in our Sub-Tropical climate of Coastal Mississippi just fine. I also fixed the power supply that they decided to hot glue in and then it came undone since, why wouldn't you VHB mount it. Addressed the company who was sketchy as can be... All their reviews were from their friends and there was magically no critical review. Also they claimed to be the creator of the tech. Went on Aliexpress and found literally half a dozen clones of their product that predated their company's existence.

Look forward to your videos. Hopefully Ken’s also making some delicious meals for himself. 😅

My order took less than half a year. I ordered mine in March 2023, got it at the end of August 2023. It wouldn't surprise me if we were in the same batch.

Ken, thanks for an informative video! I've seen an interesting complaint about the thermals of the Pocket. A two-year-old post on Reddit alleged that the Pocket's screen got too hot, saying that the device's heat management was inadequate. What's your experience---perhaps Analogue resolved the issue in later batches?

You have a new subscriber. What I would like to know: is the casing covered in some kind of rubber? After years and various devices I am worried, that the silicone rubber becomes disgustingly sticky when getting old.

It seems a lot of reviews on the Analogue Pocket showcase the white version. I am a bit worried about the white degrading into brown like with quite a few retro devices (see e.g. retrobright as a chemical solution for restoring the original colour of e.g. my SNES console). Is this plastic also affected by the potential colour change? And does dirt easily come off the casing or am I left with stains after some time? I know a lot of questions, bit thanks for any advice and answers on my concerns.

Great video. I agree with your comment regarding the uncomfortable experience : my 11 years old son has no issue playing with it, wame for me! The company shipping policy has changed, they now send their devices within 2 weeks max.

A year? WOW! I got my Transparent orange pocket in about a month. Seems like they were waiting for inventory to arrive. My one complaint is that the battery compartment is slightly smaller then the rest of the unit. Its not uncomfortable to hold, but its strange they didn't back the back the same width as the entire unit.

I’m interested in whether the GOWIN Arora V FPGAs are going to make an impact here. You can get a module with 138K logic elements, an 800MHz RISC V core, 1GB of DDR3 RAM and a shed load of high performance IO (up to PCIe 3 speeds) for about $100.

only took you a year? pft! mine was ordered 2/25/22, and shipped 8/10/23. 😊 i had actually forgotten that i ordered it. anyway, nice video.

It remains to be seen whether the stock situation has actually improved, but I'm happy to wait until February for my Pocket. Not that I wouldn't prefer it be shipped immediately after my order, but its nothing compared to the 600+ days I've heard some people waited. Hopefully it is a real improvement and not just a way to get pre-orders before putting us through that long of a wait again. I'm only buying one because it seems to be the best option for a rechargable handheld GB. If I get a modded original system I'm pretty leery of the battery mods since I actually like being able to pop a couple batteries in and keep it moving. Something about putting charging hardware in places it wasn't specifically designed for worries me even though I can't deny the convenience of it in many cases. Easier to just cover my bases so I can focus more on getting ahold of the physical copies of games and less on the system itself.

Out of stock on their site but there's 3 pre-owned units at my local store. I've seen at least one on the window of every used store in my area. I think they're charging close to new though!

This is a great video and should have far more views than it does. Out of curiosity, do you film on the 8-Bit Guy's set? It looks very similar.

The Pocket's such an enticing device, but the stock situation really rubs me the wrong way. I also spent a good chunk of change on my own refurbished/modded GBA and GBC with new plastic housings - I used retro modding clear plastic shells, getting around the comfort issue of the boxy pixel.

I own one too and I also waited close to a year. They screwed up my shipment declaration and declared an incorrect value though resulting in me paying extra in import tax. I like the device, it remains as a neat device that has a lot of potential in it.

I ordered mine a month ago and was delivered to me within a week. So idk. So far, I love this device.

I ordered in Aug 2020 and received it Dec 2021…16 months waiting was worth it in my opinion

Great review. Would it be possible to make a handheld shell with hdmi in to connect to my mister fpga? Use the mister as a handheld device.

I have an Anbernic 353M that gives me really good mileage, and I'm spectacularly happy with it. I mainly bought it because Analogue really likes scarcity to make their consoles seem fancy, and that plus the absurd shipping times drove me to buy something else. That said, if I ever do come across one second-hand for a decent price, I'll definitely pick it up after this. I'm seeing companies starting to develop around cheaper FPGA alternatives like Lattice and Gowin series, and I'm excited to see them challenge Analogue and help them shape-up.

Hi! Is your analog pocket has strange barely noticeable lines on the edge of the screen on the left side, top and bottom? They are very similar to burn-in, maybe it's just me? They are only visible in DMG Pixel mode.

I wish you would have touched on this in the video. The reason people are saying the AP is uncomfortable to hold, is because there is a lip between the front and the back casing. It's very clearly visible, and it will cut your fingers while you hold it You can position your fingers in a way that makes it less so, but the decision to make this lip on the battery cover is really unfrotunate.

1 sub for you ..keep growing sire

In my opinion the price is 100% justified in comparison to cheaper Handhelds like the ~80-120$ Miyoo(s). It's simply another class of device (& possibility to be able to use your original cartridges in _maxed out_ quality.

I did have one ordered for like 10 months before it finally shipped. It was rejected at customs and sent back to them. It was nearly impossible to get hold of anyone there. Eventually got their attention by doing a credit card chargeback.

Where did you get that killer Mister case? Very nice.

Wow those screens look better than the originals.

That's the most comprehensive review of the Analog Pocket available. It delves into the intricacies of the FPGA and even opens up the device to show how it's built. It demonstrates the care and skill taken to produce high-quality content. Thank you very much.

It only took a year to arrive... Let's tear this thing down ASAP!!!

A good video, nice to see some objectivity where other RU-vidrs can be very sensationalist. Overall I'm happy with mine, it took less than a month to arrive in the UK. On the flipside I've been really unsatisfied with the D-Pad. Just the other day I had to open the thing up to try a few different solutions to prevent false up/down inputs when pressing left/right. Fortunately that was successful but really should have been caught by QC. The shoulder buttons also feel really iffy, but they work fine and I haven't had to use them much. I'd also prefer that the volume and power buttons were closer to those of a GBA-SP. Finally, I think that any device at this price should have bluetooth for audio and a port for wired controllers.

any link for that 3d printed stand, would love to get it to show my pocket

When comparing it to the MiSTer you didn't mention that the Pocket can be put into a dock which has HDMI and 2 USB ports. Surely the MiSTer is the better option and has more cores for a desktop machine, but having the ability to use the Pocket with a TV and external controllers is still a nice feature. 8Bitdo has a support section dedicated to Analogue Pocket's Dock. And what is Analogue's deal with these additional adapters aside from the GameGear one?? These will apparently finally be available in the beginning of 2024, but they have been advertising these ever since the introduction of the Pocket. What's the reason for taking so long to be released?

A big disappointment for the Analog pocket for me is the open FPGA implementation only accepts a sample rate of 48kHz. The SNES outputs 32kHz. So the sound has this kind of aliasing quality as the samples are rounded to the nearest 48kHz equivalent.

Three weeks I’ve been waiting for support to get back to me. Before that it took them two weeks to tell me I could change my delivery address - by the time they got back to me I wasn’t in America anymore. They are clearly turning a profit, maybe employ the staff to support the customers, right?

What is that keyboard you are using at 27:45?

Is the screen (not the protector) glass or plastic? I cant find an answer to this anywhere.

I really want to like the Analogue Pocket, because it is indeed a very interesting device. But the way they make it available is rubbish. Having to race against bots and scalpers to get one or the 50€ delivery price + customs fees making it costs more than €300 for some of us. I'd rather buy an Steam Deck. And I say so as a person who paid €560 for a Mister FPGA already assemble.

Perhaps this is sacrilege but I’d have loved to see a comparison with a decent emulation device like an anbernic or similar

This is why I ended up buying an abernic rg35xx instead. Waaay cheaper and good for what it is!

Have you tried the Sister? It's a portable Mister.

This video is really interesting. You went into such a detail, that I cannot believe that you only have 9k subscribers. One thing I would like to mention: For me personally, this video was much more watchable on the speed of 1.25. I don't know if that is of help at all. Liked it, subscribed. Awesome video. edit: I know now why it was much more watchable. In the speed of 1.25, it felt much less like it was read from a script.

What I don't like about Analogue is the same as you. They seems to be running very few runs. Right now, the pocket is available, but say the SuperNT has been "sold out" since they was last shipped Q2 2023. When a product says "sold out" on their page, I would not bet my money on they be back. This opens up for they always sells out and they they are gone, you need to buy scalper money to get one :( The same thing happened to the MMS too, but at least they open-sourced the design so others can make it :) This is why Im saving up for an Mister (just cant decide on stack analog, stack digital or MMS)

The Mister is realistically going to cost you around $600, and the Pocket will cost at least $250 with shipping in the USA but could be $300 out of the USA. Add an Analogue Dock and you're easily around $400 with a Pocket. They're expensive but when you price adjust an original Game Boy to today's dollar, the Analogue Pocket is actually priced equal to the original Game Boy when adjusted for inflation.

Currently an upgraded GBA SP is selling for almost the same price as an Analogue Pocket. 😅 I'll stick to my Mister though. 😅

Just a heads-up, Analogue does take credit cards as payment but does NOT accept Discover Card.

Every time I go to Analogue's website and it says the one I want to purchase is out of stock I say to myself I didn't need it anyway. I'll either get it someday or I won't. I have dozens of other devices I can play Game Boy on with an IPS screen.

I skipped the Analogue Pocket and purchased myself a PowKiddy B30 (Purple Edition) instead. I also got the Wood Grain Edition ANBERNIC 351V.

They are literally working from the Rolex playbook

I love my fpga systems, but for the hassle to get one of these I would just get a Logitech G cloud. Has all the great emulators with all the great features that emulators have, also can stream my Xbox directly as well as Xbox cloud. I can connect to my computer through Steam link. And it connects to the tv.