To be clear, the Analogue products are not using emulation, nor emulators. They are called “Cores” and it’s basically flipping the switch on the internal chip to play roms (games) as if it is the original hardware of that particular retro system/console. For example, you can use a Super Nintendo core to play snes games, but it’s not emulating them at all, the internal chip is reprogrammed to play the game as if the cartridge is plugged into the original system. It’s in fact hardware simulation, not software emulation. 🍻
@@donmcron3334 the distinction should be clear, otherwise it wouldn’t make any sense why anyone would pay $250 for this compared to cheaper “emulation” handhelds. 🍻
@@tonyrosario1940 not really. I brought my pocket into work the other day and someone was asking me about it and I showed them where to get one and than I showed them the anbernic as a cheaper alternative and he said he wanted this one instead. He doesn’t know anything about emulation lol.
@@donmcron3334 to be clear, my previous post was not meant to mean all consumers would gladly pick the Pocket over cheaper emulation handhelds. On the contrary, most basic/casual consumers will not buy the Pocket. It’s very niche. For the very serious retro gamer who can tell the difference between hardware simulation and software emulation, it’s hands down the better buy. Differences being more accurate colors, sounds/music and less input lag. The casual player will not have the history with these games to notice the difference or care about it. 🍻
It's still emulation. It's not exactly the same just very close and generally faster than software emulation on handhelds. Of course, there is specialized software emulation that is perfectly accurate, clock for clock on cpu cycles, like Nanoboy, but it's limited to desktops as far as I know.
FYI, been watching a ton of analogue pocket videos (my orange spice will be here soon!!!!), the frame blending helps to sort of simulate the transparency effects in some games, that would use the original screen's inherent flickering as a way to get transparencies working. Also, not sure if you saw, but, in the most recent web newsletter, Analogue confirmed that in 2.0 OpenFPGA is getting access to the screen filters :)
Great production quality totally agree. Super great system, I didn't go for one until they released the GITD and Transparent pockets. Grabbed one, been playing Emerald, it's absolutely amazing! Great review!
Nice video. I find it unbelievable how there's no Chinese brand copying this device. I mean, it's made with Chinese parts. Why don't they want to make money? Would they really let the Analog Pocket take all the money? Really? Or are they not really paying attention to the handheld market?
That’s a great point. I didn’t even think of that. We might be seeing some cheap knock off Analogue Pockets hitting the market at some point. But right now the fact that doesn’t exist makes the pocket that much more special. Thanks for sharing and thanks for supporting the channel!
Yes, but I'm sure a lot of people would pay the price, specially a cheaper alternative because the Analog Pocket is clearly overpriced and impossible to get.@@BreakPoints753
Got both Mega SG & the pocket essenitally 6-7 days ago from their christmas stock. Definitely recommend it regardless of the analogue controversy of shipping costs, stock quantities, & limited edition FOMOs. Pair this with GB operator, would be the best of both worlds for game preservation.
What I love about my Pocket that I don’t hear any reviewers mention is the fact that it can play games from my collection where you really DO need the physical cartridge in order to play them. For example, the Pocket has rekindled my love of Kirby’s Tilt n’ Tumble (GBC) and Warioware Twisted (GBA). Both of which have gyroscopes in the game pak that respond to tilts, twists, and flicks. I love playing these physical cartridge exclusives on the Pocket!
I really hope they make an analogue pocket plus with a 5” screen. Or at least a horizontal version that’s reminiscent of the GBA or Game Gear. MUCH more comfortable to hold.
Would love to see a video on Nanoloop. I’ve had my device since December 2021. There isn’t much content online about using the Pocket as a MIDI controller
I will make it happen! I’m not super experience with MIDI but I’ll figure it out and get a video out for you. Thanks for watching and supporting the channel!
The Pocket does use emulation. As long as the console doesn't include the original hardware but an FPGA that recreates the original hardware, it is emulation. Not software emulation like most people are used to, but hardware emulation.
I juat ordered mine on Friday & cant wait 😊. I wish i hadn't gotten interested in FPGA this late as i wouldve loved to get a Super NT & sadly it seems that they are no longer in production. Those secondhand prices are a scalpers dream. This is a good reason alone to get a Pocket if you think you are in anyway interested at this point just to avoid those scalper prices. If anyone knows of any alternative FPGA that plays Super Nintendo cartridges then i would love to check it out. I really hope Analogue either makes a new one at some point or re-releases the SuperNT. Paying 800 for a device that was originally 199 sucks.
Don't forget about all the FPGA cores you can use by simply loading them onto a SD card. You can play anything up to and including all the major 16-Bit era consoles plus many arcade games.
Well done! Like you I have a ton of GB and GBA games and wanted a great way to play my old classic games and have a way to play them on the big screen. I no longer have a Gamecube and Gameboy Player. I was an idiot and sold my old set up to "upgrade" to another system. I finally was able to buy a black Analogue Pocket after waiting almost a year. They were constantly out of stock and I did not care for the limited edition ones. I actually bought the accessories like the case and the dock last year and can't wait to be actually able to use. them. Thanks again for the video.
Great video, I think it basically aligns with my thoughts as a Pocket owner. Two quick things: 1. The emulators you're referring to are actually backed by the same FPGA tech, so it should have very similar accuracies and inaccuracies as what you're getting when playing the cartridges. Analogue's working on getting some of the other features available to developers, so we're not at full parity yet (screen filters, Real-Time sync) but hopefully by next year. 2. The dock is 100% worth it. Being able to play these games on a big display with a controller is awesome, and you basically get to play multiplayer on the other FPGA systems by connecting multiple controllers. It's a shame that it's almost half the cost of the device, but after using it I don't regret my purchase
I didn’t know that about the emulators. I’m looking forward to getting them running even more now. And I’m planning on picking up the dock and case as soon as possible. Can’t wait. Thanks for sharing and thanks supporting the channel!
I was wondering, did you get a screenprotector from analogue for this? They give you one, just one, and I fucked up, luckily they sent me a new one. But I needed to pay customs again. Did you manage to place the screenprotector nicely?
Bet all the batteries also went everywhere with you. Had a gameboy pocket growing up and most of my allowance went into buying packs of triple A batteries...
if you plan to play only cartridges, no, you can just get it out of the box and play right away. if you plan to run romhacks in openfpga cores, you will need sdcard for that anyway and so you'll need to update it via sdcard first.
The steam deck uses software emulation while the pocket uses fpga FPGA is basically hardware replication. It uses the same chip logic as an original Gameboy making it a Gameboy
Not sure if anyone else has this problem, but i can’t seem to play my old pokemon gold cartridge on the AP. It just says error with a green screen or white. Anyone know a fix?
It is still technically emulation tho. Specially if we consider what FPGA means. Real faithful recreation would be those handheld consoles where they squeeze in boards of ps2 or gamecube down to handheld size.
@@NintenDub yea but what i heard is theu do it on purpose. sell small quanities which is fine but they know scalpers are buying all of them and they dont care. not to mention the company has truly screwed over good people who worked on their product
They just suck at maintaining stock. Supposedly a new batch of OG pockets are coming on the 4th, whether or not theyll be available for hours or weeks after remains to be seen but yeah.
I have three pockets, white,black,and transparent clear. I use the black one with the black dock to use as my arcade machine. Playing Alien vs Predator FINALLY on my tv 🥲🥲🥲
