Is the Analogue Pocket the best retro video game portable console money can buy? Thanks to Analogue for sending in the Analogue Pocket! More info here: www.analogue.co/pocket
For the gamecube cable, YOU DO NOT NEED TO CUT OFF THE LOCKS. If you have a screwdriver that fits the locking bits are removable and this is 100% reversible so you can put them back if you want to preserve the cable.
@@danielbutler8103honestly, the entire form factor would need a full redo if it wanted to be perfect. Having it similar to the gba would be a lot more comfortable. And making the casing plastic is more practical. Having it be metal is a bit overkill
Not metal casing. Meant to say a lower rez screen. I miss remembered. I would edit the comment, but the youtube app is getting incredibly buggy when editing comments. And by buggy, I mean it doesn't let you
@@Heath_Rubbadubdub either that or a simple cable riser, which should be within Analogue's capabilities since it's clear they already have a source for the connectors and proper cabling. now will they make a gamecube cable? I don't know but if they do then they can shut up and take my money already.
Yep, from the looks of things there was a review embargo, everyone made and uploaded their reviews using pre-release units but weren’t allowed to release it until it came out.
Their products look like if each Console developers recreate these old classic consoles with Modern design features, they have that "Sleek, Minimalist" look of modern electronics but in the shapes we all know and love
@@370.y Uhh... What? I am pretty sure this is not for playing with ROM hacks... You can clearly see that it requires Original game cartridges to work. The Video does not mention any use of Memory devices either. As for the design, those corporate can sue for the look. But not only that it will hurt them in Public Optics, this is simply mitigated by the fact this device fills the market with a product the corporates haven't made properly yet, filling the Market that is left empty thanks to the very same Corporate Decision. If their Board of Director is smart, instead of Suing, the Corporates could have bought the company who made this and put them under their jurisdiction. They perfected a product for them, easy money
@@toceeno874 Despite the jumbled sentences... I *kind of* understood what they're saying They argued because this is in the shape of a GBA, the device falls under ROM hacks and can be sued by Nintendo, Among many other things they made that also took a shape of a particular console... It's obviously not equal to a ROM hack, we can clearly see that Shane uses Original Cartridges and even uses Original connectors (for the N64 connection, even though it requires the latches to be removed) for the device to even work. Nintendo *could* probably sue for the form factor of the device itself. But I have yet to see a Device made by Nintendo that fulfill the same demand this Analogue Pocket supplied. But it's not really THAT feasible. Not only this is NOT straight plagiarism by the Company, but also the company who make this Innovates from an already available Technology... Even though the form factor is similar to the Original. Imagine a Plane company, Boeing for example, Suing Airbus
As someone who bought the Super NT twice, for myself and for my little brother's birthday, I am very interested and would not be surprised if it does end up as the best in retro handhelds.
It cracks me up to see a retro game system with a micro SD card slot, headphone jack, USB-C and 615 PPI 1440p screen while even the highest end iPhones lack all of those features.
@@jimmymyers I use an S8, which has all aforementioned features, though the pixel density of the screen is "only" 570 PPI (still higher than 99% of phones released this year, the Sonys are outliers).
Or if there was any way for Nintendo to do it even ten years ago. But I get it: There must have been a hundred legal issues holding them back. Making this sort of system first-party would have meant dealing with the licenses all over again, for every single cart.
I owned a lynx in the 90s , it’s one of my favourite systems , I had a lynx 2 with an official case and about 15 games with the boxes , I sold it to buy PC games , bad mistake
I've wanted to own one but considering they're like $200 or so and there's only like 5 or so games I want to play I can't see myself investing in a Lynx, but I might get the adapter for the Pocket when I can.
Nintendo is always the first company to pitch a fit at emulation . They could hwve easily made something like this to play the millions and millions of older cartts out there. But no a company like Analog had to do it. At my parents house I thibk we have 150+ GB GBA ect games still useable. The ability to play them on a modern TV with a dock is huge and is what sold me on buying one of these.
@Dany Henriquez It's still emulation bro. FPGA emulation vs Software emulation. Emulate : Reproduce the function or action of (a different computer, software system, etc.). It is reproducing the function of those old handhelds, so it is still emulation, just not software based. Anything that isn't running on original hardware can be considered emulation.
@@mimisezlol ...which is a good idea, since an understanding of what 'emulation' actually means outside of that context should help break down elitism over the apparent 'purity' of a device that doesn't use software code to do the actual emulating. identical results are possible from both software emulators, and hardware FPGAs. preference of one or the other type of device comes down to aesthetic taste rather than objective quality differences.
This product is definitely promising and the fact that the Everdrive works on it is definitely a plus, which says a lot more than what could be said for clone consoles. I hope that Analogue can make it in more colours as well, like the same ones we got for the GB/GBC/GBA etc.
It finally happened. My dream handheld. Sleek form factor, plays official cartridges, added QOL features, built in game maker and music software, it's a dream come true. I got into retro handhelds a while ago and I've been waiting for something like this to come to the market. I'm absolutely going to try and get my hands on this.
Hey Shane, it surely was a relief for you to finaly play with something descent. Between "The Worst Ever"-Series and "It's Just Bad" I also felt reliefed to play with an great consol.
I do like seeing reviews like this. It's always easy to find and make fun of the bad/knock-offs consoles and controllers, but sometimes it's refreshing and nice to see what makes a console or controller good.
I am so viciously jealous! ;) I am glad that you are reviewing this however because I know you will not hold back! ;). Edit: did I miss something or did you not talk about the adapter for pc engine/TG 16? I assume it’s just not ready yet. This thing is just STUNNING. Analog makes the best FPGA systems....hands down!
Right? The GB was good for its time because it was so thick. But when you make that form factor really thin, you really cramp players' hands. As you build it thinner, you really need to widen it out to preserve ergonomics. Nintendo understood this with the GBA in 2001, kinda strayed with the GBA SP in favour of this same "retro" look in 2003, and remembered it again with the DS in 2004-2005. So in a very specific ergonomic way, the Analogue Pocket is about 16 years behind the times. I understand when anybody says that having the controls way along beside the screen is a very "modern" layout, but that's just ergonomically the way things need to be with such thin devices.
This looks very nice to look at. It can play all the handheld consoles from previous generations is worth playing for. I’ll like to have this. I am a huge fan of playing old games and this is the one I’ll really like to have.
It looks pretty cool, though it is a shame (though makes sense) that it seems to only be available in the more traditional gameboy/gba sp style. It makes sense since thats the more popular one with people and it caters to the design of more of the handhelds its recreating then if it went with how the original gba was, but I always preferred handhelds with the buttons on the left and right with the screen in the middle then the way the gb and gba sp did things since the controls always feel a bit more cramped to me. Still a very neat device non the less though and all the things it can do is pretty impressive!
If I ever have an issue with my backlit SP (it's still in new condition), I'll definitely be picking up one of these. I still have all my GC link cables (that fuctionality is very important as far as I'm concerned). I'm sure Analogue will work out something to make them work. I wonder if they are ever going to do a revision of this with a slightly different case to work out some of the kinks.
The games look gorgeous on it and I do have all my old games so this could work for mr, BUT I'm not sure about the price yet, and, as a GBA player, I would prefer a console in either the GBA model or that later GBA model that was similar to a flip-phone.
At that price, for the most part, software emulation gives far better value imho. HOWEVER, if you have a native cartridge library you don't want to dump, it does seem pretty neat. The extra, programmable FPGA is also pretty damn cool and I hope someone does weird things with it like PICO-8, RISC-V or Motorola 68k.
I mean it's definitely going to be hacked to run with roms at some point. They seem pretty open about letting people do whatever the hell they want with the hardware.
I hope it gets the ability to play roms, because otherwise Boktai and Boktai 2 will be unplayable because of the placement of the cartridge slot. This makes the screen completely block the solar sensor on the cart... they should have placed the cartridge slot in the same place as the GBA SP's.
@@devilmikey00 Don't worry, it will happen. But you can still play these games with software emulation on cheaper hardware or stuff you already own. That's why the cartridge slot and the extra FPGA are where I'd put the focus on, even if the hardware is pretty solid regardless. ...also to be fair, $219 + shipping might still be worth it to people in the US - I at least am from Spain and can't help but find that price, plus VAT and customs, absolutely terrifying
@@mimahakurei4430 Yeah I wonder if they'll make an riser down the line so the sun sensor could actually poke out properly. That said it's just two games. At least other addon cart games like WarioWare Twisted and Pokemon Pinball/Drill Dozer work properly.
@@Gatorade69 there's so much more to do when not in your *living room. And games (beyond like NES era) should be immersive - gl with that with a screen smaller than your hand and a speaker the size of a quarter
Thank you for making this playlist. hope you add the newer ones. RU-vid isn't playing friendly with your content. i keep playing "Play All" and it makes a playlist of 300 videos but plays only 5-6 videos and repeats it 2-03 times then jumps to another content creator. so i couldn't leave RU-vid watching your content.
Today must be Pocket day, as this is one of FIVE vids on the system in my subscriptions. This is not a complaint as it gives me multiple takes on the system.
I wish I had the money to get this and physical copies of these games. The most I can do for official versions of most of these games (that I can actually keep, I don’t like it when I just rent games with a streaming service because I can’t preserve my experiences) is the eshop on 3DS and Wii U. I want to get experiences as good as the ones provided by this machine but damn, it’s looking more and more likely that my dream collection will never happen. I’m glad things like this device exist for people with the money to afford it. I hope that at least gaming history can become accessible enough for people to play the classic games they want without having to either resort to piracy or spending absurd amounts of money.
Definitely looks like a very promising product, I'll keep my eye on it. I was wondering if you had any interest in reviewing the Polymega. It almost looks too good to be true, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
So tempting. But between it and the accessories and adapters that I would like for it, it isn’t within my budget. Hopefully it does well enough that I can still pick one up in a few years when my financial situation is (hopefully) better.
"The Game Boy Advance on the other end of the line had no idea it was talking to a non-Nintendo system." Analogue Pocket standing at the corner of a roomful of Nintendo handhelds: "They have no idea I'm not actually a Game Boy."
I totally will buy this for my brother! He got an og gameboy from his gf and he likes it, but he complained to me that the screen was just terrible haha I bet he will love this thing
This is really cool! Quick question, though: since the dock allows for TV play, does the Analogue give the option of playing GB games in Super Game Boy mode, for those with enhancements (thinking specifically about Space Invaders and Donkey Kong here)?
Not by default, no. That said the Analogue systems usually get jailbroken firmware post-release that let you load games from SD. Obviously any on-board hardware like the motion sensors in Twisted won't work while doing that.
@RockManLP_Radio Or just wait for the modders to make cores for it then we could just use the microSD card slot to load roms from it. Much easier, would be a good alternative from the MiSTer.
...Why didn't they just put the notches in it for the Gamecube-GBA cable? Irreversibly damaging an old cable that isn't made anymore is kind of a tall order.
Even if I understand that your Bad reviews have more humor, I'm disappointed that this video has so few views comparatively. But I get if it only appeals to people who are in the market for this type of device. I would be interested, myself!
8:35 Oh... well... That feature just brought shivers down my spine... I can hear the sound of that Doorstopper Kickstarter campaign. At least this isn't a sad sack of Android Box and looks like an actual dedicated Emulator
I’d love to see developers who start to make games on this and then suddenly port to today’s consoles. They can brag about how they made the game on authentic old school hardware.
