• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Analogue Pocket. GBA, GBC, GB, Lynx, & More, 1440P Screen. HDMI-output with dock. $199, Launching May 2021.

dcx4610

dcx4610

Member
I really want one but throwing down $250 (with tax/shipping) for something you won't even get for at least another year sucks. At the same time, I don't want to miss out on it though. Analogue said had in the past that it's not going to be a limited product like their other systems but who really knows. I guess I'll wait and just hope that production picks up before they expect.
 
IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


Here are nine tips to get the most out of the Analogue Pocket, from save states to using a Switch Pro Controller.
0:00 Intro
0:22 Display Options for GB, GBC, & GBA
1:20 How to Use Save States
2:22 Mute Shortcut
3:14 Use Super Game Boy Controls
3:50 How to Play GBC games as if on original Game Boy
5:06 How to Use the Analogue Link Cable
6:11 How to Use a GameCube Link Cable
6:45 Connect An a Switch Pro Controller
7:36 How to Update the Analogue Pocket's Firmware
Click to expand...
 
J

jimjonjimmy

Member
mikespit1200 said:
Still no word of a jailbreak right? If I get a gba everdrive would that allow me to play gb gbc and gba games from cart or no?
Click to expand...
Everdrive includes an emulator on the cart to play GB and GBC games. However due to being emulation expect the usual issues that come with that. To play them natively you will need a separate GB/GBC Everdrive.
 
L

lakitu1982

Member
It's a blessing I will have to wait till 2023 in a way as by then it will have much more potential. That's what I keep saying to myself anyway
 
L

lakitu1982

Member
I've cancelled my pre order. I'm not happy with the wait and seeing a lot of negativity and the short comings of this design has put me off. I'll wait for my Steam Deck Q3 2022. It's a shame I hope they fix the issues with it and maybe it will become more available in the future. If that's the case I'll jump onboard
 
BusierDonkey

BusierDonkey

Member
So my brother went ahead and bought me one of these, he's alright. This actually showed up at my place a while ago but he's been away from the city for almost a month. He owns all the other Analogue FPGA systems and has a pretty big cartridge collection spanning the 8 and 16 bit systems. He got his order in fast and has started his GB/GBC/GBA collection. We opened then up yesterday and spent the afternoon just going through a bunch of games.

Fantastic little handheld, it's pretty heavy which I like. Feels super solid, the D-pad is really good and the screen is bananas. Definitely going to put some hours on this thing, I've already ran it from full charge twice. I've been using my Advance SP for a long time and it's never been a great fit as I have gorilla hands, but I had it so... This is a much better fit though I fear playing it in bed will result in a black eye if I doze off mid-game given the weight. The thing is a fingerprint magnet, seems to be a similar plastic texture as what is used on the Series X shell, no matter how well I wash my hands after playing the thing is all printed up.

I have access to a pretty decent bunch of physical games but I'm using the GB studio tool to play a ton of other games right now. I think I'll invest in an Everdrive just to keep the wear and tear down on all the cartridges and the cartridge slot itself.

Seriously the screen is absolutely nuts. It looks like I remember my OG Gameboy. I still have it so I can compare them and the absence of motion blur coupled with a backlight reminds me of my days hunched under a lamp back home. I can't wait for them to unlock more features through future updates like with the other analog systems.

9pnJJ3B.jpg


4WAMYLa.jpg
 
Last edited:
SF Kosmo

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Yeah I got a Pi4 based GameBoy and that will do nicely, I think, particularly for the low end handheld systems we're talking about here.
 
P

papersleeves

Member
So I received my unit last week. I also received my EZ Flash Omega Definitive Edition yesterday. I was really disappointed to learn that it wasn't working on the Analogue Pocket. Felt like a huge waste of time / money......only to discover it works perfectly?!? I had absolutely no issue whatsoever trying to boot it. I don't have to swap the cart while in sleep mode or anything like that. I had a saving issue with games using 8kbytes / 64 kbits memory files where it simply didn't work (A Link To The Past, Minish Cap, Donkey Kong Country, etc) but updating the EZ Flash to the latest firmware / kernel fixed it so it is completely hassle free!

Just did a battery test running Yoshi's Island Intro from the EZ Flash cart. Brightness set to 60%, volume at 50% or so. It lasted 6h30m15s, with a few seconds off perhaps. All in all, very impressed! Will post updates!
 
lem0n

lem0n

Member
I bought one on eBay used. It was still a little over MSRP but next to what I've seen them sell for I got a bargain. What a fantastic piece of kit, the screen is truly special.
 
SegaSnatcher

SegaSnatcher

Member
Synless said:
Me too… I just wish it also played DS and 3DS games as well.
Click to expand...
Those systems would actually require an expensive FPGA. FPGAzumSpass tried to do it on the DE-10 Nano that has a much beefier FPGA than what Analogue uses and even that couldn't handle DS, let alone 3DS.

So, don't expect a DS or 3DS core anytime soon given current prices of FPGA chips.
 
M

mikespit1200

Member
Anyone figured out how to get a everdrive x5 to be recognized as a gb and not gbc? It works fine but I like the gb filters better and I can’t use them on the everdrive
 
J

jimjonjimmy

Member
mikespit1200 said:
Anyone figured out how to get a everdrive x5 to be recognized as a gb and not gbc? It works fine but I like the gb filters better and I can’t use them on the everdrive
Click to expand...
I don't currently have a Pocket or an Everdrive but the Gameboy Color would determine the games by a pin inside the slot that would be pressed down or not pressed down depending on what type of cartridge was inserted.

I don't know how the Everdrive works in that regard but is it designed to be used as a Gameboy cartridge as well as a Gameboy Color cartridge?
 
Naked Lunch

Naked Lunch

Member
mikespit1200 said:
Anyone figured out how to get a everdrive x5 to be recognized as a gb and not gbc? It works fine but I like the gb filters better and I can’t use them on the everdrive
Click to expand...
Pretty sure you have to use the correct file extension.
.gb are normal Gameboy games.
.gbc are Gameboy Color.
You should be able to just rename the files.

If youre using a Gameboy Advance Everdrive - remember it uses an emulator (I think Goomba?) to run non-GBA games.
 
Last edited:
Killer8

Killer8

Member


Many of the early reviews from the usual shills retro enthusiast community were glowingly positive, but the long term story appears to be very different...

A lot of the issues with this thing seem to be caused by the cartridge slot. The placement of it looks like it makes using the shoulder buttons pretty uncomfortable. Your fingertips easily collide with the edge of the game cart, which sticks out the top. It's like the annoyance of GBC carts sticking out from the top of a GBA, but for every game. I've also now seen plenty of people reporting that the cartridge connections are quite finnicky, so any slight jostling of the cart can cause the Pocket to stop reading it - something bound to happen due to that placement + fingertips problem.

It seems that a jailbreak, so you can just run the games off a micro SD card and not have to deal with carts, will be all but essential. But it's now months after release with no jailbreak in sight.
 
Bojanglez

Bojanglez

The Amiga Brotherhood
Rumpleforeskin said:


Many of the early reviews from the usual shills retro enthusiast community were glowingly positive, but the long term story appears to be very different...

A lot of the issues with this thing seem to be caused by the cartridge slot. The placement of it looks like it makes using the shoulder buttons pretty uncomfortable. Your fingertips easily collide with the edge of the game cart, which sticks out the top. It's like the annoyance of GBC carts sticking out from the top of a GBA, but for every game. I've also now seen plenty of people reporting that the cartridge connections are quite finnicky, so any slight jostling of the cart can cause the Pocket to stop reading it - something bound to happen due to that placement + fingertips problem.

It seems that a jailbreak, so you can just run the games off a micro SD card and not have to deal with carts, will be all but essential. But it's now months after release with no jailbreak in sight.
Click to expand...

Custom firmware would be great, but you can run lots of GB and GBC games by patching the ROMs to run as GB Studio games from the SD slot.

I'm loving the device so far, I'm mostly playing old Pokémon games that I never played when I was younger.
 
IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


We can finally jailbreak the analogue and play our favorite games from the sd card! In this video, I show you how to jailbreak the analogue pocket from updating to the latest firmware to starting up your rims from the micro sd. Right now we able to play Gameboy advance “GBA” OG Gameboy and Gameboy color using this jailbreak but more systems are on the way like Game gear and PC engine.

00:00 Introduction
00:14 Overview
01:22 Updating The Firmware Analogue Pocket
03:21 How To Jailbreak The Analogue Pocket
06:54 Adding Games and Bios
08:03 Boot games from SD
Click to expand...
 
chaseroni

chaseroni

Member
Yeah the OpenFPGA stuff is really interesting, I hope we see a SNES core, no idea how viable that is.
I saw they ported a NeoGeo core as well.
 
Dontkidyourselfjimmy

Dontkidyourselfjimmy

Member
Still in the wait here q4 22 apparently. Already dreading the fed ex customs charge. Ordered the mega sg couple years back and paid the customs charge as soon as I got the invoice. The next 6 months I received literally dozens of letters eventually threatening court and bailiffs despite me telling them I've paid, sending screenshots of the payment etc. In the end I basically told them to fuck off. Got an email 3 months later saying thanks for the payment.
 
S

sinnergy

Member
Still waiting till 2023 ordered in January 😭 atleast it seems I won’t have to get a Mister anymore . As this will run enough cores.
 
C

cartman414

Member
SegaSnatcher said:
Those systems would actually require an expensive FPGA. FPGAzumSpass tried to do it on the DE-10 Nano that has a much beefier FPGA than what Analogue uses and even that couldn't handle DS, let alone 3DS.

So, don't expect a DS or 3DS core anytime soon given current prices of FPGA chips.
Click to expand...
If ever. Raspberry Pi, which similarly started off via education-related subsidies, caught on by surprise and also apparently justified advancements because ARM cpus are cheap. FPGAs, not so much, because they tend to be much more expensive, and still niche from the looks of it, meaning the Terasic board will remain the one affordable board for years, if not indefinitely. I would love to be proven wrong though!
 
Mato

Mato

Member
It's really weird how quiet they've been. Last I heard from them was when they said I'll be getting mine in Q4. It's like they took the money and run with it.
 
SegaSnatcher

SegaSnatcher

Member
Apologies in advance if this is not allowed, but I just wanted to give out an invite to the server I created last year called FPGAming. We recently created a openFPGA channel for 3rd party development talk on Pocket.

Mazamars who ported the Neo-Geo core is on there. Kevtris is on there as well. We also have many other FPGA developers there who work on the MiSTer project.

discord.gg

Join the FPGAming Discord Server!

Check out the FPGAming community on Discord - hang out with 3119 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.
discord.gg discord.gg
 
Last edited:
ShirAhava

ShirAhava

Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
I still plan on getting one of these one day when it isn't being shipped by mule
 
WalterSobchak

WalterSobchak

Member
Damn , I want 2 of these but when in 2023 is it likely to be ready ? 1st quarter of the year I wouldn't mind too much. But if it's late 2023 that's a long ass time. I wish they just required a $50 deposit or something .

Hmm what say Gaf ? Are they worth it ? I'd be looking at $550+ for 2 systems and some accessories. They wouldn't scam would they ?
 
Spukc

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
WalterSobchak said:
Damn , I want 2 of these but when in 2023 is it likely to be ready ? 1st quarter of the year I wouldn't mind too much. But if it's late 2023 that's a long ass time. I wish they just required a $50 deposit or something .

Hmm what say Gaf ? Are they worth it ? I'd be looking at $550+ for 2 systems and some accessories. They wouldn't scam would they ?
Click to expand...
This company has a shit track record in making deadlines.

Get it when it’s actually possible to buy it from their shop. Don’t fund this shit to be made 😂
 
Krathoon

Krathoon

Gold Member
This is coming in fourth quarter of this year. Hopefully, I will still be alive. :messenger_winking_tongue:

So, I take it you can run roms off the SD card now? I already bought a GBA Everdrive.

That is taking forever to get to me too. It is shipping from Reno, NV. I found that funny. What a seedy place for it to come from.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Locked
What We Know About Nintendo Switch Launch, Games & Beyond (with sources)
33
6K
duckroll replied
Top Bottom