Today I’ve got a fun new item I’ve really been looking forward to getting and it’s an Analogue Pocket! The devices have been on the market for a while and they allow you to play cartridge Game Boy games, among other systems, using an FPGA, or Field Programmable Gate Array. To keep it simple, the creators have recreated the Game Boy (and Advanced!) by programming a microchip so instead of an emulator, the Game Boy code is running on what is a bit like a real Game Boy. This leads to performance increases because it runs closer to the native platform instead of on foreign CPUs like the ones on your phone or computer.

All of this is through the efforts of openFPGA, which aims to preserve old video game software through hardware instead of the emulation layers we see in primary use today.

The Goods: Analogue Pocket

So let’s kick things off by looking at what we’ve got. I bought the new Analogue Pocket Anodized Aluminum edition in Indigo, which is quite similar to the GameCube launch color; Indigo is one of my favourite console colours of all time. Really the only thing that beats it is the Funtastic Ice Blue N64, which I’m so happy to own one in my adult life.

So we’ve got the device, and several other boxes which are various accessories. Primarily cables including a spare USB-C cable, a link cable to connect devices together, and a MIDI cable to play around with the built-in Digital Audio Workstation, Nanoloop.

I cannot believe how incredible the color of the Analogue Pocket Indigo is in real life. The photos on their store page were just a glimpse into what I was getting myself into. The device feels heavy, in a good way. You know no corners have been cut in its production and it’s going to last for years to come. The peels, oh my god yes. I love me a good peel and Analogue were so kind to put a few on the device.

We’ve got plenty of inputs on the handheld  including a Micro SD card slot, for those that want to sail the high seas, beautifully crafted volume buttons, a power button that doubles as the sleep and wake button, a link cable port which is indeed compatible with other gameboy and gameboy advance systems. A USBC port for charging and docking, a power LED, and the almighty headphone jack, which isn’t common on handheld devices these days.

The device opened up with a short tutorial of what each of the buttons did, which was nice because it showcases the special Analogue button and how it has a couple of extra features when combined with other buttons on the pocket The cartridge slot feels good and has a little bit of play in it which isn’t a bad thing, but you definitely want to make sure you aren’t messing around with your game cartridge so you don't lose your progress. Not having a more full back on the pocket doesn’t feel as great as an original Advance or SP GameBoy, but it’s a necessary evil when you make a device that can be extended with other types of FPGA units.


Want to play Game Gear? You can with an extension!

I bought their case to keep my pocket dust free and protected in the situation something were to fall on it or it took a small bump in a bag. I wouldn’t expect this to provide great fall protection though, but it certainly snaps well together to provide protection. I did initially have a little bit of trouble getting the case on, but that was user error during the excitement of getting a new toy - it came with instructions on how to use it correctly.

My pocket arrived with 2 year old firmware, so an update was necessary to make full use of it. I grabbed the latest firmware, put it onto a Micro SD card that was formatted to FAT32, and started the unit up so that it would reflash itself. The update allowed me to set the time on the device and also opened up Screenshots and Save States.


Nice.

Unfortunately, we've learned that my copy of Pokemon Gold seems to have bit the dust. I had it working a couple of years ago when I did a shell swap on my original Gameboy Advanced SP, but for some reason it’s not longer wanting to cooperate. Pokemon Blue though runs without issue and it feels so good to slide it into the pocket.

One cool feature is being able to change what you want the screen to look like. For Gameboy games you can have them appear in the original Dot Matrix screen, as pictured above, that was present on the ol' chonky Game Boy, or you can opt for the less green Gameboy Pocket look, or if you want to get your light on a slightly teal Gameboy Light look is available too. A Pinball Neon Matrix option is there too which comes from Stern Pinball machines but looks quite a bit like the Virtual Boy too. Of course you can also just use the normal look from Analogue themselves, which allows you to have a pixel perfect look to games, or you can smudge it a bit to make it feel a bit more retro while having good lighting; Perfect for under the covers when your parents said game time was over for the night.

Now, accessories. The dock also needed a firmware update, which comes straight from the pocket itself. The Pocket’s firmware includes dock firmware so if you let it do its thing after connecting, you’ll be in good hands. I attempted to use a PS5 controller wirelessly, which is said to be supported but folks online have had plenty of issues getting it to work, to no avail. But, connected by a USB cable I was able to use the PS5 controller without issue. 8BitDo controllers work with the Analogue Pocket Dock easily and Xbox controllers, Switch JoyCons, Wii Remotes, and more work fairly effortlessly. Why anyone would want to use a Wii remote on a device that can’t play Wii games though is beyond me.


More IO than a MacBook Air.

The cables that came in the purchased accessories were all very high quality. They have nice Analogue logos embedded on the plastic connectors which is a nice touch, not all manufacturers go the extra mile in getting custom cables made which makes me think they’ve done their research. The cables have a good almost grippy feel to them. If you’ve unboxed cables from Apple products in the past 10 years, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Premium. They feel premium and they better be for the price!

The unboxing experience as a whole was pleasant. I really liked that they included an Analogue sticker in the boxes, though I feel a bit ripped off by not getting one with most of the accessories. It would be bit a very small value add that would let me rep the brand more and they already had the packaging ready for it in the box. 

Again, I’ll draw a parallel here with Apple, opening up your iPod or MacBook box to get one of the Apple stickers was a nice little touch. We don’t always see them included with Apple products anymore which is a shame. But, this isn’t an Apple review. Or it is?

The boxes that came with all the Analogue products had a great hand feel, they felt good to open up if a little tough at times. Having a little pull string would help break the seal on them but considering I don’t plan on storing anything in them, it doesn’t really matter a whole lot. I was a bit surprised to see cables coming in such extravagant boxes considering most will just turn into waste, but I’m a damn sucker for good product packaging; Opening up the Steam Deck was one hell of an experience and the Xbox Series X with its custom fitting and interesting-to-open box was also fun; Not quite N64 on Christmas fun, but I'll take it!

Overall first impressions? Color me impressed! I’ve tried a few times to get an Analogue Pocket so I was thrilled to be able to secure one of these limited-editions before they sold out. The $500 price point was a lot more than I had wanted to pay, but after getting to feel the weight of it in my hand, and knowing I’ll be using this for years to come, I know it’s a great investment for retro gaming. That and the dock have a dedicated place on my TV and maybe at some point I’ll get another dock to have at my computer.

If I had to rate everything, for a retro handheld experience I’m giving it a solid 9.5/10, I’m docking half a point because I had to go and download the latest firmware, which may be petty, but putting 2 year old firmware on a brand new device, it just feels like that experience could have been improved easily. It may be intentional, other users of the device might want the older firmware.

As of posting, the Analogue Pocket is still available in all colors that aren't Indigo.

Let me know what you think about the Analogue Pocket, what other kind of content you’d like to see for it, and most importantly, what do you do with yours or what would you do if you had one?