It might be time to dig out those old Game Boy cartridges you still have in the attic. Retro console maker Analogue announced today it will release its first handheld device, the Analogue Pocket. The not-a-Game-Boy-but-kind-of-a-Game-Boy device will play cartridges from every generation of Nintendo Game Boy, including the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and original Game Boy. It will cost $200 when it launches sometime in 2020.
The system looks like an old Game Boy Pocket but packs stereo speakers and a much nicer display, with a 3.5-inch 1,600 x 1,440 pixel LCD with “pro-level color accuracy,” according to Analogue. It has two extra shoulder buttons for Game Boy Advance games, and a couple of extra face buttons, too. And if you want to play on your TV, there will be a Switch-like TV dock you can purchase separately.
All 2,780 of the classic handhelds’ games will be compatible with the Analogue Pocket. It’s not limited to Game Boy, either. The company plans to support Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, and Atari Lynx games—but you’ll need to buy cartridge adapters that are planned to come out sometime after launch.
The Pocket joins Analogue’s growing number of console revivals that faithfully play original cartridges. The Mega SG plays Sega Genesis games and the Super NT will boot up any Super Nintendo game.
Usually, systems like these use software to emulate, or imitate, the original hardware of a classic console. Analogue systems re-create gaming systems’ innards in a different way. They use custom-made internal field-programmable gate array (FPGA) processors, which are programmed to behave exactly like the processing units in the original Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and Game Boy systems. That’s why they can play original cartridges without any additional software, tweaking, or hacking. They play old games as they were originally played. You don’t need to search for ROMs in the back alleys of the internet. Just hop on eBay and pick up all those cartridges you never got the chance to try.
