Analogue cites “the unfortunate global state of affairs and supply chain challenges outside of our control” as the reason for the delay. But there’s good news. Analogue is starting pre-orders for the handheld very soon; they’ll open up on August 3rd at 8AM PT / 11AM ET.
The Pocket, like all of Analogue’s consoles, is built around a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chip. While all-in-one retro consoles typically run games through software emulation, Analogue programs an FPGA core to mimic the original circuitry of a console. This FPGA can then play cartridges directly as if it were the official hardware.
There have been a few changes to the Pocket since its original launch. Externally, the start, select and home buttons have been moved from the edge of the console to the low-center. Internally, the main new feature is “Original Display Modes.” This takes the Pocket’s high-quality LCD display, and has it mimic “quirks and all,” the screens of various handhelds. Analogue has announced three of these display profiles so far: Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance.
The Pocket’s display is a 3.5-inch, 615-PPI LTPS panel with a variable refresh rate, and software rotation will be available to support “tate mode” games tate mode games are rare, but this is a vital inclusion that will allow Lynx games like Klax and Raiden to run. It’ll also mean Game Boy Advance titles that had tate mode as an option.
The Analogue Pocket will launch for $199.99, while the optional dock which lets you play games on your TV will be $99.
