Analogue, the company behind the FPGA driven retro consoles, such as the Mega Sg and Super Nt, has finally shared additional details on the upcoming Analogue Pocket - its first foray into the world of portable gaming. As announced last year, the idea behind the pocket is to deliver an FPGA driven console capable of playing Game Boy family cartridges either using its high-resolution internal LCD or via a dock connected to another display. Support for Neo Geo Pocket Color, Game Gear and Atari Lynx is also possible via adapters. In recent years, new screens and mods have been developed for many of these original consoles but the Pocket seeks to combine everything into a stylish casing.
This was already known but we've since learned more about its features suggesting something even more ambitious. Firstly, the internal LCD screen, which uses an obscenely high-resolution 1600x1440 3.5" panel, supports variable refresh rate technology. This is key when it comes to properly handling games across different handheld systems as each device uses its own internal refresh rate. VRR ensures that judder and frame duplication won't become an issue. Analogue also confirms that the scaling and display features have been redesigned specifically around the internal LCD which should hopefully ensure even scaling and options to suit each platform.
The dock is also rather robust in that it supports up to four players wirelessly while offering both digital HDMI output and support for the Analogue DAC - a digital to analog converter designed to support older CRT displays. This should enable a seamless docking experience similar to the Nintendo Switch or PSP Go. The dock supports controllers via Bluetooth, 2.4g and even wired via one of the USB ports on the back.