Analog bag
At first glance, the Analogue Pocket looks like a new version of Nintendo’s iconic Game Boy Pocket from the mid-90s. And that is, sort of. The handset accepts original Game Boy patterns, but also those released for the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. This means you can bounce in between Pokémon Red, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Advance Wars on the same bus ride. Analogue also plans $ 30 adapters to play Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Atari Lynx, TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine and SuperGrafx games.
Analog
However, the Analogue Pocket is more than a ‘play it all’ machine. The handheld enhances the original Game Boy design with two extra face buttons, two shoulder buttons on either side of the cartridge slot and three small system buttons. There are also stereo speakers, a headphone jack and a 4,300 mAh battery that charges via USB-C. The 3.5-inch screen also has a resolution of 1600 x 1,440 which should provide excellent brightness and color reproduction. Finally, the company will sell a $ 99 dock that allows you to play pattern-based games on a TV.
The Pocket also supports Nanoloop, a program that musicians use to create chiptune music. The feature can help justify the steep price of the Pocket. At $ 199.99, it’s more expensive than Nintendo’s Switch Lite handheld. However, some would argue that it is a steal, considering one needs the screen and internal hardware to use so many pattern types. The first units are expected to ship in May 2021. But it can be a challenge to buy: Analogue opened pre-orders last August and sold out within minutes, upsetting many hopeful customers.
Analog Duo
The Pocket is not the only analog machine that supports TurboGrafx-16 cartridges. Analog also works on a home console called Duo. As the name suggests, it has two slots for physical media. The one on the left is for HuCard cartridges – the format that introduced the TurboGrafx-16 and PC Engine – while the one on the right accepts chips designed for the TurboGrafx CD add-on. In addition, the Duo supports titles developed for the PC Engine SuperGrafx, a successor to the TurboGrafx-16 released only in France and Japan.
Analog
Like the Pocket, Analogue uses field-programmable hole array (FPGA) chips to read the original TurboGrafx-16, PC Engine, and SuperGrafx games. This means that the Duo acts like the original hardware and does not trust any software emulation or ROM files to work. There is only one downside: Analogue has not yet developed a chip to emulate the PC-FX. If you want to play games from the specific system, you need to look elsewhere. Yet it is a beautiful console aimed at a small but passionate part of the community. (How many people collect TurboGrafx-16 games?) Analogously, the Duo says it will come out somewhere for $ 199 next year.
Play date
Panic’s Playdate is a strange thing. It has a monochrome screen, unlike the analog pocket, and a fold-out crank on the right. The latter is fortunately not there to power the device. This is a true control method, just like the D-pad and the dual face buttons. Teenage Engineering, the company that designed the Capcom-themed OP-1 synthesizer and bag compressors, helped Panic come up with the unmistakably cute hardware. It measures 74 × 76 × 9 mm, which is smaller than the Game Boy Pocket and therefore much more portable than the Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite.
Panic
Panic is best known for its developer-focused Mac and iOS software, such as Nova and Transmit. The company also occasionally released a video game, including Fire Clock and Untitled Goose Game. As Greg Maletic of Panic told Engadget last year, the Playdate is intended as a spiritual successor to Nintendo’s iconic Game & Watch series. It has since been transformed into something that sits between those devices and a more sophisticated handheld. Each Playdate, for example, is an app, and owners can install third-party games directly on the system. ‘[Developers] do not have to go through us, “Panic confirmed in a blog post last October.
The Playdate costs $ 149 and is expected to ship early next year. For the price you get a ‘season’ of free games that are unlocked weekly. It was originally supposed to be 12, but the long-term development of the console “enabled Panic to introduce even more Season One games to more developers,” according to a blog post. A series of developers, including Keita Takahashi, the creator of Katamari Damacy and Wattam, has confirmed that they are working on Playdate titles. Panic also shared a number of community prototypes, including a Doem port.
Atari VCS
Atari is not the game it used to be. The company, especially known for the Atari 2600 and classic titles such as Pong, was most influential in the 1970s and ’80s. Since then, the iconic brand has been sold several times and struggled through bankruptcy. What remains of Atari, however, did not give up. The company is preparing a brand new system called Atari VCS. The design is definitely Atari-like, with long identities at the top and for at least one model called the VCS 800, a fake walnut finish at the front. The company also made a retro joystick to accompany a modern controller. Long Atari fans will also appreciate the Vault, a collection of classics that includes Asteroids, Break out and Millipede.
Atari
However, the Atari VCS is more than a retro console. According to Atari COO Michael Arzt, it is a ‘fully functional mini-computer’ powered by an AMD Ryzen R1606G processor with integrated Vega graphics. By default, the console will run Atari OS, a version of Linux designed for the living room. However, you will be able to use PC Mode to install and launch other operating systems such as Windows, Chrome OS and Valve’s Steam OS. Atari believes that this model distinguishes the console from cheaper alternatives on Android. The VCS 800 can be a simple game console for the living room, but it can also be a semi-decent computer to search the internet and access basic programs.
An Atari VCS 800 All-in-One bundle, which includes a console, joystick and standard controller, can be pre-ordered for $ 389.99. It’s expensive: for $ 10 extra you can buy a PlayStation 5 Digital Edition. The console was unveiled for the first time at the Ataribox at E3 2017. It was renamed in March 2018 and merged on Indiegogo a few months later. Atari hopes to ship backup units and a small number of pre-orders before the end of the year. However, full retail production will only take place in January 2021. The VCS has been around for a long time and some people are understandably skeptical about Atari’s ability to deliver. After all, the company is small and is working on eyebrow-raising projects such as cryptocurrency and Atari-themed hotels.
Intellivision Amico
Atari is not the only retro brand trying to come back. A team led by Tommy Tallarico, an industry veteran who has worked on more than 300 games, is creating a new Intellivision system. The Amico is a simpler system that everyone can play, regardless of their age or experience with video games. It comes with two controllers that have chips instead of D-pads, four shoulder buttons, a small touch screen and everything needed for basic motion control. The console includes six games and a bunch of downloadable extras that cost between $ 2.99 and $ 9.99, including an exclusive sequel to the beloved Earthworm Jim platform players.
The Intellivision team believes that the casual market is deplorable at the moment. According to Tallarico, modern games are too complicated and do not encourage people to play in the same room. The Amico will solve this with a game library that contains no violence, bad language or sexual content. There will also be no outside closets or microtransactions so that parents can have full confidence in what their children are playing. That’s the idea anyway.
Intelligence
Like the VCS, the Amico is expensive. The tray-shaped system costs about $ 249 with the launch, which is only $ 50 less than the Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series S. (You could also argue that the Switch has a similar need for family-friendly games.) From people in the 1980s. grew up and remembers the Intellivision name with love. For the people, the composite library and simplified controllers may be sufficient to justify the asking price. The Tallarico team was originally aiming for a launch in October 2020, but the date has since been moved to next May. If the timing matches, we could have an Atari and Intellivision rematch on hand.
Switch Pro
We can not end this list without mentioning the long rumored Switch Pro. To be clear, Nintendo has never confirmed the existence of the console. Bloomberg reported in August that the company plans to launch an upgraded Switch next year. According to unnamed sources, the company has considered a more powerful model that can support 4K footage. It can replace the standard switch – which has already received a minor overhaul, which slightly increases battery life – or add to it. However, there is no guarantee that a Switch Pro will happen. Nintendo performed incredibly well during the pandemic, selling a huge number of consoles over the past three quarters. Still, a sequel to Switch could help maintain that incredible momentum next year.