CNET
Analogue Pocket review: The ultimate Game Boy has arrived!
This retro handheld only does classic cartridges, but it plays them beautifully. We put Analogue’s handheld to the test with dozens of Game Boy, Game Boy Advance and Game Gear games. Read CNET’s full review here: Subscribe to CNET: Like us on Facebook: Follow us on Twitter: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on TikTok:
Crimson Cloud
December 13, 2021 at 4:06 pm
Just buy a used Gameboy colour it’s like pretty cheap… if you want real nostalgia.
franklingoodwin
December 13, 2021 at 4:45 pm
Save yourself the money and use an emulator on your phone
Crimson Cloud
December 13, 2021 at 4:49 pm
@franklingoodwin that too but I’m speaking for people that want actual nostalgia. Not this glorified piece of crap they call the ultimate Gameboy..
adem
December 13, 2021 at 4:50 pm
Buy a psp hack it … $50 max
Qibili
December 13, 2021 at 4:12 pm
Well done! Something retro for us old timers. Love it!
Crimson Cloud
December 13, 2021 at 4:36 pm
Well done? You calling this a breakthrough or something?. It’s a Gameboy. You could get one on Market place for cheap or go to your local pawn shop.. this is horse crap. I can’t believe people would buy this. I mean come on you’d have to be pretty naive to buy this.
Francisco Moreno
December 13, 2021 at 8:29 pm
@Crimson Cloud
I already have the original hardware for my games and will receive this tomorrow. This is an upgrade for many people…
Date Masamune
December 13, 2021 at 4:26 pm
If you tried to sell that item. You didn’t convince me.
Crimson Cloud
December 13, 2021 at 4:43 pm
For sure.. it’s for naive people who don’t even know a bit of nostalgia… this crap vs a original Gameboy you could get on marketplace or your local pawnshop? Do these guys think I’m stupid or something? You want nostalgia people? Grab the OG Gameboy, Gameboy colour, Gameboy advance or Gameboy SP. You can play and any of the old cartridges in any of those gameboys I’ve listed.
Abegil Abby
December 13, 2021 at 4:36 pm
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franklingoodwin
December 13, 2021 at 4:44 pm
Good if you still have your old cartridges, but let’s be real most of us got rid of them 20 years ago. You can get all these games on your phones (unless you own an iPhone) with emulators. This a VERY niche product
Crimson Cloud
December 13, 2021 at 5:12 pm
Even then you could still get a old Gameboy for much cheaper
FitForActing Reynaldo B
December 13, 2021 at 5:07 pm
Strong pass for this one. Make one that can use emulators and I’m all in
dankcatvacs
December 13, 2021 at 5:10 pm
Yeah the GBA SP already exists
steve43ful
December 13, 2021 at 6:13 pm
There will eventually be unofficial jailbroken firmware and third party fpga cores that will let you run anything 16 bit an earlier.
J P
December 13, 2021 at 6:36 pm
There’s plenty of those already
TheUncommonValley
December 13, 2021 at 8:25 pm
@steve43ful At least someone did their research. Was wondering why the CNET didn’t cover that in the video :/
theshinken
December 13, 2021 at 8:30 pm
You can buy a GB/GBA flash module and play roms/homebrew off of that on the pocket and still have all the benefits like the super nice screen and perfect accuracy.
SCAR X
December 13, 2021 at 5:10 pm
Nintendo is coming after you bro, sorry but forget about putting them old trash cartridges, emulators only.
THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE
December 13, 2021 at 5:30 pm
That’s cool… But I’m not paying $200
D N
December 13, 2021 at 6:23 pm
Similar to Soulja Boy Console.
crispy crunchy cooking
December 13, 2021 at 6:24 pm
wow……..🙏✌✌
J P
December 13, 2021 at 6:35 pm
Great review
iSprint4GEyes
December 13, 2021 at 6:49 pm
Watch out Nintendo, this could be big
Chris Taber
December 13, 2021 at 7:32 pm
HAHAHA no
iSprint4GEyes
December 13, 2021 at 6:50 pm
It plays the game physically!!! Is this legal
fruiterloot
December 13, 2021 at 7:01 pm
Omg Mario from super Nintendo!!! I was a baby learning to play it i remember still!!! I waaaaant
Kode Williams
December 13, 2021 at 7:12 pm
So like they should and virtual boy i have games i cant even play
Andrii Maslov
December 13, 2021 at 7:44 pm
My Game Boy still working, lucky me
Novilicious
December 13, 2021 at 7:49 pm
I threw away so many cartridges. I deeply regret it meow 😭
Regan Parenton
December 13, 2021 at 7:53 pm
Meanwhile our planet burns.. we are the virus.
Four Dimensions
December 13, 2021 at 8:00 pm
Nice Crystal Maze t-shirt…
John Salazar
December 13, 2021 at 8:21 pm
I want to see a reboot of the turbo grafx 16 handheld.
kingtreelo
December 14, 2021 at 11:04 am
this plays the HU cards with a soon to be released adaptor
Igor Marcos
December 13, 2021 at 8:45 pm
pirating/emulating nintendo stuff is a moral duty, so pass
epy0nkaru
December 14, 2021 at 7:55 pm
You could get a flash card and pirate away
Joshua Stewart
December 13, 2021 at 10:14 pm
If I can’t play Skyrim on it, I’m not interested 😉
X̶̲̅ H̶̲̅A̶̲̅
December 13, 2021 at 10:22 pm
But the NEC turboexpress !
CNET
December 13, 2021 at 10:37 pm
We put Analogue’s handheld to the test with dozens of Game Boy, Game Boy Advance and Game Gear games. Read CNET’s full review here:
ArchGeek
December 13, 2021 at 10:48 pm
This is, by far, the worst review of this device I’ve seen today. It’s a bit misleading, in terms of playing ROMs as well as a few other things. Most folks reviewing this are well aware of Analogue devices tendency to have firmware updates created unofficially by the developer to play ROMs for example.
Sure, different audience here at cnet, so I guess it makes sense. This was very reminiscent of how a Best Buy or Game Stop employee would explain the Pocket to an older gift buyer.
Some Person
December 14, 2021 at 1:41 am
No thanks, I prefer my Anbernic RG 280v…
$200 is way too damn much! Rather put that money towards buying a Steam Deck. At least I can play almost every pc emulator and even pc games on it.
My Anbernic cost me $80 and is much better than this overpriced garbage for handheld games and much more portable. Old physical games should be running on vintage hardware at home anyways.
Arcane Cypher
December 14, 2021 at 3:26 am
2:04 – OH really?! We’ll see what EverDrive has to say about that!
Mike Muponda
December 14, 2021 at 3:36 am
This is awesome for the right people, I think all I’m missing is a steam deck to complete my setup.
James Oversteer
December 14, 2021 at 9:36 am
What’s the point of it unless it runs roms? No one has these cartridges anymore and prices have gone mental. Good luck to them.
/from home
December 14, 2021 at 10:56 am
well done vid. cnet seems to have a finger on the pulse. short well put together review. ty scott!
jason!
December 14, 2021 at 1:35 pm
Back in the olden days, my dad got pissed that I sold my gameboy games. He never realized how financially deprived I was when I was a kid. Now, gameboy games have only intrinsic value. There are better games. Or you can download them.
flamespear86
December 14, 2021 at 2:36 pm
Gameboy advance form factor is still the best. With the backlight mod it’s still the best. The only improvement the BGA form factor would be a bigger D-pad. It’s cool these use hardware instead of emulation though.
Edit: It is really nice that you can connect it to a TV though because Gameboy Players are expensive these days especially if you want high quality output.
Sh1zn1t
December 15, 2021 at 8:51 am
The Advance SP with the smaller form factor, ability to fold and protect your screen, and built in backlight gets my vote. And I still have mine!
Timothy Brown
December 14, 2021 at 3:20 pm
If I had the old cartridges, I’d be all over that. But all of those went to EB games ages ago so I gotta with emulators on my phone.
RockManLP_Radio
December 15, 2021 at 7:54 am
just pick up an everdrive
Eric Langlois
December 14, 2021 at 4:10 pm
*inserts meme from the office asking Michael to find the difference between this and an SP*
Ab. Su.
December 14, 2021 at 4:28 pm
Great, really, but 220$???
RockManLP_Radio
December 15, 2021 at 7:57 am
do you know a cheaper new handheld? one with a 1600×1440 resolution display??? i didn’t think so kid
Richard Rico
December 14, 2021 at 5:22 pm
Price is $219 now….not 200 anymore due to “shortages”
N H
December 14, 2021 at 5:31 pm
To those saying they sold their cartridges years ago and don’t know who it’s for, well there’s loads of people on eBay buying and selling cartridges from the 70s onwards. Cartridges never go completely out of fashion, and as the old hardware won’t last forever this is a great solution.
mutiepie
December 16, 2021 at 9:31 pm
“to all those who sold their cartridges asking who its for, its for those people you sold those cartridges to”
Blood Angel
December 18, 2021 at 11:57 pm
The carts don’t last forever either. There’s only so many times you can blow on them before they corrode, or fail some other way. Emulation is forever. It’s also faster and more convenient. Collecting is one thing, but actually playing is another. Emulated ROMs on the original hardware, or competent clone, is the best playing experience.
Huddy
December 14, 2021 at 8:48 pm
A modded original gba feels like the best option still to me
RockManLP_Radio
December 15, 2021 at 7:53 am
nah
Ayardgate
December 14, 2021 at 9:32 pm
Just preordered mine today!!!!!!!! Can’t wait to play Operation C on it.
Hi-Fi Insider
December 14, 2021 at 11:27 pm
I have original Gameboy and it works and looks like new.
Odan Hammer
December 14, 2021 at 11:38 pm
think these are great , but rather have roms. Carts are hard to find, are expensive when found, and eventually will fail.
RockManLP_Radio
December 15, 2021 at 7:57 am
so get an everdrive
SavageSenzu
December 15, 2021 at 12:37 am
This is definitely something for people like DKoldies and DreamcastGuy
SpookyFairy
December 15, 2021 at 1:04 am
Fantastic review, very informative. We need to also consider the fact that if you don’t own cartridges, some of these can reach a relatively high price, so don’t expect to find those game cartridges for $1. Something to note for those who don’t own ones and want to get into retro gaming with original cartridge games that this device support.
⭐️ ShinySonic ⭐️
December 15, 2021 at 1:33 am
7:12 omg this concept had me rolling. Just imaging sitting in the dark with your friend being 250$ broke with your analogue pockets intertwined with a link cable….. No.Just use a gameboy.
RockManLP_Radio
December 15, 2021 at 7:54 am
it’s the price of any other system really
Ravenlocked
December 15, 2021 at 1:35 am
Not for emulating roms, my flash cart says hi.
The Barnicle
December 15, 2021 at 1:45 am
This is sooo stupid. Why on earth would i want to play old games with crappy graphics? Nostalgia? I grew up with the original sega genesis in the 80s. Not once have i wanted to play those crappy games now, especially with the games now on my xbox x.
RockManLP_Radio
December 15, 2021 at 7:59 am
lol, because they are more fun than your broken open world games
Jacob Duran
December 15, 2021 at 3:17 am
So you mentioned saves. So with this device, you can’t save games at all, like with Pokémon Fire Red or Emerald for example?
RockManLP_Radio
December 15, 2021 at 7:55 am
those games save to the cartridge, so if the cartridge battery is still working then you can. he is talking about save states, which save progress to the system
Fallingsausages80
December 15, 2021 at 5:04 am
The most interesting thing about this is how people can actually make their own gameboy games!!! Can’t wait for all the cool and awesome games people are going to make
Goblin King
December 15, 2021 at 9:12 am
Use Emulators On Android Phone it is Much easier and Better
Nichex
December 15, 2021 at 1:07 pm
NO$$$TALGIC $TONK$
Victor Huang
December 15, 2021 at 1:40 pm
This is nostalgia the nostalgia when putting cartridge in and loading the game pure nostalgia
Harlock2day
December 15, 2021 at 3:29 pm
Pity is not for sale anywhere.
ArmyMan0077111
December 15, 2021 at 4:20 pm
Not able to add your own ROMs. Don’t buy it!
Sam Carowan
December 15, 2021 at 4:29 pm
Are reproduced cartridges okay to play on this?
➕:❶➃➃２❸➀❸１❾❾ѲWHATSAPP☜
December 15, 2021 at 9:23 pm
……….👆
Techni Myoko
December 16, 2021 at 1:02 am
“I don’t have a gameboy that works anymore”
What nuclear hellstorm have you taken them into?
Adesh Chopra
December 17, 2021 at 12:48 am
What game is at 4:10 ?
The Omnisa
December 17, 2021 at 6:08 pm
This made me feel old XD
Yoshimatsu414
December 17, 2021 at 7:16 pm
Really wish I can get one but they’re doing preorders for 2023 now? That’s CRAZY!
Jordan Dempsey
December 18, 2021 at 7:51 pm
I still play on my original gameboy color atomic purple I bought in 98.
Also, this video gets major points for showing nemesis🤘🏻 I could hear the soundtrack in my head.
loulou young
December 18, 2021 at 10:51 pm
Nice console but too expensive ! I prefer original console with Screen Mod IPS LCD OSD 👍