Analogue Pocket DF Retro Review: The Ultimate Retro Handheld?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ธ.ค. 2021
- The Analogue Pocket aims to bring us the definitive handheld experience for classic gaming, combining FPGA-based emulation with a simply sensational, state-of-the-art LCD display. The pedigree of Analogue is beyond doubt, but does the Pocket and its dock truly deliver the final word in handheld retro gaming?
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@17:25 "The m2 collection however sounds like it has an even stronger low pass filter applied. So it's slightly more muffled but with even less hiss"... So strong that it removes the audio all together! Impressive!
😂
This
That GBA sound "improvement" is nothing more than a gimmick. It doesn't improve anything in my opinion :))).
@@alexandruc.5647 You might think it because you're watching a recording on your device.
I can assure you can hear a nasty hissing on most original hardware up to the gba once you turn the volume high enough or use headphones, so any improvement will be miles ahead of the original.
@@V3Efreet I know very well how the original GBA sounds, don't worry :).
Seen several reviews of this unit now. This one is by far the best and most thorough review (as always when John is behind it), and the system itself is clearly stellar.
Friend-of-the-site “My Life in Gaming” has perhaps the most in-depth review, and a great compliment to this one.
Personally I wouldn't trust any of those youtubers who are constantly saying how great every chinese emulator console with a 320x240 screen is
Most in depth review on youtube goes to My Life in Gaming quite easily but this one is a close second.
@@siphillis A better complement to this one is the 5-month review by "Siegarettes"... he's a person who's actually used it in real life. He covers usability and practicality in a lot more depth than these early reviews.
@@Linkale_ Miyoo Mini (v2) makes this thing look like an overpriced crock of shit. It's truly pocketable (the size of a deck of playing cards), comfortable to hold, has great battery life, and has compatibility with many more systems, including PS1. It doesn't have a meme bajillion pixel screen, it's 640x480 and that's more than enough. 4x the pixels of most of the systems it's capable of emulating. Analogue is for hipsters that want a pretty thing to put on a shelf and collect dust next to their Bluetooth record player and ironic Red Canadian Nintendo Wii.
Apologies for the audio issue at 17:30 - the initial export was fine but after one other touch-up, the second export introduced this audio bug. Thanks Premiere! If you want to hear that section, I made a tweet for it!
twitter.com/dark1x/status/1470432603195027470?s=20
DaVinci Resolve ftw.
Could work as a joke, though, a REALLY strong filter :D
I assumed it was a joke
Thank's for the review there ^^
But John....im worried about your eyesight :(
I noticed for a while now that you seem to have problem with your glasses(maybe the weight?) and you are often squinting your eyes. Im no Doctor, but...man...if possible go see a Doctor and let that get checked. Sorry for beeing so off topic!
lol thanks - thought it was hit for copyright notice for a second
John, what we actually used the high-latency GB screen for, was to add three extra shades to the screen. Effectively giving us seven shades of grey (that's the maths, if memory serves, we lost two shades, as they were so close to existing shades that it wasn't worth flickering them).
It's really interesting, but in the video I found that those flickering clouds in the background of castlevania were barely lighter than the rest. Was it more noticeable on the real screen?
My mind is blown by this effect. Was it memory/CPU intensive? Why didn't all games use this effect to get 7 shades instead of 4? If more games had this, it would make me regret getting the IPS mod for my gameboy.
@@Linkale_ It doesn't seem to work on video. It relied on the low quality GB screen. It was really effective though.
@@KnightMD If memory serves, it wasn't too much of a hit on the GB. We used it mainly to improve sprites, add transparency effects, and increase the number of sprites on-screen. Once we'd figured it out, we never went back.
@@DougHolmes Does it have to be for a static element (e.g. Background) or can it be part of a character's pixels?
I very much wish that (a) I never sold my GameBoy Color selection for sheckles at my local GameStop to buy PS2 games at the time, and, (b) that I pre-ordered one of these ages ago when they went up. Great review, John!
I'll sell u my gameboy color
It was an extremely limited pre-order when it was announced leaving a lot of people frustrated. So bad in fact that Analogue has been cast in a very negative light on Twitter and in TH-cam comment sections ever since.
All the major TH-cam channels got one though!
A) It could be worse: I was forced to practically give away my collection of CIB Game Boy games after being recently displaced by an EF-4 tornado. As the original owner of these games who would never dream of trading his games into GameStop, mine somehow managed an even worse fate. :(
B) You couldn’t preorder it even if you were ready and trying desperately while enlisting all of your friends and family to help. Ask me how I know. :(
Pre orders up tomorrow, fren!
You might think you want to go back and play Gameboy color games on original hardware, but I promise you the experience is more miserable than you remember it and you'd very likely quickly tire of not having a backlight.
Part of me wants one…the other part knows I’ll never play it.
Same here
I already have a 200 game backlog on steam i promised myself to play imagine if I told myself to play my retro library as well.
Immorality can't come soon enough
@@namonaite this comment made me feel…and feel attacked….and laugh. Thanks 😊 🤝
@@namonaite This typo made me laugh so much 😂
Same. I imagine lots of people would get it as impulse purchase. But since the delivery of AP is pushed to unspecified month of 2023, no chance for this either.
Was it just me or were the m2 sound sections missing? Otherwise, great video about what looks like an amazing product!
same thing happened to me!
Yeah, just came on to say
Like John said, really strong low pass filter ;-)
Same here, commenting for visibility so he sees it.
@@OriginalChrizum The strongest :D
I’m so happy companies like Analogue exist
I'm sure they're just as happy gullible people will spend this much money on a Gameboy in 2021.
@@michaelharrington5906 Gullible people? No. There isn't some big marketing campaign to convince people to buy this. There's no attempt to persuade people it's comparable to modern game systems. It's a way to play retro games in a modern way, and that's all it presents itself to be. If you buy this based on the information provided by Analogue or in video reviews like this, you're not gullible to do so - the information is clear enough to know exactly what you're getting.
This is a product people have been eagerly awaiting for years. There's no gullibility in that, especially as niche products of this type are things you tend to seek out if you're interested, not things that are presented to you. Just because you're not part of the target market and don't understand the appeal doesn't mean this product doesn't have a place or that those buying it are gullible.
@@dandavidson4717 100
@@michaelharrington5906 eh... there's worse things to spend your money on isnt there.. but yeh, you can get something emu based of almost comparable quality (to the less keen eye) for a fraction of the price with a far greater library. Nobodies getting 'fooled' by this, but again I kinda get why you say that. It is what it is. This is for a certain somewhat niche group of collectors and enthusiasts and I say good for them. Its very impressive what they've accomplished with this. If it makes the people that are into this and have the disposable cash happy- great. I personally wouldnt fork out for it, I cant afford such luxuries...but Id love to have a try on one. I've still got some Game Gear carts knocking around somewhere from a million years ago... with this I wouldnt have to be permanently tethered to the wall socket or paying the same amount in AAs to enjoy them haha
@@dandavidson4717 the big marketing campaign are all these reviews/review copies as well as hype lololol
I've been waiting for a device like this one for a very long time, with great video and audio quality. I'm sold! Thanks a lot for the extensive review and also for the mention, John!
luckily I just grabbed one today! cant wait to get my hands on it
More than anything I really want to see FPGA clones of the PS1, Saturn and N64 if that's even possible. I could also die happy with a PS2 FPGA clone.
This would be awesome indeed. However, I'm not sure how this could be possible from a legal stand point given that PS1/PS2 would also require its BIOS (which I believe is propietary and illegal to use). I would appreciate is someone can help me clarifying this as I'm not super versed on this topic.
Mister has you covered ps1 and saturn cores incoming
Saturn and PS1 core on the MISTer is already at a playable state. The PS1 in particular already has save states and soon next year will have sound implemented.
@@Moravia90s Some PS1 emulators use their own emulated bios’s nowadays, compatibility isn’t as good as a real bios but that’s something that could be improved upon especially if it was needed for a shipping product. Ultimately the bios for a game console of that era is just the “OS” that games run on top of, so that can be reimplemented just like the hardware side can.
@@StrangerHappened Yup it's an okay option, I do have one but it still has emulation issues (glitches, artifacts, slow down, etc.) So I still prefer FPGA.
17:30 - The M2 version is so muffled, you can't hear it at all!
You and My Life in Gaming have the absolute best screen captures. Extra points for Tokimeki Memorial Pocket.
@@Cardamander you are not alone
Just how different sprites look by adding the pixel grid is stunning. And the fact that you can only achieve this look on an ultra high DPI screen makes this a very attractive device.
I actually went "oh wow" about the frame blending feature.
I get mine tomorrow. I got all the “vital” accessories when i ordered mine, like the dock, screen protector and link cable. Now that preorders are open again, I’ll def be ordering additional protectors, cart adapters and the a hard case.
Great video as always. This video somehow made me even more excited for this thing.
I really appreciate the video quality on this. The lighting is amazing!
Excellent video!
The screen looks SO GOOD in video footage. It's crazy.
Just for the record, you don't have to slice the cable to get the game cube link adapter to work, just unscrew the end connecting to a Gameboy and take out the two clips, then put it back together. Also works with the wireless adapter.
I would've been all over this if I'd heard about it earlier. FPGA is cool as it is, but the screen simulation is something I never knew I needed until now.
To be fair, it's a fairly recent development, and a newborn science. People are just now realizing the need to emulate the original presentation, and getting around to implementing display emulation shaders into the usual emulators. Currently, the most advanced emulator on that front is RetroArch, even featuring CRT TV emulation shaders for the games that looked their best before LCDs came along. But for the CRT ones in particular to look proper, you need a beefy GPU, and a really high-end, extremely bright display, with 4K and HDR support. Otherwise it looks like garbage due to downscaling of the phosphor matrix and not enough color precision to properly emulate the analog physics, contrast and brightness of a real CRT monitor. Or you could get an actual CRT and just use the composite signal emulation part of the effect.
Early LCDs like the ones seen in GB hardware, though, are much easier to emulate by comparison, so those can fit in a portable device like this one.
And having a screen this high-end with the correct, native aspect ratio and a resolution & density high enough to properly emulate the original subpixel layout is 80% of what makes this look so good.
That high quality audio helps alot!
These videos are so well done, I watch them even if I’m not interested in the product. Thanks for great videos y’all!
Got in my pre-order today and can't be more excited now!
Incredible work as always, John!
The glowing reviews the Pocket is getting all over makes me so excited to receive mine! Awesome review!
any idea when they're supposed to ship? i was able to get in on the pre order, but there doesn't seem to be much if any communication from analogue.
not too enthused with that price tag. a little communication would be nice
Just pre-ordered mine. Looks amazing!
They nailed the look of the screen and i'm super happy they managed to handle flicker sprites for transparency so well, unexpected but great it's there.
0:26 There's something so satisfying about the static transition timing perfectly with Link hitting the Buzz Blob
DF is the hair splitting capital of TH-cam channels and I’m used to that. But dang man if I couldn’t find a difference in the Shantae music old vs new to save my life 🤣
10:26 love the Tokimeki Memorial shots throughout haha.
John, heck of a review, great job! I cannot wait to get it this week. Woot! First game I'm playing is Metroid 2.
I started replaying Metroid 2 recently. That game holds up surprisingly well.
Great stuff as usual 👌🏾
Love how informative and in depth these videos are, keep up the good work 👍🏾
0:43 that star ocean till the ends of time music brought tears to my eyes
Hell of a review, thanks for being so amazingly thorough! Really glad I jumped on the Pocket when the preorders reopened, can't wait to check it out myself!
paypig
those comparisons were awesome to have, thank you.
Wow, that Analogue bass :)
And shoutout to the Demoscene!
thank you John for testing the Robocop theme
Love the Star Ocean Till The End of Time music in the intro. Nice touch, awesome game!
hey John, just to let you know, you've got some audio segments muted 17:30! but amazing work as always thank you!
i laughed when the sound muted
Glad someone brought this up.
@@Kysen10 Extremely Low Pass Filter
I thought it was my headphone being defective lol.
Wow, I love the dedication in the screen accuracy!
That sound difference on the GBC is remarkable, it makes it seem as if there is more detail to the audio that is "missing" from the originals, I really like it.
Extremely high quality content once again. 👏👏
Fantastic device, hopefully there will be more to come.
FPGA inside GB DMG and Game Gear shells, that would be a dream!
17:36 Did Konami actually go after, and flag the couple of seconds of audio from the M2 collection?! That's insane!
As someone lucky enough to snag a preorder - this is music to my ears! Thanks for going so in-depth on the review!
Word! Mine is supposed to ship this week!!
@@swissmrkc I can't wait! Going to play so much fire emblem and golden sun haha
Very in depth review, thank you very much for your work.
An excellent video John. Clear, detailed and interesting. Well done :)
Thank you for this fantastic video, John!
My Life in Gaming & Digital Foundry in depth review on this amazing machine is fantastic!
Relieved to hear about the sturdy hold the system has on cartridges. Seeing so much stick out was worrisome, but now I can be glad to play and still see the game art.
Mine just arrived yesterday. I’m in love.
This with costum firmware will be amazing!
*custom
Awesome coverage!
That Robocop song will always be such a banger of a song, impressive what they were able to do on such limited hardware. Same composer made music for the NES Jurassic Park game, and the music there is just as amazing.
The best DF video I've seen in a very long time.
I... WANT... ONE!!!!
Thanks for covering all the aspects of the device I was curious about.
also wonderful to see a couple of glimpses of Super JetPak DX
I love the BGM selection for this video! Manfred Linzer and Manabu Namiki! Hell yeah!
Can’t wait to receive mine in the mail, hopefully this week!
The audio comparisons are pretty choice. Thanks John.
9:55 love that beautiful, easy to see, OG Game Gear display.
Great review. I missed the first pre-order of the pocket so i pre-ordered one yesterday.
Update:
I received my Analogue Pocket two weeks ago and am enjoying it ,playing gb,gbc and gba games. Said games look so much better on the AP screen makes the games ten times more enjoyable.
Perfect entertainment for the afternoon 👌🏻
Great review I’ve watched MVG review also really looking forward to the analogue pocket.
Thank you for discussing the IPS screen kits in your review. Most reviewers don't or do so poorly. Hoping I luck out and am able to preorder one later today.
There is no audio playing when you compare the M2 Advanced Collection audio...
Nice Star Ocean sting there in the beginning, John, lol
What an absolute joy of a video to watch. I was just posting on reddit last week about the importance of grid pixel simulation to preserve the Gameboy look. The Q5 IPS screen mod does a much better job than fun playing btw. The issue with the Analogue Pocket is 1) Availability (2023 if you reserve it now) 2) Ergonomics. It still feels better to hold a DMG. Best thing about it is the sleep/wake function, but you lose that with flashcarts which is what most people will be using. Honestly, I'd get a modded DMG with a Q5 display since I'm only interested in Gameboy simulation.
Sounds great, hopefully I can place an order tomorrow.
Haven't seen that jacket in years John! 😀 Reminds me of early DF retro.
I think the stubble looks really good on you. Great video as always, John.
The original GBC has a low frequency cutoff that the Analogue Pocket fixes, That's why it has more "bass"
I know it’s taken such a long time but Analogue are doing a really good thing here. The hardware and the interface look awesome. The big three console makers should pay attention to how to present games to consumers otherwise they’re going to lose their positions in the market to newcomers that do it better. Great review John. You’re the man to go to for retro.
Newcomers making hardware to play 30 year old games from said "big 3"?
Nintendo gives literally 0 shits if you want to play Gameboy games they make 0 money from fifth hand cartridges...
The new lightning looks amazing! And insange high quality video again!
Great review!
love the Mushihime-sama background tunes.
I am REALLY looking forward to seeing the Dock be updated with a whole lot more of the features we have come to expect from Analogue's consoles such as the Mega SG and Super NT. All of the great customization & options is one of the things I love about their systems & it's disappointing that those are missing on the Dock.
Wow, So many Analogue Pocket video uploads today !!
Superb review as always
Very cool piece of kit, and great review
Digital doing Analogue?
I never thought I'd see the day...
No one else is doing what you do. Thanks a lot!
That retro green screen brings back memories of my childhood.
Andd I preordered on the dot at 11 am...why am I like thissss
I'm glad I got a pre order for both the dock and Pocket back in August 2020. Alright, se yall in 2040 when the Analog Dual Pocket 3D is announced!
As always, a very great review, I've seen a few reviews and DF does it best... Very tempted on this but, don't play portables that much. Seems like a very nice device...
I can't wait to get mine (I got in on the most recent preorder).
Nanoloop is a fantastic music app, you can make proper stuff with it. In general I really appreciate the consideration you and Audi have for all the things audio in games. Sound is something of crucial importance that gets systematically ignored by most people, even by industry insiders, so again huge kudos to John and Audi.
I was gonna ask all those ost you guy used. Thanks for putting in credits at least.
Great, in depth review as always. It's interesting that you didn't have an issue with the cartridge slot. A few reviews I saw/read specifically called that out, stating that it was easy for the cartridge to move and cause an error with the game. Maybe it's a usage issue over a design issue?
I tested a bunch of my carts yesterday and only found it possible to tilt my EZ-Flash Jr enough where I'd be concerned to accidentally freeze the game. All my other legit carts and the Shantae reprint from limited run games are rock solid and won't be moving around enough to matter unless you slam the thing on a table or drop it on the floor.
Is there an audio bug in the section comparing the Analogue Pocket to the M2 Advance Collection?
Otherwise a great review! Had a lot of fun watching, and super hyped to attempt to preorder (again) tomorrow!
Very cool vid, very cool device. Love that outro music too, dunno what it's from.
Just got my ship email so this week is going to be great!
Can't wait to get mine.
8:00 I kinda like how the water looks better on a Gameboy precisely BECAUSE of the ghosting. It smears those dark and light pixels together into something that looks closer to a waterfall than the crisper modern alternatives.
Mine literally JUST arrived after a year of waiting!
DF always delivering.
Excellent looking bit of kit
What I've learned from this is that the Shantae game has some incredible music, holy smokes
Can't beat that Robocop track. Such a banger.
ahhhh!!! I sold my dmg-01 that I used for lsdj and this thing is calling to me! Would be a great way to play some metroid fusion again too 😎
That was a comprehensive video, thanks! Now I just have to forget about it for a year or so until my unit arrives 🤣
Looking forward to 2023 to play on mine :3