After what has felt like forever, Funnyplaying decided to ghost drop their highly anticipated Retro Pixel Pocket handheld without warning.
It’s quite exciting that the Retro Pixel Pocket is finally available, but it did catch us entirely off guard.
Funnyplaying has never been the company to answer to anybody. Which means that they have left the community and their customers in complete silence.
So it’s been about one year since we first heard about the Retro Pixel Pocket.
But surprise, surprise… no more mysteries, no more wondering if it will ever be released.
The Retro Pixel Pocket is for sale right now. Let’s take a look.
Table of Contents
Retro Pixel Pocket Design
The Retro Pixel Pocket handheld from Funnyplaying has a pretty obvious inspiration. In case it’s not obvious to you, it is modeled after the Nintendo Game Boy Pocket.
With Funnyplaying being the number one source for Game Boy replacement parts, it all will make a lot of sense.
They have been making the highest quality buttons, silicon, shells, and screen replacement kits for various Game Boy models for years now.
And when you take a closer look at the Retro Pixel Pocket, you can see signs of so many of their existing products being used.
They did create an entirely new shell, which looks like a Game Boy Pocket, but has a lot of custom things happening.
The rear of the device is also modeled after the GBP, and uses Game Boy Advance SP triggers. Again.. reusing existing parts from their catalogue.
Retro Pixel Pocket Details
The piece I am most impressed with is the new laminated screen they created for this handheld.
This is a custom 3 inch 720×720 laminated screen, which uses the same Q5 IPS screens we see in so many custom Game Boys.
Those in the Game Boy modding community will recognize how special this accomplishment is. Because we’ve been praying for laminated screens on a Game Boy Pocket for years.
The Retro Pixel Pocket shows us that Funnyplaying has done the work, and that a laminated screen in a Game Boy Pocket is possible. And surely those are coming soon, as well.
At this time, the Retro Pixel Pocket is only offered in a unique “SFC” grey color (Super Famicom). But many more colors are surely on the way.
Over the past year, we’ve had several development units shown on emulation community Discord channels.
And we have even seen the box design, which lists some of the color combinations that Funnyplaying intended to release – “Blonde” (transparent?), Deep Blue, SFC Grey (the current model for sale), GB Grey, White and Red, Black and Green.
The community had strong words about some of these options, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Funnyplaying shift gears there a bit.
But I am very happy with the first color option offered, and glad Funnyplaying went safer with the colors here.
User Experience
The Retro Pixel Pocket is an Android based emulation machine.
For the technical kids, this packs an Allwinner A64, Quad-Core Cortex-A53 ARM CPU, and a Mali400 MP2 GP. And it also has a substantial 3000mAh lithium battery.
The built in WIFI means that you can easily pull your game cover art and download any Android based Apps. All of the Android based games and apps that need to be online will also have no problems.
Much like its closest competition, the Miyoo Mini + or the Anbernic RG35XX, this is a device made for earlier generation emulation.
The power and button configuration means that this is best fit with 8-32 bit era games.
That’s Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Neo Geo Pocket. All of my favorite consoles.
You’re not gonna be able to play anything higher than that, like Nintendo 64 or Playstation, because you won’t even have the buttons to do so.
This device was built to enjoy those early Nintendo consoles on a near perfect handheld form. Even the choice of a 1:1 screen proportions make for a great fit for Game Boy content. So you can tell exactly what this console was built to do.
Purchase Information
Perhaps the second biggest surprise is the launch price. The Retro Pixel Pocket is listed for only $79.90usd.
They are promoting that as a 20% off of the base price of $99. So tough to say if we will always have that $79 pricetag, or if it will go back up to $99 later.
The Retro Pixel Pocket has yet to hit the Funnyplaying Aliexpress store. But it’s currently available to purchase on their website.
There’s no mention of this being a preorder, so we are assuming this thing is ready to ship now.
That’s also how Funnyplaying usually handles product drops. It drops when it drops. No early notice.
But hey, we are just glad the wait is finally over. So get your Retro Pixel Pockets now while they’re hot!
