Well, it looks like we were right, and indeed the KONKR Pocket Advance looks nearly identical to that of the popular Nintendo GAME BOY Advance, and in all honesty, I'm not mad about it. It looks incredibly nostalgic.
Today, AYANEO shared across their socials a first image of their upcoming handheld from their sister company, KONKR, which is aimed at the more "affordable" market in comparison to AYANEO's more premium design and budget. This is KONKR's first jab at the small 3:2 market, and boy, is it going to excite many GBA fans, and likely annoy ModRetro, who have told us in the past they'll eventually be working on a Chromatic Advance, even if I believe they'll make something far more superior with the use of a cartridge slot for playing your GBA cartridges.
The Pocket Advance tries to stay as close to the original GBA as possible, likely with a similarly sized 3:2 display, thick bezels, bright colours, two shoulder buttons and added action buttons to make emulating on other consoles such as PS1 a little more comfortable.
"Classic never fades with time. A legendary handheld that transcends generations, carrying the memories of gaming's golden era. Now, it returns with a bold new identity KONKR Pocket Advance" states AYANEO in their social posts.
As of now, it is unclear of the specifications, pricing or release date. I can imagine the shell is made of plastic too seeing as its a KONKR product, but as of now I am excited about this one, many love this form factor, and with the added power, AYANEO's sleak front-end, and high button quality I can imagine they're going to build something very cool for GBA fans, but it all depends on pricing and if they actually stock enough of them because we all remember the Pocket Micro 2 fiasco of selling out twice after only stocking a few hundred for international customers.
I think we'll see more and more information being revealed in the coming days and weeks, likely with a full reveal in one of Arthur's obscenely long livestreams that we'll painfully watch to keep you informed via our free weekly newsletter. As of now, it's one image, and a whole lot of opinions!
