AYANEO are on fire today with their Remake initiative, concluding with a premium re-imagined Game Boy – The AYANEO Pocket DMG.
We knew a livestream was incoming and we were expecting a few new retro colorways of existing handhelds. And most likely the official announcement of their highly anticipated Flip DS.
What we did not have on our list of expectations was a premium Game Boy device that rivals the Analogue Pocket.
AYANEO Pocket DMG
As you could probably guess, the Pocket DMG is AYANEO’s interpretation of a Game Boy. But quite a bit more premium than what we are used to.
From the mysterious images shown, this device looks even more premium than the obvious competition, the Analogue Pocket. And we didn’t think it could get more premium than that.
The dpad looks absolutely gorgeous, and we’re anticipating that it will feel much better than the one used on the Analogue. I love the shape and the fit within the shell.
The Pocket DMG also features four action buttons (ABXY), which suggests this is intended to play more than just 8-bit Game Boy titles.
What I do not like is the inclusion of the analogue joystick and four triggers. These further confirm that this premium emulation device aims to offer a large range of console capabilities.
Because it only uses one analogue stick, we expect that the Pocket DMG will emulate up to 64-bit consoles. That would be everything up to Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, PS1, Nintendo DS, and PSP.
There has been no mention of the internal hardware, so we cannot confirm those emulation capabilities yet; we are only using the buttons as clues. But you would not expect to be playing Game Cube, PS2, or Windows PC titles with this button configuration.
We can catch a small glimpse of the display, and we can see that it sits flush with the outer shell and appears to have no bezel at all. It also appears to be a 10:9 configuration, just like on the Analogue Pocket. This means that it is designed for Game Boy first.
The silhouette of the Pocket DMG shows that the entire device has a rounded look. The faces feature a strong bezel. Everything has a sleek and smooth vibe to it.
So, while we know this aims to compete with the Analogue Pocket, the AYANEO Pocket DMG does seem to have its own identity.
And something important worth mentioning is that we have no reason to believe that this new device will play game cartridges like the Analogue or the original Game Boy.
This appears to be an emulation focused handheld. Likely Android based, since we know that AYANEO loves Android even more than they love Windows.
The Future
It should go without saying, but we always say it – we absolutely cannot wait to see more.
As a massive fan of the Analogue Pocket, and someone with a ton of experience in all things Game Boy; this is my wheelhouse for sure.
And if there were any doubts, Arthur Zhang does specifically say that this is the first of many retro emulation devices coming from AYANEO.
This is the first vertical emulation device from AYANEO, so we’re very intrigued about which concepts could come next.
Perhaps a more compact iteration of this concept that is inspired by the Game Boy Pocket. No analogue sticks, no rear triggers, two action buttons (AB), simple and straight forward. A man can dream, can’t he?
Like with the Flip DS and the Retro Mini PC AM01, AYANEO plans on giving more details in a followup livestream event in late November.
Anthony has been a video game lover ever since he can remember. He became a fulltime nomad in 2018, living throughout most of Asia. He focused his passion in retro gaming and began creating a game for the Game Boy Color while living in Nara, Japan during the 2020 pandemic. He is now in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he spends most of his time gaming, going on long walks and meeting as many stray dogs as possible.
