There’s no denying the trend of mini handhelds has exploded over the last couple of years, devices like the Funkey S, the Miyoo Mini and the Game Kiddy Pixel are currently dominating the market, but none of them us FPGA technology… until now.
Open Source Hardware Platform company Sipeed have revealed that they are working on a mini handheld that uses FPGA technology just like the Analogue Pocket, this technology replicated video games on a hardware left unlike traditional emulation.
Their new handheld called the “Retro Game Pocket” (which we discovered via Time Extension) will apparently feature a 2″LCD display with a resolution of 480×360, MiniHDMI out so you can connect it to your TV and use the handheld itself as a controller. It will also feature a 1500MAH battery too to give you a few hours of gameplay.
It will be powered by a TangPrimer 25K processor, partnered with 64MB of RAM, this will likely be powerful enough to emulate NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games according to Sipeed’s tweet.
And because it’s using FPGA technology the performance should be flawless when playing these games.
This device certainly isn’t going to rival the Analogue Pocket in any way but it’s great to see new open source devices coming to fruition, and I personally like how this resembles a mini Game Boy Advance or even the Game Gear Micro that was launched a couple of years ago.
Sipeed have only shown a few concept images so far, but from what we can tell it’s indeed a very small handheld. On their Twitter they have been asking their audience what they’d like to see in this device, so it’s great to see them open to new changes.
If I had to personally tweak a few things I would create a borderless device, add flared shoulder buttons and replace the volume wheel… nobody like’s wheels they are too easy to bump unexpectedly.
Sipeed will need to put a lot of work into the custom OS too, unless they work with the community and try and get something that’s already made on here.
Just like Analogue they don’t need to go over the top with their OS, if anything less is more and making it as easy as possible will allow new gamers of all ages to experience this device.
The issue with new devices from new companies is that it’s hard for them to price them competitively as there won’t be a huge demand so I just hope they can price this respectfully, because anything over $70 will likely force gamers to pass.
If this is too small, you will be happy to know that Sipeed are working on a larger device with a 3.5″ display after this one launches, likely on a vertical format just like the Game Boy Color, perhaps this will actually compete with the Analogue Pocket, although I do believe keeping it mini will be a much better success.
Only time will tell, we have seen many handhelds be revealed over the last few years that have failed to come to fruition, so I really do hope that this one becomes a reality.
