You’ll need to be quick if you want to pick up the beloved retro console.
The Analogue Pocket is approaching its fifth birthday, but the deluxe Game Boy-alike is just as hard to get hold now as it was at launch. If you’ve missed out on previous drops, you’re about to get another chance, as Analogue has just announced that it will reopen pre-orders for the Pocket (along with the Analogue Dock) on October 2 at 11am ET.
If you manage to grab a unit before they go again, expect it to be shipped in two weeks. The Pocket was last restocked in March, when the console also got hit with a tariff-related $20 price hike. Pick one up now and you’ll pay $240 for the privilege.
In case you’ve missed the whole Analogue Pocket thing, this machine is a bit different from most of the retro handhelds on the market right now. Rather than emulating old games, it’s designed to play your surviving Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges at 10x the resolution with far superior colors. Games scale perfectly while looking a whole lot better.
In our review at launch, we said the stunning device was “possibly the best way to relive the golden era of handheld gaming.” The handheld landscape has changed a lot since then, so that claim could probably be contested today, but it’s still hard to beat the feeling of sliding in your original Link’s Awakening cartridge and seeing it pop off a beautiful LCD display. If you want to experience all that fun stuff for yourself, make sure you’re in the queue on October 2.
