Analogue’s gorgeous Pocket handheld is delayed until 2021, but pre-orders open soon

Last year, Analogue announced the Pocket, a sleek and modern handheld designed to play all your old Game Boy cartridges. It was originally slated to launch this year, but due to the current state of the world, it’s now expected to debut in May 2021. Analogue cites “the unfortunate global state of affairs and supply chain challenges outside of our control” as the reason for the delay. But there’s good news. Analogue is starting pre-orders for the handheld very soon; they’ll open up on August 3rd at 8AM PT / 11AM ET.

The company also revealed some slight design changes to both the handheld itself (the start, select, and home buttons have been moved to the bottom of the device) and its optional dock (Analogue says that “the USB-C insertion point has been recessed for added stability”). Additionally, there are some new accessories , including a clear plastic hard case, a fast charger, and cartridge adaptors so you can play games from the Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, and Atari Lynx.

If you’re wondering what all of the fuss about, Analogue has a strong history of making beautiful hardware designed explicitly for playing old games in an accessible way. Previous examples include the Mega SG and Super Nt. The Pocket is the company’s first foray into handheld gaming, and it boasts some enticing features: a 3.5-inch, 665ppi, LCD display made of Gorilla Glass; a 4300 mAh battery with an estimated six hour play time; support for Game Boy, GBC, and GBA games; and a built-in synthesizer.

The Analogue Pocket will launch for $199.99, while the optional dock — which lets you play games on your TV — will be $99.