Analogue Pocket's first major update should finally unlock its potential

Its been a longer wait than wed hoped, but the first major software update for the Analogue Pocket is finally here. Its still a beta version so not everything is fully fleshed out, but youll at least be able to get a taste of the companys vision for its fledgling OS. The beta does include a taste of the reference Library, much-improved game saves and, most excitingly, a glimpse at how third-party developers can use the Pocket to emulate consoles beyond the ones it already does.

Analogue OS 1.1

Memories, as Analogue calls save-states, still arent complete, but you can at least save a respectable 128 different game states which is a vast improvement on the minimal offering at launch (one slot for just one game total). You can create saves for any game, be that physical cartridge, or any .pocket GB Studio files you have (like Deadeus). The method for making a save is the same as before (Up+Analogue button) and you can recall a list of saves during play with Down+Analogue button. If you prefer to start from the last save point immediately, you can activate that in options also (rather than choosing from a list).

What you cant do is keep updating the last save as you go along (think save slots in most emulators). Every new save will be a separate file and youll manage them individually. They show up in a long list which details the platform for the game you were playing (Game Boy, Game Gear etc.) the games title and date/time of the save.

Right now you can pull up Memories from the main menu (before loading a game), but choosing a save that corresponds to the cartridge in the slot doesnt take you directly there (its grayed out), you have to load the game first. Analogue says that saves/Memories will soon have a screenshot attached and will be sortable in a variety of ways to make the experience much smoother in the full release this September.

James Trew / Engadget

What wasnt in the OS at launch at all was the Library feature. All we knew was that it had the lofty goal of being a complete reference of all gaming history. From within that youd see artwork for titles along with what company made the game, for what platform, what year and even what region or version you had inserted in the cartridge slot. In todays beta, the Library is more of a splash screen before the game loads. Analogue says youll even be able to add your own image to a game in the Library, but again, expect that in the final release.

All the cartridges I tested had the correct details with a screenshot, but the information is limited (no mention of what year or version of the game I have etc.). Of course were excited to see how this scales up once its fully integrated, but for now its a pleasant stop along the way to playing a game. Its worth noting that, as is, it only applies to cartridges and not titles launched from the GB Studio section (such as the aforementioned Deadeus which is a full game that Analogue made available for the Pocket at launch).

On a more practical note, Analogue has added support for more third-party controllers for when playing through the TV via the dock. To be fair, even though the officially supported list at launch was short (three 8Bitdo models plus the PS4 and Switch controllers), many more did still work. As of this release the number of 8Bitdo controllers supported jumps to 15 and PS5 owners can now use their DualSense, too, if they wish.

OpenFPGA

One of the more interesting features of the Pocket at launch was the presence of a spare FPGA chip. Analogues hardware doesnt use software emulation, instead it uses a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to emulate consoles at the hardware level with cores instructions for the FPGA that configure it to mimic a specific system. Analogue pledged that others would be able to develop cores for the Pocket, and today we see the first example of that.

James Trew / Engadget

A core for the PDP-1 has been created for the Pocket allowing you to play one of the very first videogames Spacewar! from 1962. As you can imagine, the game is very simple and doesnt really tax the Pocket, but its a fitting first example for a console that wants to celebrate the history of gaming. And this should really just be the start of something more exciting as other developers which can be anyone get onboard.

Whats more of a surprise is that the entirety of the Pockets hardware appears to be open to developers. Initially, it was thought that the Pockets main FPGA would be kept for Analogue and the less powerful second FPGA was there to be tinkered with. But the company's founder, Christopher Taber, confirmed to Engadget that "developers will be capable of implementing totally decentralized cores as far as they can push Pocket's hardware ... roughly up to the 32-bit generation.

Best of all, we might not even have to wait very long to see what comes along. Many third-party developers have had their hands on openFPGA for some time now and you can expect a plethora of new amazing things being publicly released by them shortly on/after July 29th, Taber told Engadget, before concluding: We are not f***ing around with this.