Handheld gaming devices seem to be all the rage these days, and they actually span quite a wide range as well. On the one hand, you have the super-powerful handheld PC like the Steam Deck or the Lenovo Legion Go, letting you play massive AAA titles at the expense of some heft and bulk. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the low-power DIY projects that can even fit on keyrings but are extremely limited in their use, not to mention their ergonomics.
And then there are retro kids, handhelds like the new Retroid Pocket Classic that take inspiration from their ancestors in more ways than one. Embracing the old-school design of those old handhelds and consoles, this nostalgia trip tries to bring the past to the present, introducing younger generations to the aesthetics of the 80s and the 90s, all while keeping up with the demanding requirements of modern emulators and the games they run, both old and new.
Designer: Retroid
The Nintendo Game Boy is an icon as far as gaming handhelds go. Despite being quite chunky and toy-like by today’s design standards, it still possesses a particular charm that has endeared it to many retro designers. But while the likes of the Analogue try to apply modern aesthetic trends to its design language, the Retroid Pocket Classic goes all out on reproducing that same playful vibe, albeit with some upgrades, of course.
The Retroid Pocket Classic isn’t afraid to use curves and colors, more reminiscent of the psychedelic trends of decades past. Although it has no use for cartridges, the back of the device bulges a little to provide a slightly better ergonomic grip. Sitting on top are four trigger buttons, controls that weren’t even imaginable in the days of the Game Boy.
This Game Boy homage unsurprisingly also embraces some of the colors that made the original an icon, including an accurate Retro palette as well as the translucent Atomic Purple. Amusingly, it also pays tribute to one of the titles that catapulted the gaming handheld to fame with PKM Yellow. The most curious “color,” however, is the Classic 6, which is actually a whole different model. Rather than the Game Boy, this variant adopts the six-button control layout of the Sega Saturn, another luminary in the video gaming industry.
Despite the old-school looks, the Retroid Pocket Classic is clearly a modern device, one that runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon G1 Gen2 processor and uses Android 14 for its software. The screen is a 3.92-inch AMOLED display with a squarish resolution of 1240×1080, perfect for retro titles. Admittedly, it’s going to be significantly less impressive than even the cheapest gaming smartphone, but you won’t be buying this nostalgia trip for its performance anyway.
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