AYANEO leans towards Nintendo nostalgia more often than not for its handhelds, as we’ve seen in the past. The Flip DS and Pocket DS were their previous handhelds popular with the gaming community. Now they’re back at it with a Game Boy Advance-inspired device that’s released under the KONKR moniker as a part of the new REMAKE series. Some of the previous releases from the sub-brand include the KONKR Pocket Block AI and the KONKR Fit.
Even the naming convention is a whole lot similar to the 32-bit horizontal handheld from 25 years ago, as the new gadget revealed by CEO Arthur Zhang at a livestream event is called the KONKR Pocket Advance. At the event, Zhang said, “The familiar silhouettes, unique button layouts, and exceptional control experiences together form the most precious memories of the golden age of gaming for a generation of players.”
Designer: AYANEO
It has a similar wide-body design language to the GBA for nostalgia and playing retro games in a 3:2 aspect ratio. However, the LCD display on this one is a little bigger, measuring 3.5 inches (compared to the 2.9-inch on the GBA) with an upgraded resolution of 960 x 640 (240×160) on the original. This means the original titles meant for the Game Boy Advance can be played with 4x pixel scaling, sans any distortion or artifacts during gameplay. The Shell of the handheld also gets a slight bump up to 5.96 x 3.24 x 0.87 inches, and weighs 224 grams as compared to the 140-gram GBA.
Pretty obviously, the handheld debuting decades after the Game Boy Advance is destined to have other upgrades as well. The KONKR Pocket Advance gets a full spectrum of ABXY buttons, extra shoulder clickers, and Menu buttons for better navigation. Other hardware additions come in the form of Wi-Fi 5.0, Bluetooth compatibility, a USB-C port, and a microSD card expansion slot. The retro nostalgia flows into the volume adjustment wheel and the inclusion of a 3.5 mm headphone jack. According to AYANEO, the handheld isn’t just a replica from the past; rather, it “integrates modern product concepts and manufacturing techniques to breathe new life into retro aesthetics.”
There is no word yet about the other specifications like the processor or the battery configuration, nor the pricing and availability. That said, we should hear soon regarding those details from the maker. The only thing revealed so far is the two-color options: navy blue and coral orange, which look similar to the classic indigo and the spice orange version, respectively. We just hope that AYANEO produces a substantial number of the devices, as the Pocket Micro 2 released a couple of months ago sold out in mere minutes.
