The Official Analogue Pocket Thread!

[Rick Dangerous]

I got my Analogue pocket in recently; what a system!  Not only can you play all the classic carts on it, but many many cores are supported in FPGA, both for consoles and for arcade.  Info on getting that setup here:

 

 

Here is also a video with some great tips and tricks:

 

Let's discuss and share tips and tricks in this thread!  For the record my Dock is in, as is my GameGear adaptor, but the second set of adaptors has yet to arrive. 

 

Here I am playing some TG-16 Bonk's Adventure on mine:

[+sramirez2008]

Still waiting on my Pocket to arrive.

 

 

[Punisher5.0]

I was hoping someone would make a dedicated Pocket thread. Ive had mine since December and so far I'm really happy with this handheld. Im really liking all the support from devs already. It'll be very interesting to see what can be squeezed onto the hardware.

[Rick Dangerous]

I got Neo-Geo working today; that was a battle, LOL.  I kept trying different files/bios/combos/youtube videos, advice until it worked.   Most of the systems are litterally "drop the roms", after doing the above updater of course. 

[Reaperman]

That little screen is nothing short of absolutely amazing. 👍👍

 

The Pocket and the Steam deck are without-hesitation the two most interesting handhelds I've ever owned.

I'm really digging this current trend toward dockable console/handhelds, and it's also refreshing that both of them are about getting more enjoyment out of stacks of games I already have.  

 

Pic is tangentially related, but I had it around already. It shows off a sneaky place I've been finding some homebrew-ROM bargains.  

 

(embiggen)

 

2 hours ago, Rick Dangerous said:

I got Neo-Geo working today; that was a battle, LOL.  I kept trying different files/bios/combos/youtube videos, advice until it worked.   Most of the systems are litterally "drop the roms", after doing the above updater of course. 

 

 For me the it required me to hunt down a darksoft romset, which is actually pretty annoying as romsets go. Especially when it comes to running games that aren't in the romset. I also don't super-enjoy having to use the unibios key shortcuts to set my system/region and game options, but it's still an alpha release core, I suppose. Feels pretty polished otherwise.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Reaperman

[+Charlie Cat]

2 hours ago, Rick Dangerous said:

I got Neo-Geo working today; that was a battle, LOL.  I kept trying different files/bios/combos/youtube videos, advice until it worked.   Most of the systems are litterally "drop the roms", after doing the above updater of course. 

 

 

Oooh! Liking this very much Rick.  

 

Anthony...

[Reaperman]

One thing I've heard from a guy at work who bought a second one out of a later batch:

 

Early release Pockets, like mine have a flat power button that pushes down inside the unit,

later Pockets have side button(s?) that stand slightly proud of the case and are easier to locate by touch.

can anybody confirm that, and has somebody made a replacement button 3d-print model, or something to do the same?

 

For a while I had an adhesive cellphone gem stuck to mine, but the heat inside my pocket kept softening the glue and detaching it.

[Punisher5.0]

@Reaperman

 

The power button on my group B unit sticks out like 1-1.5 mm

[Atariboy]

3 hours ago, Rick Dangerous said:

I got Neo-Geo working today; that was a battle, LOL.  I kept trying different files/bios/combos/youtube videos, advice until it worked.   Most of the systems are litterally "drop the roms", after doing the above updater of course. 

The Pocket updater I use did all of that automatically. Downloaded the core, a working romset, and whatever bios file was needed. Very nice for getting the arcade cores up and running (You have to provide your own roms for the console cores).

[Punisher5.0]

Just came across a proof of concept PSX core. Hopefully they can optimize more in the future but so far it's impressive they got this far.

 

https://github.com/pgate1/PlayStation_on_FPGA

 

[Atariboy]

That's not for the Pocket. It's a MiSTer core and there appears to be little hope that the Pocket has the horsepower to allow for it to be successfully ported over (The programmer has already said that there's essentially no chance).

 

It's also far past what I'd personally call a proof of concept. It's extremely capable at this point and the author is in the mopping up stages squashing minor little bugs for the most part. Seems fair in my opinion to label it 99% finished.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

My apologies, Punisher. I should've looked closer at that link a few hours ago. I quickly dismissed it thinking that you must've misunderstood the MiSTer core as a Pocket core.

 

Here's a YouTube video about this development.

I'm not sure where the path going forward will take, but it seems like it's off to an excellent start.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Atariboy

[roots.genoa]

I recommend this page for cores and update tools:

https://www.timeextension.com/guides/all-analogue-pocket-openfpga-cores-and-where-to-download-them

[Rick Dangerous]

Has anyone been able to convert their INT files into the INTV files required by the Intellivision core yet?  Here is a tool for doing so:

 

Release V1.2 · dot-bob/int2intv · GitHub

 

You can't just rename them unfortunately (tried that!).  I can't get the above tool working on PC (win11) it just closes on me as soon as I open it. 

 

It's amazing how easy most systems are, but a few do manage to be tricky to get running.. 

 

Edit: "You need to use the command line. There's a instructions in the github repo readme." 🤦‍♂️

 

Sounds time consuming. 

Edited January 20, 2023 by Rick Dangerous

[Atariboy]

I wasn't able to get the converter working, but I found a prepared romset in the .INTV format when I was getting cores up and running a few weeks ago. Search for Analogue Nt Mini Noir Jailbreak 2021-07-09 in Google (The Kevtris cores on Pocket follow the same standards as they did on the Noir, like the Intellivision's .INTV rom format) and you should find the romset on Archive.org.

 

It has the roms for a lot of the older systems that the Nt Mini Noir and Pocket both support, including Atari 2600 (Probably the biggest challenge to get going on the Nt Mini and the Pocket with all the file extensions that have to be changed so that the core knows what bankswitching scheme is used by each game). It likely would be fine to link to here since it's focused on pre-crash systems and the oddball cores like the MegaDuck, so it doesn't have newer stuff like the NES, Game Boy family, and Genesis. But it's easy enough to locate with my directions.

 

It's oddly missing the Colecovision, but Kevtris didn't reinvent the wheel with that core and run of the mill Colecovision rom files work just fine on the Pocket. I just dropped in my Mega Sg's Colecovision folder onto my Pocket's SD card and everything worked as it should.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Atariboy

[Tanooki]

What's that about having to use darksoft tweaked roms and junk to run that on the pocket?  That's a joke.  I have a MVS and have legit rom archives to the carts I have, which means I can't use my legally held files...that's crap.  Must be based on the trash retroarch core that acts the same way, and if you try and force loading/finding them the program makes them user invisible which is why I won't touch it either.

 

I got my own pocket finally after a delay a month ago now.  I can find little wrong with it, it's well made all around.  The dock though I dropped money on sucks more than not.  I hope the hackers if not analogue do the right thing and fix it up as it has numerous problems and even unfinished bits to it.

 

I've not put any cores on it, it's vanilla as I've got more than enough unfinished things to play with.  IF I felt the need, I'd likely stick to hardware I already own and pop the ROMS for those onto the memory for the the pocket for ease of use.  But to be fair, I don't think I would.  Blame being nervous, cautious, or just smart, but I don't like to take it off the dock.  The price due to second hand scalper losers is out of control so I'm more than afraid to drop it inside, let alone outside the home and just lose hard.  I wanted it originally when they were being a better company allowing the modules to be sold individually, not as a bundle and for more than they sold for apart (f'd up move they did.)  I was hoping to do like TG/PCE, NGPC, GameGear in HD on my TV.  As it's now down to games I already can run in HD on other systems and even have flash kits for, the concept of the core is largely pointless.  To me the strength is in leaving it as it's intended out of the box for what games legit run on it.   Since I won't take it out and about my Anbernic 351p runs the NES, SNES, SMS, GG, GEN, Neo, PCE/TG just fine as is...virtual boy too, and it's dirt cheap compared.

[Atariboy]

I don't think that there's any requirement like you're interpreting there to be. I got the impression that the Darksoft pack simply is confirmed as working well with the Pocket's core and thus is seeing recommendations in the Pocket community as a known good source.

[Punisher5.0]

@Atariboy

 

Its all good. Thanks for posting that video. I've been looking for a good Pocket channel for a while now. I like how he shows actual footage of games being played.

[NE146]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

I've not put any cores on it, it's vanilla as I've got more than enough unfinished things to play with.  IF I felt the need, I'd likely stick to hardware I already own and pop the ROMS for those onto the memory for the the pocket for ease of use.  But to be fair, I don't think I would. 

There's really zero reason not to shove any available cores on there aside from personal disinterest (e.g. I pass on stuff like PONG). Especially when you can just run the single updater and it puts all of them on your SD card in a click.

[Tanooki]

I haven't quite kept up on that, didn't realize there was an auto loader until this thread.  I did have that fat github site with all the different cores listed with latest updates last done - https://openfpga-cores-inventory.github.io/analogue-pocket/

 

And yes it's personal disinterest completely.  I don't have a real use for it, maybe if I hit the road for an extended time, but given how disgusting people behave reselling them I'd never want to put mine in a place to be broken, damaged, stolen.  I'd take my cheap Anbernic as it does all the same with ROMs already and more cores I care about currently it doesn't have.

 

I just care about the real carts, at worst, the flash kits I have already invested in, so there's no practical personal use for the cores or I'd be all over it 100%.

[NE146]

RE: Updaters, (I sent this to GoldLeader the other day) -  https://www.reddit.com/r/AnaloguePocket/comments/yhdpso/analogue_pocket_quick_start_guide/  gives good overall info, and under "OpenFPGA Cores and Updaters" there's a list of the updaters. I tend to use "Pocket_Updater by Retrodriven" which has a Windows GUI:   https://github.com/RetroDriven/Pocket_Updater/releases/tag/v1.4.4   It's super easy to use.. just click "Update Pocket" and select your SD card, or a directory on your computer, and off it goes. 

4 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I don't have a real use for it..... I just care about the real carts, at worst, the flash kits I have already invested in, so there's no practical personal use for the cores or I'd be all over it 100%.

 

Just put them on there anyway. 😜  I mean hello.. SNES, GENESIS, TG16, NEO GEO, NES, SMS, 2600, 7800, COLECOVISION all FPGA'd in handheld format! Again.. absolutely zero reason not to put all those on there as far as I'm concerned. And I'm talking obviously as someone (like most here) who has original consoles & carts, flashcarts, the Analogue Consoles, the MiSTer, and any and all sorts of emulation options (PC, Steam Deck, Switch, Mini consoles, etc. etc.) around to the point I can't even think of them all. So what if you have 15+ ways to play Super Mario Bros. 1?. That's a positive, not a negative as far as I'm concerned.. why deny one method for the other

 

You mentioned you had a Dock. Funny thing is my thought was I didn't need one since I would use the MiSTer (or other Analogue consoles) on the TV, and the Pocket would be purely for handheld play.

BUT.. what I found is when I'm playing through games on the Pocket, especially RPGs, very occasionally I would like to play it on the big screen as well. To do that I have to copy out the save file from the Pocket and put it on the MiSTer, which works, but takes time and is pretty much a hassle. I would much rather just shove the pocket on the dock and boom.. tv mode. So, I ordered one finally.  

Edited January 22, 2023 by NE146

[Tanooki]

@NE146 If I did not own the Anbernic handheld, I would core load it.  For me, at least at this rate, there's no good use other than perhaps Neo Geo possibly as I prefer LCD over CRT which it is being an arcade cabinet and far less portable at that size and weight obviously.

 

I get your concern and it makes sense.

 

And yes I ordered it with the system, dock, tempered glass, and hardcase which at this rate I don't feel I have much use for not wanting to take it anywhere.

 

The dock currently is fairly serviceable but also junky.

Good:
- High res 1600x1440 mode
- Charges system
- Better audio off a TV
- Wired/wireless controller

BAD:
- Most wireless controllers will detect, not work
- Most wired...same?!(ugh)
- Won't let you config the buttons (either type)
- Dock doesn't properly sleep itself, on a switcher box you can't pop to another option if it's plugged in (grrrr) **
- It will *NOT* remember screen settings at all **

 

** These two I find currently the most annoying.  GBA isn't a victim of it by design but the square shaped GB and GBC games are impacted immediately on every use.  By default it cuts off the top/bottom 5-10% of the screen.  You can either manually fix it by the point, or just scale to 6x and it will get the square fully back within the view area.  The problem is, saving your settings or not in the system menu doesn't do it.  So you play with resolution, scaling, filters, whatever, hit save then shut down the pocket and you will have to do it all over again.  And if you use a switcher box, the pocket dock doesn't like to share.  If the HDMI cable it plugged into the dock, you can't switch to another device on the dock as it will force it to prioritize it.  The only other item I ever had this problem with is the cheap design of the amazon fire stick, so I have that one on its own port (on a 2 port tv) and I have 2 large (8 and a 5) HDMI switcher double rigged off the other.  So for now, unless I want to use HDMI I keep the plug out of my dock or I can't use my TV which is pathetic.

[Rick Dangerous]

This is the tutorial I used to get Neo Geo going, worked great:

 

 

[Video]

Been looking at this thing for over a year. Where you guys get it? I'm A bit Leary of putting my data on yet another site, but the thing goes for WAY to much on sites I've got accounts on already.

 

I'm curious about the thing, the game boy thread said look on youtube. Ok, but most those videos make this thing look like another internet IV device, and I really don't need another one of those.

 

Like how are the shoulder buttons? The pic and videos make them look difficult or uncomfortable to use, little clearance.

 

How does game boy work in here? I know there are cart adapters for other things (so fare, neogeo pocket, gamegear, and lynx) but is game boy an adapter too, or do they plug direct?

 

I would use it primarily for game boy variants, because that's what I've got the most of, but would love other handhelds, I've literally not played game gear in decades due to shit hardware, and my lynx went out a few years back. How compatible are the various system adapters?

 

Anyhow, I've been really excited for this thing, but like I said, not paying $400-$1000+ for one, and the official site only ever says "pre-order"

[Atariboy]

3 hours ago, Video said:

Where you guys get it?

Analogue products are purchased from Analogue's store. But they fail miserably at having stock to sell, so you're not going to avoid going through the preorder route at least for the foreseeable future (Unless you're foolish enough and have enough money to burn to pay scalper prices on eBay). You just have to order and then forget about it and go about your business until it shows up 12+ months later.

 

https://store.analogue.co/

 

It's not ideal, but their systems are worth waiting for even with some broken promises, outrageous shipping fees, nearly non-existent customer support, and the failure to address bugs discovered by their paying customers (Even though the ease of addressing issues was one of the big selling points when Analogue first went FPGA, if you're not a big YouTuber you likely won't ever see a legitimate bug that you discovered and reported actually get fixed even though they tout 100% authenticity and cycle accuracy). 

 

I'm not sure about some of the other things that you're asking about (like what is an "internet IV device"?), but the Pocket's cartridge slot accepts GB/GBC/GBA cartridges directly.

 

If you want to learn about this device and see what it's all about, check out these videos from Analogue's unofficial PR team.

 

 

While these videos are now well over a year old, not a whole lot has evolved since then other than the introduction of OpenFPGA. Many of the other promises that Analogue made about features that would be present at launch or added soon afterwards remain unfulfilled, so these launch reviews aren't all that out of date as of the writing of this post and should help you if want to learn the basics about what this system is about.

 

But despite some flaws and the several shots that I took at Analogue as I wrote this post (I'm only critical since so much of what their products are all about are done so well, so when they fall well short in an area it's very disappointing), it certainly is a great handheld that's expanding rapidly thanks to FPGA programmers like Jotego.

 

And many of the flaws and incompleteness of the product are centered around the optional dock for interfacing it with controllers and a television. So if your interest is mostly centered around using it as a handheld, something like the lack of the long promised frame buffer for the dock is going to be a non-issue.

Edited January 24, 2023 by Atariboy