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Update #2 []:
In a sharing session today, AYANEO's CEO, Arthur Zhang, revealed the first few specs for the upcoming KONKR Pocket Advance (h/t: Retro Dodo).
According to slides shown during the presentation, the new device, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, will feature a 3.5-inch 3:2 LCD display with a native resolution of 960 x 640, which can naturally scale Game Boy Advance titles and is built and optimised with "classic gaming ratios" in mind.
Compared to the original Game Boy Advance (which weighed roughly 188g), this new device appears to be slightly heavier than Nintendo's machine, with AYANEO listing it at 224g. It is also slightly bigger, too, with dimensions of 151.3mm x 82.4mm x 22mm; that's in comparison to the Game Boy Advance's 144mm x 82mm x 24.5mm.
During the sharing session, Zhang directly compared the device to the Game Boy Advance, seemingly tackling the criticism that it looks too similar to the Nintendo console head-on. Here, he pointed out some of the subtle differences on top of the device, highlighting the different curves and other additions, such as the pair of bonus shoulder buttons for better mapping controls for 3D games.
Sadly, no chipset was revealed during this talk, and there was no mention of an OS, but Zhang did give us something worthwhile: our first proper look at the handheld running a bunch of emulated Game Boy Advance titles, including Golden Sun, Fire Emblem, and The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap.
Additionally, there were slides covering other "features" of the handheld, highlighting the 3.5mm headphone jack, a "retro-style" volume wheel, and a micro SD card slot. So far, two colours (orange and indigo) have been shown off, with Retro Dodo publishing exclusive images of the indigo colourway last week.
Update #1 []:
AYANEO has published its first image of the KONKR Pocket Advance, and yep, as expected, it looks a whole lot like the Game Boy Advance.
In the announcement, AYANEO once again leaned heavily on nostalgia for the Nintendo handheld, without really referring to it directly, speaking about "classics" that never fade with time and "A legendary handheld that transcends generations, carrying the memories of gaming's golden era."
As we mentioned, that's likely about as much as it can say without sending up a bat signal to Nintendo's lawyers for marketing a successor to a device it doesn't own the rights to.
Looking at the image, some of the differences we spotted from the original machine include the larger screen, a slightly taller design, cooling vents at the bottom, and two new buttons on the face for accessing the handheld's menus.
There's also a USB-C port at the base, with this device obviously running on a built-in battery rather than a pair of double-As.
Original Story []: AYANEO is dropping teases for its latest device, and it seems to be leaning heavily on people's nostalgia for the Game Boy Advance to generate hype.
On July 3rd, the company dropped the announcement that a"new product is coming", with the taglines "the soul of classic handhelds reawakened” and “reimagining the icon of the golden age," being accompanied by a drawing of a curved line similar to the top of the Game Boy Advance, and the reveal that the device will be part of the "budget friendly" KONKR range.
This was then followed up by a couple more cryptic tweets along a similar vein, with the latter revealing that this new device will be called... wait for it... the KONKR Pocket Advance (very original!).
Unfortunately, beyond a bunch of vague marketing speak about "the golden age of portable gaming" and the rebirth of "a true icon" that the company presumably cannot reference directly (for legal reasons), not much is really known about this device yet. We don't have any images of it, and none of the specs have been revealed just yet. As a result, it's too soon to make a definitive judgement on whether this will be a worthy addition to your collection or another unremarkable handheld to add to the pile.
However, considering the company is promising it is "coming soon", we can probably expect to see a quick succession of news on the device start to hit the company's socials over the next few days, if not weeks, giving us a better idea of what it has to offer.
We only hope that this one is available in significantly higher quantities than the Pocket Micro 2, which sold out almost immediately after only 100 devices were allocated for overseas customers.
What are your thoughts? What would you like to see from KONKR Pocket Advance?