BittBoy's New PocketGo (or PocketGo 2) is not a replacement for the original PocketGo. It's twice as big and more powerful in many ways as a 'brother'. Bitboy, which iteratively evolved the hardware of a portable retro game emulator, is now past the 16-bit era for smoother emulation. It's twice the price of the original Pocket Go, but still a great price. I highly recommend this portable game emulation.

Original Pocket Go vs. new pocket go

As already stated, the new Pocket Go is not a replacement for the original Pocket Go. Almost every aspect, including price, has been improved. The original PocketGo, which costs around $40 on Amazon, was a natural choice for retro game enthusiasts like me who want to keep their ROMs with them. However, the hardware (including the Game Boy Advance) was stable enough to be enjoyed until the 16-bit era.

The New Pocket Go, on the other hand, easily runs PlayStation-era games. Improved performance for 16-bit emulation. As the processor improved from 533MHz to 1GHz, the RAM also increased significantly from 32MB DDR to 512MB DDR2. The battery capacity has also been increased from 1,000 mAh to 2,000 mAh, and the battery can be easily removed from the rear panel. The battery life of the original Pocket Go was great, but the more powerful New Pocket Go can last twice as long as its capacity.

The display size has been increased from 2.5 inches in the original Pocket Go to 3.5 inches in the new Pocket Go. The screen is bigger, but it maintains the familiar 320x240 3:2 aspect ratio. As for the original IPS screen, it's already great, and the new screen is equally good, so I have no complaints at all. However, there was a slight smear on the edge of the screen in low light conditions. It can be a distraction, but it's so faint that it's hard to notice.



The new Pocket Go also includes a second microSD card slot for loading ROMs and media files. The first slot already supports a 32GB micro SD card with a Linux-based OS and several ROMs. It is recommended to insert the FAT32 format microSD card slot containing the ROM into the second slot, but the software made it easy to add the ROM to the original microSD card.

The final difference between the two pocket consoles is the addition of a thumbstick to the left of the new Pocket Go for use with PlayStation games. Unfortunately, this was a terrible choice. This was not a true analog stick. It was the same sliding pad applied to the PSP and PS Vita. It may work in some cases, but I'll probably never use it. Instead, what I mostly use is a second pair of shoulder buttons added to the top. The total number was increased to four to keep pace with the original PlayStation controller.

The micro USB port for charging has also been replaced with a USB-C connector. As a welcome upgrade, it's convenient to use the included charging cable.

The new Pocket Go is noticeably larger and heavier than the original Pocket Go, but is an improvement in almost every way. The bigger it reduces hand fatigue, the heavier it feels (even though it's still a plastic shell), the more real it feels. No matter how improved the hardware is, it's never perfect and (probably) won't win any design awards, but functionally it supports everything you need and works great as expected.


 

Gaming in the New Pocket Go

Like Beatboy's predecessor, these handheld consoles aren't for gamers looking for the 'most accurate' emulation experience. This means screen tearing, slowness, and audio issues sometimes occur. But for the most part, I was able to enjoy the game without adjusting any of the emulator settings. It is very stable in terms of enjoying the game.

On the other hand, unfortunately, the way brightness and volume are adjusted in the New Pocket Go is slightly worse. Instead of the volume dial disappearing, you have to press the button at the top to increase or decrease the volume. It's not that bad, but it's pretty loud even at the lowest volume setting. I've been looking around for more fine-grained control, but in the end I failed. In the end, I chose 'Mute'. Otherwise it would be too loud to play carefully in a quieter environment.

In addition, to increase the brightness, hold down the select button and press the 'Volume-' button, and to decrease the brightness, press the 'Volume+' button. It's like adjusting the brightness by one step out of 100. This means you have to hold down the button for a while for it to take effect. If you need to adjust volume and brightness at the same time, be prepared for a very annoying situation.



The Linux-based OS running on the New Pocket Go, like its predecessors, is often prone to minor problems. But once you get used to the methods you need to play the game you've been looking for, that's not a major flaw. Instead, what the company should improve as soon as possible is the battery level indicator. This small indicator was neither informative nor accurate.

Once you start playing, all of the aforementioned concerns are gone and you can enjoy your past games in ways you thought were impossible any more. If you finish a long RPG on PS1 like Xenogear, or get the ability to run fast in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2, you can naturally find yourself smiling. Resummoning my favorite game memories and sharing them has never been easier.

Traditionally, PlayStation emulation is not as easy to handle as Super Nintendo emulation. The games I've played had chronic problems with the default emulator settings. However, the controls on the new Pocket Go were still as responsive as needed, and the screen provided rich color and detail. Despite the intermittent glitches of the emulation, it still felt good to be able to play classic games on a device that fits in the palm of your hand. In the actual game, many missions fail, but this nostalgia alone offsets the frustration caused by failure. This is why I confidently recommend Pocket Go.