Ayaneo Taps Pure Game Boy Nostalgia With Konkr Pocket Advance
Ayaneo has unveiled a retro gaming handheld inspired by Nintendo's popular Game Boy Advance that released in 2001 and went on to sell over 81 million units. Releasing through its Konkr brand, the same that brought the Game Boy-inspired Pocket Block to gamers, the new Konkr Pocket Advance even pays homage to the classic handheld in its model designation, though the nod to nostalgia runs much deeper.
Ayaneo CEO Arthur Zhang recently shared the first detailed look at the Konkr Pocket Advance handheld's design during a recent livestream. The upcoming handheld is stylized after the original GBA with a familiar wide-body design language, but sports an upgraded display for the modern era while still being suitable for retro gaming, including GBA emulation.
Built For 4x Pixel Scaling
The Konkr Pocket Advance sports a bigger 3.5-inch display versus the 2.9-inch screen that Nintendo designed its original GBA around. Crucially, however, Ayaneo kept the aspect ratio the same at 3:2.
While the display is a little bit bigger, Ayaneo isn't just stretching pixels to fill the extra screen real estate. Instead, it cranked the resolution to 960x640, up from 240x160 on the original GBA. This enables 4x pixel scaling to bring retro games back to life on a modern display without aspect ratio distortion or other unwanted effects.
In terms of physical size, the new handheld is similar in dimensions to the 25-year-old GBA, measuring 151.3 x 82.4 x 27 mm (5.96 x 3.24 x 0.87 inches). However, it's slightly larger and a bit heftier at 224 grams (7.9 ounces, or around half a pound), compared to 140 grams (4.9 ounces) for the original device.
"For many players, those timeless classic handheld consoles have never been just gaming devices. 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. Even after all these years, these classics still hold an irreplaceable charm," Ayaneo says.
Looking at the images Ayaneo is sharing, the company gets the overall styling right. That said, while the overall design and shape look familiar, there are several notable upgrades to the controls to support titles beyond the 16-bit era of handheld gaming:
- Pliable Controls: Face buttons and the D-pad rely on conductive rubber pads tuned for tactile feedback instead of clicky microswitches.
- Expanded Shoulders: Alongside oversized L1/R1 shoulder buttons, Konkr added extra L2/R2 triggers to handle PS1 and N64 controller layouts.
- Physical Audio Controls: A tactile volume wheel and a traditional 3.5mm headphone jack return to the bottom edge.
- Modern I/O: Charging and data transfers go through a USB 2.0 Type-C port, flanked by a microSD slot, Wi-Fi 5, and Bluetooth 5.0.
The new handheld runs Android, bundled with Ayaneo's suite of custom software, including the AYASpace front-end for organizing game libraries and launching emulators.
What about the core hardware? The silicon powering Ayaneo's new Konkr Pocket Advance remains a mystery. The announcement makes no mention of the processor, RAM capacity (or type and speed), or battery size. Ayaneo also is keeping launch pricing and the release date under wraps for the time being, telling fans to stay tuned for more information.
