The Analogue Pocket is finally nearing its release date, and with it comes the announcement of the portable device’s feature-rich operating system. Analogue OS goes beyond just supporting the fundamental functions of the Pocket and is instead a new portal for the preservation of all the games the Pocket supports.
Analogue OS is being designed as the new way for avid collectors to catalogue, save, and share their games and experiences with other like-minded players, adding in functionality never possible for the array of Game Boy (original, Color, and Advance), Atari Lynx, and Game Gear games that are supported. It starts with save states, with the OS allowing you to store numerous snapshots of saves from any supported title, letting you pause the action wherever you are.
Analogue OS also allows you to capture moments of your gameplay directly, with onboard storage of all your screenshots catalogued by game. Games themselves can also be collected into playlists (that can also be shared), and have their data edited so that you can add custom artwork, titles, and more. There’s also some nice quality-of-life features, such as a timeline of your activity on the Pocket that lets you see what you were busy with last, and a full calendar that showcases your use of each game.
For those really into collecting, Analogue OS will also enable you to check the revisions of cartridge games on the go, which will make hunting for very specific revisions much easier. Just by plugging in a cartridge, Analogue OS will provide you with specific details on its revision number and additional metadata, which might come in handy for games that went through numerous versions as certain assets were edited out or included.
This is all so impressive because of how the Analogue Pocket is built. With two FPGA processors, Analogue is achieving this at a hardware level for the first time, according to the company. Analogue stresses that there is no emulation involved, which makes the inclusion of features never supported by the games themselves that much more impressive. Analogue also says that Analogue OS will allow hobbyists to make use of the secondary FPGA core to make changes and new feature additions, while Analogue itself will be updating the OS periodically.
The Analogue Pocket has been sold out for ages already, but orders are expected to start shipping in December this year.
