BittBoy Pocket Go
Image: Nintendo Life

We've covered previously BittBoy handhelds on the site before, so you guys should know the drill by now. These are super-cheap emulation-focused portables that feature off-the-shelf SoC tech and cost peanuts, and the latest addition – the BittBoy Pocket Go – is no different.

Where this new version scores over its forerunners is scope and control; it comes pre-loaded with a whole bunch of emulators and has two shoulder buttons to go alongside the four face buttons.

Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Mega Drive, NES, SNES, Neo Geo, WonderSwan and much more besides are all supported (including titles like Cave Story and Doom), but you'll need to find the ROMs yourself and load them onto a Micro SD card – a shady business that some may turn their noses up to.

Emulation is generally good from what we've played, although certain SNES games struggle (mostly those with Super FX tech or loads of Mode 7 effects). Sound is OK when you consider that it's all being pumped through a single, rather feeble speaker, and the LCD panel is bright and sharp. Even the D-Pad and buttons feel nice, although the former is perhaps a little too soft for our liking.

It's possible to order a set of SNES-themed replacement buttons to go along with the Pocket Go, but to fit them you need to take the entire unit apart – a process that is easy enough on paper but becomes a little maddening when bits are falling out all over the place and you're losing tiny screws; once we managed to get our review unit back together again we discovered that the LCD screen has shifted position slightly so we had to start the process all over again. Our advice would be to not bother and just stick with the NES-style colours.

The BittBoy Pocket Go will set you back just $50, and is worth a look if you're after a portable emulation machine and can't wait for Nintendo to pull its finger out and make a Game Boy Classic Edition.


Thanks to BittBoy for supplying a unit for this feature.