The GameBoy Pocket remains one of the best-designed pieces of mobile gaming kit ever in my opinion, which is why I was intrigued by the BittBoy, a new third-party portable console[1] that clearly owes a lot of inspiration to the GameBoy. The tiny handheld packs a library of “300” games built-in, controls that will feel familiar to any Nintendo fan, a battery you can recharge via microUSB and a 2.2-inch IPS display.
First, let’s get to the highlights: This thing is super small. It’s only about 2.5 by 4 inches, and it’ll easily slip into just about any pocket. The battery also appears to last quite a while, even though it’s only 500 mAh; I’ve played for quite a few hours on a single charge without depleting it yet.
That screen is also pretty good, especially when compared to the screens of actual retro consoles. There are some issues with colors being rendered weird, but that’s the emulation software, not the display itself, as those color oddities carry over to TV output, too.
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Speaking of TV output, that’s another strength – it ships with a simple mini stereo to RCA AV out, which can plug into any TV with one of those yellow round video inputs. It works, though the cable is somewhat short and the image flickers a bit if there’s much cable play, but it came in handy when spending time in a hotel and looking for something to...