With Nintendo seemingly sitting on its hands when it comes to a possible Game Boy Classic release (the device's 30th anniversary has already come and gone), retro-gaming hardware maker Analogue has seized the opportunity to develop its own throwback handheld, announcing the Analogue Pocket for launch in 2020.

According to Analogue, the device purports to play pretty much every cartridge-based portable game ever released on its high resolution (1,600 x 1,440-pixel) backlit LCD screen – without emulation.

The Pocket will be "compatible with the 2,780+ Game Boy, Game Boy Color & Game Boy Advance game cartridge library" right out of the box, and you'll be able to play titles from Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Atari Lynx and other systems via cartridge adapters.

Along with the ability to run classic handheld games, Analogue says the device is also a "digital audio workstation with a built-in synthesizer and sequencer." The program, called Nanoloop, lets you "shape, stretch and morph sounds" and is "designed for music creation and live performance." You can check out a video of Nanoloop in action below.

Presumably, users will be able to save and load music via the Pocket's built-in microSD card slot, and while the ability to load ROMs is not officially listed as a feature on Analogue's website, that functionality seems likely – it was quite easy to do this on the Analogue NT Mini retro console via an unofficial jailbroken firmware.

Additionally, the Analogue Pocket will have its own Nintendo Switch-like dock, which will allow you to connect the handheld to a television via HDMI. The dock will also sync up with any wireless 8BitDo Bluetooth controller, and you'll also be able to connect wired controllers to the unit via USB.

(Image credit: Analogue)

The Pocket will start shipping in 2020 at a price of $199 (around £155 / AU$293). The handheld will reportedly be available in limited quantities, so if you're keen you may want to enter your email address on Analogue's website to be notified the moment it becomes available.

[via Gizmodo]