This FPGA handheld can read Game Boy carts, is fully open-source, and hackable - Guilty Gamer
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Relish it, people, we are living in the age of the handheld. They are everywhere, from Android handhelds to PC handhelds to FPGA handhelds. It seems like everyone has their own twist on what a gaming handheld should be, and while I have my own personal favorites, few are as bold as the Game Bub. […]

First-time poster, long-time reader. I created a site that isn’t monetized to report on interesting tech and gaming, covering news and reviews, and wanted to share this post as I’m a huge fan of retro gaming and would love to see the Game Bub succeed. Rest assured, although this may appear to be self-promotion, I’m not earning anything from the site; it is completely ad-free.

Back to the subject at hand. We already have a few portrait handhelds that can play physical Game Boy carts, but we still don’t have one that plays landscape. There are rumors that Modretro will make a GBA handheld, but so far, there’s no news on that front. In comes the Game Bub, which is still in crowdfunding, but it does appear a manufacturer has been secured. Hopefully the project finds enough funding to get made, cause I would love to add the Game Bub to my collection.

Not only is it open source, it can play physical carts, which is a big deal to collectors like me, as I prefer single carts over flash carts. Of course, it has an SD slot, so you won’t even need a flash cart if you don’t want to use one.

I can’t be alone in wanting to see this funded, right? We absolutely need an FPGA handheld with a 3:2 screen for GBA.

    • Moltz@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      6·
      20 hours ago

      It’s all about the screen ratio. The Pocket is 10:9, same as the original Game Boy. This way all Game Boy and Game Boy Color games perfectly fit the screen. The Pocket can play GBA, sure, but GBA was 3:2, so it’s heavily letterboxed on the Pocket. The Game Bub is a 3:2 screen, while using similar underlying tech of FPGA. Basically, the Game Bub is the right landscape layout and right screen ratio to best play GBA games.

      • Godort@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        16 hours ago

        huh, neat.

        I can see that being a draw for enough people to own both

        • Moltz@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
          4·
          16 hours ago

          Oh for sure. Heck, I have all 3 black Analogue Pockets, and a couple colors of the Chromatic too. I love me some dedicated hardware. But the modded Game Boys just aren’t cutting it with their buzzing sound, I want perfected dedicated hardware with backlit screens.