Ayaneo is teasing a sequel to its lavish retro handheld, and it feels like a belated GBA 25th anniversary gift

Ayaneo just revealed that a new Pocket Micro is inbound, and the retro handheld sequel is supposedly "52% larger than the previous generation", features enhanced ergonomics, better battery life, and a punchier Qualcomm chipset. That's a pretty big list of promises, but it's clear that the portable maker is about to put out all the stops for retro enthusiasts.

A series of slightly chaotic teasers for the Ayaneo Pocket Micro 2 on X outlines what the best retro handheld contender hopes to achieve without diving into any specific specs. We also have no idea what the portable looks like yet, but it sounds like it might not look like a fancy Game Boy Micro.

Repeated references to the Ayaneo Pocket Micro 2 boasting "more comfortable controls" and "enhanced ergonomics" suggest that it won't just be a solid metal rectangle this time around. Whether it'll borrow any visual queues from Nintendo's legacy of handhelds remains to be seen, but the line "REMAKE the classic, fully evolved ", complete with its capitalisation, makes me wonder if we're getting something OG GBA shaped with modern tweaks.

Seeing as the GBA just turned 25 in the US, making a modern gaming handheld that looks like a high-tech remake makes sense. The only issue is that there are plenty of cheaper Game Boy Advance clones out there, like the RG34XX and its Anbernic RG35XXSP sibling that looks almost identical to Ninty's 2000s clamshell.

I should stress that if you're in the market for a cheap and cheerful handheld emulator, Ayaneo's portable might not be up your street. The launch MSRPs weren't horrendous by any means, but the base models started at $219. The idea is that, for your money, you'll get the same genre of device infused with the kind of specs you get out of a larger Android handheld, like 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 256GB storage, and a beefier SoC.

We'll have to wait a bit longer to find out just how bougie the Pocket Micro 2 actually is in terms of specs, but Ayaneo has already confirmed it'll wield a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, which could mean everything up to the PS2 and beyond is on the table if it's a G3 Gen 3. It'll also pack a 3,950mAh battery into its larger shell, which could help last beyond the 6-hour range of its predecessor.

I've spent quite a bit of time with the OG Ayaneo Pocket Micro, and it's one of the nicest Android retro handhelds I've tested to date. The original does have a set of parallel thumbsticks that are slightly unwieldy given its boxy ergonomics and size, but there is a "Classic" version that ditches the sticks should you find their inclusion offensive.

Both versions still represent an upper class of retro handhelds in the modern age, so I'm hoping the Pocket Micro 2 will carry that baton. My only fear right now is that, given the state of gaming hardware prices in general right now, thanks to the ravenous hunger of AI datacentres for components, it might land at a higher price than previous portables, rather than serving as a slightly more expensive, yet superior way to play your old games.

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