I've finally got the Super Pocket Rare Edition in my mitts, and if I showed seven-year-old me this thing, their brain would melt into a puddle. We're talking about a retro handheld that costs less than new console games, is smaller than my original Game Boy Color, and runs Banjo-Kazooie, an N64 game that was cutting edge when the latter portable reigned supreme.
And yet, even if the latest Super Pocket didn't come with one of the best N64 games of all time, I'd still be all over the retro handheld. After all, it's still the same 5/5 budget portable that dazzled me with its compact abilities back in 2023. However, the Rare Edition is packing some of the legendary publisher's lesser talked about hits from across multiple generations, and I'd be happy to spend $69.99 again since the collection includes one of my favorite NES games.
No, I'm not talking about Battletoads, even if that is undoubtedly an NES gem. Rather, it's the addition of Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship that would draw me to this specific, albeit a little garish, red, blue, and yellow version of the Super Pocket. If you're already aware of this quirky multidirectional shooter sequel to the ZX Spectrum classic Lunar Jetman and have no interest, you'll want to keep an eye on Prime Day gaming deals for other handheld flavors, but the rest of you should read on.
Don't worry, I'll get to playing Banjo on this new Super Pocket. But first, let's chat about why Solar Jetman is the perfect era of game for the vertical handheld specifically. Rare's space caper sits within a wonderful 8-bit genre that merges simple shooter mechanics with exploration, meaning it's not quite a quick "once-and-done" arcade romp, but it also won't ask you to pull off anything too strenuous using just a disc d-pad, four face buttons, and some cramped shoulder buttons at the rear.
There's certainly a forgotten art to the way Solar Jetman feels vast without doing too much. The primary loop has you "flying" around in an egg ship using the same chaotic momentum physics as Asteroids. That means one of the biggest dangers in this game is, well, you and your ability to use thrusters in the right direction to navigate narrow, spike-laden caverns in a bid to find pieces of the titular Golden Warship.
The high-contrast visuals of Solar Jetman, even on the Super Pocket's modest 320 x 240, 2.8-inch IPS display, will suck you into what feels like a far grander odyssey than it should. Plunging into the depths in an egg that will absolutely crack, exposing the 8-bit space dude within, will keep you more than entertained when travelling or even just sitting somewhere that your high-tech gaming PC or setup can find you, especially if you have the patience to survive the outing's 12 danger-infected planets.
Of course, you'll have better luck assembling the Golden Warship on the Super Pocket compared to a real NES, as the handheld takes full advantage of save states. That in itself means you can casually chip through the admittedly punishing gameplay without having to stumble through the same narrow pathways over and over, and while the Nintendo Switch Online version will afford you the same luxury, playing on an offline portable with Game Boy vibes is naturally more special.
But what about Banjo?
Alright, I get it: you want to know if you can actually play Banjo-Kazooie on a handheld that often costs under $60. The answer is a resounding yes, and if you've ever tried to emulate N64 games on a cheap portable emulator, you'll know that's a mean feat. Upon booting up the bear and bird's first adventure, I was immediately impressed with the perceivable frame rates. It's supposedly targeting 60fps, and from what I've experienced so far, that holds true.
I've been asking myself for a while whether we should try and play more complex early 3D outings on something like the Super Pocket. Doing so has been an option for a while since both Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Tomb Raider exist as carts, but I reckon both of those are better suited to the full-fat Evercade EXP-R or, more appropriately, the upcoming Evercade Nexus.
If any flavor of early 3D game is going to work well on a vertical handheld with limited controls, however, it is Banjo-Kazooie. The collectathon's platforming isn't quite as nightmarish as something like Super Mario 64, nor will you find yourself looking for buttons exclusive to the OG N64 controller. What I do think the platformer could benefit from, however, is expanded options for mapping inputs to your specific preference, as while I found my stride by switching things back to "retro" rather than "replay" in the menu, it'd be nice to dial things in fully.
For context, using the retro control scheme maps Flap Flip to R2 rather than L2, which felt a bit more intuitive as someone who's played the original a lot. It also swaps around the face buttons for rolling and camera tracking, but I can't help but feel there's perhaps a customizable balance to be struck between the two modes.
When it comes to settings, the Super Pocket Banjo-Kazooie port is slightly odd, as it drops compatibility with that middle menu button. That means you won't have access to save states, or even the option to enable scanlines, and I would have enabled the latter to give the emulated N64 graphics a bit of needed pixel separation. Alas, neither omission is an entire deal breaker, and I get why those additional OS options are disabled, considering the tricks the new port is likely pulling off to run on the portable's low specs.
Ultimately, being able to play Banjo-Kazooie with no performance quirks or visual bugs on something that'll easily fit in your pocket is well worth the asking price. Plus, don't forget you're getting 14 other classics thrown in too, including Conker's Pocket Tales, a wholesome prequel to Bad Fur Day that was stuck on the Game Boy Color for 27 years, and some really early Rare releases for the ZX Spectrum.
Super Pocket Rare Edition games
- Atic Atac
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Battletoads
- Battletoads in Battlemaniacs
- Cobra Triangle
- Conker's Pocket Tales
- Gunfright
- Jetpac
- Knight Lore
- Lunar Jetman
- R.C Pro-Am II
- Slalom
- Snake Rattle 'n' Roll
- Solar Jetman: The hunt for the Golden Warship
The one question I'd ask yourself when considering the Rare Super Pocket is whether you care about any of the other games besides Banjo-Kazooie. One of the reasons I've expansively talked about Solar Jetman here is that it's one of the only games on the list exclusive to the handheld, as the rest are available on the Rare Collection 1. We're also getting a Banjo-Kazooie double pack in October in line with the Nexus, so some of you might want to grab another portable flavor for potentially less during the sales this year.
TLDR - The Super Pocket Rare Edition is fantastic, even if it does look more like it's cosplaying as Mario.
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