Indie Handheld Showdown: Panic Playdate vs. Analogue Pocket
Gaming handhelds are suddenly a big thing again. Thank the Nintendo Switch, Valve’s Steam Deck and two charming but unfortunately hard to get gaming handhelds called the Analogue Pocket and the Panic Playdate.
The Pocket, which first went on sale last fall, is a completely revamped take on the classic Game Boy and actually plays retro Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges. (It’s not made or officially endorsed by Nintendo.) With adapters, it also plays Sega Game Gear and other retro handheld titles. The Panic Playdate, which has just started shipping to those who preordered it, is a black and white crank-enabled handheld that plays its own unique games, 24 of which will get beamed to the system over a period of 12 weeks in a unique subscription model.
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I’ve reviewed both and love them both.
These are definitely niche gaming handhelds compared to a Switch (or your smartphone or an iPad), but the spirit is hopefully a direction more gaming devices will explore in the future. They’re priced differently (£220 for the Analogue Pocket, £179 for the Panic Playdate), and they are also designed for vastly different purposes. But does either one make sense to preorder over a Switch or a Steam Deck?
Let’s break down the differences and similarities.
The Analogue Pocket (left) vs Panic Playdate (right).
Scott Stein/CNET
The Pocket assumes you have retro cartridges; the Playdate comes with games
The Pocket’s biggest draw is that it plays classic carts via a sharp color screen and with a rechargeable battery and USB-C port. You do need to BYOGames, though: It doesn’t play emulations, although you can sideload indie games, which means plugging it into a computer and installing new software. The Playdate, meanwhile, includes 24 games to start.
But you don’t get them right away: Instead, these get delivered two a week in a unique “season” format. Others can be sideloaded, too.
The Pocket is largely offline; the Playdate has Wi-Fi
To install OS updates and extra indie games, the Pocket needs to load data onto a MicroSD card from a computer and then sideload it into the Pocket later: It doesn’t have Wi-Fi. However, the Pocket has Wi-Fi and can download games and OS updates right from the device.
The Pocket (left) plays cartridges.
The Playdate (right) has downloadable games.
Scott Stein/CNET
The Pocket is backlit; the Playdate isn’t
The Analogue Pocket’s sharp color screen is brilliantly bright, and very crisp. The Panic Playdate’s black and white screen also looks vivid, but has no backlighting at all: you’ll need to keep a light on nearby, like an old-school Game Boy.
The Playdate is a lot smaller
The Analogue Pocket, at 3.46 x 5.86 x 0.86 inches (88 x 149 x 22 millimeters), is smaller than an original Game Boy but too big for most pants pockets. The Playdate, meanwhile, is teeny-tiny and very pocketable at roughly 3 x 3 x 0.4 inches (76 x 74 x 9 mm).
Both make the Switch (4 x 9.4 x 1.1 inches; 102 x 239 x 28.7 mm) seem huge by comparison.
Both have USB-C charging
The Pocket and Playdate both recharge via USB-C and can last hours at a time. FYI: They both have headphone jacks, too.
The Panic Playdate is significantly smaller than the Analogue Pocket.
Scott Stein/CNET
Pocket and Playdate allow mirroring to bigger screens
The Analogue Pocket has a separate dock that connects to TVs and can play games via controllers. The Playdate has a mirroring tool for playing games on a large PC monitor.
Either way, there are some methods for playing offscreen.
Both can play indie games
There’s a large and fascinating community of indie games you can download from places like itch.io, where developers are already making unofficial games for both handhelds. Panic Playdate games can be uploaded to Panic’s account site, where they’re beamed to the Playdate. Pocket games need to be loaded onto a MicroSD card and sideloaded into the device.
It’s well worth exploring what’s out there on both systems. So far, I’ve found a bunch of fun games for each.
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Also both: You can make your own indie games
Panic has a browser-based game development kit called Pulp, which was made to create Playdate games easily. Analogue works with a program called GB Studio that also encourages indie game development.
You probably can’t buy either until 2023
And now the really unfortunate part.
Both the Pocket and Playdate are backordered until 2023 at the moment. Anyone who preordered early may get one sooner, but both look like they’ll be in short supply for a long while. Hopefully supplies will improve, but it’s sad news for two great handhelds, and it means the Nintendo Switch is probably your best handheld gaming bet in 2022.
