For anyone who enjoyed Nintendo’s original Game Boy (remember that black and white screen?), picking up the Ayaneo Pocket DMG will offer an immediate blast of nostalgia. Ayaneo has built a console that replicates the feel of using the Game Boy, with plenty of modern upgrades. It’s also one of the company’s most powerful consoles; the Pocket DMG is a significant step up from low-powered handhelds like the Pocket Micro. This is the most powerful Android console I’ve ever reviewed.
But nostalgia and processing power aren’t everything. While Ayaneo has created a fantastic platform for emulating old Nintendo games, it only includes one joystick, drastically limiting the range of games you can enjoy. It’s also expensive. You’ll pay a lot to enjoy GBA games with a console that can easily run the most demanding games on Android.
Ayaneo Pocket DMG
The Pocket DMG’s impressive build quality, powerful hardware, and beautiful screen make a fantastic first impression, but awkward controls drastically limit the games you can play. Compatible games look and feel stunning, but other consoles provide a similar experience for half the price.
- OLED display
- Can easily handle demanding games
- Comfortable for long gaming sessions
- Single joystick limits game compatibility
- High price point for an Android console
- No headphone jack
Price, availability, and specs
Ayaneo funded its previous projects through Indiegogo, and it’s the same with the Pocket DMG. We expect it to be available on Ayaneo’s website in the future, but for now, you can take advantage of the early bird price by preordering it through Indiegogo.
The black and white models are available in three storage and memory configurations: 8GB RAM and 128GB storage for $449, 12GB and 256GB for $529, or 16GB and 512GB for $609. The early bird price brings these down to $339, $419, and $499, respectively. The Game Boy-inspired design is only available as a 16GB + 1TB model for $699 ($589 with early bird pricing).
What’s good about the Ayaneo Pocket DMG?
Perfect for long gaming sessions with retro titles
Ayaneo has packed a lot of bells and whistles into this console. The two side speakers produce impressive loud and clear sound, with no distortion when cranked up to max volume. A lot is going on around the console beyond the speakers. Programmable buttons, a satisfying tactile volume wheel, a performance switcher, a micro SD card slot, and the USB-C port are all found around the edges, leaving the console’s front minimalistic. It’s nice to have all these rarely used buttons tucked off to the side, but still easily accessible. The power button is the most useful element because it doubles as a fingerprint reader. This never failed me, it’s a better fingerprint reader than what I experience on most Android phones.
Where the game card would sit in a Nintendo Game Boy, Ayaeno has placed four shoulder bumper buttons. These rest naturally under your fingertips and the sides of your fingers; I was surprised by how comfortable the console was to hold for long periods, as long as you stick to using the d-pad and YXAB buttons.
Long gaming sessions are comfortable, but battery life can fluctuate wildly. If you stick to the least demanding emulators, expect around 16 hours of play with the Saving performance mode enabled. However, the most demanding Android titles will decrease to single digits.
The OLED screen stands out as the console’s best feature. No matter what kind of game you’re playing, the graphics are bright, colorful, and sharp. The screen also holds up well in direct sunlight. However, the 8:7 aspect ratio means you’ll inevitably encounter black bars. Some games, like Minecraft and Vampire Survivors, fill the space neatly, but if you’re emulating games designed for a horizontal rectangular screen, you may run into UI issues. Nevertheless, it works perfectly for most games; it’s the best screen I’ve ever used for emulating GBA games.
A small bonus to this aspect ratio is that Android’s virtual keyboard doesn’t obscure the whole screen. You can search for games, enter login details, or browse the Play Store without guessing what you’ve typed in, which is a common problem on Android-based consoles.
While the Pocket DMG’s bumpers and face buttons aren’t as clicky as I’d like, they’re responsive and easy to press whether you have large or small hands. They’re good enough for most games, but the Pocket DMG won’t win any awards for the best-feeling buttons. The joystick and trackpad are another story, but I’ll touch on those later.
The Pocket DMG’s Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 chipset is a powerful beast. While it’s a touch outdated, I could still run demanding games like Genshin Impact and Minecraft without noticing problems, although the fan ran quite loudly during these games.
While games like Genshin Impact don’t support external controllers, the Pocket DMG includes virtual controller mapping.
What’s bad about the Ayaneo Pocket DMG?
Overpriced and inadequate controls
While it certainly makes the console look good, Ayaneo’s decision to include a trackpad instead of a secondary joystick is disastrous. The trackpad is frustrating to use, and the single joystick is placed in an awkward position that quickly leads to hand cramps.
If you want to use the Pocket DMG’s Hall Effect joystick, you must angle your hand awkwardly to access it with your thumb tip or settle for pushing it with your palm. The first option is incredibly uncomfortable for long periods, and you can say goodbye to precise inputs with the second. This isn’t a problem for most retro games, but if you want to play modern FPS games or driving games, you’ll struggle. The trackpad compounds this issue; it is wholly insufficient for gaming.
If you are playing point-and-click adventure games, then the Pocket DMGs trackpad should suffice. But using it for FPS titles to control your camera or gun is extremely frustrating. It is nowhere near as precise as a joystick, and I discovered significant input lag when playing Minecraft and other native Android games. I would recommend staying far away from any FPS title, which is ironic as the console is more than capable of handling them.
As I mentioned earlier, the Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 chipset is capable of handling the most demanding Android games. But when most of these games are fast-paced FPS or driving games, the Pocket DMGs controls render them mostly unplayable.
This leaves the best games to play on the Ayaneo Pocket DMG as GBA or SNES titles. As I’ve described above, these games are stunning to play, but when the Pocket DMG costs a minimum of $449, it’s a lot to ask to enjoy games when you can have a similar experience with consoles that are half the price.
I’ve touched on the AyaSpace app before, and I can still report that you can skip it in favor of more streamlined and feature-rich emulation front-ends like ES-DE or RetroArch. Importing games and data is still an awkward and frustrating experience. It’s clear that Ayaneo considers this app to be a finished product when the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.
The Pocket DMG suffers from some of the same issues with native Android games that I encountered on the Pocket Micro. Many games are incompatible and therefore not available to download. However, games that crashed on launch before, notably Dead Cells, work without issue now.
Related
Review: The Ayaneo Pocket Micro is the best handheld for retro emulation
The perfect platform for emulating GBA games
Should you buy it?
Even if you are willing to spend nearly $500 on an Android console, the Ayaneo Pocket DMG is tough to recommend. While you get fantastic build quality, powerful hardware, and a phenomenal screen, you’ll struggle to use these features as most games are frustrating to play due to the console’s limited controls. If you want a great Android console to enjoy GBA games on, Ayaneo’s Pocket Micro is much more affordable. And if you aren’t fussed about the Android ecosystem, Anbernic’s RG35XX Linux-based console offers a significantly cheaper retro Game Boy experience.
Ayaneo Pocket DMG
The Pocket DMG’s poor controls and high price mean that other Android consoles offer significantly better value for money. However, it’ll impress you if you value build and display quality over all else.
