We reviewed the original BittBoy some time ago and found it to be a perfectly likeable – if legally questionable – handheld system. Now, the company behind it is releasing a successor, and while it retains the same basic design, there are a few extra features worth noting (and no, it's no less dubious from a legal perspective).
This time around, the New BittBoy (for that is its name) supports MicroSD cards, which presumably means you can load up more (ahem) 'games'. The console can play NES, Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles, and even has save state functionality.
Fashioned from ABS plastic and boasting measurements of 6.8x9.9x1.3cm, the BittBoy has a 2.4-inch IPS screen and a 3.5mm headphone socket. It's all powered by a rechargeable 700mAh battery and for those times when you fancy the big-screen experience, there's a TV-out option.
You can pre-order one of these right now for $39.99, which is a $20 saving on the typical price. Orders are expected to ship between the 15th and 20th December, so you'd better get in quick if you want one; once Soulja Boy hears about it, he'll no doubt buy up all the stock and rechristen it the 'SouljaBoy'.
[source bittboy.com]
Comments 44
I'll wait for the SouljaBoy thank you very much.
This sounds pretty good unlike a certain other console that has already been named.
This is great news for criminals
Neat device... but my DS Lite can already do that.
looks interesting. how's the emulation?
i'd actually love a little device like this that could be loaded with whatever emulator wanted to play the games. heck; something that could run 8-16 bit games flawlessly. i'd love to be able to run tg16 cd isos on something like this. maybe a bit larger screen.
something in the gba form factor maybe.
SouljaGame Tell 'Em!
Looks like a pretty neat design to be honest, I might grab it if they ship internationally.
SouljaBoy-Boy, surely?
@Joker13z You want that overpriced piece of crap? Okay
15 Minutes of playing that little device and my hands would cramp up. Smaller isn't always better.
@holygeez03 The DS lite can’t play Gameboy or Color games, only GBA
@RadioHedgeFund
It can with a microSD "card reader" and emulation software, in the same fashion as the device in this article.
It can also emulate SNES and Genesis reasonably well!
Does it come with any games pre-loaded?
If so, then it is no different than some of the other retro consoles (such as the Atari Flashback portable).
If not, it is in a very gray legal area.
I also wonder how good the product is.
@mikegamer Correct. I'm fairly certain there was no amount of sarcasm in @Joker13z original post.
@mike_intv That's not correct. It's pretty much the opposite of what you said. If it did not come with any games pre-loaded, it's not legally grey whatsoever - it's perfectly legal. If it does come with games pre-loaded, it's nothing like licensed retro consoles - it's unlicensed, and a blatantly illegal use of other's IP.
That said, the original came with many games pre-loaded, so it's clear they're not concerned with infringing on Nintendo's IP rights.
I might have to invest in one of these units since Nintendo refuses to release a Virtual Console on the Switch. NES online? -spits-
Let me know when they offer GB, GBC, GBA, N64 and GC games on Switch.
@roadrunner343 Yep. I'm most def looking forward to the Soulja360 and the Soulja3 too. Tired of staring at my dusty old "official" consoles. RIP Microsoft and Sony.
@RadioHedgeFund You poor thing..
@roadrunner343 Yes, because Nintendo has been so cooperative with their IP and making it easily available.
I want a virtual boy classic. Too bad Wario is the only decent game.
Yes I actually owned a VirtualBoy, thank God my grandma got me Wario. Everyone should play that game it was excellent
You’d be better off getting an Odroid-Go. It’s a fun little construction project and emulates a few more systems that this. And it looks great!
@mikegamer ...which has what to do with my response, exactly?
@Vriess I had to learn this the hard way by dusting off & playing my GBA SP recently. Loved it during its time, but any game that's fast-paced just becomes too painful to play.
Looks pretty cool but why not a bigger screen. It looks way too small for what it is.
@roadrunner343
The woooooosh alarm is goin off. Uh oh. My time has come! I must the magical words! You just got woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooshed
No GBA? If there was GBA support, I'd buy it
Most inportant: is it possible to use save-states? Otherwise this device is useless
@roadrunner343 I expressed that very poorly.
The console to which I compared it (the Atari Flashback portable) has 60-70-80 (depending upon the version) of games built-in (which I meant when I said loaded) — and they are licensed.
My thought was that if there were no licensed games included and it could not play original hardware (like a clone system), it really is not much different than a copy cart (like an R4) to place in an original system.
I agreed that the use of others' IP without a license that causes the real trouble. The issue is whether a complainant can show that there is no real legal use for the item. (We know about the non-legality of running most ROMs.)
@roadrunner343 That Nintendo doesn't give people many options or games to legally obtain
@mikegamer Which doesn't pertain to my post. I was simply saying that the original post you responded to was clearly sarcastic.
@mike_intv Fair enough, that makes more sense. I'll agree that devices like this aren't much different from flash carts. Legally though, Nintendo doesn't really have any course of action to shut down emulation, as that's been tried and ruled legal multiple times. Then of course you have China's total disregard for intellectual property rights, which makes it near impossible for any sort of action against intellectual property infringement, even when it is blatantly illegal.
It looks really uncomfortable.
This is not legally questionable or dubious. As long as you don't put any pirated copyrighted roms on it, it's legal. Pirating games, on the other hand, is illegal, regardless of whether it's possible to obtain the games otherwise. What is morally right is a different issue.
@Strumpan The thing that sucks most about ROMs is the lack of cheaper, legal avenues to obtain said games. Nintendo has been nothing but litigious greedy jerks about their IP.
@RadioHedgeFund #Flashcards
@nmanifold
Made an account just to agree with this. Ordered one from Ameridroid (US Supplier) for $41 tax and shipping.
Nice to have something resembling official hardware to play homebrew games on (Tohu Girl GB, Alter_Ego NES come to mind).
Also has accessable GPIO pins if you ever get the itch to try your hand at some Arduino projects.
@zztfox it’s a lovely bit of kit. One bit of advice when playing NES games; use the original aspect ratio or you’ll get horrible screen tearing (press start + right).
@nmanifold
Yeah, they have a stand alone NES only fork of the Go Play frontend that supposedly improves it.
Have yet to try it though.
Looks very cramped for the hands by looking at the video.
However am not interested due to it being legally dubious.
Ive actually been tempted to buy one of these but the decision came down to this....Do I play any of the 40 or so classic games I downloaded on 3ds and or recieved through the Ambassador program. So I will more than likely pass cause it will collect dust on my end. It looks very cool though. Even the old 15 dollar units that have 250 games on them look sweet. It would be a nice way to play classic pokemon though.
@Scrubsguy Nice two year old response. Try again.
@mikegamer nice three year old comeback try again
@Scrubsguy Aww, and I didn't even have to try
@mikegamer cringe take
@Scrubsguy That's nice
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