Playing vintage games is fraught with all sorts of legality issues. While the likes of Nintendo, Sony, and others have delivered a few ways to play some classic titles, none of the companies offer a modern and official way to play any game. This is where Analogue steps into frame. The company is known for shunning playback of copyrighted ROMs and instead develops systems that play official cartridges, discs, and more. Analogue Duo is the company’s latest creation, and it tackles “nearly every NEC system and game format ever made.” Continue reading to learn more.
Analogue Duo supports oodles of games, original hardware, 8BitDo controllers, more
The all-new Analogue Duo is going to wear a lot of hats. The console supports TurboGrafx-16, PC Engine, SuperGrafx, TurboGrafx CD, PC Engine CD-ROM, and Super Arcade CD-ROM. This is thanks to having not only a CD-ROM drive onboard, but also a cartridge slot which accepts Hucards and TurboChips.
If you love the feeling of official controllers, Duo has you covered with an original-style TurboGrafx-16 port. It also happens to be packing dual USB inputs and is forward-thinking with support for “any wireless 8BitDo Bluetooth or 2.4g controller.” All of these input methods pave the way for up to four players to simultaneously enjoy Analogue Duo.
Analogue touts that it has invested “thousands of hours engineering each system via FPGA for absolute accuracy.” The company claims that this attention to detail is not like what you’ll find in “knock off and emulation systems that riddle the market today.” Like Analogue’s other systems, the company is eager to call out that Duo is “designed to preserve video game history, with the respect it deserves.”
Pricing and availability
While there’s not yet a specific launch day or month for Analogue Duo, the company is planning an official debut in 2021. Pricing is set at $199, and interested parties should take note that Analogue Duo will manufactured in limited quantities. You can sign up for release notifications and more on Duo’s landing page.
9to5Toys’ Take
With base model Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5 clocking in at $300 and $400, respectively, there’s no question that Analogue faces an uphill climb with its $199 price tag. Sure, you can’t play load original cartridges or discs into any official current or next-generation console, but I would argue that pricing may be a bit high for these to become high-demand products. That being said, Analogue does seem to be taking this line of thinking into account given the “limited quantity” nature of Duo.
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