This hand-crampingly tiny GBA clone has a 0.85-inch screen

How tiny tin you shrink the Nintendo Game Boy Advance? That’s a question Tiny Circuits is answering with the Thumby Color, a GBA clone measuring conscionable 2 inches successful size that inactive manages to acceptable a directional pad, enarthrosis buttons, a rumble motor, a 16-bit colour screen, and the quality to nexus 2 of them unneurotic with a USB-C cablegram for multiplayer gaming.

Unlike the myriad of Game Boy and GBA clones released by companies similar Anbernic, the Thumby Color is not an emulator. It doesn’t person capable processing powerfulness to play retro games nor capable retention to clasp hundreds of ROM files.

It’s powered by a 150MHz Raspberry Pi RP2350 processor that’s paired with conscionable 16MB of retention — yes, that’s megabytes, not gigabytes. Not being capable to play existent GBA games connected the Thumby Color is astir apt a bully thing, due to the fact that its 0.85-inch quadrate LCD surface has a solution of conscionable 128 x 128 pixels, which is little than fractional the solution of the GBA.

Games are alternatively programmed successful MicroPython. The Thumby Color volition travel with six unfastened root titles pre-installed, including a first-person shooter called Monstra and a dungeon crawler called Thumbgeon 2. It volition besides travel with each the monochromatic games that shipped with the archetypal Thumby backmost successful 2021, which was the company’s ultra-tiny clone of the archetypal Game Boy.

The Thumby Color isn’t a handheld you’re going to privation to play for hours connected end, but it is 1 you tin perchance sneak into immoderate mounting wherever you privation a distraction — without trying to fell much conspicuous handhelds similar the Steam Deck. It’s besides a bully excuse to larn a programming connection arsenic TinyCircuits has created tutorials and guides available for escaped done its website.

TinyCircuits has opted for a Kickstarter crowdfunding run to bring the Thumby Color to consumers. The original Thumby inactive sells for $42, but this caller colour surface mentation is disposable with a pledge of $49 for a purple version, with shipping expected arsenic aboriginal arsenic November. If you privation a Thumby Color with a wide oregon transparent purple housing, the terms jumps to $55, and if you privation a Kickstarter exclusive Black version, it’s $75.

Keep successful caput that there’s ever the accidental a crowdfunded merchandise volition not present each the features promised astatine the clip of the campaign. It could besides beryllium importantly delayed, oregon ne'er delivered astatine all, without refunds. TinyCircuits has successfully shipped respective Kickstarted products before, truthful there’s somewhat little hazard here, but there’s nary warrant the merchandise volition materialize adjacent with its backing extremity already being met.