Remember when the Game Boy Advance SP made us all believe the future was a flip-phone for our thumbs? Taki Udon remembers — and he’s building the 2026 version.
The RetroRemake co-founder — the man behind the SuperStation One FPGA PlayStation — shared footage on October 12 of his latest “passion project”: an FPGA-powered clamshell handheld inspired by the GBA SP. The prototype wears a transparent-blue shell straight out of the atomic-purple era’s playbook.
Here’s the part that made me sit up: it plays original Game Boy Advance cartridges. Not dumps, not ROMs dragged into an emulator — according to Udon, carts run natively on the FPGA rather than being copied into software. The handheld will also load games from an SD card, and Udon confirmed USB-C output in the replies. The demo footage shows it running a Pokémon GBA title.
And then there’s the real power flex. In an earlier clip, the prototype was shown running Diddy Kong Racing — the N64 game. Before anyone starts the hype train, Udon says that was strictly a demonstration of the FPGA’s hardware muscle, not a commitment to N64 support.
The number that matters: Udon says he’s “still trying to make this work for around $100” — roughly $140 CAD. For context, the Analogue Pocket now lists at $239.99 USD (about $335 CAD) after its recent price increase. Less than half the price, in a clamshell, with a real cartridge slot. For an FPGA handheld that respects your physical collection, that’s a wild number.
And it’s already moving fast. According to Retro Dodo (October 16), Taki’s team has started prototyping bigger screen options on a new hardware revision that’s been in the works for a few months — “a big upgrade in brightness, color, and scaling” — and begun work on a GBA-style form factor alongside the SP model. He’s promised a screen showcase this weekend if the results are positive.
Reality check: no specs, no release date, no firm price. Udon calls it a passion project, and just last week he was teasing an FPGA SNES (we covered the SSNT tease on October 14). Even the name is unsettled: Notebookcheck calls it the “FPGBA SP,” while Time Extension goes with “FPGA SP.” Pick your fighter.
Neither outlet reports any generative-AI involvement in the hardware’s development — this is silicon and solder, the old-fashioned way.
Check out the discussion below:
(The video above is in French — Alex Express breaks down the tease if you want the visual version of the story.)
So, reader question: if Taki hits that $100 target — clamshell, real carts, FPGA muscle — is your Analogue Pocket in trouble?
Sources: Time Extension (Kris Moyse, Oct 13, 2026); Notebookcheck (Louise Burke, Oct 14, 2026); Retro Dodo (Brandon Saltalamacchia, Oct 16, 2026).