Glow in the Dark Analogue Pocket Handhelds Are Reselling

News

By RC Staff

05 September 2023

We have a pretty cool product to talk about today. The Analogue Pocket has been making headlines the last few years for its unique approach to handheld gaming, and they’ve capitalized on their success with a new and highly limited model. The Pocket Glow is a remixed version of their flagship product, encased in photo-luminescent plastic. In short, in glows in the dark. It should be no surprise that these sold out incredibly fast, and the prices we’ve seen on the aftermarket are pretty impressive.

What is the Analogue Pocket?

Before the days of Fortnite on phones, Call of Duty mobile, and predatory gacha games, we had handhelds. PlayStation Portables, Nintendo DSes of all varieties, and the humble but groundbreaking Gameboy.

The Analogue Pocket is a product designed to revisit these earlier days of gaming with modern hardware. Its overall look is a futuristic Gameboy, with the same set of buttons and overall layout. Look a little closer and you’ll notice an incredible 1600×1440 high resolution screen (exactly ten times that of the original Gameboy).

It also has a cartridge slot that fits Gameboy and GBA cartridges, and additional adaptors can be plugged in to play games from a variety of other consoles.

Perhaps its most impressive feature is that the Analogue Pocket accomplishes all of this without emulation. The system is powered by two FPGA devices, which allow the handheld to play games directly off of cartridges, or extracted ROMs. Technical details aside, this also has an advantage in making the Analogue Pocket completely legal.

The Analogue Pocket was first announced in 2019, and production would be repeatedly delayed and constricted by the pandemic (heard that one before). The devices that have made their way out of the factory and into consumers’ hands have been reviewed extremely favorably, and tend to sell out at a $220 price point.

In fact, there’s already a sizable aftermarket for standard Pockets. Restocks don’t last long, and both black and white Analogue Pockets are out of stock as of this writing. The devices tend to resell for around $350, with some additional accessories also reselling on occasion.

Amidst this scarcity, Analogue made the extremely funny decision to produce an even more limited and rare version of the Pocket. Do they love resellers as much as we love them? It sure seems like it.

Glow in the Dark Analogue Pocket

The Pocket Glow is a special version of the Analogue Pocket that, well, glows. In the dark. The plastic housing is a pale green, and after soaking up light for a few hours, it emits a eerie glow that Analogue has referred to as “radioactive”.

After being teased for a few weeks, the Analogue Pocket Glow went live on September 1 at 8 A.M. Pacific. They cost $250, and were limited to two per order. We don’t know how exactly many Pocket Glows were produced, but we can guess. These sold out in under 15 minutes, and more than a few were picked up by resellers.

Within 24 hours of the sale, eBay recorded over 150 aftermarket sales of the Pocket Glow. Most of these were around $400 per handheld, but recent sales have trended even higher. Right now a glow in the dark Analogue Pocket is reselling for between $450 and $500.

Considering that buyers were limited to two per order, that means resellers who got in on this sale could have made up to $500 in pure profit by clicking a few buttons. Yes, hard work, we know, but its worth it sometimes.

Will the Analogue Pocket Glow restock?

Now here’s a good question. The Pocket Glow is the first limited edition of the Pocket that Analogue has sold, but their previous products have had limited edition releases in the past. When these sold out, they never restocked.

If Analogue is going to keep doing things they way they have, then it is unlikely the Pocket Glow will restock. Anything’s possible, but it seems Analogue prefers “limited edition” to mean “limited edition”

That being said, we think it’s a safe bet to expect more one-offs and special editions of the Pocket in the future. This sale went tremendously well for all involved, and definitely made Analogue a ton of quick cash. Why wouldn’t they do another limited run in the future?

Keep your eyes peeled for more announcements and product launches from Analogue in the future. They’ve carved out a popular and profitable niche for themselves, and it seems like all they have to do now is keep delivering.

And if you missed out on this sale, maybe you should think about joining RC Elite. Members were given advanced notice of when the sale went live, and knew what was worth buying and what to sell it for. It’s flips like these that make a membership worth it, and you can expect plenty more within RC Elite. Then again, not everyone likes making money.

In the meantime, subscribe to our newsletter for more writeups like this. We covered the Panic Playdate handheld console earlier this year, and between that and the Pocket, it seems like there’s quite the market out there for expensive handhelds.