OS v1.1 for Analogue’s Pocket retro handheld will available in beta on Friday, and it adds features like a new reference tool to learn more about your games and save states so that you can more easily pick up a game where you left off.
The reference tool, called Library, will read a game’s cartridge and then show you details about that title, including the system, developer, publisher, and even the game revision. Analogue has an even bigger vision for Library down the line: it wants it to become a “scholarly cataloging of the entirety of video game history” that you can search through. This evolved version of the Library is expected to be available in September, according to a timeline from Analogue.
The save states, called Memories, will let you use one of 128 memory slots to save your spot in Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Game Gear games. In the “near future,” Analogue plans to include a screenshot marking the spot where you made a save state as well, which could make it easier to remember what you were doing if you come back after a while.
And the company is also teasing some features expected to arrive in September, including full-button mapping, a way to capture screenshots, and the ability to save images from the Game Boy Camera right to a microSD card.
Alongside the news of the OS v1.1 beta, Analogue is also announcing that it’s now allowing developers to make games specifically for the Pocket. To help show off what’s possible, Analogue is releasing a Pocket version of the 1962 game Spacewar!.
