The Nintendo DS is still the company’s bestselling console of all time for good reason – the dual-screen with stylus design enabled some innovative gameplay. It’s just so unique, even to this day. As such, there’s a certain clamor out there for retro gaming handhelds that brings back the DS line’s dual-screen form factor. That’s exactly what we’re getting with the Ayaneo Pocket DS.
That’s right, Ayaneo is making a DS-style gaming handheld that you can use to emulate your favorite DS and 3DS games the way they were meant to be played. Whether you’re feeling nostalgic about your DS games or you just want a dual-screen handheld for a change of pace, this just might be the most interesting option available today.
The Ayaneo Pocket DS is a clamshell-style gaming handheld with a 7-inch 16:9 screen with 165Hz refresh rate on top and a smaller 5-inch 4:3 panel at the bottom. Why different aspect ratios? Well, the DS library uses 4:3 aspect ratio for their games, so they can simply add black bars on the sides for the top screen when emulating those, while still allowing you to play modern games using the 16:9 display. It’s not meant to be an exclusive DS simulator, after all. The two displays use not just different aspect ratios, they also use different display panels (OLED on top and LCD at the bottom) and different resolutions (1080p on top and 1024 x 768 at the bottom), so it’s really quite an odd mix.
The control layout seems to be modeled after the 3DS. As such, you get one thumbstick on each side (asymmetric layout), a D-pad on the left, and action buttons on the right, along with four shoulder buttons and dual triggers to make it feel like a proper modern handheld. Notably, it uses anti-drift TMR joysticks for exceptional precision and hall effect linear triggers. It’s equipped with a pair of X-axis linear motors for haptic feedback.
The Ayaneo Pocket DS is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon G3x Gen 2, along with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of terabyte of UFS 4.0 storage. There’s also a microSD card slot for supplementing your storage capacity. Other features include a six-axis gyroscope that you can use with compatible games, an infinitely adjustable hinge (no preset locking positions), an integrated fan for cooling, front-facing stereo speakers, and an 8,000 mAh battery. No word on how long that can last powering dual screens, although they did say the handheld will let you turn off either of the two screens any time if you need to save battery life.
It runs Android 13, which is three years old at this point, although we doubt it will be an issue for gamers mostly concerned about retro titles. According to the outfit, it will offer a bunch of custom features for making use of the second screen, including a secondary screen control center and the ability to manage tasks independently for each display.
The Ayaneo Pocket DS is currently taking preorders on Indiegogo, with shipments slated for October. Price starts at $399.
