AYANEO's latest gaming handheld is a true homage to the Game Boy Micro

All three AYANEO Pocket Micro Classic colors on a table

(Image credit: AYANEO)

What you need to know

AYANEO has officially announced the Pocket Micro Classic.
This Android gaming handheld is essentially the same as the Pocket Micro, minus the joysticks.
Pricing for the Micro Classic starts at $179, and shipping is expected to start in the "middle of April."

Last year was a banner year for AYANEO, as the company released an onslaught of both Windows and Android handhelds. On the Android side, the Pocket DMG and Pocket Micro were easily two of the most intriguing handhelds that we've seen in recent memory.

And now, the Pocket Micro Classic gets even closer to imitating one of Nintendo's classics. Basically, everything about the Pocket Micro and the Micro Classic is identical. This includes the Aluminum chassis, 3.5-inch IPS borderless display, and MediaTek Helio G99 SoC.

Classic Joystick-Free Design, Pure Experience: AYANEO Pocket MICRO Classic Officially Announced - YouTube

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In case it wasn't obvious, the only key difference is that AYANEO ditched the dual joysticks from the Micro with its latest handheld. In doing so, it also appears to have moved the D-pad and ABXY buttons down slightly to help fill up some of the space.

With this change, the Pocket Micro Classic looks like the perfect modern successor to the original Game Boy Micro. This is especially true of the "Retro Gold" color, which features a gold front paired with a red CNC aluminum shell.

AYANEO Pocket Micro Classic in Retro Gold — (Image credit: AYANEO)

As for performance, well, it'll be identical to the "regular" Pocket Micro. The Helio G99 is paired with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of expandable storage. Meanwhile, the 3.5-inch display, with its 960 x 480 resolution, offers perfect 4X upscaling for Game Boy Advance games.

Obviously, the Helio G99 is capable of playing games from systems that are far more powerful than the GBA. So what does that mean if you end up wanting to play PS1 games but don't have a joystick? AYANEO claims you'll be able to switch between the D-pad and left joystick mode by long-pressing the ST and = buttons found on the front bottom lip.

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AYANEO Pocket Micro Classic in Retro Gold and Magic Black — (Image credit: AYANEO)

This isn't entirely unheard of, as there are plenty of retro handhelds that offer similar implementations. However, it will be interesting to see if AYANEO also makes this available from the AYASpace Menu in case you forget the button combination.

Currently, there are three colors to choose from, across two different RAM and storage configurations. Pricing for the 6GB model with 128GB of storage starts at $179. If you want 8GB of RAM and double the storage, you're looking at either $209 for the Magic Black color, or $239 for both the Retro Gray and Retro Gold colors. You can pre-order one starting today and AYANEO is expected to begin shipping its latest handheld sometime in the "middle of April."

Andrew Myrick is a Senior Editor at Android Central. He enjoys everything to do with technology, including tablets, smartphones, and everything in between. Perhaps his favorite past-time is collecting different headphones, even if they all end up in the same drawer.