Portable consoles are in fashion. And also, smartwatches. So why not merge the two devices into one? It’s not easy, but someone has done it. Let’s take a look at Retro Gaming watch, the watch that transforms into a retro portable console.
As you can see in the opening video of the news, It is a square wrist watch, somewhat bulkier than usual, with a retro design that reminds us of the legendary Casio watches, or the toy watches of the 80s .
As Smart watchhas a screen that looks like electronic ink, with the typical functions: time, date, weather, messages, apps, etc. But the interesting part comes when you release the case from the strap.
The watch that transforms into a portable console
As we see in the video, the casing comes loose and unfolds, revealing a small portable console, to play retro games.
The console is “inspired” by Nintendo’s classic folding console, the Gameboy Advance SP, released in 2003.
KickStarter
The hardware is made up of an FPGA integrated circuitwhich allows you to customize the chips and connections to be used, something essential in such a small product.
Integra a 160 MHz Arm Cortex M33 processoralong with two low-power cores for Bluetooth and sensors, 1.5 MB fast RAM, 8 MB external RAM and a dedicated low-power 2D graphics processor.
Its creators assure that can emulate classic 8-bit and 16-bit machines as well as PC gaming from the MS-DOS era. And yes, if you’re wondering, you can run Doom.
It is a very curious idea, and undoubtedly attractive to lovers of retro video games. This is demonstrated by the fact that it has already doubled the fundraising it sought on KickStarter.
Retro Gaming Watch, the watch that transforms into a retro portable console, has a price of 164 euros. They will start shipping in November. Does the idea appeal to you?
