![Soapbox: This Is Why I Can't Totally Ditch Emulation Handhelds For The Analogue Pocket 1](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.timeextension.com/0b3804c9291d4/soapbox-this-is-why-i-cant-totally-ditch-emulation-handhelds-for-the-analogue-pocket-1.900x.jpg)
Before we get into the nitty gritty of this opinion piece, let's make one thing clear: I love my Analogue Pocket. It's one of my most-used pieces of gaming gear; I adore the form factor, that it can play my dusty old Game Boy carts on it and the fact that its screen – despite not being OLED – is gorgeous. I also love that, via FPGA, it can offer genuinely accurate replications of handheld, console and arcade games from the past few decades.
There's one thing preventing me from putting all of my other emulation handhelds away forever, though – and that's the lack of system-wide save states.
As anyone who has played retro games either via unofficial emulation or on services like Nintendo Switch Online will be aware, save states are one of the best modern comforts that emulation offers. Unlike in-game saves (which are tied to the game's code), save states allow you to "freeze" a moment in time and return to it instantly without the game even being aware you've done so.
Say you're about to face off against a tough boss or you're entering a particularly hard section of a platformer; you can create a save state and revert back to it if things go badly for you. Alternatively, you could use a save state to simply remember your progress in a game, giving you the chance to pick up where you left off later on.
For someone like myself, who often only gets a few minutes to play games each day, save states have become utterly invaluable, especially when playing retro games which lack any in-game save or password system. I simply wouldn't be able to play many of the old-school titles I do today without resorting to save states – finding a few hours in my day to play all the way through Sonic the Hedgehog or Streets of Rage 2 isn't feasible.
Before this sounds like a complete wash-out for the Analogue Pocket, it's worth noting that it does have save states – but they're limited to a select few systems at present, including the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Game Gear and Master System. However, via its OpenFPGA system, the Analogue Pocket is capable of playing many other classic platforms, and almost all of these lack save state support at present – and, according to some developers, implementing this support might be tricky.
Adam Gastineau – who has ported the NES and SNES MiSTer FPGA cores to the Pocket – added save state support to the former core back in 2022, but admitted that bringing it to the SNES core might be hard:
Fellow FPGA developer Robert Peip has managed to get save states working in many of his cores, but makes it clear that it's far from a simple job:
Don't underestimate the problem of pausing a core... You have to design the whole core with clock enables for each of the thousands of registers from ground up or it may takes months to change it later. It's one of the big tasks of doing savestates: halting the system at a state where no signal is changing. Then save everything that isn't self-repairing to some external memory. Loading back is more difficult, as another write port to a register "costs" more than a read port.
Given that the SNES and Genesis / Mega Drive are my two most-played consoles on the Analogue Pocket, the fact that their respective cores may never see save state support is a bit of a bummer for me personally.
![Soapbox: This Is Why I Can't Totally Ditch Emulation Handhelds For The Analogue Pocket 1](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.timeextension.com/56fdc504932e8/soapbox-this-is-why-i-cant-totally-ditch-emulation-handhelds-for-the-analogue-pocket-1.900x.jpg)
The Analogue Pocket is 100% my preferred way to play retro games these days, but without system-wide support for save states, I'll always have to make sure I have an alternative option on hand – be that a 3DS, Android-based system or just a plain old emulation handheld, like those from Anbernic or Miyoo. While they don't offer the accuracy of FPGA, the ability to use save states is something I cannot live without.
It's worth noting that this isn't an issue for Analogue to solve, as such; it's more down to the difficulty of executing save states within community-made FPGA cores – so please don't take this piece as a dig at the company behind the device; the FPGA-based MiSTer suffers from a similar issue.
Could we see save states come to all of the Analogue Pocket's OpenFPGA cores in the future? I certainly hope so, but I'm also aware that this has to be done on a core-by-core basis, and some of the more demanding cores don't leave much room for save states to be implemented.
Until there's some new development, then I'll still be playing on my Pocket – but I'll be keeping alternative options close by as well.
Comments 22
It can be annoying sometimes that I can’t sleep my Pocket on the SNES core but I’ll take the playability and accuracy any day.
Interesting. I'm assuming this is also why the new NGPC core doesn't have save states, which was a huge bummer to me when I found out.
I’ve not got into FPGA yet but I do play a lot of the classics on original hardware. As much as I love gaming on old stuff, emulation is a big convenience that I also really value. Definitely appreciative of those that keep old games working in a modern setting, it’s no small thing
This is one of those things that perhaps doesn’t get mentioned much amidst all the hype of FPGA systems. One of the reasons I stopped using my SuperNT was the lack of save states support, I didn’t really see the point of using a modern recreation of a system if it doesn’t offer any interesting modern features like being able to turn the console on and off from the controller or suspend the game so I can continue later.
These days I just use a regular Super Famicom and the save states the SD2SNES provides. If I really want to play something away from home, I usually just emulate it on the Steam Deck.
Same here. Save states are an essential feature for me at this point. Rewind is similarly great too. I was intrigued at the idea of fpga gaming when I first heard about it in 2015. As there was no viable hardware for a few years, I just lost interest because software emulation was simply not deficient in any meaningful way for me. I do think fpga is a cool option for people, but I do think most would be better served via software for a number of reasons.
agreed 100%. save states are the one feature that saves (no pun intended) retro gaming from being intolerable in many cases. say what you will about watering down the purity of the retro gaming experience, but it was never fun losing progress, starting all over or dealing with unfair, cheap or overly challenging sections (keep in mind that many console games of the 80s and 90s were stuck in the arcade design philosphy where sucking up your quarters were paramount). save states remedy this problem entirely and i will always be appreciative of them.
What emulation handheld do you use? There seems to be a new one coming out every month.
Thanks for delving into some of the technical restrictions. I assumed save states were just dumping some registers into long-term storage. Learned something new today.
Thanks for mentioning this. I read something about analogue pocket not having saves and this makes the issue a lot more clear.
i'm weird in that even when i do play with software emulation (mostly Wii U or 3DS virtual console being the absolute chad that i am), i treat it like it was a regular game and still use the in-game save systems.
The lack of save states is a feature because it's an unavoidable part of the original, intended experience. No matter how high your willpower is, if you have the safety of a save state in the back of your mind, you are going to have a weaker experience. You are free to leave the machine on, if persistence between days is the issue. Life is about experiencing it's struggles.
@Gamelore treating a video game like an immutable ritual that shall not be augmented in any way by what comes after it, is not a perspective that even original publishers and authors of old games share.
The philosophy about a video game weakening a person if the challenge or time commitment is altered sounds like you’re attaching worthiness and credential to personal entertainment and hobby.
@BulkSlash what's to stop save states being done the SD2SNES way in FPGA cores? IIRC it injects an in-game hook code into the running game to add the feature. So they'd be largely external and unrelated to the FPGA core.
using a mix as well... my analogu8e pocket for longer trips and gamers that have good save features and need fpga (sensible world of soccer), my miyoo mini+ is smaller and is just always in my work bag for those small moments.....
@gingerbeardman I would hazard a guess that it would be done roughly the same way, but it's not perfect on the SD2SNES, save states usually mess up the sound because there's no way to read the status of the SPC chip, so they're best used with the game paused (which usually stops the music so the game can restart it when you unpause).
I know Ikari had to use an oscilloscope to read the status lines on the SNES to help work out why certain in-game hooks would break certain games. So I can see why even on an FPGA where there's possibly more control it would be hard to implement.
@Gamelore If you experience struggles and difficulties in day-to-day life, then why would you want to also have virtual struggles and difficulties while you're unwinding?
I guess Cicero (who wrote what became the "lorem ipsum" filler text) was wrong about no one wanting pain for its own sake!
PS: I get the appeal of overcoming challenges in a game, having beaten some tough games in the past, and I also feel that reloading a state specifically is a mild form of cheating, but what is the point of video games, if you're not having fun?
Save states will come eventually. The current cores are just the first drafts, rushed through by devs that simply don't care much once its rolled out. They're moving onto the next core and not looking back. Just look at the long list of open issues and the years with no updates as evidence.
But there will be other devs in the future. And there will be other versions of the cores. And they will be far superior than what is currently available.
Everyone seems to be so impatient with retro games. Just relax. Enjoy the systems that have save states and wait for the support to arrive on the others. Let's not forget that there are still a whole load of systems that aren't even on Mister yet - we will reach saturation point soon enough, and then we will start to see revisions and improvements.
@Gamelore
That is absolutely not true, Games as Plok or Jurassic Park on the Super Nintendo hasn't been played through by many because of the lack of a Password System or other Ability to save.
There is no extra Experience in playing Plok again and again from the first Level on.
The "Master Race" of PC Gamers were able to save at any Point whenever they wanted and didn't had a bad Experience.
Many People do themself a Challange by not saving, but everyone is able to play Games as Doom on a own Pace.
As an Adult with less Time, it is often a really great Help to be able to stop a Game at every given Time and just proceed when a Time Window opens.
@gingerbeardman
The Everdrive for the Mega Drive has such Function, i used it to play Daze of Christmas and play every Day a Level for 24 Days.
But the Function can cause Bugs, the Code does in the End interrupt how a Game communicates with the Console.
Some Games did work just fine, some crashed and you can't load the Save State.
@Damo
I could swear that some Everdrives or similiar Modules for the Gameboy do support Save States, haven't tested any out so far, but maybe it is worth a Try for you, to fuse FPGA and Convinience.
If all the Roms are on the Everdrive or on the Emulation Device, shouldn't change anything
Edit:
https://dragonbox.de/en/everdrives-flashcarts/everdrive-gb-x7-rev-c.html
Ah, the most expansive one clearly haha
Edit2
Ah me morron, it has built in Save States on the Analogue.
Was switching to my original one in my Head while writing the comment
Gonna be honest I find this reason to be a bit weird as someone who plays older games. Sure save states are a useful feature, but I feel like the biggest disadvantage in regards to FPGA based systems are the limited selection of cores compared to the dozens of software emulators you'll find. I feel like it comes down to what games you are intending to play and if that system in particular can handle them. Having to download a limited selection of developed cores for each arcade, home console, and portable system on the Pocket compared to having software emulators with a wider selection is something to consider far more than something like save states. I can live without using save states but not having the ability to play certain games at all is a far bigger concern. That's not to say people shouldn't value save states, far from it! I just personally think the importance leans more in being able to play the games I want to and while the developed cores for the various FPGA platforms are impressive, compared to software emulation it's no contest. It really comes down to what your use case is and either option is valid.
Have to agree with you. I gave up playing SNES & C64 games on MiSTer because of save states. I don't have the time to restart Super Castlevania or Creatures 1 every time. A hacked Snes mini does the job for those & I can play bit by bit over time and can even rewind SNES save states.
Still amazed that the GBA and PSX MiSTer cores have save states. Robert is a legend.
That depends on the games I think, I have no problem playing chrono trigger on analogue pocket with no save states because the game itself has save system and isn't hard, but there's no way I'm playing contra snes without save states.
But the annoying one is games like megaman x, I don't need save states for playing it, I just want to be able to save between stage, I don't want to use its password system. So sometimes I just play the snes games on my switch subscription service since it has great save states and rewind features.
@Bonggon5 Agreed. Same here.
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