Taito Super Pocket Review | The Next Big Thing?

[Music] over the last few months I've reviewed a lot of products from my arcade their handheld and tabletop video gaming gadgets now it's partially because I like the company it's partially because they've released like three dozen new products in the last few months and it's tough to keep up well with so many videos like that out there I can tell you that in every one of those one or two commenters will say yeah John that's all well and good but have you looked at what Blaze Electronics is doing with their super pocket devices I had not until now we're going to correct that oversight I picked up the Tio super pocket handheld video game Gizmo uh we're going to take it to the table and check it out and see what it has to offer right after this this video supported in part by VR I tend to sweat it gives me an edge the king of nerds happens to give me an edge too let king of nerds give you the edge bye king of nerds hey there welcome back to Gen X grownup I am John and I am a Gen X grownup thank you so much for the click so here we are with the Tio super pocket from Blaze Electronics now if Blaze Electronics sounds familiar they're the manufacturers of the evercade the other handheld device that has evolved into a console that you plug into your TV or multiplayer whatever it is really grown a lot since I first looked at the first evercade some years ago now what is the super pocket all about well the things on paper that make it really interesting to me here we go 18 18 baked in Tio art arcade games notice I said arcade games apparently they are the original arcade ROMs plus plus this thing can use evercade cartridges so not only does it play the games included but if you choose to buy these other cartridges which go for I know 20 25 bucks or whatever that have you know 7 eight games a piece you can play them on here too so it's like having a Tito handheld it's like having an evercade it's like having a game boyish kind of thing that does all that now it's worth noting with all these extra advertised features it comes with a premium 150% the cost of comparable items other handheld toys like this these days running for about $40 $60 is what you're going to pay here is it worth it the screen the controls the expandability the number of games is that going to make the difference let's find out now being the first time I opened one of these Blaze electronic super pocket devices I will spend just a moment on the box because there is some information here that is very probative and if it pays off again this could be a really big deal so uh so we know we have 18 arcade Classics and they're all Tito and honestly some of these I know very well some I don't obviously Space Invaders rasan is a huge fan I know Bubble Bobble New Zealand Story I played but look with 18 games there's bound to be a few that you like so I'm probably going to evaluate this based on the value for the games I know and enjoy uh and then the ex kind of additional functionality that is provided but it's around here on the back that I really wanted to focus on because there's so much here that we need to pay attention to firstly it's our full list of games I'm going to tally the ones that I know really well so Space Invaders yes Bubble Bobble yes puzzle Bobble eh operation wolf yeah rasan yeah New Zealand story kadash chaken pop Don I know CU I kind of know what Don Doo Don is elevator action one of my favorites Fairyland story football champ growl volfied Kiki Kiki the legend of cage I know liquid kids and Space Invaders 91 so really like seven or eight games that I'm familiar with here but in 18 not bad then so look at these features now this is something that this is forward thinking because as you'll see this is more than just a one-trick pony this is also a console a platform that takes these cartridges young mode for easy players I don't know what that is we'll see 2.8 in IPS screen all right we'll see look this is USBC rechargeable 4 hours of play on a charge you don't have to the plug-in batteries it comes with a battery internal I've seen a lot of people in my reviews upset over the pocket players that don't have batteries and I honestly don't get what the hassle is but that being said I do appreciate rechargeables in a device like this I know it UPS the price but we'll see how the trade-off works and as I mentioned evercade cart compatible so if you have cartridges for the evercade handheld or console they work here and look at all the buttons we'll get to those when we get inside of the unit I am genuinely intrigued to get my hands on this and see how do the buttons feel how do the d-pad feel how do those back triggers feel I mean because look I have an evercade and several cartridges for it it just never made its way as a daily driver for me and I'm not sure why that is it's a great device I reviewed it here I'll throw a link up in the corner it just I again I don't know what it is about it but initially the first review I guess I did it was all again it was like the Namco collection was nes ports and stuff but this doesn't appear to be this looks to be arcade stuff and if that's what the evercade is doing these days well maybe I need to start paying attention again all right let's get into this guy and finally get our hands on [Music] it inside we have our Tito super pocket we have a USB a2c charging cable and we have what like I so want to throw this away CU it's kind of instructions but it kind of isn't it's kind of check this out it's a poster uh it kind of advertises the compatibility with other cartridges and on the flip side like a little quick start guide was kind of a guide of like oh coin insert coin start that kind of thing and how to win a contest and I mean it's it's almost instructions yeah I'll throw them away just for fun okay let's Focus then on our little Tito super pocket let's start here on the front here's that big 2.8 in IPS screen uh I have high hopes for that we'll see when we power it on let's come down here though and look at the main controls a lot going on here so we have a four-way d-pad that is a circular Pad but it also has a raised directional which is uh I think is going to be a nice compromise there's a menu button here we have an AB and XY start and select now for arcade as we saw in the Box this is coin in and and the game start which that's pretty common and then we have a single front firing speaker right here so it's coming right at you flipped around here on the back we see a little badge that talks about this the Tito edition of this little guy and then more controls look at this you have an L1 L2 and R1 R2 back here just little like curved buttons that your fingers could reach around the back of the unit and then right up here you have a volume up and down rocker this is the cartridge slot this is the look if you own cartridges for the evercade you can plug this in and I've said this twice or three times already but it's Bears repeating this is an expandable handheld and I didn't know I wanted one of these I didn't know one of those would be coming in the world that would have loaded games and then also play some more cartridges but I mean so far just on the premise I'm on board down here on the bottom we have a headphone jack we have a power on off rocker and then we have that USB charging cable now it can be power or charging and these I believe are the instructions that quick start those are little power LEDs and Status LEDs to tell you how the battery's doing and I know I said just a single forward firing speaker but the more I look at this I'm seeing these little grills on the side here and here is that stereo sound or is that just more venting I don't know I we'll find out I'm about to fire up this Tito super pocket and see what the hype is all about but before I do I want to invite you to check out the Gen X grownup podcast this is a weekly audio podcast that you can listen to wherever you listen to audio shows iTunes or Google or Spotify whatever those things are and look if you're watching our videos and like them the odds are you're going to like some of the stuff we talk about on our podcast case in point we're talking about this cool new Blaze handheld Gadget not too long ago we did an episode dedicated to Gen X era handheld electronic toys span everything from cico to the Mattel handheld football all the things you remember and enjoyed as a kid maybe you got it under your Christmas tree we talk about those things every single week so just head over to genxgrownup docomo or wherever it is that you enjoy listening to podcasts search for Gen XG grownup and you're there all right let's get this thing turned on and try it out Blaze entertainment o hyper Mega Tech all right there's the other emblem that's on the box oh that screen does look okay smooth all right it's going to be English um normal mode going to read the Ula yes I've read all this you're reading all this right there'll be a test at the end of the video holy Toledo there we go I accept all that okay and then we're into the menu all right so Bubble Bobble kadash chicken pop oh maybe I do recognize that Doo d d Doo okay I don't know that one elevator action awesome football champ oh I do recognize that growl Kiki k k liquid kids poor kids uh operation wolf really okay that I think that had a machine gun on controller we'll see how that goes publ puzzle Bobble rasan my man rasan Space Invaders Space Invaders 91 Fairyland story Legend of cage New Zealand story vfi we're back around to Bubble bobbles it's just alphabetical wow okay first impressions this screen looks amazing I mean sometimes I'm looking through my camera and then sometimes I you know move my head to the side to see uh it looks really good a menu I can go into oh look at the little like sliding menu look at that settings display what do we have in here ratio Pixel Perfect oh really I'm going to go Pixel Perfect to make sure the pixels stay Square shaders subtle scan lines or no scan lines let's turn them on okay and I assume B goes back we have sound options look at the detail of configuration the difficulty that we just said legal all that okay and what what's up with the evercade page is that just an advertisement oh that shows you insert the cartridge because right now we have no cartridge inserted It's like got baked in instructions and it's showing me go to QR code to go buy some [Laughter] stuff like everything's just baked in that's why there was just a quick start guide because we didn't need instructions it was all here okay let's start with Space Invaders the reason for the season the reason we purchased this in the first place okay so we're going to try it loading now the bump bump bump is there though you probably can't probably can't hear it on camera but the uh the benefit from a subwoofer yep the bullets are destroying the floor oh just missed him wow wow th this is pretty damn good okay so to get out I assume menu oh so from here I can load and save really load and Save save aate or quit out okay oh rasan all right so what kind of options do I have in a game so controls is this remappable controls or no no it doesn't look like it it's just instructions okay I wasn't sure so d-pad a and then B gotcha yeah yeah yeah so to tell me the controls fair enough fair enough let's back out of there display so on a per game basis I can set that up all right let's turn off the scan lines for a moment just so you can see the difference since I had them on by default just makes it that much brighter without the scan [Music] lines yeah this is the arcade game and this is [Music] wonderful here's the thing I want to to try I'm afraid this is a little loud let me uh pause menu is pause all right we bring the volume down a little I feel like it's going to be too loud on camera but uh let's try a save oh look at that slots six save slots okay let's save it there and then I go back in to load there it is right where I left off yep how remarkable is is this what ever Cade's been up to while I've been sleeping at the wheel wow and the interface is so intuitive hey elevator action where we at come on elevator action there it is yeah oh my goodness if this thing starts hitting the shelves of retailers and people understand what it is I mean the cost is pretty dramatically you know it's like 150% of comparable things you would see but if people find out just how much they're getting for their money here I mean 60 bucks for 18 games gotcha kicked him in the head the the presentation here like see how smooth that is little animate in it's little details like that that I so much appreciate now I'm going to skip these cuz just don't know them well let's go to the next one I think I actually know here operation wolf this was one had machine gun that I'm like okay how we going to do that oh there's the there's the reticle there asked and answered sure enough yeah I mean it's not as good as having a machine gun of course light gun whatever but I mean it's there and that's cool oh Rocket those guys oh yeah mhm I mean it's space evader 91 I'll play way more Space Invaders than I do 91 but that's okay I used to play this in the arcade on a great big screen and you can like jump really high I think I can figure out how to jump well again if you don't know controls a is sword B is throwing knife oh so you just jump you just move here okay cool ah yes the diagonal jump got it and then you have throwing stars yeah I was never great at this but you can get on the tree I think come on climb the tree there we go yep like aerial combat it's like a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon as a video game right yeah uh New Zealand story I don't know terribly well volfied I'm just curious looks like a shooter okay this is not a shooter I do not know what this game is okay I got to look this up this is new to me check the controls what am I supposed to do a is a laser cutter oh is this like kicks I bet it is is uh it is kicks okay it's Tito's answer to kicks Roger that laser cutter and the big snake is like the kicks all right so that's on there too Bubble Bobble got to take a look at Bubble Bobble don't we I mean look even if you like half of these games and that's about what I like I like about six or seven of them that I know really well now you know all the arcade uh cheats and shortcuts should work here too to get the powerups I would expect oh r out yeah very cool wow now that would be enough to justify the price of this I would think so far what we have seen but being an Atari dork when I see a handheld I start thinking of my beloved Atari lyx I got this Atari Links connection and it includes Todd's adventures in slime world and it includes California game so let's try this out so round back they have this dummy cartridge that you slide out I think this is a great advertising there scan that QR code go buy some more games and then I have my Atari lyns collection 2 which I can slide right in and give it a try all right so it's dumped me right back in the main menu but as we have learned from [Music] before it's just like I'm plugged into an evercade where's Todd where you at Todd Todd's adventures in slime world yeah we are so all right let's see is this a little handheld of tar links now get out of my face with this look the evercade is fine the evercade is good but it's not like it just doesn't it's too big almost I don't know what it is about it but this thing is so thin so slim line and here I'm playing Links games ah so what do we have in options I want to go to turn on like scan lines cuz I need them put some strong scan lines on see how that looks it it's not obtrusive it looks looks right all right Todd let's go to slime world yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah let's pick some stuff up yep collect some diamonds you got it do look at him go got his little gun any bad guys there's a red diamond oh that's fancy oh there's a bad guy oh blasted him I got some of that Gunk oh I'm protected right now let's get this diamond could be a whole video of me just playing Todd's adventures in slime world it's got blue Lightning California games is on here was that a Pac in for the links everybody seemed to have California games I think that was a Pac in oh here's the spinning license plate there it goes surfing was always the most fun I thought look at this now again this cartridge does not come with this unit o oop I did that wrong but you can buy cartridges oh wiped out you can buy cartridges to add to the 18 games that are included right there we go oh 360 oh and then I wiped out are we having fun yet yeah we are yeah we are great question California games chip challenge electroc cop Gates of zicon look so this is another I don't know what is it eight or 10 more games here and then I guess if you want to go back to the Tio built-in G there they are and then we're back to the Tito games what a versatile little platform and by the way these speakers this is not speakers on the side all sound seems to be coming right from here as you can see or here so I think those just vents on the side but they do look good I'm curious about high score saving so I have elevator action here and I have achieved the high score but I'm on my last life so I'm going to die in just a second here so the high score is 10,000 I have 10,800 right now let's see when I die whether or not that's saved I don't know if elevator action lets you enter your high score or not but certainly it has a high score right so there we go all right so the high score now says 127 so I'm just going to turn this completely off and back on and let's pop into elevator action there it is 127 you say huh come on come on come on come on no no high score saving 10,000 all right well we had to try I suppose if I were to get the high score and save it as a save slot that would be the current state of the machine in which case you would have high scores so if you remember to save your slot before you exit that would be a high score save so kind of middle of the road yeah all those commenters were right I did need to take a look at this Blaze super pocket and what a little Gadget it is now granted it comes in at 60 bucks but if I'm one of those other manufacturers that makes competing products I should be sitting up and paying attention right now and you know who you are right let's do the math 60 bucks gets me this gadget 18 original arcade games on it not ports not rewrites they're on here the real games save states filters difficulty all of that is accessible to me plus the device has a good heft it has a great screen the controls feel wonderful and it's expandable using cartridges which nothing else in the market right now save the actual evercade itself even does that so now it's not all roses what else well I think a lot of these are aimed at older players gen xers or around that age who remember these games so as a gen xer of a certain age I use reading glasses great screen could stand to be a little bigger I've got to wear reading glasses to play it and if you're can have a bigger screen that's going to mean a little bit wider device which would feel better in bigger hands I like all of that something else I should mention though these games support multiple players there is no Player Two start button on this device so you might put in two credits you'd like to do two players and hand it back and forth you can't do that this is really aof solitary device uh now that's something I think the actual evercade console supports but this little handheld doesn't so this is designed for you to play not you and your buddy to play all of that being said I'm very fond of this little Blaze super pocket device and in fact I'm going to award it four and a half tokens out of five the original evercade already made a name for itself in the Retro Gaming Community but this is a new product on the horizon something new I hadn't seen now there's this variety and there's a Capcom variety both have a bunch of games both play evercade cartridges for expandability if you're willing to spend that little bit of extra money to get in the door what you end up with is not a dead-end product but an expandable handheld console that you can continue to add games to for the foreseeable future that is something to take notice of look if you decide that this little Gadget is right for you of course there will be links down the description where you can pick one up where we picked one up ourselves over at Amazon in the meantime I will throw links over my shoulder here and here to some other handheld Gadget videos we've done recently I certainly hope you found something to enjoy in this video and I cannot wait to talk to you again next time [Music] bye-bye

Channel: GenXGrownUp

Views: 15,302

Keywords: genx, gen x, genxgrownup, nostalgia, generation x, retro, 70s, 80s, 90s, grown up, blaze, evercade, atari, lynx, taito, super, pocket, review, cart, cartridge, expand, expansion, rastan, elevator action, bubble bobble, handheld, toy, game, video game, retrogaming, retrogames, arcade, rom, roms, operation wold, volfied, reticle, space invaders, legend of kage, platform, console

Id: jmf1FV-Dc8Q

Length: 23min 17sec (1397 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 13 2023