Unico Pocket Review - A Retro Gaming Handheld Nobody Wanted?

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

Links, Details, Specs, Features all in the video description. Thank you for watching my videos and let me know what you think about the Unico Pocket Handheld below!

[@ItsMeMattCarter]

From a business stand point, I think any handheld anymore without a SD card slot is going to be kind of a waste of resources and $$$ when the market is so saturated and nearly all of those other devices will let you add whatever games you want and some of them have HDMI output. At this points its hard to justify buying a non expandable system especially like you said for what this costs. Very nice job on the review.

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

@@ItsMeMattCarter thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the review!

[@kimmoruohoniemi7158]

You should review the forgotten handheld gaming device that was the pocket calculator. When I was kid in the early 80's, we kids had masses of fun trying to spell out rude words on the screen of pocket calculators of that time. The best handhelds scene ever!

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

@@kimmoruohoniemi7158 lol 55378008 if you know you know

[@tedadamgreen]

Man this is a tough sell vs the Anbernics … thanks for a very good and balanced review PDubs 👊🏻😎🕹️

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

You bet! Thanks dude

[@ToxcynTV]

For the price I think it would make a neat little gift for the holidays. Maybe a stocking Stuffer.

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

I can confirm, it does fit in a stocking

[@calvinwong874]

I understand why you have some negative comments but overall for what it is, I think it's a good product for the people who don't want to add games or don't want tv output. I doubt they could profit at $50. The mini is $70. I own the mini.

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

@@calvinwong874 thanks for sharing your feedback!

[@akvalues]

I’m getting the Nova Blast! That’s the best product they make.

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

@@akvalues nice! Enjoy!!

[@soggybacon77]

Nice balanced review. Neo Geo to me has always a niche product. The Shell for this is blah. Marquee graphics for the titles instead of the text of the name while choosing a game would have been an easy improvement. A button layout in a horizontal line instead of the classic diamond shape would have been a cool nod to Neo Geo as well. Thank you for the review! You give no nonsense balanced view and I appreciate it!

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

I hear ya, the design definitely could've been more on point.

[@jasondonnelly150]

Not making this red and white like the MVS killed the only nostalgic factor they had going.

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

Some SNK colors and branding would've helped it from an appearance point of view

[@TheRetroJester81]

I bought it I like having official snk things. I’m not looking to mod it or add games to it. I have almost every handheld from cheap to really expensive. So I’m actually looking forward to getting this for collection purposes and the official carts coming out next year

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

@@TheRetroJester81 no worries my dude! Enjoy!

[@MichaelBtheGameGenie]

What are the shoulder buttons and the second analogue stick for? Is there any purpose?

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

Lol nope

[@deathr0w]

would have been good if they actually made the unit the colours of the neo geo arcade but no SDcard slot is a big downer.

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

@@deathr0w agreed 👍

[@madastra]

Screen colors look good

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

@@madastra yes, the screen is nice

[@Frank_D]

It's honestly a tough sell. Like you said, the handheld market is pretty saturated with units that have more games. Unico is working at a disadvantage because they're providing licensed games. That being said, if you were going to buy these games on the Switch, it would run you $8 per game, so about $320. In light of that, if you want to support fully licensed products, you are getting a pretty good deal for the games. I imagine they decided against adding an SD card slot because they got their hand slapped in the past for working with the Hylo Hack team, and they didn't want to give that impression this time around. It's a neat looking handheld, but the deco doesn't convey SNK or NeoGeo. It's also weird that they used the A button (left button) for selecting options, given it's position on the controller. Xbox and Playstation use the bottom button (A on the Xbox and X on the Playstation), and most other gaming platforms have adopted this convention. Though Nintendo uses their A button which is on the right, but they've always done their own thing. Something also to consider is that Evercade announced their own partnership with SNK a couple of weeks ago, so they've got several potential options, ranging from cartridges, to Hyper Mega Tech handhelds, to special edition EXP and VS consoles, all the way up to Alpha countercades. I'm very interested in seeing what they release with this partnership. All that being said, if Unico releases another version of this down the road with Blazing Star, I'd pick it up just to support that game. I love Blazing Star! lol

[@omegafourth]

Is there a blood toggle for Metal Slug or Shock Troopers?

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

I didn’t see one

[@jessragan6714]

Can't be any worse than the Neo-Geo X! Remember that one? I have to say, I prefer an all-in-one unit. Neo-Geo games are all well and good, but as someone else was saying, you could get more mileage out of an Anbernic.

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

Agreed 👍

[@nerdloungemaster84]

0:12 First inline

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

Winner winner chicken dinner

[@TheBigb1973]

If they redone that neo geo arcade machine I'd probably buy one. Don't like the current model out.

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

What did they need to change on it for you?

[@carlo1132]

Its not that bad, its just too expensive but they probably have to pay for those licenses. I kinda like the game lineup and I dont own any handhelds currently, for the right price I would bite.

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

Thanks for the feedback Carl hope all is well

[@carlo1132]

@@PDubsArcadeLoft Thanks My Dubs, my stepdad is outta the hospital, things are better, hope all is well with you too!

[@danz6173]

But the question I ask myself is, does it have TAINT MODE 🤷‍♂️😅

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

lol no

[@TheBigb1973]

You should open it up and see if there's a hidden sd card slot

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

Interesting idea 💡

[@ReubensLair]

Yeah i mean for the price its an ok stocking stuffer. I have rog ally, steamdeck and legion go that has all the games plus thousands more but u could just throw this in your pocket. 50 bucks id grab it

[@damiandealwithit]

No nuts send it to me since It will only collect dust after the review lol.

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

Lol might go in the giveaway pile we will see

[@timo7203]

These handhelds just keep cannibalizing each other. There are too many.

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

Agreed 👍

[@hihellokitty85]

So your saying it's not a unicorn...

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

@@hihellokitty85 lol 🦄

[@arcaderacer586]

There is so much of this stuff on the market it makes NOTHING Special

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

@@arcaderacer586 like I said in the intro if you want to be in the handheld market you gotta bring a banger

[@UniversalRetroBoss]

Pointless machine , specially now that if you are a SNK fan it’s all coming to the Evercade which is far superior , same price and a huge games library 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

@@UniversalRetroBoss oh yeah those games are going to be on evercade too lol they are everywhere

[@khamla616]

This thing is trash, even with the color buttons they continue to put the buttons in the wrong order. There’s nothing special about this, the nova blast looks promising but they need to stay away from anything neo geo / snk related they don’t know what they are doing. All of their past products have been horrible even the mvsx

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

Agree on everything but the MVSX build quality was way better than an Arcade1up and with the hylox hack mod I still own mine after all these years

[@khamla616]

@ yeah I agree with hylo hack is awesome but thats a mod thing that made it great not something out of the box experience for general consumer. I didn’t feel enough of a neo geo cab to me with 6 button layout, had worse controls than even a 1up and that weird coin door if I recall on the Bar top section. It’s like look at your multicade and 1up collection what makes the mvsx 6 button so unique someone would want to play on it consistently? In general, I want to play an MK cab with MK controls. A 4 way gate controller on Pac-Man or other type controls, vertical games on a vertical cab, spinner on this or that. Neogeo Arcade should be 4 buttons across that makes it unique. Same thing does with this dumb handheld. Nothing is unique or Neo geo and everything else out there that it’s modeled after is better just like you pointed out.

[@jessewayman4181]

Just wait till someone hacks it through usb-c

[@PDubsArcadeLoft]

Fingers crossed 🤞