AYASpace 2 is AYANEO’s brand-new Android frontend, revealed during a livestreamed sharing session on 30 October for the KONKR Pocket Block and Pocket Advance, and it turns your handheld into what AYANEO is calling a “Pocket Museum”, complete with 3D box art, cartridges and built-in emulation.
It looks gorgeous, it’s available to download now, and it’s exactly the sort of thing that makes a handheld feel premium rather than just… another Android box with buttons, but there’s a pretty big catch about who actually gets it, so is AYASpace 2 a reason to buy into AYANEO’s ecosystem? Let’s find out!
What Makes AYASpace 2 a ‘Pocket Museum’?
The big idea here is presentation, with Retro Dodo describing a skeuomorphic design that puts cartridges, discs and boxes front and centre, so instead of scrolling a flat list of filenames you’re browsing a shelf of your collection, with consoles shown as display boxes you flick between using the shoulder buttons.
You can pick box art, cartridge art, layout and style for each console section, and once you import a media pack, games get their original covers and labels rendered in 3D, which is exactly the kind of nerdy shelf-flexing a lot of us have wanted from a stock launcher for years, isn’t it?
What Can AYASpace 2 Actually Do?
It’s not just a pretty face either, because Retro Handhelds lists a properly meaty feature set that covers most of what you’d normally need a separate frontend plus a stack of emulators to do.
- Automatic recognition: identifies games from file contents rather than filenames, so badly named ROMs should still be picked up
- Built-in game data: names, release years, genres and publishers
- Integrated emulator: no separate install or setup, with save, load, fast forward and timeline-style rewind
- Syncing: pair two handhelds on the same network with a code to share saves and records
- Extras: cheats, screen effects, key mapping, turbo, per-game settings, resume-where-you-left-off and save backups
- Languages: English and Chinese
The game recognition is the bit I’d want to see tested properly, because “smart” artwork matching has a habit of turning your carefully curated library into a mess of wrong covers, and both outlets are cautious about it until they’ve had real hands-on time.
Quick NoteYou still have to bring your own games, of course, so whether you dump your old cartridges or, ahem, some people (definitely not me) sail the open sea, AYASpace 2 won’t ship with anything to play out of the box.
So Who Actually Gets AYASpace 2?
Here’s the catch, because right now it only supports three devices, the KONKR Pocket Advance, KONKR Pocket Block and AYANEO Pocket Micro 2, and on top of that Game Boy Advance is the only system AYANEO has shown working so far, with no timeline given for other consoles.
That’s a pretty narrow launch for something this polished, and if you own one of AYANEO’s other Android handhelds you’re left hoping it trickles down eventually, which AYANEO hasn’t promised, so I wouldn’t count on it just yet!
InterestinglyAYANEO isn’t alone here, because indie Android frontends like Socket, Blip and Digibitplay have been chasing the same cartridge-and-box-art look, so AYASpace 2 is really AYANEO catching up with what the community has already been building.
Is AYASpace 2 Worth Buying an AYANEO Handheld For?
Not on its own, no, because a frontend is a nice bonus rather than a reason to spend real money on hardware, and a GBA-only launch on three devices is a strong start rather than a finished product.
If you already own one of those three handhelds, though, it’s a no-brainer to try, and if GBA is your jam anyway, our list of underrated GBA games will fill those virtual shelves nicely!
Sources: Retro Dodo, Retro Handhelds
FAQs
Which handhelds support AYASpace 2?
At launch, AYASpace 2 supports the KONKR Pocket Advance, KONKR Pocket Block and AYANEO Pocket Micro 2.
Which consoles does AYASpace 2 emulate?
AYANEO has only shown Game Boy Advance support so far, and hasn’t given a timeline for adding other consoles to AYASpace 2.
Where can I download AYASpace 2?
AYASpace 2 is available from AYANEO’s official Pocket Museum page, and you’ll need to supply your own game files.
About The Author
