I bought a VG Pocket "Caplet"

[Diosoth]

Early this month I saw a VG Pocket at a Gamestop marked down to $10. Box worn, stickers and tape broken from age, and numerous price stickers from markdowns. I know it was the same one I'd seen at that store almost a year before. Looked worn and old so I left it behind.

Then I hit that out fo the way Gamestop today and it was still there. I felt sorry for it.

Turns out it's one of the newer "caplet" models with 16-bit graphics. They apparently chose to start licensing games for these things as mine has Space Invaders, Burgertime and Bust-A-Move. I got the model with 50 games, most of the other 47 are decent enough. The screen is sharp, backlight is bright, no dead pixels. No batteries were included and no TV cable was packed in. Not sure where I'll buy one of those. Radio Shack sells that type for $10 and I refuse to pay that much.

Now when I say 16-bit, this doesn't hold true for all 50 games. Burgertime and Space Invaders are old games with no enhancements. Possibly arcade ports.

The d-pad is tiny and the built-in speaker is rubbish. It has a headphone jack but the volume knob is unreliable.

But I'd call it worth $10.

[Tupin]

Yeah, these things are cool, even if they contain games that pirates rip off from each other.

[Flippy8490]

Not a bad find. For ten bucks, cant go wrong! :)

[Diosoth]

Looks like the "gel" model with Castevania was never actually released.

[Ed Oscuro]

Looks like the "gel" model with Castevania was never actually released.
I never even heard of it. No-kiddin' NES Castlevania? Any other NES games get released?

[Diosoth]

I never even heard of it. No-kiddin' NES Castlevania? Any other NES games get released?

Heavy usage of Flash ahead-
http://www.vgpocket.com/gel.html

Castlevania and Contra are listed. But it's possible that this died when Konami decided to release that goofy "you have to go online to play it" PC gamepad with built-in games. Or it's just not been released, who knows?

[Ed Oscuro]

Thanks for the link.

960 x 240 pixels? Screen doesn't look to have nearly a 4:1 ratio...that's just bizarre.

[Diosoth]

Thanks for the link.

960 x 240 pixels? Screen doesn't look to have nearly a 4:1 ratio...that's just bizarre.

I think they're counting individual RGB segments of the pixels. These use LCD TFT screens.

[blue lander]

Definitely worth 10 bucks. Is Caplet the one with Sokobon on it? It's almost worth it just for that.

[Diosoth]

Definitely worth 10 bucks. Is Caplet the one with Sokobon on it? It's almost worth it just for that.

According to Wikipedia though the menu retitled it.

Some of the games are just graphical redresses of other games. A few seem original though they had no problem stealing graphics. One game steals Link's sprites from Minish Cap and another uses really simplified Red Snails from MapleStory.

As for a TV cable... the company shoved that in a separate package with a carry case for all their units. Unfortunately, I can't find a "caplet" accessory pack anywhere, even online. So it's either pay $10 or more for such a cable at a store, or find another type of small handheld like this that includes a cable with it. Hopefully I'll stumble across a cheap handheld with TV-out today. Been loo9king for one of those with the 20 Genesis games...