The impossibly dinky retro handheld FunKey S is close to finishing its Kickstarter run, and has raised an impressive £124,000 so far – and it's easy to see why.
This diminutive handheld system is small enough to fit onto your bunch of keys, yet it runs Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, SNES and even PlayStation titles. It even comes with a sensor which detects when the console is closed so gameplay is automatically suspended and the unit is powered down.
Boasting dimensions of 42.5 x 44.5 x 13.8 mm and powered by an ARM Cortex-A7 running at 1.2 GHz, the FunKey S is built around open-source hardware and software. The campaign has 4 days remaining, during which you can pick one up for the discounted price of £57.
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[source kickstarter.com]
Comments 69
It’s a fun concept, if horribly impractical. Unfortunately I’m just not going to be spending over £50 on a novelty.
God, playing anything on that looks miserable.
It looks awesome.
I love the original hardware of the GBA SP but I want this as well!
Also it is nice for game preservation!
That screen size reminds me of playing gameboy games on my blackberry curve lmao
Guys if you want something like this I want to recommend the LDK game, it's like a SMOL and cute gameboy but more functional and bearable than this.
Yeah, its cool, but no thanks
Just why? A handheld system of say the GBA SP's size [of which there are plenty of clones out there] isn't difficult to carry around, plus you've then got ample screen size to be able to play games effectively.
The Funky S is pure novelty that no-one is going to actually use long term.
You need Superman's Super Vision to play on this.
fun idea, but nothing where i would even seriously consider spending money on. It is terribly impractical after all
@nessisonett,
I think that is the reason you should spend £50 on a novelty, go on live a little.
I wonder which will sell better, the Funkey S or the Game Gear Micro...
@johnvboy My sausage fingers couldn’t play on this thing for 5 minutes 😂😂
"a sensor which detects when the console is closed so gameplay is automatically suspended and the unit is powered down."
Now that's on the same level as my fridge! Seriously though, this looks like a way to take a Micro, and make it more uncomfortable.
I love my gba micro and can JUST about get a decent metroid game cooking and tetris Is fine too, in short bursts.
This looks a bit tooooo small although I do love the concept.
@nessisonett,
I am not buying one because it looks horribly impractical.
Looks pretty cool though, although I had issues using the gameboy advance micro, so god help me with this thing.
Anything smaller than a GBA micro looks super uncomfortable to play on
it's bigger than a pocketsprite, and that one is playable.
this can only be more comfortable.
and the buttons are fairly big relative to the device.
another product from China....perhaps my dog eat this by mistake
@thedicemaster Thank you, that gave me a sense of the scale after looking up the RetroSprite!
Man, i love stuff like this. From the video it looks playable enough. I mean, if it's the size of Nintendo's Game-And-Watch Gameboys, it might work well enough. I don't know how much i would actually be using this, but i love the novelty of it so much!
Will they release a full size wireless controller and a screen magnifier? 😂😂😂
It's a Game Boy Advance SP Mini.
I'd be keen, but GBA games would look awful on this thing. They would need to shrink the image even further by adding letterboxes or squeeze in the entire image and have it look horribly squished. Looks like a lose-lose situation.
It seems like a nice little doodad for the price, but I will have to see whether it preserves the integrity of the image of the games before considering a purchase.
@jarvismp : Microscope required and is sold separately.
Gba sp gave me hand cramps. This would be a cool show off item that I would never play.
This will also be the easiest thing to lose ever since no one is going to play it with a key ring attached
Ridiculous that useless crap like this gets funded in mere hours/days, whereas great game ideas often fail to do so.
But hey, always wonderful to see even more useless pieces of plastic getting produced, I suppose...
Like most novelties, this looks like an ergonomic nightmare.
What planet are they on discount at 57 lol mental 10-15 at most
I know it's small but, honestly most Gameboy or even gba games would probably look just fine on this size screen. I am pretty skeptical about PlayStation games on this thing though. In any event $73 feels a touch high for Pokemon on a keychain, which is probably all I'd use it for. If it were like $45-50 I might bite.
Looks amazing, except for one enormous flaw: no way to connect heaphones.
That turns this from "novelty item which I'll do my darnedest to actually game on" to "novelty item which there is no way anyone could actually use for gaming".
That and lack of N64 of course.
Watching the Kickstarter vid with Sonic jumping without turning into a ball and collecting coins... Something ain't right.
Looks lovely and all but I would rather have a bigger screen and larger control/button interface. (I have rather large hands; they often eclipsed my GBA micro and SP considerably even at a young age)
This tiny thing would just give me eye strain and a headache.
@DoktorTotenKopf there are plenty of options for handheld emulation-consoles at regular sizes, I think this is the 2nd at a keychain size.
this isn't really meant as your main emulation device, but just something to kill time with whenever you have to wait for a few minutes somewhere.
@Buckyooliver they could never make it for that price.
the outside may be tiny, on the inside is a fully functional emulation-console on par with the full-size ones sold for $75-$100
it can even do playstation games.
it also has the most polished UI I've ever seen on an emulation-console, much cleaner than dingux.
@Silly_G it has different scaling modes, so you can choose how games are adjusted to the aspect ratio.
they couldn't get a wide screen because nobody mass-produces them at that size, so they would've had to custom-order them at insane prices.
the pocketsprite ran into a similar issue, where they had to choose between making it much bigger or using a low resolution screen.
both use readily available smartwatch screens.
@Roger_Brazil did you check the Kickstarter?
it's actually French.
This is like the flip phone from Zoolander
@JayJ when I was in high school; a classmate had a tiny flip phone that was slightly smaller than a box of Tic-Tacs.
It was bizarre as it was amusing.
Still don’t understand how or why they would justify purchasing such a device at such a high price, though.
People are an odd lot, I tell you h’what.
Smart phones are way more convenient and useable
It’s small and looks great. Cool idea but that’s where it ends
> Chooses GBA game
> Graphics not displayed at 3:2
Also...
"No need to think about bringing another device with you in the morning. Just take the usual. Phone..."
Well, there you go.
Looks ok but my eyes are bad enough as it is to use this.
The price, OMG. Too high for me to consider.
Will not punish my eyes over this!
This looks super fun. I will be getting it but can't get myself to spend the money at this moment. Hopefully it doesn't jump up in price too much.
Anyone who makes the mistake of buying this stupid device will soon have to buy glasses too. The New 2DS XL fits in any pocket and plays triple-A games. Screen size is important, and the only handhelds that are big enough are the PSP, PS Vita and 3DS XL (and variants). Even all the GameBoys and the DS are too small.
Looks awful. I have no idea why in the age of Switch, iPhones, etc would someone need this. I guess if you are into novelty items and got money to waste, go for it?
Actually, I would love to hold one and try it in action. The Game Boy Micro was my favourite Game Boy after all, together with the Advance SP for functionality (foldable for portability, backwards compatibility, and Gamecube connectivity)
As an enthusiast of both handhelds and miniatures, I feel a desperate need to acquire this. But that discount price is equivalent to about 100 Canadian monopoly bux, so unfortunately that ain't gonna happen bud.
Destination Eye Strain City
Cute. I imagine the internals are on par with the PocketGo, and I feel like that thing is already small enough.
If only I was a Picori...
FunKey? Like those toy things that you use in a pc game? You would think that would be copyrighted
Hello immediate arthritis. As a key chain trinket its cute. If it was a flashy electronic one, cool. Anything beyond that? No.
BUT CAN IT RUN CRYSIS!?
sorry but this is just unnecessary .
This makes the Game Gear Micro look like a SEGA Nomad
@Benhop07 : That was my first thought as well. We used to buy those for my little brother back in the day.
I'll buy one Absolutely
Don't even like the look of it, the buttons are a real turn off. Can't believe it can run PlayStation games though, that's a surprise.
240x240 IPS LCD?
Buttons, hinges, plugs in that size?
All campaign material boldly showing copyrighted material?
Mass production + QA assumed done in two months?
Admission starting at 62€?
Too many questionable elements for me, but this does seem like a fun toy for those craving a new gadget.
I would use a ton of those with drinking games. Insert, eat etc
Easy to use for everyone? Sorry my hands struggle with smartphones input.
This looks amazing! But I'm never, ever, ever backing anything on Kickstarter etc, ever again.
BIG RED FLAG "this project started off 3 years ago as a different [very similar] project ... help us finally make it a reality" 😓 Uhhh ... how about NO.
I myself have backed 3 kickstarter campaigns, I received the reward from only 1 of those. Kickstarter does nothing when a project fails to provide its backers with the reward they selected. The campaign creators literally run off with everyones money. And that is it. No come backs
I'm a huge sucker for tiny emulator consoles like this. It's certainly not the ideal way to play games but there's just something so adorable and technically impressive about this kind of stuff. Something in my brain insists that I must have it. I backed the Pocket Sprite last year as well and enjoyed playing with it, but the Fun Key S looks like it'll blow the Pocket Sprite out of the water spec wise. Suffice it to say I've enthusiastically backed this one.
Edit: I'm a little saddened by all the negativity and pessimism about this project in the comments here. I honestly don't get it. There's a video on the page that shows it working, and working well, at length. Some skepticism is understandable and necessary but this seems like too much. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. All the comments about it being too small to be taken seriously are missing the point completely. It's a novelty. Relax.
@DocRompler it’s a cool novelty, I think most people’s bigger issue is it’s a little pricey
good idea and looks like it work's well but you would need to have a go of it before buying it, i mean can i play FPS on it?
@BirdBoy16 I suppose it isn't exactly cheap, but doesn't seem excessively expensive to me. Most other emulator handhelds in its price range aren't exactly top quality. Plus the OS on this looks much more elegant and usable than the competition within that price range. That certainly adds to the value for me.
@DocRompler well as long as it works, then it is a fair enough price
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL you arnt getting my money.
I wonder if it will have Bluetooth so you can use an 8bitdo Zero as a 2nd player controller.
The GB Boy Colour is more appealing to me if only because it's a full-on backlit GBC, but with my giant hands the only portable emulation device worth a damn is the Saitake 7007f.
@Roger_Brazil The people making it are from France, not China.
@Discostew I would use my phone, but therein lies two issues: not only do phones not have physical buttons, which make the gameplay experience much better in my opinion, but I have an iPhone, which makes keeping emulators on my phone a major pain.
@Silly_G Since the FunKey has a screen size of 240x240 and the GBA only has a screen size of 240x160, there shouldn't have to be any stretching or scaling to make it fit on the screen.
@JayJ
Finally, the Zoolander reference I was (sort of) seeking!!
"I don't want to hear your excuses! The [console] has to be at least...three times bigger than this!"
"He's absolutely right!"
"Thank you. I have a vision."
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