I performed surgery to address the D-Pad awfulness of the Analogue Pocket. I went with a tasteful mint green Game Boy replica D-Pad and a NES replica membrane, plus some bespoke risers. Big improvement. Plays Tetris like a Game Boy should. 
.
Discussion
Is there a guide for this? 👀
Yes, but I will say that this is going to require multiple rounds of opening up the Pocket to play with the Avery riser height and blue tack, which is NOT fun. Cardinal directions work fine now (Gameboy Tetris and Qix are good ways to test this), but the risers are probably too high, which makes diagonals really hard (Gauntlet and Street Fighter 2 Hadouken move are good ways to test diagonals)
Have all the ifixit tools or equivalent. Handheld Legend has all d-pad and membrane parts. No retailer has actual Blu-Tack anymore, so get it off amazon, along with the Avery coding dots. I used Locktite Fun Tack, and I think it might be too stiff. Buy a few cheap microfiber cloths to rest the screen face down on. An antistatic bag while the board is loose is probably a good idea.
The worst part is re-connecting the display to the mainboard. I still haven't figured out a good technique for this. I simply cannot do it with a tool, and have to use my thumb to feel where the connector should meet the board. Use a dry qtip or microfiber cloth to pick up any oil left on the connector area.
So I should be glad I didn’t waste my money on those things from that shitty company?
I like it, if no one told me the dpad was an issue I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought but it's obviously not as nice as an OG gameboy or SNES pad
I gave up trying to get one.
Got fucked out of getting 2 when the translucent ones dropped…
Fuck sellers that don’t do anything about the resellers…
Just my opinion…
Sucks about the resellers. Did they money rug you or did you just not get a locked-in sale?
Yeah, if you want casual retro, it is the premium option. But if you have put in like hundreds of hours into a game you love that requires precise controls, it is really a downer when you realize the d-pad is straight ass.
Hard to say. The device is actually really cool. Has a beautiful display and does deliver logic-gate-level replica quality (as opposed to software emulation). Analogue actually appears to be committed to long term support, unlike the other devices they have completely abandoned.
If you have logged hundreds of hours in a game you intend to play and know exactly how it should feel to play it, I would either skip it or be prepared to open it up or keep it on the dock for Bluetooth controllers.
You just confirmed that I definitely shouldn’t buy this thing lol thanks
If you want straight a Gameboy FPGA device with no stress, I hear the FunnyPlaying devices are great. Obviously no sleep, state state, ROM, GbStudio or music-composing support, like the Pocket, but it does what it says on the box.
I’ll stick with my og gameboys lol they all still work fine
I've got a GB pocket and a Japanese only GameBoy Light and both are hard to play after seeing the Analogue Pocket's screen.
Whoops I forgot the guide link:
😬 ok I may give it a miss.. I've got one of the new "Limited" colours to scared to break it