The Tiny Tyrant of Gaming: Meet the Thumby Color, the Insulting, Inadequate, and Yet Somehow Fascinating Handheld
In a world where handheld gaming has reached unprecedented heights, TinyCircuits is about to drop a bombshell that will leave you questioning the very fabric of what it means to be a gamer. Behold, the Thumby Color, a pathetic excuse for a handheld console that dares to call itself a successor to the legendary Game Boy Advance.
Measuring a paltry two inches in size, this toy is a travesty, a mockery of the very concept of gaming. The Thumby Color’s puny 0.85-inch square LCD screen boasts a resolution of a whopping 128 x 128 pixels, which is less than half the resolution of the GBA. And don’t even get me started on the "processing power" of its 150MHz Raspberry Pi RP2350 processor, which is laughable by today’s standards.
But wait, it gets worse. The Thumby Color doesn’t even play actual GBA games. Instead, it runs on MicroPython, a programming language that will leave even the most ardent gamers scratching their heads. The "games" available on this monstrosity are little more than simplistic, monochromatic experiences that wouldn’t even pass muster on a Tamagotchi.
And yet, despite its numerous shortcomings, the Thumby Color has managed to find a following. Perhaps it’s the novelty of being able to fit this tiny abomination into your pocket, or maybe it’s the thrill of being able to program your own "games" using MicroPython. Whatever the reason, the Thumby Color is a curiosity, a relic of a bygone era when gaming was somehow less sophisticated, less grandiose.
But don’t worry, you won’t have to part with your hard-earned cash just yet. The Thumby Color is currently available on Kickstarter, where it’s already surpassed its funding goal. But be warned: there’s always a risk that this crowdfunded project will fail to deliver, or worse, deliver a product that’s even more inadequate than the one we’ve already seen.
So, if you’re a glutton for punishment, or simply a thrill-seeker looking to experience the thrill of gaming’s lowest common denominator, then the Thumby Color is the handheld for you. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.
