Nephew Of ZX Spectrum Creator Cooks Up Raspberry Pi-Powered GamerCard Handheld

There’s a new, tiny Raspberry Pi powered handheld on the scene, dubbed the GamerCard, designed for retro gaming. The GamerCard is the brainchild of Grant Sinclair, nephew of the man behind the legendary ZX Spectrum, Clive Sinclair. It’s only the size of a retail gift card, but promises to deliver enough performance to be the ultimate portable emulation device.

Despite its diminutive size, the GamerCard will have plenty of hardware onboard. It will be sporting a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, which features an ARM Cortex-A53 processor, clocked at 1GHz. Alongside the processor will be 512MB of SDRAM, 128GB of internal storage, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.2. Additionally, it has a 4-inch IPS display, USB-C ports for charging the battery and connecting input devices, an HDMI port, and a Qwiic port.

The device’s thin design is made possible thanks to the way its constructed. The PCB uses a “sandwich construction” that integrates a Zytel layer. The use of this method means that the GamerCard doesn’t require an outer shell like most other devices do, which results in a thin overall form factor. Although the thinness might not appeal to all users.

The GamerCard will come with two games pre-installed. One of those games is Bloo Kid 2, “a pixel-perfect action platformer packed with levels, swimming stages, and boss battles.” The other is AstroBlaze DX, “a hypercharged, rhythm-based space shooter bursting with neon thrills and upgrade mayhem.” Both titles are already available on the Nintendo Switch, however, they have been reworked and optimized for the GamerCard.

Users will be able to get more games directly from the pre-installed Pi Game App, which will provide access to more titles optimized for Pi powered systems. However, the real draw will be the GamerCard’s emulation capabilities. The device will be able to run apps such as Recalbox, RetroPie, and Lakka. It will also have support for PICO-8, which will allow users to make their own games.

The GamerCard is available now with a price tag of £125.00, or roughly $169 USD.