As we speak’s retro recreations are so good at replicating the Recreation Boy’s look, really feel, and portability. The issue is, my pockets are already occupied with my cellular supercomputer that incorporates my life behind a 6.3-inch pane of glass. If my cellphone has a strong processor and glorious AMOLED show, why can’t it additionally turn out to be my gaming system once I’m on the go? MCON, the controller hyped to hell and again by younger engineer Josh King and dropped at market by cellphone peripheral makers OhSnap, might be sufficient to make me go away my handheld at residence.
I first noticed the $150 MCON cellphone peripheral again at CES 2025; solely then it was a really early prototype utilizing 3D-printed components. Even then, I got here away impressed with the collapsible cellphone controller. I needed to duck and weave by means of many, many halls at IFA 2025 to search out the miniscule stall for MCON’s designer OhSnap. The corporate let me wrap my exhausted arms across the new, black and clear plastic MCONs that can be transport later this yr after its profitable Kickstarter from earlier this yr.
MCON has surprisingly great-feeling controls
Once I have a look at most trendy cellphone controllers, whether or not they’re the Spine, the 8BitDo cellular controller, or a Razer Kishi, all of them boil all the way down to an Xbox controller break up in half to make room for a cellphone. A few of these gadgets supply higher controls or bigger cavity house for as much as the dimension of a 13-inch iPad. Whereas they’re slim sufficient to slot in a bag, the difficulty with this traditional design is that they’re not so moveable you’ll be able to slip them right into a pocket. MCON is concerning the dimension of a cellphone itself. It’s compact sufficient that it might match into cargo pants-sized pockets or right into a pocketbook. I doubt it might slot in most skinny denims with out tearing a gap in your pants or thigh. The collapsible cellular controller additionally makes use of a MagSafe magnetic attachment level whereas it communicates with the cellphone over Bluetooth, relatively than a bodily USB-C connection.
You possibly can consider MCON as a Nintendo DS or a slide-out PSP Go, although with no display or PCB (printed circuit board) of its personal. The controller collapses to the scale of your common cellphone. With the press of a button, the spring-loaded entrance plate shoots out to disclose twin thumbsticks, 4 face buttons, and a D-pad. Two fold-out wings fan out from the bottom to create a pseudo-controller really feel, although you’ll be able to recreation with out them if you happen to can retreat to your Recreation Boy glory days, earlier than firms cared a lick for wild ideas like “ergonomics.” The additional good thing about MCON is the way it retains the display angled up, which can be extra comfy when sitting and gaming in comparison with Steam Deck-like handheld PCs or the Change 2.
The model I used was a prefab design, although it’s the closest mannequin the corporate had out there for when the system went into full manufacturing. The complete-size drift-resistant TMR (tunnel magnetoresistance) joysticks didn’t really feel constrained regardless of being deep-set into the controller. Whereas the buttons had a pleasantly shallow and clicky really feel, I wouldn’t have been capable of hear how loud they have been in such a crowded conference corridor. The true shock was the 2 triggers. Regardless of being so skinny and near the system, they dipped to a shocking depth. I didn’t really feel as a lot resistance for every set off as I could have favored from my favourite controllers, however I might nonetheless choose them over the clicky triggers of many DS-like gadgets.
Time to work out the kinks
I didn’t get to play something however Warped Kart Racers, a recreation that routinely accelerates for you. I think about most individuals who backed the MCON controller are extra fascinated by video games with out stable contact controls. It might be an choice for cloud gaming when you may have entry to a robust Wi-Fi connection. What could also be extra thrilling is the way it might be used for retro emulation. The MCON’s MagSafe dock can slide out and reposition vertically for taking part in old-school Recreation Boy video games on emulators, like Delta on iOS.
The pop-out mechanism felt quick and clean, although I discovered it was troublesome to push the magnetic plate again into place. It took two arms, providing a grating really feel because the rail floor in opposition to itself. OhSnap! advised me it was engaged on making that mechanism smoother as they run into full manufacturing. That is the form of system designed for taking out whereas ignoring the world in your every day work commute, and it will be particularly useful to break down the MCON with one hand and slip it into your pocket when you want to. OhSnap stated MCON ought to launch a while late in October, so we’ll know then if my cellphone would possibly lastly turn out to be the Recreation Boy I needed it to be.
