When My Miyoo Mini Was Discontinued, I Cried Like a Kid Who Lost His GBoy

"They're stopping production of the Miyoo Mini."

The email hit my inbox while I was mid-game, my thumb hovering over the D-pad as Kirby floated across the 2.8-inch screen. Suddenly, I was eight years old again, watching the rental store clerk pry our borrowed 16-bit console from my hands.

1. Why This Plastic Rectangle Matters

For the spec hunters:

• 162g – lighter than your phone

• 2.8" display with perfect pixel grid replication

• Emulates up to PS1 flawlessly

For everyone else:
This became my:

• Social anxiety shield during weddings (Fire Emblem speedruns)

• 3AM comfort food companion (Kirby + cold pizza)

• Conversation starter when strangers asked, "Is that a mini GBoy?!"

2. Confessions of a Thrift-Store Gamer

My first "console" was an Atari 2600 salvaged from a neighbor's trash. While kids flaunted their N64s, I haunted garage sales like a raccoon, trading lunch money for cartridges with chewed-up labels.

High school library computers became my secret arcade. I'd sneak Dragon Warrior saves onto floppy disks labeled "Algebra Notes." When I finally bought a GBA with lawn-mowing cash, I spent the bus ride home tracing its buttons like they were holy relics.

The Miyoo Mini? That's the adult me keeping faith with that scrappy kid.

3. The Discontinuation Notice (AKA Gamer Midlife Crisis)

The official reason was "supply chain issues." What I heard:

• The world has no room for pure joy anymore

• We're all becoming the parents who said "we can't afford that"

• Soon, kids will view this as a "quaint antique"

My response? I bought three:

1. Daily driver (worn smooth)

2. Time capsule (to unbox in 2040)

3. Emergency backup (hidden in my mom's cookie jar)

Call it hoarding. I call it preserving a portal to better days.

4. The "Alternatives" Are Missing the Magic

Yes, the TrimUI fits in an Altoids tin. Sure, the Anbernic plays more systems. But:

• None feel right in that GBoy-shaped hole in your heart

• None have that perfect click of the face buttons

• None will make a barista pause mid-latte to ask, "Wait, is that—?"

Like my mom said about the rented  90s cartridge platform: "Play hard – it goes back Monday."

5. Epilogue: Save States Never Last

When I moved away at 12, my best friend shoved a Ziploc of AA batteries in my pocket. "The ones with teeth marks still work," he whispered. Two were stolen from his dad's TV remote.

All our nostalgia devices become time capsules:

• The Zelda save file with your childhood nickname

• The scratch on your GBA from the bike crash

• That Metal Slug run you'll never finish on your Miyoo

So if you've got a device that makes time stand still:
✅ Photograph it like a museum piece
✅ Backup your saves somewhere safe
✅ Tonight, play until the battery dies

Because we can't stop time – but we can keep pressing CONTINUE.

Postscript for Fellow Time Travelers:
As I hit "publish" on this love letter, I checked MechDIY – against all odds, they still have a few remaining units in stock. If any part of this piece resonated with you, know that the time gate hasn't completely closed yet:
👉 [Check remaining Miyoo Mini stock here]

But hurry – unlike our childhood memories, these last units won't get a continue screen.

(This isn't sponsored – just one heartbroken gamer helping others grab their time machine before it's gone forever.)