The Pocket Taco is the best way to turn your phone into a Game Boy

"My ongoing quest to turn my iPhone into one of my favorite consoles of all time has led me to a curiously named controller. GameSir's Pocket Taco is only barely pocketable, and distinctly lacking in taco fillings, but for $35, it's an excellent and easy way to turn your phone into a Game Boy-inspired handheld for playing retro games that don't require a pair of thumbsticks."

"Unlike the Abxylute M4 mobile controller that attaches to phones using magnets, or the Backbone Pro that sandwiches your device between a split gamepad, the Pocket Taco uses a hinged mechanism that, for lack of a better description, bites onto the bottom half of your smartphone. Inside the Pocket Taco, you'll find soft silicone pads on either side that securely grip your device without scratching it or leaving any bite marks."

"The Pocket Taco's hinge expands wide enough to attach to smartphones still inside bulky cases, and its open sides can accommodate phones and devices wider than the controller itself. You could use it with an iPad Mini, for example, although I didn't have the chance to test the ergonomics of such a setup. 8BitDo announced a similar Game Boy-style controller for smartphones at CES 2026, featuring a front panel that can fully flip down."

The GameSir Pocket Taco attaches to the bottom half of a smartphone using a hinged clamp and soft silicone pads that grip without scratching. The controller is priced at $35 and emulates a Game Boy-style layout suited for retro games that do not require thumbsticks. The hinge expands to fit phones in bulky cases and can accept devices wider than the controller, including small tablets. The front panel only opens about 45 degrees, which blocks the lower portion of the phone screen and can force removal to access other apps or unlock the device. A flip-down front panel design exists from other makers to address this limitation.

Read at The Verge