Skip to main content

I want to own this tiny Game Boy that fits on a keychain

I want to own this tiny Game Boy that fits on a keychain

/

Game Boy Even More Micro

Share this story

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Nintendo's original Game Boy brought portable video games to the masses. Subsequent versions, like the Game Boy Pocket or the Game Boy Micro, have improved on the original design in smaller and smaller form factors. But hacker Sprite_TM may have all of Nintendo's efforts beat, with a keychain-sized functional Game Boy that he built for the 2016 Hackaday SuperConference

As Hackaday reports, the build was inspired by a tiny Game Boy keychain. But while the original version was only a clock, Sprite_TM was determined to make a fully functional version on that scale. And until someone else comes along with an even smaller version, the hack is probably the smallest functional Game Boy ever built.

The screen is a little off, since the original Game Boy has a resolution of 160×144, while the hack uses a 96 × 64 color OLED display. It runs off a ESP32 chip with integrated Wi-Fi to transfer ROMs to the Game Boy, and even has a speaker built in, all housed in a custom 3D-printed case. Sprite_TM also had to do some software hacking to get the GNUboy emulator to run on such limited hardware, but at the end of the day, it not only runs Game Boy games, but even Doom

The complete details of the build can be be found on Hackaday's full video of Sprite_TM's talk describing the project at the Hackaday SuperConference. And if you're interested in building your own, Sprite_TM will be releasing more information on the code and build process on his website soon. 


The Smart Boy turns a smartphone into a Game Boy