As much as we wish it did, the Lego Game Boy does not play actual cartridges. The inevitable next step is to fix that error. Yes, that picture shows off a fully working Lego Game Boy built using a custom PCB (printed circuit board) that plays actual Game Paks or any of your modern homebrew titles. What’s more, the modder who created the working Lego Game Boy promised fans she will release a kit to turn the $50 Lego set into the best—or perhaps first—operational brick-based handheld. Tetris playing on a handheld made of blocks is likely the most ironic experience you can have with gaming hardware.
Australia-based modder Natalie the Nerd has been making waves in the retro handheld modding scene for long enough that when she claimed in July she would make the Lego Game Boy play actual cartridges, people paid attention. The modder proved that, occasionally, dreams do come true. She showed off a functional Lego Game Boy, complete with actual controls and a cartridge slot. To put it in the simplest terms, it’s damn glorious.
“I know from experience of routing Game Boy CPU PCBs that there isn’t much to it. There’s the RAM, CPU, some decoupling capacitors, and power regulation,” Natalie the Nerd wrote a blog post. She opted for the MGB (Pocket) CPU, the same as the one found in the 1996 version of the Game Boy line, versus the DMG launched in 1989. Space is tight when the external shell is made out of thick Lego bricks, so using the more recent chip made more sense, she said. “The DMG CPU has external VRAM, the MGB CPU has internal VRAM and in a very space-conscious build, that was the biggest factor.”
So no, this isn’t one of the many software emulation devices or even an Analogue Pocket running a custom FPGA (field-programmable gate array) board. In almost every way, it’s a real Game Boy. The working Lego Game Boy buttons and USB-C port are hooked up to 3D-printed parts. As far as mods go, this one seems relatively doable even for the newcomer with little DIY experience. On Discord, Natalie the Nerd confirmed she plans to release a mod kit. “It just needs to be refined a touch,” she said.
Lego told Gizmodo it worked closely with Nintendo to design the toy handheld, and it shows. The Lego Game Boy is very similar in scale compared to the real handheld that first debuted in 1989. Instead of a screen, it uses lenticular cards to offer a simulacrum of the famous green-shaded dot matrix display. The device also comes with a false cartridge slot to shove in brick-based Game Paks. Lego and Nintendo designed it as a display piece. If you intend to use it as a working handheld, you may need to break out the “Kragle,” aka superglue, to keep it from falling apart in your hands.
Lego rarely makes working, mechanical devices. I’m still hoping beyond hope that one designer’s working Lego film camera becomes a reality. If you’re not patient enough to wait for this mod kit and you need a working Lego gaming console right now, you can always jam an entire NES motherboard into the Lego version and relive the retro delights of the late 1980s.
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