Nintendo invited me to a “holiday showcase” to play upcoming Switch 2 titles like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, Hades 2, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and Kirby Air Riders, but the only thing I can’t stop thinking about is the Lego Game Boy that was on display at the entrance.
Announced at SDCC 2025, the Game Boy set is even better in person than in online renders. The brick-sized handheld, which is made of 421 brick pieces, costs $50 and comes out on Oct. 1. As a display piece, its nearly 1:1 dimensions rekindled nostalgia for my all-time favorite gadget, the device that got me hooked on technology and gaming.
The pink A and B buttons, as well as the Start and Select buttons, are fully pressable (the D-pad is strangely not); the contrast and volume dials on the left and right move; and the power switch on the top left slides into place just like the real thing (though it doesn’t lock the Lego game cartridge in place). Sadly, the link cable cover doesn’t pop out.
Speaking of the cartridges, there are two—one for Super Mario Land and one for The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening—that you can slot into the Lego version of the Game Boy.
Pop off the panel on the back of the brick handheld and lift up a joint, and you can swap between three included lenticular cards—the iconic Nintendo logo sliding down on bootup and one depicting each of the two games—that show motion when you view the toy at different angles.
It’s a beautiful brick recreation of Nintendo’s 8-bit handheld that I couldn’t stop playing with. For collectors, the #72046 set even comes with stands to prop the Game Boy and cartridges up on a bookshelf or display case.
I thought Nintendo went hard with the Lego NES set, complete with a brick TV with a wind-up Super Mario Bros. level, that was released in 2020. (Fun fact: I was the first person to mod the Lego NES set to be playable using a cheap screen and NES Classic guts when I worked at Input.) But this Lego Game Boy goes just as hard (if not harder). It’s pure nostalgia and Nintendo doing what it does best: print money. I can’t wait to get my hands on one to build… and mod. Anybody have ideas on the best way to convert this bad boy into a playable Game Boy?
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