Nintendo controlled the portable market for over a decade using their Game Boy hand held. This little device held off Sega, Atari, Tiger Electronics, Watera, and many other often very capable competitors. The Nintendo Game Boy was a device that simply would not die. While it was under powered in comparison to the more well-developed competitors, the Game Boy won out in areas that counted. Namely, battery life and the right games – you were only playing Tetris on the Game Boy for instance. Now the Game Boy is making a comeback.
Hyperkin just announced the Ultra Game Boy. This little bad boy is rocking an aluminum housing, volume and contrast controls right where they should be, a third dial to control the backlight, and of course compatibility with that copy of Pokemon Trading Card Game you have been holding onto for all this time because you never beat it. Um, sorry about that last part. Sometimes nostalgia is a tough beast to reign in.
Remember how the original Game Boy kicked butt thanks to the battery life? The Ultra Game Boy will feature a rechargeable battery that uses an USB-C plug. Something that the original didn’t have will be in the Ultra Game Boy though, namely stereo sound.
Speaking of sound, Hyperkin is going to allow musicians access to use the Ultra Game Boy to create chiptunes. That is pretty cool. What else is cool is that price tag they are aiming for – under $100 with full Game Boy compatibility and possibly, just maybe, Game Boy Color support.
Source: Gizmodo
I love it! I will see if I can get one when it comes out! I spent so much time on my gameboy as a kid. I had to repair mine on several occasions because of hard drops and other component failures. It still worked even after being dropped in the pool. I found out my mom threw it away a few years ago. Imagine my horror. :) but this one has the things I wish I could have had in the original gameboy. A likely awesome battery life and a backlight! How nice those features would have been. I used to lug around the nickel cadmium external battery pack and the magnifying glass add-on with the light feature so I could use it at night. I loved that system! :)
Maybe I will finally be able to beat Pokemon Trading Card lol.
Very nic post
They would have to improve greatly on the screen of the original for me to be interested.
From the looks of it, the screen is going to be full color so hopefully they go with one with a decent refresh rate.