5 Crazy Nintendo Patents that were almost turned into real products

Did you know Nintendo *almost* made a smartphone case with a built-in Game Boy? Well, now you do…

Nintendo has always been a pioneer in the gaming world, known for its innovation and creativity. Starting out selling gaming cards, the company practically led the charge on gaming innovation, starting with their entertainment systems, to the birth of the world’s first handheld gaming console (Apple TV has an entire movie on how Tetris made its way to the first Game Boy). That was just a milestone for the company, which went on to revolutionize gaming with Super Mario, Pokemon, Legend of Zelda, and an entire host of other games that hold legend-status in the gaming world. The Game Boy then transformed into the Nintendo DS, which led to the Wii, and finally the wildly successful Switch. But did you know that not all of Nintendo’s ideas have seen the light of day? Or rather, some of their less-than-brilliant ideas that remain languishing in a patent office.

The folks at NeoMam Studios partnered with Guide Strats to bring some of these patents to life and let’s say, we would have loved to be a fly on the wall at the Nintendo office when these products were being pitched. From a Joy Con-enabled horse saddle to a smartphone case with a Game Boy built into it, these concepts are bizarre, to say the least…

Designers: NeoMam Studios for Guide Strats

Nintendo Inventions That Stayed On Paper

1. Nintendo Playable Game Boy Smartphone Case

(Patent No: US20180275769A1)

Somewhere down the road execs at Nintendo saw the rise of smartphones and thought – what if we turned the iPhone into a GameBoy?! This slap-on case for your smartphone basically acts as a physical emulator, blocking most of the screen to allow you to only see a small portion of it, where the game would be displayed. Buttons on the front tap the screen when pressed, allowing you to effectively get the Game Boy experience on a modern-day smartphone. The pros? Peak nostalgia and tactile buttons. The cons? Pretty much everything else, including the clunky GB cover that would practically consume your smartphone’s entire aesthetic.

2. Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons with Hinges

(Patent No: JP2019146737A)

A little less weird conceptually, but equally absurd on a technical level, Nintendo patented ‘bendable’ Joy-Cons for their Switch device. The reason? Ergonomics in general, given that the Joy-Cons aren’t as ergonomically shaped as other controllers on the market like Sony’s DualSense controller or Microsoft’s Xbox Wireless Controller. These unique controllers, however, have hinges in them that allow them to bend away from you, enabling a natural gripping position while still having the screen facing you clearly. Given that ‘drifting’ is already a problem within the Joy-Cons, having more moving parts that could compromise accuracy seemed like a bad idea, which is why the patent was left as it was.

3. Nintendo Wii Football Controller

(Patent No: EP2090346B1)

Given how the Wii’s controllers made them perfectly suited for workouts and sports like boxing, skiing, and table tennis, the good folks at Nintendo thought it would make sense to have a football (or rugby ball) accessory for the Wii remote, allowing people to pass, throw, dodge, and run in the game. The solution was an incredibly odd-looking accessory that felt like shoving a remote control into an existing football. “The game-playing public generally expects a football video game to provide a reasonably accurate model of at least some aspects of the actual game of football,” argued Nintendo’s patent. What Nintendo didn’t realize at the time, was that it wasn’t realistic to expect people to play football indoors without breaking bones, furniture, and possibly even your Nintendo Wii. Luckily, sanity prevailed and the Nintendo Wii Football Controller was scrapped.

4. Nintendo Portable System with Interchangeable Controls

(Patent No: US20140121023A1)

This one might be the least absurd because you can really see Nintendo’s thinking at the time. The “Nintendo Portable System with Interchangeable Controls” was filed as a patent 10 years ago, long before the Switch was released. The idea – a Nintendo 3DS-style handheld console with interchangeable controls that could slide in and out, allowing you to swap between joysticks, action buttons, and a D-pad based on the game you wanted to play. Eventually, this concept evolved into the Switch as we know it today, and these tiny removable modules were effectively adapted into removable joy-cons, which many will argue was a much better idea in hindsight!

5. Nintendo Wii Inflatable Horseback Riding Peripheral

(Patent No: US8277327B2)

Let it be known that the Wii years should go down into the annals of history as some of Nintendo’s weirdest years. As the company saw success with its motion-sensing console/controller system, the company decided the best way to build out the Wii ecosystem would be to create accessories. If the football accessory wasn’t enough, the Nintendudes decided to patent this ridiculous exercise-ball-inspired “Inflatable Horseback Riding Peripheral”. The idea, you’d sit on it with the Wii remote docked between your legs, rocking back and forth to control the horse’s movements. Thankfully for Nintendo and all the gaming fans out there, a particular Jim and Dwight scene from The Office helped Nintendo understand exactly how ridiculous this would look…

Image Credits: Guide Strats

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Analogue Pocket Classic retro gaming handheld puts the color in Game Boy Color

Just because you’re trying to design a retro interpretation of an old design doesn’t mean you have to copy the original inch for inch. In fact, it might even be illegal in some cases to be an exact replica of the product you’re trying to pay homage to. It’s definitely a good opportunity to address the flaws of the past or to implement designs that were intended but couldn’t be implemented because of the limitations or tastes of ages past. It wouldn’t make sense, for example, for a modern recreation of the Game Boy Color to display the extremely limited palette of the original in this day and age. Fortunately, Analogue had the sense to equip its retro gaming handheld with modern capabilities while staying faithful to the original’s essence. So faithful that it, in fact, even tried to recreate the playful colors of the Game Boy Color while also expanding that selection with almost all the colors of the rainbow and then some.

Designer: Analogue

Even by yesteryear’s standards, the Game Boy Color’s chunky design clearly earmarked it as a toy for kids. Those kids, however, have now grown up, and many of them want to relive those fun-filled days but probably with something that doesn’t look like it was plucked out of a time capsule. The Analogue Pocket is an attempt to feed this hunger while also making the design and the heritage accessible to a lot more people. Its more modern and sleeker aesthetic easily appeals to gamers of all ages but still exudes that charm that made the GBC an icon. Still, the retro handheld seemed to be missing one particular element that would really set it apart from other Game Boy Color recreations.

That missing piece of the puzzle was delivered by the “Classic” edition of the Analogue Pocket, which basically gives the device a colorful paint job. The very first GBC was a rather boring and very industrial gray, but the market eventually exploded in a variety of colors, including a transparent one. The Analogue Pocket Classic brings back not just one or two or five of these but offers no less than eight hues. That’s on top of the plain black, white, transparent, and glow-in-the-dark editions that came out in the past.

The full palette includes Indigo, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Pink, Orange, and Silver, all of which Analogue boasts have been color-matched to the original models. It might just be a change of hue, but it immediately gives the Pocket a vibrant character befitting of a gaming device. With these accurate colors and the overall design of the handheld, there is very little doubt that this retro revival truly captures the spirit of the Game Boy Color as faithfully as it can without tripping over legal landmines.

The story doesn’t end on a high note, unfortunately, with all variants of the Analogue Pocket now declared to be completely sold out. That’s true for this colorful yet limited run of the “Classic” edition as well as the original models. It’s uncertain if these will ever return to shelves, and collectors will have to stay on their toes while waiting for hopeful news in the coming days.

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This tiny $50 transparent dongle lets you play ANY Game Boy catridge on your desktop!

In a world where computer dongles come in all shapes and sizes, catering to a plethora of needs, the Epilogue GB Operator stands out as a unique offering that serves a uniquely different purpose – nostalgia. While most dongles aim to provide modern conveniences like multiports, HDMI, ethernet, or SD card readers, the GB Operator takes a different approach, allowing you to relive the golden era of gaming by plugging your cherished Game Boy cartridges directly into your desktop or laptop. This blast from the past serves up an exciting way to revisit all your favorite 8 and 16-bit adventures, proving that sometimes, the most innovative gadgets are those that bridge the gap between old and new.

Designer: Epilogue

Not only does the Epilogue GB Operator provide the unique experience of playing your beloved Game Boy games on a larger screen, but it also packs some nifty features that elevate the overall gaming experience. Compatible with Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges, this handy little device ensures that your extensive library of classics is just a plug away from being enjoyed once again. It comes with a transparent design that’s somewhat of a nod to the translucent build found on Game Boy Advance models (and even on most GBA cartridges), and allows you to easily and intuitively slide any cartridge in (yes, you can even use the Game Boy Camera with it too!)

Setting up the GB Operator is refreshingly simple. Just connect the device to your computer via a USB-C cable, insert your Game Boy cartridge of choice, and you’re good to go. With the GB Operator’s user-friendly software, navigating through your games and adjusting settings is a breeze. The GB Operator upscales all gameplay to fit the display of your choice, even doing a pretty remarkable job with high-end 4K monitors. You even have the option to customize controls and apply various display filters, allowing you to tailor the experience to your preferences. The software lets you adjust key-binding for your keyboard, although the GB Operator is best paired with a nice game controller that really gives you the true blue gaming experience.

But the GB Operator doesn’t stop there. For those with an affinity for game development, the device also supports homebrew and ROM hack cartridges, opening up a world of creative possibilities. Moreover, the GB Operator can back up your game saves, ensuring that your hard-earned progress is never lost due to faulty or aging cartridges. It even allows you to legally create ROM backups of your physical games, so you can keep digital copies of the games you legally paid for even though the device it’s supposed to run on is obsolete. Moreover, aside from making copies of your games, the GB Operator even works as an authenticator, detecting counterfeit or bootlegged cartridges for you, so you know whether you’ve got the original cartridges or not.

While everyone’s speculating about the next Nintendo Switch or the PS6, the GB Operator takes us back to the literal good old days. It promises hours upon hours of endless nostalgia-fueled entertainment, letting you revisit all the classics from your childhood. At just under $50, it doesn’t break the bank either!

Image Credits: randomfrankp

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NinDoio is a fun-looking device for leveling up your productivity game

Every year, more people have to sit in front of computers for work or sometimes even for leisure. While some jobs might be simple enough to get by with the basics of word processing or spreadsheets, a lot require more complex processes and multiple steps, not to mention the use of a variety of software to get the job. That’s even more true for those involved in digital content creation, whether they be designers, programmers, writers, or even streamers. The number of actions they need to take can be overwhelming, especially when you have to navigate around the computer screen to get to those. It would definitely be a great deal if you could press just one or a few keys to get things done, which is what this device tries to do in a way that almost makes it feel like you’re playing a game.

Designer: Megalodon

There are about a hundred keys on a computer keyboard, more or less depending on the layout and the device. That gives you a variety of ways and nearly endless possible combinations to trigger actions like launching an application, undoing an edit, or rendering an animation. That flexibility, however, also comes at the cost of complexity, especially when it comes to remembering which key combinations do which actions on which applications. There are a variety of tools today that try to simplify that task, but Megalodon’s NinDoio adds an element of fun to what is really serious business.

What makes the NinDoio different from many “macro pads,” as they are called, is that it looks more like a toy rather than a productivity tool. In fact, it looks very much like a Nintendo Game Boy Advance, which is definitely the inspiration for its design as well as its moniker. Regardless of the name and shape, it still delivers the same power as any macro pad does, which is to map a single button or key to an action. For example, you won’t have to memorize the combination for “undo” when you can just press a single button that you’ve committed to muscle memory.

Unlike a simple grid of keys, the NinDoio adds a few controls you’d associate with gaming devices and controllers. Four of the buttons, for example, are arranged in a cross like a D-pad, while two are labeled Start and Select, even if they can be assigned to unrelated actions. The two knobs on the right can be mapped to actions like scrolling a page or changing the size of a brush. They can also be pushed like regular buttons, though, which adds another layer of functionality to them.

The very appearance of the macro pad is playful, with a translucent acrylic base that lets you take a peek at the electronics inside. Different color options for the aluminum top are available to add a bit of life to an already quirky device. Overall, the NinDoio’s appearance makes it a bit more approachable and a little less clinical, even if it performs the same functions as any of Megalodon’s other macro pads, which might just be what the doctor prescribed to make tedious work feel a bit more enjoyable like a game.

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The ‘World’s Smallest Game Boy’ is tiny enough to fit on your keychain, and it actually plays games

Smaller than the display on your Apple Watch, the Thumby holds the title of the smallest gaming console to be publicly available to consumers. It’s a little over an inch in length, and 0.7 inches in width, and weighs a paltry 4.8 grams, or about as much as an individual AirPod. Armed with a 72×40 Monochrome OLED display and 2MB of onboard storage, the Thumby comes with 5 games pre-loaded and allows you to add more using a MicroUSB cable. And in case you’re wondering, yes it runs Doom… or a version of it.

Designer: Tiny Circuits

Click Here to Buy Now

First started as a crowdfunding project, Thumby went on to get successfully backed into existence. It’s roughly the same size and shape as a Chiclet and even comes with a lanyard hole that lets you string the gaming console to your keychain, making it the world’s first gaming console that also doubles as EDC.

For a device this small, it’s honestly surprising that it actually does function as a gaming console. The Thumby comes with a Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040 under its hood, which powers the ridiculously tiny 72X40 black and white OLED display and accepts input from a 4-way D-Pad and 2 action buttons. The Thumby sports a hilarious 2MB of storage and runs on a 40mAh battery which provides 2 hours of gameplay.

The thumbnail-sized console comes in 4 colors (including a transparent variant) and ships with 5 pre-loaded games, and users can add more using the MicroUSB port below (which also charges the device). It’s hilarious how large the port seems in relation to the actual device itself, and I can’t help but wonder if the product could somehow be smaller if they did away with the port and used Bluetooth instead! The port also allows you to connect two consoles together for multiplayer gaming! You can download a wide variety of games created by the rather massive Thumby community, or even code your own games and experiences using the company’s in-browser code editor.

Click Here to Buy Now

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This shapeshifting Game Boy console has the soul of a Nintendo Switch

It’s a Game Boy, it’s a Switch, it’s… both?!

Meet the Game Boy Famicom, a conceptual gaming console that pays tribute to the handheld console, the modern-day modular Nintendo Switch, and most importantly, the consoles that came before it – namely the cassette-based consoles like the SNES, SEGA Genesis, etc. It’s handheld, but features a modular design that lets you simply plug the screen into a dock the way you would a cassette (or even the Switch) for a more console-style gaming experience. The Famicom offers a landscape style gaming experience, but in a device that’s portrait in its orientation. This breaks away from the Switch’s elongated profile, giving you a console that’s more compact and easier to carry around with you. One could argue that it’s cooler too?!

Designer: Dopamine Design

The Game Boy Famicom is basically a tablet gaming device with a modular base. You can either use it with its plug-and-play controls, or swap the controls out for an adapter that lets you plug the Famicom into a rather retro-inspired dock that lets you beam your game to a larger screen like a TV or projector. It’s a conceptual successor to the Nintendo Switch, or rather, feels more like a Nintendo Switch from an alternate timeline in which the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP didn’t exist!

I just love the Game Boy Famicom’s overall vibe. It’s understated yet expressive. Minimalist yet functional and non-compromising. There’s nothing about it that makes it feel ‘lesser’ than the Switch, just because the Famicom’s design pretty much dots all I’s and crosses all T’s. Its controls are minimalistic yet detailed. You’ve got a D-pad on the left, XYAB controls on the right, and a speaker in between. A ring around the D-pad also doubles as a volume knob, letting you crank the volume on high or mute gameplay depending on where you are.

The dock is a retro icon too. The white and grey color scheme with accents of orange gives the Game Boy Famicom a major Teenage Engineering appeal that elevates the concept to another level entirely. Sigh… if only this existed!

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This Game Boy Camera mod is a lo-fi camera you could probably play games on

Once in a while, a product arrives that is so niche and so unique that it earns a passionate following even decades after it falls off the market. The Game Boy Camera is a perfect example of that kind of product, turning something mundane into a fun and whimsical activity. Although it could hardly compare to the nascent digital cameras of its era, the add-on to the reigning gaming handheld of that time gave delight to the few people who managed to get their hands on one, especially kids. The low-res, retro quality of the camera’s output endeared it even more to fans, many of whom are now adults. Unsurprisingly, that has given birth to many DIY projects and mods for the Game Boy accessory, but this mirrorless camera rendition definitely gets top scores for ingenuity and creativity, especially in its design.

Designer: Christopher Graves

As far as digital cameras go, the Game Boy Camera was basic, even for the crudest sensors of that time. The 128×128 pixel CMOS sensor only took 128×112 pixel photos and in the four-color palette of the non-color Game Boy, which basically meant four shades of gray. Considering it was aimed at kids who wouldn’t be able to even use a digital camera, it was a fun way to capture images, spark the imagination, and, of course, boast to your friends.

The original Game Boy Camera was basically a lo-fi sensor and lens mounted on top of a regular Game Boy cartridge. Given how well the gaming handheld platform has been preserved by fans and gaming historians today, it’s really no surprise that the accessory still works flawlessly. Even better, some have made hacks to keep the flame of creativity alive, including some that added color in post-processing. Needless to say, it was only a matter of time before someone took the Game Boy Camera and turned it into a literal Game Boy Camera.

This DIY project gutted the innards of a slimmer and more power-efficient Game Boy Pocket and shoved them into a custom shell designed to look like a typical camera. It even has a leatherette cover wrapped around its body, just like a typical camera. Since the Game Boy Camera can only be operated using the Game Boy’s controls, the buttons and D-Pad are reused but also relocated to resemble a digital shooter’s controls. One of the buttons is even on the top, acting as a shutter button.

The camera itself had to be redesigned, though, to mimic the look and feel of a mirrorless camera. That said, rather than just simply relocating the lens and sensor, the Camera M, as it is nicknamed, adds an actual camera lens to improve the camera’s performance. The original Game Boy Pocket screen was also replaced with a brighter IPS LCD display that makes the camera usable even at night. The contraption can actually still load normal Game Boy cartridges, though it’s not yet clear if it’s actually playable.

The designer also played around with a different design before that used a Game Boy Advanced with minimal modifications. This Camera M, however, is clearly more refined and more flexible in terms of supporting different lenses in the future. It doesn’t change the Game Boy Camera’s output significantly, other than improving the lens’ focal length, but for the staunch fans of this almost ancient accessory, it is definitely a fun and more convenient way to take pixelated grayscale pictures.

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This parallel-universe ‘landscape’ Game Boy Classic feels like the Nintendo Switch’s earliest ancestor

A YouTuber named Obirux finally made it happen, giving the Game Boy Classic its ‘Advance’ moment.

You know that TikTok trend where you give kids VHS tapes and ask them what it is and they have no clue? Or if you gave them a floppy disk and they’d think it was a 3D-printed ‘Save’ icon? Well, chances are that if you give them a Game Boy, they’d just call it an old Nintendo Switch. However, the classic Game Boy wasn’t a landscape gaming device until the GBA. YouTuber Obirux, however, decided to just hack a landscape Game Boy Classic into existence. By pulling apart an existing Game Boy and repurposing the hardware into a new kit, Obirux managed to make a fun landscape-oriented console based on the original, which launched all the way back in 1989.

Designer: Obirux

Notably, Obirux’s build doesn’t use a 3D-printed enclosure. Instead, he pulled apart two Game Boys and used their plastic shells to make a new landscape outer body. In fact, in the image below, you can see bits of plastic or putty on the inside, holding the shell together. The new build doesn’t use the same screen as the original either. Instead, Obirux swapped it out for a newer display with a modified PCB and a backlight (that can change colors too!) He even ditched the AA batteries for Lithium-ion ones, which end up lasting much longer.

The new build retains the original’s essence but in a fresh, landscape orientation. Although not shown in the video, it’s remarkable how Obirux used the plastic outer body pieces and simply re-joined them to make the Game Boy orient differently. The controls are the same too, except for a new button on the top to toggle the backlight… and the new Game Boy uses the same cartridge system on the back, completing the experience!

Obirux decided to name his prototype the Game Boy DMG-0B, a homage to the original model number of the Game Boy DMG-01, where DMG stands for Dot Matrix Game. The Game Boy DMG-0B, like all of Obirux’s builds, was listed on his website for sale. His site features other unique works, including a bunch of Game Boy Advance modifications. Sadly though, everything listed on his site’s already sold out!

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This Macintosh Pocket computer concept makes us wish we had a time machine

They always say that hindsight is 20/20, but that really doesn’t mean much when you can’t change what has already happened. Many of us would probably try to undo things or make different decisions based on what we already know happened, but that just isn’t possible. To be fair, our predecessors did the best they could, based on information they had at that time, and even the greatest visionaries couldn’t have predicted the ups and downs that would change the world for better or worse. The young Steve Jobs of the 80s, for example, probably never saw the iPhone or even the BlackBerry coming, so we can only imagine how things could have turned out if Apple had the knowledge and resources to make a pocket computer back in the days. Fortunately for us, somebody asked that same question and came up with a rather intriguing answer.

Designer: Rex Sowards

Apple did try to briefly venture into the pocket computer market, but the Newton was more aimed at Palm, which was a Titan in that niche market during that era. It wasn’t exactly pocketable by any standard, but it did try to introduce innovative ideas and features in the personal digital assistant (PDA) market that was thriving at that time. The Newton, however, barely lasted a decade, especially after it failed to meet the returning Steve Jobs’ infamously high standards.

This Macintosh Pocket isn’t a simple rehash of that failed concept, though. Instead, it takes its DNA from two unlikely sources. On one side, you have a QWERTY keyboard in a cramped space that has become synonymous with BlackBerry. On another side, you have the two-step chassis of a Game Boy Pocket of that generation, hence the “Pocket” in the concept’s name. At the same time, you still have the telltale design language of Apple from the late 80s to early 90s, like that off-white color scheme and Macintosh keycaps.

The concept doesn’t simply slap on a display and a keyboard on a Game Boy body and call it a day, though. There was a great deal of thought given to how the mouse pointer would be controlled for a device of this size. A touch screen and a BlackBerry-esque touchpad were both out of the question, and a Lenovo nib is probably just as unlikely. Instead, Sowards took his inspiration from the PowerBook’s iconic trackball, reduced in size, of course. He even took the extra step to pattern the button after the PowerBook’s design, making it curve around the trackball on one edge rather than being perfectly square.

The back of this device is equally interesting in how it hides the ports that were standard on the Macintosh Classic. The most logical positions for these would be on the sides, but that would have cluttered the gadget’s design, a big no-no for Apple. Hiding it behind a panel where the Game Boy’s batteries would have been is a rather sneaky way to keep the design clean without losing functionality. Unsurprisingly, there is absolutely no room for a floppy drive of any size.

It’s probably questionable whether the Apple of the 80s would have adopted such a design, even if they magically foresaw BlackBerry’s becoming the de facto standard mobile device in the business world. It’s still an interesting thought experiment, though, combining designs and lessons learned by various companies across various industries. The craziest thing about this concept, however, is that it is probably completely doable today, thanks to 3D printing and small PCBs. It won’t be able to run the old Mac OS, though, at least not legally, but it could still be an interesting foray into what could have been if the stars were just aligned differently.

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This custom-made circular Game Boy is an object of pure weirdness

I don’t think anybody’s ever held a Game Boy and gone “Maybe this would be better as a circular device”. Sure, it would look cool, but the potential pros are heavily outweighed by the potential cons. Nevertheless, here we are with Love Hultén’s latest custom build, a weirdly circular Nintendo Game Boy that also comes with a circular display to match its body. At best, it’s weirdly fun, at worst it’s a usability nightmare, but then again, Hultén isn’t planning on selling this piece. It’s purely a custom build to flex his DIY skills and probably rile the internet up a little.

Designer: Love Hultén

From the looks of it, Hultén’s custom build was pretty much made from scratch and didn’t involve harming or hurting any existing Game Boys. Having extensively worked with circular displays (and even integrated a few into his custom-made synthesizers), Hultén managed to find a 5-inch IPS display he could spare for this build. The body looks like it was made from scratch, and the origin of those buttons could be anyone’s guess. Speaking of guessing, this custom Game Boy probably runs off an emulator fitted within its base. That also probably means all your games need to be sideloaded, and the circular Game Boy doesn’t have a slot at the back to input cartridges… although I wouldn’t put it past Hultén to actually make his own circular cartridges too!

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