Fan-Modded LEGO Game Boy Lets You Plays Actual Games

Natalie the Nerd has modified a LEGO Game Boy into something much more than an homage. Her custom device (which we first heard about at IGN) transforms the collectible set into a working version of the the legendary system. You can actually play Game Boy games with this hybrid iteration.

While we wouldn’t have had the first clue how to do this ourselves, she said “there isn’t much to it.” Natalie cited her “experience of routing Game Boy CPU PCBs.” Yeah, turns out “there’s the RAM, CPU, some decoupling capacitors and power regulation,” all things we definitely know about and understand.

One thing we actually do understand is that the faux cartridge opening on the back of LEGO’s set was the key to her modification. As was the fact the replica Game Boy has buttons you can actually press. Without that this would seemingly have been a whole lot harder to pull off.

What makes this even more impressive is that she started working on it before LEGO’s set even released. She wrote, “I used the dimensions to scale the image on my PC and from that I got measurements for the screen inserts; since that’s where I plan to put the Game Boy.” From there she said she “incorporated the power circuit I use for my Safer Charger boards, changed the power switch to a soft latching power button, added pin outs for the button matrix and audio.”

Those are words, yes. We don’t fully understand all of them, but that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that someone turned our obvious LEGO Gameboy dream into a reality.