How to make your old Game Boy as good as (or better than) new

Enlarge / Fixing and upgrading old Game Boys is a fun way to revive and personalize your old tech; it's also a great excuse for revisiting some classic games. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Old Nintendo consoles are clearly having a Moment.

This interest has been spurred in part by official hardware releases like the NES and SNES Classic Editions, tiny replica consoles that have more in common with your smartphone than with the original hardware. But lots of people still want to dig out their old cartridges and play games on actual hardware, as evidenced by the Analogue NT, the Super NT, and Hyperkin's unabashed Game Boy Pocket clone.

It's that last one I want to focus on. Nintendo's retro revival has so far focused mostly on the classic boxes that you hooked to a TV, ignoring the portables that buoyed Nintendo when home consoles like the GameCube and Wii U faltered. But Hyperkin's backlit Game Boy clone and the (heretofore totally unsubstantiated) rumors about a Game Boy Classic Edition suggest that people want to relive their long childhood car trips just like they want to relive hours in the basement parked in front of a TV and an NES.

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