The Smart Boy Developer Kit turns your phone into a Game Boy. It started as a joke and its now a reality, better blow off the dust on Super Mario Land.
We’re still wondering whether this is a serious thing or not, but it really does look legit. The Smart Boy Developer Kit is essentially a case which connects to your Android device through the micro USB port, effectively turning it into a working Game Boy. Unfortunately there’s no iPhone version so iOS users will have to sit this one out. USB-C is not supported here either but if this proves to be a success, you can definitely expect a USB-C version after, it is after all the future Android port.
Using the Smart Boy you’ll do away with emulators and ROMS, the greatest advantage of using the Smart Boy is the tactile physical buttons. It opens you up to more games as not every game on the Game Boy is great using a touch screen. Example: Metroid. Action oriented games suffer from the lack of physical buttons.
The Smart Boy Developer Kit isn’t exactly a consumer product, it is as the title suggest a developer’s kit, more for proactive people to pick up and create something awesome. Hyperkin are the creators and they have a reputation for creating retro consoles to tickle your nostalgia. Previously Hyperkin created the Supa Boy, a portable Super Nintendo console which runs actual Super Nintendo cartridges and you can plug controllers into it.
Nostalgia seems to be playing a key role in marketing for video games. Sony President Andrew House admitted to The Guardian the PlayStation 4 was not meant to be the nostalgia machine it currently is, but with the success Sony saw after revealing the Final Fantasy 7 remake, saw the Japanese company invested in market research. The result is nostalgia sells and Sony are giving its fans exactly that after a new God of War title was announced, and a remaster of Crash Bandicoot 1-3.
If you fancy trying out the Smart Boy, follow this
link.
