Remember the Smart Boy? It began life as a 2015 April Fools' Day joke by hardware maker Hyperkin, but the company later admitted it was making the thing for real.
We've heard little since then, but the Smart Boy is still very much alive and well - it has even been spotted on the show floor at E3.
The design has evolved somewhat, and the unit - which is due for release in December - is now only confirmed for Android phones. Back in 2015, iPhone support was mentioned, but according to Neowin Hyperkin will now only commit to handsets which run Google's OS.
The Smart Boy acts as a physical controller for you to play Game Boy games with, and even accepts original cartridges. These are presumably dumped to the phone and played via emulation in very much the same way they are on Hyperkin's Retron 5 console.
Are you still interested in picking up this interesting device? Share your thoughts with a comment.
[source neowin.net]
Comments 26
where is the livestearm for the pokemon thing at 10 today
I will definitely snag this , although I hope it gets a gameboy color look instead.
Nice design.
Cool where can I get it
I would definitely get it...if I had a smart phone, lol.
@andrew20 Its probably gonna be at 12 Eastern and NL put the wrong time.
@andrew20 It's just a recap of the information from day 1 and 2 for japanese viewers. You can see it on here: http://live.nicovideo.jp/gate/lv264397908
It's just the footage from before, but with the japanese hosts speaking over it.
I foresee a lot of technical issues with this device. I'm not sure how they're connecting the phone to the device (either Bluetooth or physical connection to micro USB, I'm guessing Bluetooth due to the semantics with USB ports) but there's bound to be compatibility issues. I wonder how they're going to prevent the ROM from being stored on the phone when you're not playing it.
@andrew20
seems DrkBndr just beat me but they won't be showing us anything new today
guys the stream is happening here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rispy_HaWY
but is all in Japanese and apparently is just recap
Its definitely cool, but I wish they had gone the extra mile to make your phone an actual gameboy advance (unit would be held horizontally, with a portion of the right and left side covered to reveal the grip and buttons similar to the feel of the original gameboy advance). And then we could plug in all our GBA/GBC/GB cartridges in the unit. That's what I really want.
android only gives me a sad but i still have a gba sp so oh well
Depends on price if it don't also support ROMS.
My Gameboy 1990 screen have errors, and it would be cool with a new one.
This was at e3? Surely Nintendo would say something as its dumping their games to run on an emulator
Wow, loving it. Wonder if it will work with my special 82 in 1 cartridge
Great idea! Looks good too.
@duffmmann that's for the next iteration in 2017/8.
I would love this to have the X & Y buttons and the shoulder buttons. I'd order one right away.
The funny thing to me is that as cool as this device looks, it will probably end up being more expensive than it is to go buy a real original Game Boy these days. A good condition Game Boy with a new scratch-free screen protector installed tends to run about $25 to $30 USD, and somehow I think Hyperkin's new Game Boy impersonator might end up being a bit more expensive lol Still pretty cool looking though.
Too bad I already have an nVidia Shield K1
Does that thing had a link port? It would be pointless to play classic Pokemon without one since you need one to trade and catch 'em all.
that is pretty sweet. To bad i don't have a smartphone!
@callmeking17 I highly doubt this thing is anything more than a physical overlay to make playing with emulated touch buttons on a game boy emulator a bit more authentic, not a bluetooth controller. That being said if this thing is adjustable for both large and small phones, I may keep an eye on it if the price is good.
One way iOS users will be upset. I have an iPhone as of now but will buy an android soon. I'd love for this as I never break my phone but my GBA SP broke.
Is that legal ? I'm afraid modified gadgets to play illegal game copies with whatsoever reason is kind of crime. If that gadget still can run the original GBA/ GBC cartridge, is that still called emulator or legal play ? I don't want to emulate any game ROMS at all.
@Anti-Matter No, it's actually legal. The patents on these designs end after 25 years. This is why there has been an influx in Famiclones followed by other older hardware clones like the SNES, Genesis, etc. For more info read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System_hardware_clone#Post-patent_Famiclones
@duffmmann
Thanks for the info. I'll check later.
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