Smart Boy News And Updates: Innovative Gadget To Bring Game Boy Cartridge Fun To Mobile Devices [VIDEO]
Playing retro games on a modern device is something that has become quite a norm these days, with today's gamers seemingly becoming more and more enamored with the gaming technology of yesterday. Now, a company has taken this notion even further, introducing a device that actually allows gamers to use their old GameBoy and GameBoy Color cartridges on their smartphones.
The company, called Hyperkin, has unveiled a device called the Smart Boy. Essentially, the Smart Boy is a physical GameBoy emulator for smartphones, allowing players to run classic game cartridges and play all those nostalgic titles on a mobile device. The physical emulator, which boasts the same color scheme as the original GameBoy, was unveiled at the recently-concluded E3 2016.
In a lot of ways, the Smart Boy is a very novel project. The device came to life last year, as an April Fool's joke from the company. However, the concept it exhibited, as well as the premise of actually using game cartridges once more, was very warmly received by the public. As it turned out, the massive support and interest the concept showed were enough for Hyperkin to fully pursue the project.
As much as the device has already been shown, however, the Smart Boy is still not ready for consumers. According to Hyperkin, it should be releasing the first developer kits for the device starting December this year, for about $60. With the hardware already there, Hyperkin is hoping that developers would embrace the project. In fact, the firm is even offering a royalty percentage of the retail unit for developers who could help improve the product.
The Smart Boy might be a very real device right now, but it still needs to pass by a lot of tribulations before it could be considered ready for consumers. The most prominent of these trials, of course, would most probably come from the original creators of the Game Boy themselves, Nintendo.
After all, Nintendo has a very notorious reputation for shutting down projects that might encroach on its intellectual rights. With the Smart Boy basically creating a physical Game Boy emulator, there is a very real chance that Nintendo might step in and demand the project's development to be stopped.
If Nintendo lets Hyperkin off the hook, however, a good number of gamers would be very happy, indeed.
