Sometimes silly projects catch our eye, and we just can’t resist covering them. Over on Hackaday.io, [solderking] realized that there was a glaring omission in the multi-game management hardware for the Game Boy Color. Obviously, it’s too mundane to carry the handheld around with a bunch of games in one’s pocket, and a hardware multi-changer would definitely improve the usability. This convenient, pocket-friendly solution allows you to dock up four cartridges at a time, and with only a little mild inconvenience, spin the whole assembly, lock in a game and load it up. What could be easier?
Constructed from a ridiculous three-tier PCB stack, with a rotating center joint, the assembly is completely passive, with the connections from the selected game cartridge passed down a series of connectors before finally entering the Game Boy via the usual edge connector. The mere fact that this works at all just shows how tolerant (and we guess, slow) older gaming platforms used to be, and just what you can get away with! Still, it’s a fun build, and it does work, which just goes to show that just because you can, then you should.
We’re no strangers to Game Boy hacks. Here’s a useful cartridge to help with developing your first program. If the old platform is just a bit too limited for you, then we’ve got you covered with a hack that wedges an iCE40 FPGA and a Pi Zero inside the case, to give a bit more oomph.
Why spend time and money on such an idea?
The video says it’s sponsored by pcbway. They are known to fund projects so long as they get advertising out of it. He gets to build his channel too.
i’d love to see an enclosed roulette with a bunch of cartridges (for any system that uses them, really) that one would spin to determine which game they’re about to play.
Why not?
It doesn’t need to rotate, it just needs a switch to give power to the game you want to use.
That’s how this one works
https://youtu.be/E79iCMAxiWA
Why do you spend your time and money of your ideas which other strangers online may view as equally pointless? On a serious note, we do what we do because it entertains us. Not every project has to be 100% practical, save the world or make a million bucks.
Hey, hate to alarm you, but you’re hanging out on Hackaday, not Practicalproductaday.
You know, I used to ask questions like that about projects like this and I’ve heard a few reasons:
Because.
Learning.
Needed it.
Wanted it.
Money.
Why Not?
I’ve stopped asking why someone did something if I don’t understand it as long as it doesn’t harm me.
Because YouTube content
This is totally ridiculous, and I love it!
While it may not be particularly useful, I can see the concept being ported to different situations where it would be relevant.
Oh, it’s glorious in its impracticality. Why was this not available in the 90s? I remember weirder stuff from the 90s.
There was a similar one in the 90s, a 3 way adapter for Gameboy Advance. I have one that fits GBA-SP
I think it would look even better if the big PCB with the 4 connectors would be more rounded, preferably a nice circle.
I wonder if this idea would still work on newer systems, since they use smaller cards, the adapter can be made smaller and thus traces shorter.
There are memory card extenders out there with pretty long cables.
Coming soon: Gameboy Business with 8 catridge autoloader and Gameboy Enterprise with robotic cartridge library and iSCSI or NVMe over Game Link Cable!
Oh my.. It lives! 😱
What some people see as silly or ridiculous may be the foundation or proof of concept for another project. this isnt uncommon and we see this all the time.
W/ a little improvement, the same basic idea could be used as a cheap reliable cart switcher for a tamper-proof gaming kiosk. Just make the power switch lock the carousel, and you can have a library of cartridge games available in a protected cabinet. Good for a break room.
This would be a great idea… back in 1995
It would be even better (and also far more expensive) with pogo pins and a real axis for the rotation. I love the silliness, but it isn’t very polished. Imagine if this could be a large hand spinner !
It would be even better if they used pogo pins and contact pads, and a real axis for the rotation. I do like silly ideas like this, but it isn’t very polished. This could make a hand spinner if made correctly
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It may not be practical, but it’s oh-so-entertaining :-)
Version 2 proposal: a Yugioh-style duel disk where each slot holds a cartridge which is then piped into the Gameboy.
Just a quick thought, the center board could be extended for another pin header that doesn’t actually connect to anything. This would create even tension on the screw and pins. You could also use a stronger spring then to positively pull those pins into the header. Alignment might be a nightmare, but this whole project looks like idea that could have been disasterous but weren’t.
Align the cartridges in a 30 degree slanted stack and then use a slider instead of a spinner and you have a more pocket friendly, balanced for n cartridges and extendable for more carts, solution
Very entertaining!
“I mean… It works….”
The biblically accurate gameboy.