Soon we’ll be able to turn our otherwise Useless iPhone into a Game Boy! To tell you how, What started as a prank is now becoming a reality: Video game hardware developer Hyperkin is releasing a device tentatively called SmartBoy.
With this new piece of essential technology, users can slip in their iPhone 6 Plus and favorite Game Boy cartridge
Ahem bring out the Pokémon Red Legend of Zelda or Dragon Quest III and imagine playing them on a high-quality screen.
“We wanted to create a retro device that can be easily adapted into any modern gamer’s arsenal of devices,” Chris Gallizzi, Hyperkin’s product developer, said in a press release.
Still in the development stages, the Hyperkin Smartboy promises to wrap your phone in a highly familiar body, complete with physical controls and a slot on the back for playing real cartridges — which might be enough to make it App Store-friendly. Whatever the case, you can rest assured it’ll be a must-have for any nostalgic iPhone owner if/when it finally comes out.
This experince will be different than Playing Game Boy games on your iPhone if you were lucky enough to grab a sneaky app or just jailbroke your device. But you’ve never been able to do it like this.
Initially, the device will only be available in ’80s gray, with more hues coming later. It will also have an eight-way D-pad, two action buttons, a start and select button, and a battery that charges through the phone. There’s no set release date yet, but the knowledge that this is actually becoming a reality is enough for now.
And non-iOS users don’t have to feel left out: Hyperkin is also looking into making devices for Android and Windows handsets.
