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When Sydney-based small business owner Natalie the Nerd saw the Game Boy Lego kit that was announced over the Summer, she hit send on a half-hearted tweet jokingly pledging to "make a [circuit board] for this" and turn it into a fully functioning console. Then, she actually did it.
The Lego Game Boy went up for pre-order in July, but didn't actually hit store shelves until October 1, which meant Natalie the Nerd had to construct her PCB - printed circuit board - without having the Lego kit in hand.
This is all documented in a blog on Natalie the Nerd's website that details the process of turning a bunch of Lego blocks into a functioning Game Boy system in some technical detail.
"I only had the press pictures to work off," said Natalie the Nerd. "I used the dimensions to scale the image on my PC and from that I got measurements for the screen inserts; since that's where I plan to put the Game Boy."
As someone who sells and modifies retro gaming handhelds for a living, Natalie knows her way around a Game Boy, in and out. In this instance, she opted for a Game Boy Pocket CPU as it's "pretty much the same" as the original Game Boy, she owns more of them, and they're "cheaper and easier to get," which "opens up the project to more people."
Using only press pictures to work out the dimensions of the Lego set, Natalie the Nerd scaled images from her PC and used the measurements for the screen inserts.
Thankfully, one thing that made this whole project infinitely easier are the Lego kit's pressable buttons, which indeed sound highly clickable in videos shared to Natalie's blog that are formatted in such a way that I can't embed them here.
"At the moment I have them wired up to custom 3D printed *toy brick* parts. Same with the USB C," she said, adding that she's still "refining the board" now that she actually has the Lego kit in her hands. "This project will be released in full once I am finished with it - so stay tuned!"
Natalie the Nerd's shop does Game Boy and cartridge repairs and sells all sorts of parts, tools, and accessories for you to do the same. And it sounds like, once the kinks are worked out, this wicked cool playable Lego Game Boy will also be featured in the shop.
In the meantime, here are the best Game Boy games to play right now.
