I turned the Lego Game Boy into a working Game Boy • Hacker News Board

Re: I turned the Lego Game Boy into a working Game Boy

#11

Post by danielkay » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 7:26 PM UTC

jjkaczor wrote: post #2

This is... very very nice, and why I love the internet, LEGO and maker/hacker type nerds...

I think tons of HN tech people are into LEGO. After they gathered 10,000 votes and still declined to do a JWST telescope TWICE, I personally decided to have some fun with it on my own.

https://ibb.co/bgFFKhLn

Plan to Kickstart it early next year...

Re: I turned the Lego Game Boy into a working Game Boy

#12

Post by ericzawo » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 7:59 PM UTC

I was wondering how long it would take someone to do this.

Re: I turned the Lego Game Boy into a working Game Boy

#13

Post by lowbloodsugar » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 8:44 PM UTC

Was so disappointed when I realized it wasn’t a real gameboy, but then I realized someone even more of a nerd than me would take care of that and I’d just have to be patient. Only took a few days!

Re: I turned the Lego Game Boy into a working Game Boy

#14

Post by Liftyee » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 10:04 PM UTC

I love projects like this where you have to work around constraints like the Lego form factor and the support electronics for the CPU. In terms of modern hardware, the PCB is surprisingly sparse - using modern surface-mount components really helps.

The super detailed silkscreen on the Nintendo PCB does make me wish for the time when all products came with schematics and component specifications...

Re: I turned the Lego Game Boy into a working Game Boy

#15

Post by B-Con » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 10:13 PM UTC

dom96 wrote: post #8

I pre-ordered this set to do exactly this. Nice to see others have the same idea. Weirdly I only received mine today, I wonder why the difference in pre-order shipment times is so large.

People in the USA have been picking them up for weeks from Costco. I got mine ~2 weeks ago.

Re: I turned the Lego Game Boy into a working Game Boy

#16

Post by layer8 » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 10:55 PM UTC

The startup video doesn’t feature the Game Boy startup sound (nor any other sound), so no sound?

Re: I turned the Lego Game Boy into a working Game Boy

#17

Post by alias_neo » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 10:55 PM UTC

B-Con wrote: post #15

dom96 wrote: post #8

I pre-ordered this set to do exactly this. Nice to see others have the same idea. Weirdly I only received mine today, I wonder why the difference in pre-order shipment times is so large.

People in the USA have been picking them up for weeks from Costco. I got mine ~2 weeks ago.

I saw this set on the shelf in a big toy shop (Smyths) here in the UK a few days ago, didn't realise it was hot off the press.

One can definitely go pick one up off the shelf here in the UK as of at least Wednesday (the day I saw them).

Re: I turned the Lego Game Boy into a working Game Boy

#18

Post by jerrysievert » Sat, Oct 04, 2025, 2:25 AM UTC

dom96 wrote: post #8

I pre-ordered this set to do exactly this. Nice to see others have the same idea. Weirdly I only received mine today, I wonder why the difference in pre-order shipment times is so large.

beyond the other explanations that some have given, lego direct order releases ship from more than one warehouse, even in the US - my bricklink western train set shipped from Vegas, and others I had chatted with either got them 3-4 days earlier than me or 3-4 days later, depending on how close they were to the warehouse and the order of the orders going out.

just logistics, or luck as some of us call it?

Re: I turned the Lego Game Boy into a working Game Boy

#19

Post by edoceo » Sat, Oct 04, 2025, 2:32 AM UTC

ginko wrote: post #4

The Game Boy modding scene is fascinating. You can literally replace every single part of it other than the `DMG-CPU` main SoC. Well even that can be replaced, sorta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EccVHo-pDGI

The Game Boy of Theseus

Re: I turned the Lego Game Boy into a working Game Boy

#20

Post by ranza » Sat, Oct 04, 2025, 12:15 PM UTC

Thats my wife!