Watch On
My fate was sealed as soon as my folks gifted me a Game Boy Color and a copy of Pokémon Red. My younger self also used to daydream about carrying such cool tech right there on her wrist, just like her favourite cartoon characters. However, my older and wiser adult self is downright cynical about the whole smartwatch thing, making this build by YouTube creator LeggoMyFroggo a truly unholy union.
Rather than simply emulating Pokémon’s greatest hits on a wearable smart device, the creator, whose real name is Chris Hackmann, has crafted something that combines original Game Boy parts with modern hardware: behold, the Time Frog Color. Specifically, he salvages the thankfully small-enough Game Boy Color CPU, slaps it onto a bespoke PCB, and combines it with a Sharp SoC based on the Zilog Z80 (via HackADay).
That Z80 is a lot less powerful than what you’d find in a typical smartwatch, so it’s paired with a Raspberry Pi RP2040. This microcontroller chip translates the Game Boy Color’s ye olde parallel RGB output into something a modern screen can actually display. The dinky size of the device requires compromise and creative thinking, but arguably the most cursed part of the build are the controls.
The creator chose to load games via shrunk-down custom cartridges (yes, really). Still, the cartridge slot takes up a lot of space within the watch’s guts. That leaves little room for a battery on the board or anywhere in the already 15 millimetre thick watch, so it’s contained in the strap instead.
Fabricated from silicone via a process of overmoulding, Hackmann acknowledges that the strap is hardly the ideal place for a battery in terms of thermals or safety—but he says he’s unlikely to charge and play his creation at the same time, so he’s unlikely to run into too much danger there.
Anyway, that thick smartwatch housing leaves apparently ample space for the Game Boy’s buttons and d-pad along its sides (I told you it was cursed). Even my tiny hands ache at the thought of playing the thing, and Hackmann admits the project is essentially a “Game Boy Color with a less than optimal playing experience.”
Should the thought of twingy palms not put you off, you’ll be able to give the project a go yourself once Hackmann uploads the documentation to his GitHub. The entire project took about two years to come together, so it’s totally reasonable that the creator is taking a breath before making the project fully open source. While I still think fondly of my old Game Boy’s clear, purple plastic shell (which may explain a few other things about me), I’m personally not feeling inspired to give this build a go.
That said, I do still love how old hardware inspires new projects, with this ‘Ultimate’ PlayStation mod with HDMI output, USB power, and wireless controller support—a recent favourite of mine. For one more Game Boy Color project, I recommend the 8-bit Morrowind demake that could actually run on your original old handheld. I wonder if Hackmann will make a Time Frog Color cartridge for this next.
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