Game Boy Accessories

Everyone remembers the Game Boy, whether they owned one or not, but most people probably don’t remember the huge amount of accessories that Nintendo released for the handheld. Operative word, there - Nintendo. There were a bunch of third-party accessories, but I don’t have the space to write about those.

Game Boy Battery Pack

Released in 1989 with the Game Boy, the Battery Pack was a way to avoid having to go through batteries so often. It allowed 8-10 hours of use once charged, or infinite use if you left it plugged into the wall. It also had a belt clip, to make it easier to carry around, since it was almost as big as the handheld itself.

Game Link Cable

Also released in 1989 alongside the handheld, the Link Cable was used for multiplayer games, and later, for transferring Pokémon between the different titles. Examples of multiplayer games were; Double Dragon, Mortal Kombat, Micro Machines and Golf.

Super Game Boy

Released in 1994, the Super Game Boy was used to play Game Boy cartridges in a Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Some games did receive additional features when playing in a Super Game Boy, such as Animaniacs and Toy Story having expanded sound, and most others having their own unique borders.

Game Boy Camera

Released in 1998, the Camera held the Guinness World Record for being the world’s smallest digital camera. It had a 128x128 pixel CMOS sensor. It came with some mini-games installed on it, but it was mainly used in conjunction with the Game Boy Printer.

Game Boy Printer

Also released in 1998, the Printer was a thermal printer (like the kind that produce till receipts) that was mainly used with the Game Boy Camera. However, some games also had Printer functionality, such as Donkey Kong Country, Pokémon Gold & Silver, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2.

N64 Transfer Pak

First coming out in 1999, the Transfer Pak was bundled with Pokémon Stadium, and allowed you to transfer data from Game Boy cartridges into certain Nintendo 64 titles. Only six of these were released in the West, with 12 more being Japan-exclusive. It was mainly used in the Pokémon Stadium titles to transfer your Pokémon teams.

Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Advance Cable

Released in 2001, this allowed the two latest Nintendo devices to interact more closely than just slotting a game cart into the controller. It allowed you to control certain GameCube games using the Game Boy Advance, as well as allowing communication between over 20 titles.

Nintendo e-Reader

A proto-amiibo released in 2001, it allowed you to scan cards that came with certain titles. This would unlock features in the games that you otherwise couldn’t use without owning an e-Reader.

Game Boy Player

From 2003, this was performed the same function as the Super Game Boy, but allowed (almost) any Game Boy cart to be inserted and played via the GameCube. It also enabled certain Game Boy Advance games to use the GameCube controller’s rumble feature.

Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter

Released in 2004, this was basically a wireless version of the Link Cable. Unfortunately, it supported fewer titles. On the plus side, it allowed up to 39 players to connect together and communicate in the Union Room of Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald.

Japan-Only

There were also a couple of accessories that never reached Europe or North America. The Game Boy Pocket Sonar was released in 1998 to help with fishing - not a videogame, but actual real-life fishing. Finally, the Mobile Game Boy Adapter allowed you to connect to your mobile for remote play, for titles such as Pokémon Crystal.

We hope this has been enlightening, and that you can truly appreciate how technology has changed over the decades.