[Music]
he's gonna take you back to the man
[Music]
Oh
[Applause]
[Music]
Atari Sega nerd
the angry video game nerd
[Music]
here's a story of a little thing that
went a long way
it's the Nintendo Gameboy while not the
first portable game console it was the
first to make such a big impact it was
hugely successful there was some amazing
exclusive games like Link's Awakening
which alone made it worth it but lots of
the games were just poor versions of NES
titles and shameful watered-down arcade
games it didn't matter how compromised
they were as long as they could fit on a
Game Boy cartridge why not the only
reason to own Street Fighter 2 on
Gameboy would be to play it on a trip or
something but what about when you're at
home you better own the console version
too because if all you had was this oh
man
none of these inferiorities hampered the
game boy's success nor did the
monochrome graphics a lot of people say
the game boys in black and white but
really it's more like for ugly shades of
green the screen has no light so if you
try to play it in the dark you'll see
nothing you'd think it made a big
sensation only because of the novelty of
it being portable and that it would soon
fade away once the next thing would come
along but no that didn't happen and the
competition was fierce
there was the Sega Game Gear the atari
lynx amongst others they all had color
and lighted screens but that scrappy
little Gameboy kicked all their asses it
came out in 89 and wasn't discontinued
until 2003 during its lifespan there was
Super Nintendo Nintendo 64 and even
GameCube hit the scene before this gray
brick with puke color graphics finally
died out
also as famously shown in Nintendo Power
a soldier in the Gulf War had a gameboy
that survived a bomb blast even though
it was burnt black it's still powered on
you can't stop the Gameboy they were
released in different colors like black
red and yellow they even made one
transparent Nintendo Power made stickers
which are still on my only working
Gameboy and there's the carrying case
which looked like a giant Gameboy
a whole lineage was started including
the Game Boy Color the Game Boy Advance
game Boy Advance SP which evolved into
the D s and 3ds but it's impressive how
long the original Game Boy stuck around
and naturally during that time
lots of add-ons were made for it mostly
by third parties these range from
practical to flat-out ridiculous and
that's what I want to focus on here the
point is the Game Boy was a long-lived
success and here's the accessories that
probably had nothing to do with it the
super Gameboy was perhaps the most
useful though it's technically a Super
Nintendo add-on an adapter to play
gameboy games on your TV colorized with
lots of color presets and the option to
mix your own color combinations
there's border graphics and the ability
to draw all over it a total time waster
but how could you resist certain games
were specifically made for the super
Gameboy with their own color design and
borders but onto the Gameboy the first
thing that comes to mind is the link
cable it's just a simple way to connect
to Game Boys so two players could
compete in Tetris for example but then
there's the four player adapter it
sounds cool but you need four people
four copies of the same game and the
game had to be four player compatible
that's a rare situation it will be
easier to get the band which finder
general back together then getting four
people to play this thing
then there's the game genie so you can
enter cheat codes you'd think maybe just
maybe with this being a portable console
there would be a possibility that it
would be the only console to not have
game genie but nope what next is there a
game genie for a tiger game so when
you're playing in public everybody will
notice this big contraption mounted on
the top just a big flag to say hey
everybody I'm cheating I do have to say
it's really cool that it has a spot that
holds the code book now you have no
excuse to misplace it with all portable
consoles there is always that issue that
when you're going on a trip you always
had to make sure to pack extra batteries
you know there's a battery called god
camel and diehard yippie double-a mother
but you didn't need any of that because
the Gameboy had its own rechargeable
battery pack sure you had to buy it
separately but you had the option but
then comes all the weird third-party
stuff like the Gameboy solar charger no
come on you can charge a gameboy with
sunlight so I tried it you're supposed
to lay it out in the Sun for up to eight
hours for a full charge then you slip
your Gameboy in it you plug the solar
unit into the DC input on the side of
the Gameboy and it works I have no idea
how long it lasts but it works well this
is an eco-friendly solution right here
I'm impressed so when it comes to
charging a Game Boy there's many options
is there anything else I don't know
about is there a Game Boy wins charger
out there no matter how you charge the
Game Boy the screen still looks like
[ __ ] and you can't play it in the dark
well here comes the newbie light
so apparently it sticks to the top of
the Game Boy so you just clip it on
how's that good it works you turn it on
you dim in the room lights or even play
in total darkness and it does the job
but it takes the same amount of
batteries as the Game Boy so in total
you'd need eight double-a batteries damn
then there's the light boy it's the same
concept except this one has a magnifying
glass to make the screen appear larger
this one is hard to fit on you really
got to shove it on there this time it
only uses two batteries but the light
isn't working probably broken
then there's the light magic there must
be hundreds of these things it's the
same exact thing as the light Boy but it
attaches to the Game Boy much easier
other than that nothing's different the
light works so here you can see it in
action it's a nice way to boost the
visual appeal but why not just make a
new gameboy model with a normal screen
like everything else every version of
these magnification light things seem to
try to top the other this one called the
handy boy was released by STD STD who in
their right mind would name their game
company STD
got the light there oh oh [ __ ]
wow that just flew across the room okay
Wow oh well that really sucks that
really sucks I broke that it was fresh
out of the box and it broke sure it was
old but it seemed like it was hardly
used so I had to rush order a second one
on eBay this one I'm treating as
delicately as possible this one's
actually in worse condition but the
amount of use of God probably made it
less stiff this whole thing is
ridiculous Game Gear never did anything
oh never mind the good thing about this
contraption is that it requires no extra
batteries but there's a light on it so
how does it power on well somehow it
taps into the game boy's own battery
power the back of the box shows it
connecting to the DC port on the side of
the Game Boy but that's a DC input right
not an output is it both I tried it and
as expected it does not work not only
that but the moment I plug it in it
shuts the game boy down so this can't be
right who knows maybe somebody out there
has tried it this way and it actually
does work but mine doesn't however there
is another way to power this thing yeah
they gave you a second option as if they
knew it sucked well I wish I didn't have
to do this but yeah look at that
you're supposed to stick it in the
battery slot and lay the batteries over
it so the contact points and the batter
is sandwich it in place and guess what
it works like [ __ ] the light comes on
and off at random I have to constantly
jiggle it around to get the light back
on but it keeps going off again the
screen magnification is alright but as
you can see my glass really needs
cleaning
then there's the controller add-on
what's the point of this in case you
didn't like the controller that was
already there it was fine enough why do
you need this
does it add anything to the game is it
any better no it's [ __ ] horrible
it's all stiff and awkward who'd want to
play it like this the speakers are meant
to amplify the sound in case you didn't
think the game boys speakers were loud
enough because that's what you want if
you're in public right like if you're on
a bus you want everybody to hear what
you're playing but the speakers on this
thing are actually less loud than the
Gameboy speakers maybe they're full of
dust there is also the amplifier by
newbie so the idea of making the Gameboy
louder became its own line of
experiments but then came the ultimate
project if you want to get serious about
your Gameboy then let me introduce the
booster
this big ass [ __ ] is like the
mecca combiner robot of the Gameboy
family it will be cool to see it fight a
Game Gear but that would take me extra
weeks it takes C batteries but the Game
Boy gets to tap into the boosters power
by plugging the booster into its DC
input the way it should so at least they
got the power situation worked out it
magnifies and lights the screen just
like the others it has a cover for the
front with new controllers but again the
game boyse controls were perfectly fine
so why would you need this just get rid
of it as for the speaker volume what
would you ever want it that loud you
only play it like a foot away from your
face there's a cartridge compartment on
the back just for convenience it can
hold four games three games - it holds
only two games overall if you didn't
like how lightweight and convenient the
Game Boy was and the portability is not
something you find appealing and you
wanted something more bulky and awkward
then this is for you then there's the
Game Boy camera that's right a camera
for the Game Boy and there's no
complicated installation you just pop it
in like any game cartridge and snap a
picture yourself there's no way this
would work let me try this
it works Wow this is selfies before
selfies you can save your pictures to
albums you can mess around with them you
can even play built-in games like this
space invaders clone yeah it's the most
basic game you could possibly play but
hey why not for some reason it has a
suicide button that blows yourself up
then there's all kinds of weird random
games ah what the hell is that the more
you play around with this the more
strange things happen but basically it's
a camera that's a Game Boy cartridge oh
I wonder if it works on super Gameboy it
does holy [ __ ] but the camera can't work
can it oh my it actually works
but if you want to take a picture of
yourself you have to turn the Super
Nintendo around the bottom line it could
be done but hey look here I can decorate
my face now this is too much fun also
there is the gameboy printer so if you
want to print the pictures yeah that can
happen
[Music]
wah-ha-ha-ha lots of these Gameboy
accessories are rare some of the ones
that I couldn't get my hands on are the
Game Boy FM radio the work boy where you
can plug in a keyboard and turn the
gameboy into a personal computer just in
case you didn't like using a monitor
then there is the Hudson soft kiss link
which allowed you to connect the gameboy
to the Internet and download exclusive
gaming content from Hudson's website
there was the barcode boy which was a
barcode scanner with games included
where you unlocked certain features by
scanning barcodes found on cards and
merchandise there was the Gameboy pocket
sonar so if you bring a gameboy on a
fishing trip
you can detect fish up to 65 feet
underwater the Game Boy Color had a
mobile phone adapter and a sewing
machine I repeat a sewing machine that
came with a game cart where you choose a
sewing pattern and then the machine
shows the pattern there were also game
boy shoes big platform shoes with spaces
to fit your game boy color yeah you look
so [ __ ] awesome but then to top it
off the grand finale
I'm not even emotionally ready to tell
you about this so just sit back here it
is the pet ISA day this thing was
intended for hospitals to help children
relax when they're about to be put under
for surgery or medical procedure
essentially it's a pair of headphones
that you plug into the game boy you
could probably plug it into any portable
gaming console but more importantly it
has a cup that goes over the child's
mouth and releases the sleep gas or
laughing gas or whatever it is they need
so it's the only gaming peripheral I
know of that gas is you imagine being
sedated while playing [ __ ] dr. Mario
what would that be like oh my god I was
gonna make up a bunch of fake [ __ ] at
the end like the game boy dog turd
collector but nothing I can make up can
top this and this thing was real and
they didn't get released but it was
invented and patented the game boy must
have been the most multi-purpose thing
in existence astronauts actually took it
into space they could withstand bomb
blasts you could take photos print so
find fish get sedated I want to be
sedated with the Gameboy I want to be
sedated with the Gameboy
bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam but i want to be
sedated with the Gameboy