While we wait for Nintendo to sell us an official Game Boy Classic to complement the NES and SNES Mini, we cannot help our mind wandering. What might the classic 1989 Nintendo Game Boy look like if it were reimagined for our more – ahem – refineddesign sensibilities 30 years later?
Industrial designer YJ Yoon rose the challenge of taking the classic beige brick and refining it a way which brings it bang up to date. Yoon obviously has a lot of nostalgia for the humble Game Boy, as many of us do. "Playing with it reminds me of my younger memories," he says. "It was the first gaming console that I got as a birthday gift from my father. The feeling of the grip, pushing in and pulling out the game cartridges, and the analog gaming melody are still lovely."
He goes on to describe the design choices made in lots more detail here. The Game Boy Flex has a much thinner body and a larger screen, which we'd naturally expect in any redesign from Nintendo themselves. It looks like the concept captures the original feel of the handheld – but we're not quite sure we're ready to give up the classic D-pad just yet.
Have a look at Yoon's work and let us know if you'd buy one of these if they were available. With the 30th anniversary of the original Game Boy coming up next month, Nintendo still has time to surprise us by revealing the Game Boy Classic we've always wanted!