We’re sure Nintendo is busy creating something new and exciting to release into the world, but we kind of wish this is what they were working on…
Munich-based designer Florian Renner has reimagined Nintendo’s iconic portable console, the Game Boy, as a machine fit for the 21st century, and we desperately wish it were real.
Renner’s “GAME BOY 1up” concept takes the iconic design of Nintendo’s 1989 portable and twists it into a device that any gamer would be proud to pull out of their backpack on a train.
▼ Game Boy becomes GAME BOY 1up
The most notable addition is of course the bigger, wider screen, allowing games to be experienced in—we’re assuming—beautiful 1080p. Renner’s concept also adds a couple of additional face buttons as well as the ‘L’ and ‘R’ shoulder buttons console gamers have come to expect.
It’s not all change, though; as well as mimicking its colour scheme, Renner’s design retains the original Game Boy’s speaker slats and single curved bottom-right corner, which is a really nice touch, although having nursed my left palm back into shape following many an extended session with the original Game Boy, I have a feeling today’s gamers might find themselves wishing the left corner were equally well contoured were this a real piece of gaming hardware.
▼ Same but different: Renner’s concept mixes things up with its buttons
▼ Sleek, stylish, and it uses physical media!
▼ This version appears to be something of a homage to the Famicom with its gold and burgundy colour scheme
While I very much doubt a portable console of its size, least not one from Nintendo—a company with a reputation for putting originality before processing power—could be capable of running such titles as Fallout 4, I can’t deny that I’d love to see Nintendo’s name on a piece of hardware this capable in the future. As much as I enjoy the novelty factor of Nintendo’s more recent consoles, I do occasionally find myself missing the days when Nintendo’s machines were not considered the quirky underdog in the console race. Still, who knows? Maybe Nintendo will surprise us all when it lifts the lid on its mysterious ‘NX’ console next year? I can dream, right?
Be sure to check out the rest of Renner’s work, which spans everything from 80s-style visions of the future to art for video games, over on his website. Fantastic work, sir. Be sure to hassle Nintendo about making this a reality!
Source & images: Florian Renner h/t The Next Web