The Game Boy had some of the coolest and most innovative accessories. As I sit here writing this and listening to classic Game Boy music to get in the Game Boy mood, I'm thinking about some of my favorite add-ons to the Game Boy.
I grew up with the Game Boy, and I still remember going to Sears with my family and having to go to the video game section I'd play Super Mario Land 2 while I stood in the back of the shopping cart, because I wasn't tall enough to reach the buttons without it. Pokemon, Mario Land, Kirby - the Game Boy had all sorts of great games and some interesting tools that went along with it.
Game Boy Camera
Nintendo wanted people to be able to interact with each other while they played their Game Boys, so it developed the Game Boy Camera. People could take pictures with the camera, which would slide into the game cartridge slot on the back of the Game Boy. It would only take a black and white picture, but that didn't matter. You had a pocket-sized camera that you could take pretty much anywhere. But the question became how would you get the pictures off the Game Boy? That's where number 2 comes in.
Game Boy Printer
Nintendo decided that they needed a partner for the Game Boy Camera, and what better partner for a camera than a printer? Players needed/wanted a way to get their pictures off of the Game Boy, and the Printer allowed for easy printing. It also allowed players to print stickers as well, but the main feature was players could print their pictures wherever and whenever they wanted. I'm not quite sure who would want to print these pictures, but so be it.
Game Boy Link Cables
The Game Boy Link Cables weren't used much in the early days of the Game Boy. They were really only used for Tetris multiplayer matches and other multiplayer games.
Then came a game that allowed for battles and trades between players, but they had to be linked together. Pokemon brought new features to the link cable and everyone who was a Pokemon Trainer needed a link cable to evolve their Haunter into Gengar, Kadabra into Alakazam, and so on.
Game Boy Light Boy
Before backlit screens, players needed a way to light up their Game Boy screens. The Light Boy attachment did that, as well as magnifying the screen too. This made playing the Game Boy so much easier, because you could actually see what you were doing. All you had to do was attach it to the top of the Game Boy, put in two AA batteries, and you were good to go. People today might think it looks dumb, but it was a go-to accessory back in the early 1990s.
Super Game Boy
Now, I know what some of you are going to say that the Super Game Boy isn't a Game Boy accessory. But anything that went along with the Game Boy that made games play better can be seen as an accessory. The Super Game Boy let players play their favorite handheld games on a larger TV screen. It also allowed for custom color designs and drawing on game screens. The Super Game Boy also brought special on-screen borders for certain games like Pokemon and Kirby. I can remember wondering which games had special Super Game Boy on-screen borders.
The Game Boy was a system that I won't forget and it brought some great memories along with it. If it wasn't for the likes of Mario Land, Kirby's Dream Land, and Pokemon, who knows where gaming and portable gaming would be?
