Lego Nintendo Game Boy review: a brick masterpiece just shy of perfection

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Is there a phrase that describes the sensation of “I need one thing to be only a bit higher as a result of it’s already so good it solely wants one final kick within the pants”?

As a result of that’s how I really feel concerning the $60 Lego Nintendo Sport Boy. It’s higher than the fan-made Lego Game Boy that I requested Nintendo to make. It’s even higher than I hoped when Lego officially revealed the set. This isn’t only a statue that appears like my unique 1989 Sport Boy; it’s a pleasure to construct and feels unbelievable within the arms. You possibly can press each button, spin each dial, roll the D-pad, and throw a satisfyingly snappy energy swap.

Although it doesn’t gentle up one bit, its lenticular shifting photos had been sufficient to momentarily shock family and friends into asking: “Does it really play video games?” The set even has a couple of hidden Easter eggs.

And but, I can’t assist wanting extra.

Let’s do one thing totally different for this evaluation: Let’s make it a present and inform. If you happen to’re a video individual, begin by tapping on my Instagram embed above, or TikTok, or YouTube, or Facebook, or maybe my Bluesky. If you happen to want images and phrases, scroll down and I’ll let you know all about it!

The Link’s Awakening scene on the beach.

Right here it’s, the {photograph} I’ve needed to stage for months: the Lego Nintendo Sport Boy subsequent to the pristine 1989 unique you may need seen in many a Verge photo before. It was my spouse’s childhood Sport Boy, although I had one similar to it — and Lego designer Carl Merriam completely nails the dimensions, form, and look. It does overcompensate barely with the Off-On swap and headphone jack labels which might be grey as an alternative of molded, three of the 4 corners of the grey display bezel are sq. as an alternative of barely rounded, and the A and B buttons appear virtually pink reasonably than purple.

It’s additionally clearly made from a mosaic of Lego tiles reasonably than a single easy floor, however that’s a part of the attraction: it’s a surprise to understand the Sport Boy might be re-created 1:1 out of Lego bricks!

Right here, I’ve each displaying the very same cutscene from The Legend of Zelda: Hyperlink’s Awakening. If you happen to’ve by no means performed the unique, it’s possible you’ll not understand just how specific a moment this is — a bittersweet, heartstring-tugging scene you’ll be able to solely watch as soon as per playthrough, so I needed to save my sport earlier than a sure quest to get this picture.

The image of Mario jumping on a faux game boy screen has ridges all over it, because that’s the lenticular lens that allows light to show different images at different angles.

Lenticular tech continues to be rad.

The Lego Sport Boy comes with three of those little lenticular panels to make it appear to be the display’s turned on and provides it a way of movement. If you happen to tilt the hand-held up and down, you’ll be able to watch Mario leap, see the Nintendo brand fall, or watch the waves and seagulls fly above the Hyperlink’s Awakening seaside.

However the one factor I don’t perceive is printing on a grey background reasonably than a inexperienced one, so the Lego Sport Boy’s display doesn’t look inexperienced like the unique’s. It looks like a weird miss to me.

A better have a look at grey versus inexperienced:

“Sean, are you listening to me?” says Marin to Link, because I entered my name when starting the game.

I threw in an Easter egg of my very own.

It’s not the one nit I might decide with the Lego Sport Boy’s display, which is recessed fairly a bit greater than the unique, which in flip makes it even more durable to gentle up than the unique (and, like the unique, you want an exterior gentle supply to try this because it didn’t have a light-weight of its personal!).

However I don’t blame Lego for that — it’s as a result of Lego’s utilizing an everyday Lego window body and windowpane for the display as an alternative of making new customized elements, which make it really feel extra authentically Lego. I simply want Lego would begin defending its massive windowpanes higher so that they don’t come scratched proper out of the field.

You need a lot of light to see the “screen” well.

You want a variety of gentle to see the “display” effectively.

Evaluating the Lego Sport Boy to the unique from each angle, you’ll be able to see plenty of locations the place there are slight gaps between the tiles, certain. However you can even see that just about each advanced curve and label is represented, and whereas it weighs a couple of ounces lower than the unique, it’s virtually the very same measurement.

Picture slider: quantity and distinction wheels, exterior connector port (although there’s no port beneath Lego’s cowl) and the AC adapter jack. No AC adapter label on the Lego model.

That energy swap could appear positioned too excessive, but it surely’s price it for the satisfying snap of its Technic peg motion.

Headphone jack.

You shouldn’t take that as a right, as a result of it’s not simple even for expert Lego creators to construct a dense real-life object to scale with shifting elements. For example, see how a lot thicker and blockier Lego Masters Australia finalist Nick Lever’s creation is under?

From left to proper: Lego’s Sport Boy, Nintendo’s Sport Boy, and my try at Nick Lever’s fan creation.

I nonetheless love the Mario hat buttons, although.

BTW, both of the Lego Game Boys can technically squeeze in a real cart, but it stretches the build uncomfortably.

BTW, each of the Lego Sport Boys can technically squeeze in an actual cart, but it surely stretches the construct uncomfortably.

However as the Lego Group showed and told me in 2023, the factor that really separates an ideal official Lego set from a fan creation is the unbelievable quantity of thought that goes into making the set playable and enjoyable to construct, not simply enjoyable when you’re by.

You may get a greater sense in my video, however after a sure level the entire set is constructed out of modular elements. You create a set of springy face buttons that slide into place, a D-pad that drops in, a display that wants attaching. It contributes to the phantasm you’re constructing electronics as an alternative of simply piling bricks collectively. And there are particulars you’ll solely recognize for those who’ve seen inside — like how the springy Begin and Choose buttons are literally Lego automobile tires.

The rubber nub brick under the D-pad makes for a surprisingly good action.

The rubber nub brick below the D-pad makes for a surprisingly good motion.

Or how the springy “membrane” below the D-pad and A and B buttons are coloured equally to their real-life counterparts, although you’ll by no means see them as soon as it’s closed:

One rubber band makes each buttons springy.

Picture: iFixit

Or how there’s a brick-built “speaker” beneath the Lego speaker grille, full with yellow “wires,” on the decrease right-corner of the construct:

Picture: iFixit

Or how Lego’s Hyperlink’s Awakening cartridge even encompasses a “battery backup” for its save video games, like the unique, whereas the Mario cartridge appropriately doesn’t.

Button battery!

Button battery!

Not an ideal apples-to-apples comparability, since my actual cart is the Participant’s Selection reprint from 1996.

The Lego cart can technically slot in an unique Sport Boy cartridge case for those who take away the highest tile.

All of it takes such ardour and a spotlight to element that I’ve to surprise: why cease wanting doing every part you’ll be able to while you’ve already come this far?

Right here’s the again of the Lego Sport Boy, and the actual Sport Boy, displaying off one closing Easter egg: the “serial quantity” that’s really the date the unique Sport Boy first got here out on April twenty first, 1989. That half’s nice. But it surely additionally incorporates two utterly clean spots the place the unique Sport Boy had an information panel with mannequin numbers and regulatory markings, and the US model had a service sticker.

At $60 — I got mine early for $50 at Costco — I can perceive why the Lego Nintendo Sport Boy doesn’t have gentle or sound or really play video games simply but. (Followers will make it do all these issues earlier than lengthy.) However the high panel is already a printed piece, and the set already comes with a small sticker sheet.

The Lego Nintendo Game Boy and everything that comes with.The Lego Nintendo Game Boy and everything that comes with.

Similar to my actual copy of Hyperlink’s Awakening fixes bugs that Nintendo originally accidentally shipped, would possibly I counsel Lego ship future copies of the Sport Boy with greener screens and some extra traces of textual content?

Pictures by Sean Hollister / The Verge

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