Building a kit to turn the LEGO Game Boy into a working console. What features would you like to see?

[BrickBoy_kit]

Hi everyone,
I am new to this community and wanted to share an idea with fellow Lego fans to see what you think 👀

Lego is releasing the Game Boy 72046 this October. Pre-orders sold out quickly and I think it is already one of the most exciting sets coming this year!

My thought was: what if it could be more than just a display piece? I am working on a set that would let the Lego Game Boy light up and even play simple retro games.
I call it BrickBoy 💪

I am still very early in the process, so before I spend more time and resources, I would love to know what you think about my idea.

What features or fun touches would you want to see?

I will address all your comments and share updates on my journey here. For those who prefer email, I have also set up a simple landing page at https://brickboy.xyz/ to follow along. Have a look!

Thanks a lot for having me, looking forward to your thoughts!

Image: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TV1vnfKwy1bc71G7Ekcu8X1bKf7enj28/view?usp=drive_link

Edited 1 hour ago by BrickBoy_kit
change the image link, improved the english

[Lyichir]

Sounds like a tricky project! I imagine the screen might end up being the easier part, as there's plenty of space to potentially fit a small LCD screen like the original system had. But if you wanted it to be playable on its own (instead of simply using it as a monitor of sorts with separate detached controls), you would probably need to modify several of the buttons—the A and B buttons depress like the original system so could likely be hooked up to switches, but the control pad and start and select buttons seem less functional.

As eager as you are to solicit ideas and start brainstorming, I'm not sure whether you'll be able to adequately gauge how feasible the project is until you have the Lego model in-hand. At that point it will be easier to figure out what modifications you would need to make to bring your idea to life.

[MAB]

Looking at the visible parts, I imagine the build is going to be fairly solid without any space for components.  You are probably getter off designing a case from scratch around your preferred components.  I've done it for raspberry pi and a number of arduino boards in the past but have always started knowing what I want to put in and building around that rather than the other way around.

[Mylenium]

Agree with the others. You'd most likely need some sort of custom encapsulated modules replacing whatever buttons are there. The rest sounds a lot simpler. I'm pretty sure on those Asian electronics market web sites you could already find a complete kit from which to build a 3D printed Game Boy emulator that just would need to be fitted into the LEGO stuff. I still have the old GB cartridges, but I haven't bothered to dig them out just for the chance I could build one using such a kit. Running an emulator on another device is just more convenient. Fun as your project sounds you probably will have a tough time convincing people to buy it, at least if my own laziness is any indication. ;-)

Mylenium