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GAME BOY JOURNAL
Welcome to the Game Boy Journal, the field
notes of a lifelong DMG-01 collector.
This is where the little grey box that fit in a
pocket and quietly changed gaming gets the
attention it deserves: the stories behind the hardware, the games that defined it, the strange accessories and the rare variants most people never knew existed.
Expect well-researched articles, surprising facts and the occasional look behind the scenes of the collection itself. Whether you are a serious collector, a curious newcomer or simply nostalgic for that pea-green screen, there is a story here waiting to pull you in. Pick an article and start exploring.
CATEGORIES
DEEP DIVES - SPECIAL ARTICLE SERIES
The Collector's Handbook, Part 1: What a Grade Really Means
A plain-language guide to how video-game grading works, from slabs and seal ratings to WATA, CGC and VGA, using two graded pieces in the museum as real examples. Educational, not financial advice.
Marcel Pflug
5 min read
The Paper Trail: The Game Boy in Print
The Game Boy did not just live on shelves and in pockets. It left a paper trail: comics, guides, catalogues, fan magazines and books. Here is the map to all of it.
Marcel Pflug
2 min read
Great Game Stories: 12 Game Boy Tales, from Once Upon a Time to The End
The Game Boy's little grey cartridges held real stories. Great Game Stories retells twelve of them from the museum's collection like fairy tales, from once upon a time to the end.
Marcel Pflug
3 min read
Write Your Own Game Boy Games: A Beginner's Journey in Two Series
You do not need to be a programmer to make a real Game Boy game. Two hands-on series take you from an empty folder to a polished, cartridge-ready game, explained in plain English. Here is where to start.
Marcel Pflug
3 min read
Third-Party Game Boy Hardware, Part 1: The Big Names
Nintendo built the console; a whole industry built everything else. Part one of a series on the third-party makers, with a dedicated look at Nuby, Joyplus, ASCII, Naki, Beeshu, Saitek, Datel and InterAct.
Marcel Pflug
3 min read
The Game Boy Around the World: One Console, Eleven Stories
The same grey box lived a different life on every continent. Our series traces the Game Boy from Tokyo to Lagos to Switzerland, market by market.
Marcel Pflug
3 min read
Build Your Own Game Boy Game, Part 1: Setting Up Your Workshop
The start of a hands-on series. By the end you will have written Snake for the Game Boy in C and run it on a real DMG-01. Today, we set up the tools.
Marcel Pflug
5 min read
Great Games, Tiny Screen: The Game Boy's Finest Hours
The Game Boy had no business hosting great games. Even in 1989 it was modest hardware: no colour, a screen that smeared during fast motion, and sound from a single tinny speaker. Rival handhelds were flashier and more powerful. Nintendo made a different bet, that a game people wanted to keep playing mattered more than raw horsepower, and a decade of brilliant, strange and stubborn cartridges proved the bet right. Great Games, Tiny Screen is a tour through some of the finest,
Marcel Pflug
2 min read
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Fresh Find: The LMP PowerBase Docking Station
A docking station and rechargeable battery system for the Game Boy, and a rare commercial flop. The Gamester PowerBase joins the collection.
New on the Shelf: When Super Mario Land Became a Pop Song
A 1993 dance record built entirely around a Game Boy game, credited to Ambassadors of Funk featuring MC Mario. A surprising arrival joins the collection.
Just In: Nintendo's 1992 German Game Boy Guide
Nearly 150 pages of games, solutions and hardware, modelled on the earlier US guide. The 1992 German Player's Guide joins the collection.
New Arrival: Nintendo's 1989 Japanese Game Boy Launch Catalogue
A promotional catalogue from the console's very first months, introducing the Game Boy to Japan. One of the earliest publications in the collection.
Just In: The UK Golf & Tetris 2 Game Boy Bundle
A rare British boxed set pairing the Game Boy with two games at once. This Golf & Tetris 2 bundle joins the collection.
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RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
The InfoGenius Story: When the Game Boy Tried to Go to Work
Years before the smartphone, GameTek's InfoGenius line earnestly tried to turn the Game Boy into a pocket organizer, translator and travel guide. It flopped, and that is exactly why it is such a joy to collect now.
The Collector's Handbook, Part 1: What a Grade Really Means
A plain-language guide to how video-game grading works, from slabs and seal ratings to WATA, CGC and VGA, using two graded pieces in the museum as real examples. Educational, not financial advice.
The Paper Trail, Part 2: Player's Guides and Strategy Books
The official Player's Guides and per-game strategy books on the shelf, from Nintendo's 1991 US guide to the Game Boy-shaped Victory Book, and the games they helped you finish.
ALL ARTICLES
Fresh Find: The Second German Game Boy Player's Guide (1994)
The scarcer of Nintendo's two German Game Boy guides. This 1994 second volume joins the collection, a harder-to-find companion to the 1992 original.
The InfoGenius Story: When the Game Boy Tried to Go to Work
Years before the smartphone, GameTek's InfoGenius line earnestly tried to turn the Game Boy into a pocket organizer, translator and travel guide. It flopped, and that is exactly why it is such a joy to collect now.
Fresh Find: Lost Treasure of Lima, a New Game Boy Hunt for a Very Real Fortune
A brand-new Game Boy cartridge from Broke Studio sends you after the Treasure of Lima. The twist: the treasure is real, it vanished in 1820, and no one has ever found it.
Fresh Find: Inspector Waffles: Early Days, a Cat Detective on a Real Game Boy
A hard-boiled cat detective, a city called Cat Town, and a case to crack, all running on an original 1989 Game Boy. Meet Broke Studio's Inspector Waffles: Early Days.
New on the Shelf: The German Super 3 Set Bundle
A rare German-only 1994 bundle with three games in the box. The Game Boy Super 3 Set joins the collection.
The Collector's Handbook, Part 1: What a Grade Really Means
A plain-language guide to how video-game grading works, from slabs and seal ratings to WATA, CGC and VGA, using two graded pieces in the museum as real examples. Educational, not financial advice.
New Arrival: Game Boy Bath and Shower Foam
A Game Boy for the bathroom, complete with a Yoshi skill game. This 1997 Takara shower foam joins the collection's oddities.
The Exam Project That Never Ended: nanoloop and the Game Boy as Instrument
An art student's 1998 exam project turned the Game Boy into an instrument, and it is still made and played today. The story of nanoloop and Oliver Wittchow.
The Paper Trail, Part 5: The Books That Made the Game Boy History
The coffee-table books, reference guides and logbooks that treated the Game Boy as history and art, decades after it launched as a toy.
The Paper Trail, Part 4: Fan Magazines and Sticker Albums
From a UK newsstand to a Tokyo bookshop, the independent magazines, Famicom Tsushin supplements and sticker album the Game Boy inspired.
The Paper Trail, Part 3: Catalogues and Club Nintendo
The Game Boy was sold on paper first: Nintendo's own catalogues, Nintendo Power and Club Nintendo. Follow the marketing paper trail from Japan to Germany, the UK and France.
The Paper Trail, Part 2: Player's Guides and Strategy Books
The official Player's Guides and per-game strategy books on the shelf, from Nintendo's 1991 US guide to the Game Boy-shaped Victory Book, and the games they helped you finish.
The Paper Trail, Part 1: The Game Boy Comic Books
In 1990 the Game Boy earned its own comic book, and Valiant Comics printed exactly four issues. Here is the story of the run, and the collector's game of telling a 1990 first print from its 1991 reprint.
Third-Party Game Boy Hardware, Part 3: Cases, Screens and the Modern Makers
The final part of the series on the Game Boy's third-party makers: the cases, screens and controllers from A.L.S., Pelican, nYko, Recoton and Hori, and the modern maker keeping the console alive.
The Paper Trail: The Game Boy in Print
The Game Boy did not just live on shelves and in pockets. It left a paper trail: comics, guides, catalogues, fan magazines and books. Here is the map to all of it.
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