top of page
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 Sound of the Game Boy
Two features, two directions of travel. This is the hub for the whole story of the Game Boy and music: the instrument it became on stage, and the muse it became on the charts.
Marcel Pflug
2 min read
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
Retro Game Museums in Switzerland: A Tour of Kindred Spirits
The Game Boy Museum lives online, but Switzerland has three wonderful places where you can actually play gaming history. Meet our kindred spirits in Lucerne, Lausanne, and Zurich.
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
The Game Boy's Hidden Powers
The Game Boy's cartridge slot was never just for games. It was a secret expansion port, and this hub gathers the eight-part series on every hidden power that little slot unlocked.
Marcel Pflug
3 min read
Search
The Datel Power Flash
A way to play Game Boy games on the Nintendo 64. The Datel Power Flash joins the collection, adding another device to the shelf of adapters that carried the handheld onto the big screen.
The Complete Guide to the Original Game Boy (DMG-01)
A complete guide to the original 1989 Nintendo Game Boy (DMG-01): its history, hardware, colours, regional variants, model codes and companions, with a link to every deep dive.
New Arrival: An Italian Naki Advert, the Accessory Trade Goes European
A magazine advert selling Naki's Game Boy add-ons to Italian players. It joins the collection's international run of accessory ads.
Just In: Xenon 2, When the Bitmap Brothers Came to the Game Boy
A monochrome port of a famously stylish computer shooter, complete with a rave-scene musical pedigree. Xenon 2 joins the collection.
The Original Game Boy's Games: Classics, Oddities and Hidden Gems
The launch line-up, the platform's defining hits, its infamous flops and its hidden gems: a guide to the games that made the original Game Boy, each linked to its full story.
LATEST ARTICLES
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Mario's Game Boy Empire: The Plumber Across the Handheld Library
Mario did not just visit the Game Boy, he colonised it. From platformers to puzzlers to a starring role on merchandise, here is how one plumber turned up across the whole handheld library.
Where the Games Are Switched On: GamePlaza, Zurich's Interactive Video Game Museum
A few tram stops from the Game Boy Museum, GamePlaza lets you actually play gaming history. Meet Zurich's interactive video game museum.
The Game Boy's Hidden Powers, Part 1: A Sense of Movement
The Game Boy could not sense which way you held it, or push back against your hands. So Nintendo hid those powers inside the cartridges. Part one of a new series looks at two from the collection that gave the handheld a real sense of movement.
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.
Mario's Game Boy Empire: The Plumber Across the Handheld Library
Mario did not just visit the Game Boy, he colonised it. From platformers to puzzlers to a starring role on merchandise, here is how one plumber turned up across the whole handheld library.
Level Up Your Snake, Part 2: A Title Screen for Your Snake
A game should greet you before it begins. In part two we turn the start-screen design from part one into a real, interactive title screen that waits for the player to press START.
Level Up Your Snake, Part 3: Keeping Score
A game is more fun when it counts. In part three we reserve a status line at the top of the screen and draw a live score that climbs with every piece of food the snake eats.
The Sound of the Game Boy, Part 2: When a Handheld Made the Charts
The Game Boy's four little sound channels did not stay inside the handheld: they climbed the UK charts, powered novelty hits and mini players, and still turn up on fresh chiptune vinyl today.
Where the Games Are Switched On: GamePlaza, Zurich's Interactive Video Game Museum
A few tram stops from the Game Boy Museum, GamePlaza lets you actually play gaming history. Meet Zurich's interactive video game museum.
The Game Boy's Hidden Powers, Part 1: A Sense of Movement
The Game Boy could not sense which way you held it, or push back against your hands. So Nintendo hid those powers inside the cartridges. Part one of a new series looks at two from the collection that gave the handheld a real sense of movement.
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.
The Sound of the Game Boy
Two features, two directions of travel. This is the hub for the whole story of the Game Boy and music: the instrument it became on stage, and the muse it became on the charts.
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.
bottom of page