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The Barcode Boy is a Game Boy peripheral developed by Sofel and released by Namcot in 1992, sold only in Japan. It attaches to the console and lets it scan barcodes; games such as Monster Maker: Barcode Saga used scanned cards to customise characters and battle opponents, and extra merchandise carried further barcodes to unlock features.
The Barcode Boy was almost always sold bundled with a game, since the hardware cannot be used on its own. This standalone version was made in very limited numbers, which makes it the rarest of the Barcode Boy items in the collection.
More from the Museum's Journal: Barcode Boy: Scanning Barcodes to Bring Characters to Life.
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