The Clear Game Boy and Its Rainbow: The European Colour Collection

For its first six years, the Game Boy came in exactly one colour: a sober off-white grey that made it look more like a pocket calculator than a toy. Then, in the mid-1990s, Nintendo decided the grey brick should show off. It relaunched the hardware in a range of bright colours, and one model stole the show completely: a version with a clear case that let you stare straight into the machine's electronic heart.

European coloured Game Boy DMG-01 collection

When the Game Boy Learned to Show Off

The idea arrived in 1995 with Nintendo's Play It Loud campaign, a deliberate attempt to make an ageing handheld feel fresh and fashionable again. Instead of new hardware, Nintendo simply gave the existing DMG-01 a wardrobe of new coloured shells. The consoles were identical inside, but suddenly the Game Boy came in a spectrum of finishes that turned a functional gadget into a statement. In Europe the range grew into the colourful family the museum now groups as its Limited Edition colour series.

It is worth stressing that nothing changed under the plastic. Every one of these coloured Game Boys is still a standard DMG-01, with the same directional pad, A and B buttons, Start and Select, the same unlit green dot-matrix screen and the same four AA batteries. The magic was entirely on the outside, which is exactly why they are so collectible: they are pure design, the same beloved machine wearing seven different outfits.

The Clear Game Boy: See-Through Star of the Set

The undisputed favourite is the clear Game Boy, officially called High Tech Transparent and nicknamed the "X-Ray" in the United Kingdom. Its see-through housing reveals the green circuit board, the ribbon cable to the screen and the little speaker inside, turning the console into its own display piece. Transparent electronics were a mid-1990s craze, and see-through Game Boys have remained among the most sought-after variants ever since.

The transparent shell was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Alongside the European unit, the collection also holds the North American Play It Loud clear console, letting you compare the same see-through idea as it was sold in different markets. There is something fitting about a museum piece you can literally see inside.

Play It Loud Series - X-Ray Version (USA)

That fascination was not unique to Nintendo. The mid-1990s were the golden age of see-through consumer electronics, from clear telephones to translucent stereos, all trading on the thrill of showing off the technology inside rather than hiding it. Nintendo clearly liked the effect, because it returned to transparency again and again in later years, with clear Game Boy Color shells and translucent controllers becoming recurring collector favourites. The clear DMG-01 was where that story started for the Game Boy.

Every Colour in the European Run

The clear model has plenty of company. The European colour series in the collection also includes the Radiant Red, the Gorgeous Green, the Deep Black, the Vibrant Yellow, a Traditional White and the Cool Blue. Seven finishes, one shelf, and a small rainbow of Nintendo history.

Game Boy Crystal Box Set - White (NOE)

Game Boy Crystal Box Set - Clear (NOE)

Game Boy Crystal Box Set - Blue (NOE)

Game Boy Crystal Box Set - Black (NOE)

Game Boy Crystal Box Set - Yellow (NOE)

Game Boy Crystal Box Set - Green (NOE)

Not every colour is equally easy to find, which is part of the fun for collectors. Yellow, red, clear and black were the common ones, produced in large numbers. Green is noticeably scarcer, while blue and white are the true rarities: the blue console was sold only in Europe and Japan, and the white was largely a Japanese release that reached Europe in limited numbers. Assembling the whole set, as here, is far harder than it looks.

The colour range also threw up some intriguing regional quirks. The clear model that Europeans and Americans knew as High Tech Transparent was nicknamed the "X-Ray" in the United Kingdom, and Britain even received an exclusive red console decorated with Manchester United branding for football-mad fans. These little regional variations are catnip for collectors, because they turn a simple colour choice into a map of how Nintendo tailored the same machine for different markets.

The Rarest - Traditional White

Same Machine, Different Skin

The Play It Loud consoles are a lovely lesson in how much personality a simple colour change can add. The internals never varied, yet a transparent shell feels futuristic, a red one feels sporty and a black one feels grown-up and serious. Nintendo understood that the Game Boy had become a personal object, something people carried everywhere, and that letting owners pick a colour made the machine feel like theirs. It was branding at its cleverest, extending the life of a console that was already a runaway success.

There is a preservation angle, too. Coloured and especially transparent plastics can discolour over the decades, with clear shells yellowing and bright whites turning cream as the material reacts to light and air. A crisp, unclouded example is therefore far scarcer than the original production numbers suggest, and keeping one in good condition is a small act of conservation in its own right. It is one more reason the coloured Game Boys are prized well beyond their humble origins as a marketing refresh.

The Colour Set in the Collection

Seen together, the European colour run tells the story of a company that knew exactly how beloved its little handheld had become. The clear model may be the star, but each shade has its own character and its own rarity. You can explore the full spread of coloured consoles, and the rest of the DMG-01 world, across the collection.