Tune In: FM Radio Add-ons for the Game Boy

The Game Boy played games, of course. But for a few years in the 1990s, accessory makers were convinced it should do everything else as well, and that included playing the radio.

A small group of add-ons clipped onto the handheld and turned it into a portable FM radio, and they are some of the most charming oddities in the accessory world.

A Radio in Your Game Boy

The best known of these is the GameTunes Stereo FM Tuner, made by the accessory specialist Beeshu. It was a true FM radio that drew power and a home from the Game Boy, letting you tune in to stations through headphones. By most accounts it worked perfectly well, which is more than you might expect from such an unlikely mashup of console and transistor radio.

GameTunes and the Gameball

The GameTunes tuner was not alone. The collection also holds the BigBen FM Gameball, another take on the same idea from a different maker. Between them they show that putting a radio on a Game Boy was not a one-off joke but a small genre of its own, with rival companies offering their own spin on the concept.

The Era of Add-on Everything

FM tuners belong to a wonderful moment when the Game Boy was treated as a platform to build on, not just a toy to play. The same shops sold clip-on lights, magnifiers, amplifiers and cradles, all promising to make the handheld brighter, louder or more capable. A radio attachment was simply the logical extension: if you already carried a Game Boy everywhere, why not let it keep you company with music too?

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  Sunsoft Sound Boy (JPN)

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  FM Tuner for Game Boy

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  FM Headsets for Game Boy

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  Game Boy Amplifier - Speakers for the Game Boy

Why the Game Boy FM Radio Add-ons Are Fun to Collect

Because they were niche, third-party and easily lost, Game Boy FM radio attachments are uncommon today, and they make a delightful talking point in a collection. They capture a very particular flavour of 1990s optimism, when a grey handheld seemed like it might be the one gadget you needed for everything. Browse more curious accessories in the Knowledge Base.