Game Boy Merchandise Gone Wild: From Shower Foam to Bubble Gum

There is a reliable sign that a product has stopped being a gadget and become a cultural phenomenon: its name starts appearing on things that have nothing to do with its original purpose. Mickey Mouse did it. Coca-Cola did it. And the Game Boy, that little grey handheld, did it too, ending up printed on a genuinely bizarre range of everyday objects. The collection gathers a good many of them, and together they are hilarious, charming and a real record of just how famous the Game Boy became.

Merchandise You Could Wash With

The prize for most unexpected item surely goes to the Game Boy shower foam. Somewhere, a licensing deal was signed that put the Game Boy brand onto a bottle of shower gel, presumably so that fans could start their day by lathering up with their favourite console. It is the kind of product that makes perfect sense to a marketing department and absolutely no sense to anyone else, which is exactly why it is so wonderful to have preserved.

Yes, Game Boy shower foam really existed.

Food and drink were fair game too. There is Game Boy bubble gum from the American maker Amurol, turning the console into a sugary treat, and a packet of Wario Land tissues, because apparently even blowing your nose could be a licensed experience. These were cheap, disposable products, which is precisely why so few survive today.

Game Boy Merchandise - Notebook

Game Boy Merchandise - Bubble Gum

Game Boy Merchandise - Wario Tissues

Game Boy Merchandise - Mario Pencil Cups

Game Boy Merchandise - Suprise Egg

Game Boy Merchandise - Game Boy Metal Sign

The Game Boy also crept onto the walls and shelves. There is a decorative metal sign for fans who wanted the logo on display, a themed notebook for jotting down high scores, and even a set of drink coasters. None of it was necessary, and that is exactly the point: this was merchandise bought purely for the joy of surrounding yourself with something you loved.

Around the Home

Plenty of merchandise aimed to put the Game Boy somewhere you would see it every day. A branded alarm clock promised to wake fans in style, while a money box encouraged them to save their pocket money, ideally for more games. For the kitchen there is a heat-change mug that reveals its design when filled with a hot drink, and a handy bottle opener for the grown-up fans.

Game Boy Merchandise - Classic Coaster Set

Game Boy Merchandise - Money Box

Game Boy Merchandise - Heat Change Mug

Game Boy Merchandise - Alarm Clock

Odds and Ends

The long tail of Game Boy merchandise is where it gets really strange. There are novelty smart gaming glasses, a collectible Game Boy egg and a tiny Super Mario cap eraser of the kind that filled school pencil cases. None of these were ever going to be treasured heirlooms when new, which is exactly why finding them intact decades later feels like a small victory.

Then there are the items designed to be collected in the first place. Sets of Game Boy trading cards and Bandai cards turned the brand into a playground currency, while a building blocks set and a simple key chain let fans carry a piece of the Game Boy with them everywhere. Individually each is a trinket; together they show a marketing machine reaching into every price point, from pocket-money impulse buys to proper little display pieces.

Game Boy Merchandise - Building Blocks Set

Game Boy Merchandise - Bandai Trading Cards

Game Boy Merchandise - Merlin Sticker Album

Game Boy Merchandise - Mario Pencil Cups

Game Boy Merchandise - Mini Trading Cards

Why Collect the Silly Stuff

It would be easy to dismiss all this as tat, and when it was new, most of it was. But that is precisely what makes it valuable now. Consoles and games were expensive, cherished and often carefully kept. Shower foam and bubble gum were used up and thrown away without a second thought. Very few examples survived, so this cheap, throwaway merchandise is now among the hardest Game Boy material to find in good condition.

There is also a bigger story here. The sheer breadth of Game Boy merchandise is a measure of how completely the console had entered everyday life. You did not just play a Game Boy; you could wake up to one, wash with one, chew one and keep your savings in one. A brand only reaches that far when it has truly captured the public imagination.

There is a licensing story hiding in all this too. Every one of these products meant a deal was struck, a logo was approved and a factory somewhere ran off a batch of Game Boy shower foam or bubble gum. That only happens when a brand is hot enough that companies in completely unrelated industries want a piece of it. The merchandise, in other words, is a paper trail of fame: each silly object is a small receipt proving just how far the Game Boy's name could travel.

The Curiosities in the Collection

Taken together, these odd little objects paint a picture no console or cartridge can: the Game Boy not as a machine, but as a craze that spilled out into every corner of daily life. You can explore the full range of curiosities, from the sensible to the utterly absurd, across the collection.