Turn It Up: The Sunsoft Sound Boy and the Nuby Amplifier

For all its charms, the original Game Boy was never going to win awards for its sound. A single small mono speaker gave the console a thin, tinny voice, easily lost on a noisy bus or in a busy living room. Yet the music pouring out of those cartridges was surprisingly rich, and players wanted to hear it properly. Two accessories, one official and one from the busy world of third-party add-ons, set out to fix exactly that.

Why the Game Boy Needed a Sound Boost

Here is a lovely quirk of the hardware. The Game Boy's built-in speaker is mono, but the console actually generates its music in stereo, which you can only hear through the headphone socket. That little jack is the key: it delivers fuller, louder, two-channel sound than the speaker ever could. Both of the accessories here plug into it, taking that better signal and pushing it through their own amplifier and speakers.

The Sunsoft Sound Boy

The Sunsoft Sound Boy is the more serious of the two. Licensed by Nintendo, it plugs into the Game Boy's headphone socket and runs the sound through a built-in amplifier and speaker, powered by its own pair of AA batteries. The result is noticeably louder audio with real bass behind it, turning the console's thin chirp into something with body. For a game with a great soundtrack, and the Game Boy had many, it was a genuine upgrade to the experience. You can see the Sunsoft Sound Boy in the collection.

The Sunsoft Sound Boy: bolt-on bass and volume for the grey brick.

The Nuby Amplifier

The Nuby amplifier comes from the other side of the accessory world. Nuby was one of the great third-party makers of the era, turning out a whole range of clip-ons, cases, lights and add-ons for the Game Boy. Its amplifier takes the same approach as the Sound Boy, drawing sound from the headphone jack and pushing it through louder, fuller external speakers, but as part of a cheaper, cheerful lineup rather than an official product. It is a perfect example of how an entire cottage industry grew up around improving Nintendo's handheld. You can see the Nuby amplifier in the collection.

The Nuby amplifier, one of many add-ons from the clip-on accessory era.

Two Takes on the Same Problem

Side by side, the Sound Boy and the Nuby amplifier tell a neat little story about the Game Boy accessory market. Nintendo and its partners offered a polished, licensed solution, while independent brands raced to offer their own cheaper alternatives, each competing for the pocket money of players who wanted a bit more from their console. Neither was essential, and that is exactly why they are such fun to collect: they are pure enthusiasm, gadgets made simply because someone thought the little grey machine deserved to be heard.

A Louder Legacy

There is a nice irony here. The Game Boy's sound chip, once boosted, is now celebrated in its own right, powering a whole genre of chiptune music made on original hardware. These humble amplifiers were early proof that people always wanted to hear that sound as loudly and richly as possible. Explore more curious add-ons across the collection.