Third-Party Game Boy Hardware, Part 1: The Big Names
- Marcel Pflug
- Jul 7
- 3 min read
Nintendo built the Game Boy, but it deliberately left it plain: no light, a hungry appetite for batteries, a small screen, no way to back up a save and nothing to carry it in. Where Nintendo saw acceptable trade-offs, a whole industry saw opportunity. This is the first part of a series profiling the third-party hardware makers behind that industry, one maker at a time, drawn entirely from the collection. We begin with the big names, the brands whose products defined the accessory aisle.
Nuby
No brand is more synonymous with Game Boy add-ons than Nuby, whose colourful packaging hung in every toy shop. The collection holds a broad sweep of their range: the flexible-neck Game Light Plus for the unlit screen, a magnifier to enlarge the display, a Power Pak against battery drain, an amplifier to boost the sound, a rugged holster and even a car adaptor. Nuby had an answer for every complaint anyone ever made about the hardware.
Joyplus
If Nuby sold you one fix at a time, Joyplus sold them all at once. The centrepiece is the Handy Boy, the all-in-one contraption that clamped around the console to add a light, a magnifier, speakers and extended controls in a single chunky unit. Around it Joyplus built a whole ecosystem, and the collection holds the Handy Power I and Handy Power II, a Handy Plug, a Handy Tray and a matching carry case. Gloriously over-engineered, and unforgettable.
ASCII / ASCIIware
Japan's ASCII, trading as ASCIIware in the West, built genuinely serious, well-made gear rather than gimmicks. The collection holds their Carry-All Soft-Case and the deluxe Portable Carry-All Organizer, and, most notably, the Turbo File GB, an external memory unit that let players back up cartridge save files, solving the real anxiety of a fading in-cart battery. ASCII is where third-party hardware grew up.
Naki
Naki specialised in the practical fixes players actually reached for. The collection holds the Naki Action Pak+, a bundle of essentials, the Master Pack, and the Cool Screen. Their gear sat squarely in the sweet spot of the market: affordable, sensible answers to the console's light, screen and power shortcomings, sold by the shelf-full.
Beeshu
Beeshu made seeing and hearing the Game Boy better into an art. The collection holds the MagniLight and Clear View screen aids, which combined magnification and illumination, plus the delightful GameTunes Stereo FM Tuner, which turned the handheld into a pocket radio. Beeshu is a perfect example of a maker finding a niche and filling it with flair.
Saitek
The idea of the do-everything enhancer reached its peak with Saitek. The collection holds the Saitek BoosterBoy, an enhancer unit that wrapped the Game Boy in extra features, part of the same ambitious family as Konami's Hyperboy. These devices treated the bare handheld almost as a component to be upgraded, and they represent the most confident end of the accessory market.
Datel
Datel were the specialists in reaching deep into the hardware. Best known for cheating, they are represented by the Action Replay Pro, the famous cheat cartridge that let players pour in codes for infinite lives and beyond, alongside their Power Flash. Datel's devices are catnip for collectors who enjoy the slightly subversive end of the hobby, where third-party makers went further than Nintendo ever intended.
InterAct
InterAct ranged across the whole market. For saving progress there is the Mega Memory Card, an external store for game saves; for connecting there is the Handy Plug Plus; and for carrying it all there is the Scooba Bag Deluxe. InterAct is the archetype of the broad-line accessory brand, with a product for every corner of Game Boy ownership.
The Series Continues
That covers the big names, but the third-party world runs far deeper. Part two turns to the makers of power and connectivity, the battery packs, chargers and link cables that kept the Game Boy running and connected, and part three gathers the cases, screens, controllers and the modern makers still building for the console today.
Every accessory named here is documented, with photos, in the collection.
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