This Game Boy recreation will play your old cartridges, and you can hook it up to the big screen
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Retro gaming is still a popular pastime. Some like to build a collection of care games and consoles, some love to seek out beloved titles from their childhood, while others seek out obscure games they may have missed. As classic hardware ages, however, it becomes increasingly difficult to play old games. Which is where hardware like the Game Bub comes in.
A creator on Hackster called Eli Lipsitz had an idea of a fully open-source FPGA retro emulation machine that could play physical Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges, but could also be used to play ROMs from the thriving homebrew and ROMhack scene via microSD card.
Game Bub announcement
The result was the Game Bub, a device that can do all of those things, but can also use the classic Game Boy link cable to do things like transfer Pokémon between game versions. According to its product page, the creators will also release an optional Game Bub dock, which will contain an HDMI port for connecting to a larger display, but also a Bluetooth adapter to connect additional controllers. This also allows for simultaneous charging.
Third-party consoles using FPGA have become increasingly popular. Unlike the purely software-based emulation used in devices like the Retroid Pocket or Miyoo Mini, FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) devices like the Game Bub emulate the actual hardware of the original device. This provides a far more accurate and authentic experience.
At the moment, you cannot buy the Game Bub. There are plans by Lipsitz and his team to change that by launching a crowdfunding campaign. Those who don't want to wait that long can head to the GitHub page for the project and attempt to craft their own version using the files and source code available.
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