I’ve rather given it away with the headline there, but I couldn’t help myself. Lego’s recently launched Game Boy is the most extraordinarily satisfying build, with results that feel uncannily realistic. It looks and feels perfect, complete with a just-too-murky screen to thoroughly emulate the real thing.
Announced back in July and immediately up for pre-order (which I did as soon as I’d written the article), the Lego Game Boy was clearly a labor of love, and in some ways a compromise for Lego given the number of bespoke pieces made just for this set. From the curved and grilled panel to the fuchsia caps for the A and B buttons, a few plastic liberties have been taken to make this such a stunning replication of the 1989 handheld. And wow, it nails every element, from the bizarrely realistic-feeling d-pad (despite being so ostentatiously a Lego cross) to the spongy A and B buttons, all made complete with the epic and satisfying “CLICK!” of the on-off switch.
By my count, there are at least 12 pieces unique to this set, and wonderfully this includes a large number of pre-printed pieces with distinctive Game Boy designs and fonts. Where these would usually be stickers, Lego has saved people like me who live in fear of such operations, and I’m so very grateful. Placing stickers, especially long, thin ones, requires the steady hands of a surgeon, and not the shaky incompetent flippers on the end of my arms. Still, for those who enjoy the adrenaline rush of the completely irredeemable moments, both the game cartridges you build require a large sticker be placed.
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Another aspect that makes this build so special is that—and I realize how pretentious this sounds, but it’s definitely true—the instructions are put together with wit and timing. The first thing you’re asked to build is one of the two cartridges, along with a display stand for it that contains a slot for storing the spare lenticular cards. But rather than going straight onto the second, you instead are launched into the Game Boy itself, building it from the inside out. This means that you’re constructing its green network board first, then adding the base below, before putting in the mechanisms for the buttons and the buttons themselves, and only after that’s all in place putting together its complete shell. It’s so delightful that it’s constructed just as a Game Boy would have been, and those button mechanisms are just so smart. The d-pad uses a concealed rubber tire to provide the push-back when you press it in any of its four directions, while the A and B buttons get their exact sponginess from a cunningly placed rubber band pegged around three c-arm clips. The results feel so realistic, making these super-smart tricks feel all the more remarkable.
Further, it’s only after you’ve finished the main Game Boy that you realize you were unwittingly adding amazing details like a realistic-looking DC inlet at the bottom, a headphone jack on the left side, and the scrolling contrast and volume wheels. Oh, and the unexpectedly hefty click of the on-off button is still making me happy.
The smart nature of the instructions is completed by ending on the second cartridge, which you then slide into the back of the Game Boy, where even here it slots in with a satisfying clunk. It’s an incredibly rewarding way to finish, and you don’t have that moment of ending with the boring fiddly bits that so often marks the finish of a Lego build. There’s no putting the side-character together, or wedging flowers on all the plant stems here; that other cartridge and both display stands are already completed, and inserting that cartridge is your final moment.
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Now, the one criticism I have here is the last thing I thought I’d be saying, but there are a couple of flaky moments in the instructions. One piece type in particular is always shown such that you can’t see that it has an L-bend, and there are three or four odd moments where it obfuscates where a piece should be placed underneath what you’ve already built. Nothing disastrous, nothing I couldn’t quickly figure out, but unusual for Lego. But that’s it.
OK so, I swear this is true: As I was writing this review my ten-year-old son came into my study and saw the Lego Game Boy on its Lego stand next to me on my desk. “Oh, a new device!” he said. I handed it to him, and he muttered, “Game Boy.” He’s never held a real one. “Look more closely,” I told him, and he read bits of the writing, pressed some of the buttons, and said, “What?” So I took it from him, flipped it over, removed the back panel and took out the Zelda cartridge, revealing some of the Lego innards. “OH, IT’S LEGO!” he declared. I switched the lenticular out and put it back together, and he exclaimed, “This is SO COOL!” So there you go, a second opinion.
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It’s worth noting that the lenticulars are splendid. There’s the main loading screen one, which has the word “Nintendo” scroll up and down just like it should. Then there’s one for Zelda and one for Super Mario Land, to match the two carts. The Zelda one is perhaps the more disappointing, given the only movement is Zelda turning to look at Link while some V-like birds move about in the sky. Mario‘s is far better, showing Mario jump up to hit a ? block and reveal a star, with a couple of Goombas moving below. Both only have two images, but the Mario version feels a lot more dynamic. Meanwhile, the Nintendo logo screen has seven panels, such that you get a weirdly smooth scroll. And as I mentioned up top, once they’re in the Game Boy behind the plastic screen (it’s a Lego window frame with the plastic glass inserted, repurposed), it really gives that authentic dullness that’s dramatically improved by holding it in direct light.
I realize I’ve just totally nerded out here, and I’m good with that. I wasn’t even a proper Game Boy kid, my primary experience being a splendid summer vacation when a school friend lent me hers for a full six weeks and I just obsessed over it. But even that established a lifetime’s nostalgia for me, that’s duly met and respected by this perfect Lego recreation.
For the quality here, and the real pleasure gained from both the build and the finished result, $60 feels like a fantastic price. I usually find Lego’s prices egregious, often offensive, but the company could have been a lot more greedy here and wasn’t. Yes, you could also spend $60 on a handheld device that’ll emulate every Game Boy game and more beside, but honestly, this Lego brick (pun so very much intended) just feels very special.