Probably everyone who's ever cared about video games knows about the Gulf War Game Boy — the handheld console that survived a bombing during Operation Desert Storm, albeit a little worse for wear. Its outer shell is warped and melted, its buttons are covered in blisters, and the whole thing is covered in the kind of char your terrible BBQ skills will be familiar with. To put it another way: there's no way this thing should still be working, and yet, it is.
You can visit the war-torn Game Boy at Nintendo's New York store, where it sits in a glass cabinet with Tetris displayed on the screen. That's exactly what MrTalida, a "video game enthusiast and archivist" of retro and obscure games, did — but they went one step further, taking enough photos of the thing to create a 3D model using photogrammetry.
You know what this means, don't you? That's right — we can totally 3D print this thing and have one of our very own. This gives a whole new meaning to downloading illegal games: now we can download the console, too. You'll have to supply your own inner workings, of course, but that's a small price to pay for a piece of history.
Now, if you'll excuse us, we're off to The Louvre to do some art stealing photogrammetry.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 18
YOU WOULDN’T DOWNLOAD A CONSOLE
Gulf War Game Boy sounds like an 80s WWF heel.
DMCA takedown soon
Man I miss when Nintendo’s systems were more durable. Was recently watching chuggaconroys phantom hourglass let’s play and his ds got to the red about 15 parts in. Nowadays you can’t even get five hours out of anything
@blindsquarel
Yeah, shout out to my broken red Nintendo 3Ds plus, that thing was left on for a good while and didn’t die. The touch screen broke so you couldn’t do anything for some reason.
@Aliteralturnip
3ds was the beginning of the end. I am talking about the ds era. Chuggaconroys was on a og ds if that matters. Maybe I misunderstood your comment though
@blindsquarel
I knew, I was talking about my new Nintendo 3Ds. Sorry for the confusion.
Excuse the language, but how in the f is this possible and how is it still working?
@KingBowser It's the epitomy of the Nintendo Seal Of Quality...
@Zack02 Nice! (Zing!)
@Everyone_Else I still wonder if Nintendo put new parts in the thing. Probably a new ac jack, at least. Simultaneously, I can attest to Nintendo consoles being durable. I can remember one of my used N64 systems accidentally fell from a table, landed upside down, with the cart inside, while it was powered on. I just picked up the machine, and continued playing. Similar events have happened many years ago when I was playing NES with family.
@blindsquarel I remember a story where two guys climbed a mountain (I think it was MT Everest) and they each brought along a DS to play games on. All of their other electronics like laptops broke at the high altitude but the two DS continued to work. Nintendo's consoles were incredibly durable but I've always had their controllers break on me or become worn down.
This is what it means to have stability!
Removed - inappropriate
Man, Nintendo used to be well known for their high-quality productions back in the day when it can to the controllers, but these days things are more questionable.
@blindsquarel Funny thing is that the original model GB can survive being bombed, but lines blocking the screen appear with the slightest drop (though this is fixable, especially since replacement screens exist). Oddly enough, my switch survived being frozen when I accidentally left it in a car in extremely cold weather. It's been over a year since that happened and my switch is still alive and kicking.
The Game Boy probably was designed to resist almost anything, like a true Cold War-era piece of tech.
I can imagine it surviving a nuclear war between America and USSR
@KingBowser the old Gameboy has a very strong body. Heck. My old "brick" is missing a screen and it still plays.
Switch is the least sturdy Nintendo handheld. It may be the least sturdy electronic item I have ever owned. I know my GBA and 3ds will outlive my switch.
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