LEGO’s delightful Nintendo Game Boy tribute doesn’t need batteries

If you’re old enough to remember the original, brick-like Game Boy, you’ll want to check out LEGO’s newest play for adult brickheads. The officially licensed Game Boy building set comes with 421 pieces, including two cartridges for Zelda and Mario games. While you can’t actually play them, you can swap out the simulated screens to match.

At 5.5 x 3.5 inches (14 x 9 centimeters, for those who live in civilized countries), the set is a near-perfect match for the original handheld from 1989, though the real thing is ever-so-slightly taller. The set includes a display stand for both the main body itself and the Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and Super Mario Land cartridges. You get a choice of three swappable screens with lenticular black-and-white screenshots of the games or the boot screen, which simulate a bit of screen motion based on how you look at them.

LEGO

Check out the serial number on the back of the battery bay. The Game Boy was first released in Japan on April 21st, 1989.

Considering that it’s a relatively small set, it’s impressive how faithfully the original hardware has been reproduced — even the slanted Start and Select buttons are accounted for with some clever use of ramped pieces. And at $60, it’s surprisingly cheap for a licensed Nintendo set. The far larger and more complex LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System, over 2500 pieces, cost $230 when it debuted in 2020.

LEGO is currently making a big play for nostalgia sets for adult builders. In addition to the Game Boy and NES, there’s an officially licensed Atari 2600, a Pac-Man arcade cabinet, and 80s cartoon staples like Transformers and Voltron. The new Game Boy set is up for pre-order now, shipping in October.