Highlights
- A talented Nintendo fan has created functional SNES cartridges of classic Pokemon games using engineering skills.
- The Super Game Boy accessory for the SNES has been repurposed to allow for trading between the Pokemon cartridges.
- The fan shared a step-by-step guide on YouTube, showcasing the process of creating these unique Pokemon cartridges.
One dedicated Nintendo fan with some impressive engineering skills has recently succeeded in creating working SNES cartridges of five classic Pokemon games. His achievement later made the rounds on social media, surfacing online shortly after another Pokemon fan showcased their impressive GBA systems themed after Ruby and Sapphire.
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is home to all of the best 16-bit Nintendo games, not least because it's the only 16-bit console ever made by the Japanese gaming giant. Some four years from its 1990 release, Nintendo launched the Super Game Boy, an accessory that allows the SNES to play 8-bit Game Boy titles. The gadget was compatible with the original gray and black cartridges, the latter of which debuted alongside the Game Boy Color in 1998.
Almost three decades since the Super Game Boy hit the market, this revolutionary Nintendo accessory has been repurposed into the basis of fully functional SNES cartridges of Pokemon Blue, Red, Yellow, Gold, and Silver. Following some serious engineering efforts, Reddit user Spaceghost1993 managed to unsolder the Super Game Boy's 32-pin connector, adjust the frequency of the accessory's CPU, and equip the resulting contraption with an SGB Link board that allows for trading between two Super Game Boys, among other things.
This tenacious Pokemon fan then reassembled each game into an off-brand plastic cartridge shell replacement for the SNES before completing its design with some appropriately positioned labels. His efforts resulted in five unique Pokemon cartridges that not only work and support trading between one another, but also wouldn't look out of place next to any legitimate copy of a SNES game. Spaceghost1993 subsequently shared a 20-minute step-by-step guide detailing the creation of these working SNES Pokemon cartridges via his YouTube channel, Below Average Gaming.
Classic Nintendo consoles have found themselves at the center of many ambitious engineering projects that the company's fandom completed to date. One of the most recent examples of such efforts emerged in mid-2021, when another Nintendo fan with some serious engineering chops built a functional jumbo Game Boy replica.
Gamers looking to experience classic Pokemon RPGs on newer hardware are still out of luck as of today. The Japanese company last re-released the Game Boy and GBC Pokemon games for the 3DS Virtual Console over a two-year period ending early 2018. But since the 3DS eShop was discontinued in late March 2023, these Virtual Console titles can no longer be bought nowadays.