When I first saw the images of 72046 LEGO Nintendo Game Boy, I didn’t like it much and would have never considered buying it. It has mostly light and dark bluish gray pieces, which are not that attractive for a person who likes to build with interesting parts. But then I watched a few reviews (I remember Tiago Catarino’s one especially) and got struck with an idea—what if I use the Game Boy’s display as… a display?
Spoiler alert…
Press Start: The Plan
I started concocting elaborate construction plans for modding the LEGO Game Boy by integrating actual physical game scenes into it. (This was before I even got my hands on it!) Last week I finally got the chance to see it in person. Heads up, this won’t be a review of the set and me telling you what I like and dislike about the set… but in one sentence: the building experience is fantastic with so many clever little details, and the display value is unlimited. And I’m saying this because I’ve figured out how you can display anything on the small screen.
Once I had the LEGO Game Boy in hand, I had to build it as-is first. I enjoyed it and was impressed in quite a few places of the build, especially with all the button solutions on all sides of the handheld. Because I love building with individual parts so much, I don’t often appreciate the design process enough or how much thought and effort I’m sure goes into designing such a product. I do have to say, the final model is so visually close to the original Nintendo Game Boy, that the LEGO designers deserve all the kudos and appreciation that have come their way, mine included!
Feels like the real thing!
After I built the model, I was amazed at how easy it was to switch the game cartridges and decided not to adjust the whole set to fit only one scene. Instead, I thought to myself, “Why not use the cartridges to hold the scenes, so I can switch them whenever I like?”
The designers went even further and made detailed scenes as Easter Eggs inside the cartridges.
The Canvas: The Back of a Cartridge
First, I removed the little build that holds the lenticular screens from the set. Then I tested how many studs a cartridge can hold so it is still able to be easily inserted.
This little piece holds the lenticular screens.
After a few tests, I discovered a few things that would guide me as I made my Game Boy cartridge customizations:
The working space on a cartridge is 6 studs wide by 5 studs in height.
For depth, the scene only really works at 4 plates deep. It might work at 5, but the built scene starts to get close to the glass/screen of the Game Boy and doesn’t look as good.
The bottom plate row is slightly hidden, so you have a maximum of 3 plates in height, otherwise it won’t work.
You can see all my tests in the gallery below.
One drawback is that the space above the top row will always be visible, but can’t be used because then the modified cartridge won’t be able to get into the Game Boy (the red 1×6 plate shows where you can not build, if you want to close the cartridge easily). Ultimately this is not a huge deal because you can make it work depending on the design you want to place there or even switch the big 2×6 modified SNOT plate (87609) with three small (4304) 2×2 versions of it. The smaller one comes in a lot more colors that might work better for different designs. I haven’t made a custom cartridge yet with the smaller 2×2 plates, but I would love to try.
By using differently colored small plates you can change the background of the cartridge and thus the build
Designing the Scenes
Hollow Knight Silksong
When I watched the LEGO Game Boy set reviews for the first time, it was around the same time that Hollow Knight Silksong came out… and I, like many other builders, wanted to recreate Hornet, the main protagonist. I created one bigger brick-built version back then, which was alright, but when thinking about what scene to put on display in my LEGO Game Boy, I remembered a piece that I have from a small 60400 Go-Karts and Race Drivers set I had. It’s a red cupcake piece, which, if you turn it upside down, looks like a dress… like Hornet’s dress! And then the idea was born—I would make a small Silksong scene. The main reference was a screenshot from the game I found on Google, posted on Reddit (I haven’t played the game yet).
First, I finished Hornet, with four more pieces and was very happy with the result. Perhaps the most interesting part of the tiny character is the use of the magic wand as her spear. It puts a bit of stress on the medal piece that holds everything together, but it works visually perfectly.
From there, following my own tips above, I added a bit of foliage to cover the scene. This is the result:
The Legend of Zelda
After that, I just wanted to build more! Because the LEGO Game Boy comes with two of the most legendary games (or at least there are two cartridges and two stickers in the box), I thought let’s build scenes for both The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Land.
Zelda sounded easier to start with, but in the end, I came up with a simple logo type “Z” and a tiny Link. (And of course, I added the Master Sword!) I had to turn to some not-so-legal techniques to reverse the studs, using a bucket handle wedged into the underside. This made the Z look quite nice instead of having anti-studs showing.
If you want to read more about interesting stud reversing techniques, I recommend these two articles by our own Oscar Cederwall:
LEGO SNOT: Modern Elements for Stud Reversal and Sideways Building
LEGO SNOT: Advanced Techniques and Implementations
Super Mario Land
For Super Mario, I wanted something simple and yet recognizable. Sadly, I didn’t like what came out of it, but I’m sharing it regardless. You can still recognize it, if you know it’s Super Mario.
I didn’t like this one as much 😀
Star Wars
And because I wanted to end on a scene that I liked, I kept building. As a Star Wars fan, this was easy… because you can always do another Star Wars build! There are so many characters, ships, and places. I imagined a game where you have to pilot through an asteroid filed or space, so here’s my tiny Millennium Falcon ready to jump to lightspeed:
Classic Space
The scenes above were certainly enough for this article, but I felt like I needed a fifth one to round things out. I hadn’t tried one with minifig yet, but would it work with so little space in height? Well, it turns out it can’t… but you can use a baby! I found my Classic Space baby and made him a little spaceship. I also made a tiny LEGO space logo using a 2×2 inverted round tile in yellow.
Game Over, Play Again?
Now that you’ve followed my jailbreaking journey of the LEGO Nintendo Game Boy, you can see that the set is made to be played with. Whether you keep it on your shelf as a display item or mod it to display your favorite game worlds, you can put anything on that little screen. I had so much fun with this set. Building custom cartridges was the most fun I’ve had with a LEGO set in a while, and I still have plenty of ideas left to test. Maybe it’s not game over after all, it’s just the next level.
It’s a sweet looking set and a fun build.
P.S. I just saw that there is a GWP at LEGO right now called 40774 Classic Animation Scenes that uses the same concept, though slightly easier to implement. I won’t be getting it as I already have a screen where I can place different scenes, but this follows the same concept and is highly customizable as it was made to change the builds out of the box. Available until 11/11 with purchases of $130 or more.
LEGO 72043 Nintendo Game Boy is available now for around $60 US | $80 CA | €60 EU | £55 UK | $100 AU.
Are you interested in those type of add ons to original sets? Have you done some yourself?
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