A modder has turned a Game Boy Color into something you can wear on your wrist, and it’s not just borrowing the look. This is an actual, playable retro console slapped onto your wrist.
YouTuber LeggoMyFroggo managed to squeeze a fully functional Game Boy Color into a wristwatch-sized form factor, creating one of the more bizarre yet impressive retro builds in recent memory.
How’d he cram a Game Boy Color into a tiny watch?
In the YouTube video, modder Chris Hackmann called the project “Time Frog Color”. Rather than going for a simpler route of relying on emulation, the build uses original Game Boy Color hardware, including the Sharp SM83 processor, paired with its video memory and support for physical cartridges.
If that last part sounds insane, it absolutely is. The watch can actually run games using tiny cartridges, which Hackmann even demonstrated by playing Pokémon Gold without any issues. He used an RP2040 chip that handled translating the display signal. This allowed the wearable console to function as a watch when powered off.
How was the gameplay experience?
Shrinking a late ’90s handheld console into a 38mm wristwatch does sound like a cool side project, but it comes with its fair share of compromises. The display is just 1.12 inches, and controls are handled by tiny tactile buttons tucked under 3D-printed caps, which doesn’t exactly sound like game-friendly controls. Making the experience even less immersive is the lack of audio and limited battery life.
In other words, it works, but it’s not exactly the best way to replay your childhood favorites. The Time Frog Color just shows how far retro hardware modding has come. It was never meant to replace the actual Game Boy Color or make gaming on a watch a real thing. Though watching enthusiasts finding ways to preserve and repurpose original components is always fun.