In the words of that one NPC at the start of every Pokémon game, technology is incredible. For every step forward that the games industry takes in terms of making technological advancements, it seems that fans and individual developers are often making even greater strides.
Let me introduce you to Sebastian Staacks, a proficient coder and techie. He runs a blog called ‘There Oughta Be’, and it’s filled with a plethora of projects, including, as he puts it, a “collection of overcomplicated devices nobody needs”. I disagree with that statement though, as I don’t think I’ve ever needed anything more than his latest creation.
While you're here, check out some of our favourite GTA V wins and fails below.
Back in December, Staacks revealed his WiFi Game Boy cartridge, which could access data from the internet, and stream it on a completely unmodded device. However, at the time, it was limited: “When I presented my WiFi Game Boy cartridge a few weeks ago, I only had very few simple text-based demos,” Staacks wrote in his latest post. “This post and especially the accompanying video now deliver more. In fact, I might have gone a bit too far, as I managed to stream full resolution video and even play games via WiFi.”
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In the video below, you can see that he wasn’t kidding. Although the technical explanations surrounding the cartridge’s development are a bit complicated, you don’t need to understand it to see that he’s pulled off something seriously impressive.
After a few short video demos, including a clip from The Matrix and the ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ music video (because, of course), he then proceeded to show off how various games, that definitely aren’t meant to be played on a Game Boy, look when played on the device. “At this point, the Game Boy can be a screen for anything, and it can be an input device for anything,” he explained.
I think we can all agree that GTA V has never looked quite so green and pixelated, but you can’t deny that it’s unbelievably cool to see it work. One of the most requested games to try out was DOOM, and although Staacks did it, he felt a bit conflicted about doing so: “DOOM is the go-to demo to run on a device, and I’m not running DOOM on the Game Boy, I am just playing it on the Game Boy. I don’t want to see this mixed up, alright? If any lazy news blog gets this wrong, you’ve got to set it straight, okay?” he said. Don’t worry, Staacks, I got you.
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Unfortunately, Staacks isn’t going to be selling any of these incredible cartridges to the public, but if you’re interested in how it all works, and maybe even want to try recreating it yourself, he’s gone into great technical detail on his blog. It’s surprising that there’s no official port of GTA V on the Game Boy when you consider all the other re-releases it’s had, but this will have to do in the meantime.
Topics: Retro Gaming, Mods, GTA 5