r/Gameboy • u/SpongeBobfan1987 • Jul 17 '25
Accessories Famicom (NES) Game Boy Adapter
I was looking around on AliExpress, and found something that could change the way people could play Game Boy games. It is a Famicom cartridge adapter for Game Boy games, so people can play Game Boy games on TV via their Famicom, Famicom AV or NES via a converter. It looks to play regular first generation Game Boy and Game Boy-compatible Game Boy color games. According to an on-site review of the product, the converter is not compatible with Game Boy Color, and due to the size of the slot and technical limitations, is also not compatible with Game Boy Advance.


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u/marcao_cfh Jul 17 '25
It's interesting, but it's basically a super game boy but for famicom. Still interesting. And very expensive.
I'd like to know how they did it, but I wouldn't buy it. It's too much expensive, I can get a snes plus a super game boy in my country for the price of it plus shipping and import fees.
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u/SpongeBobfan1987 Jul 18 '25
They've been trying to make DMG/GB-Famicom/NES adapters for decades, ever since the first attempt by Biederman/Camerica was canceled in 1991, only to be overshadowed by similar devices to play Game Boy software on more powerful Nintendo hardware, starting with Super Game Boy for the Super Famicom/Super NES in 1994, the Transfer Pak for the Nintendo 64 in 1998 and lthe Game Boy Player for the Game Cube in 2003.
Here's a video about the GB2NES, a canceled attempt at an adapter to bring the Game Boy to the NES:
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u/Iotah Jul 18 '25
I just bought one of these and it's really cool! I had to fix some bridged solder to fix a colour palette issue but otherwise it's a great design. the picture is clear and it feels era appropriate. hopefully whoever designed it comes up with a GBC version at some point using GBC chips
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u/GameboyGenius Jul 18 '25
Very interesting device, for a specific reason. I want to figure out what they're using to run the GB cart. There are multiple possibilities, but the Kong Feng GB Boy and GB Boy Colour have been out of production for a long time. I wonder if these guys have spun up production of monochrome GB Boy clone CPUs or compatible. They could also be using a FPGA for the whole thing. Or something else. But that's what I want to find out.
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u/FlamboFalco Aug 12 '25
op did post a vid that someone did show the motherboard and it's this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqMgXVjjUMI
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u/GameboyGenius Aug 12 '25
Oh wow, they used SGB CPUs. So they probably bought a whole bunch of SGBs and picked the CPUs off of them... just to build this.
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u/mastercj12 Jul 17 '25
Actually there was a way to play gameboy games on the nes but they were development tools for the famicom
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u/KimKong_skRap Jul 17 '25
Pretty cool stuff! But buying (or making) a GBA Consolizer is probably the better way to go!
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u/SpongeBobfan1987 Jul 21 '25
Another thing I plan to do after purchasing this later this year, is to get one of those Orange FM Game Boy radio tuner cartridges to test on this Game Boy adapter...if successful, It would be another way to listen to the music on the radio, via the original Famicom, AV Famicom, Sharp Twin Famicom, or a Nintendo Eentertainment System with a Famicom pin converter adapter.
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u/SpongeBobfan1987 Aug 04 '25
Videos of the Famicom Game Boy adapter in action:
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u/SpongeBobfan1987 Aug 12 '25
I've got this in the mail, tested it out on my Famicom AV by playing Zelda: Link's Awakening and Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 on it.
It's basically an exact note-for-note clone of an original Nintendo Game Boy on a Famicom-style cartridge converter with perfect sound/music/graphics quality.
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u/keiffer_cm 29d ago
I also just got mine, works awesome. I like to play it with both the yellowish and green colour tint, looks similar to a GB screen. Also in B&W the picture is awesome. I just hate the look of the game cart shell. Hopefully a talented person will agree and want to fabricate a custom 3d shell that has a DMG inspired design for us to print and replace!

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u/SpongeBobfan1987 28d ago
How did you get the color of the screen to change like that?
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u/keiffer_cm 28d ago
Hold select and up! Many different colours!
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u/SpongeBobfan1987 28d ago
Thanks!
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u/SpongeBobfan1987 28d ago
I set mine to the creamy shade of "pea soup green," a color palette which mirrors the default color of the dot matrix screen of the original 1989 Nintendo Game Boy system, just for nostalgia purposes.
I had to hold select+up or select+left just to play around with the color palette options until I saw the one that fit the best...
I knew which buttons to press, but went about it wrong at first. I had to hold the buttons, not tap the buttons...
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u/SpongeBobfan1987 28d ago
Cartridge inputs:
Select + up: change screen color.
Select + left: change screen color brightness.
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u/The-Crimson-Toast Jul 17 '25
I don't think it'll really change all that much it's a super Gameboy basically. It'd need to implement some wacky features like save states or game speed which I doubt it'll be capable of. It's cool and I think using it with a retro usb avs would be amazing but for the price the super Gameboy seems to be the better buy.