With the introduction of Nintendo Switch more in 2016, you know very well that Nintendo won’t be reviving its iconic portable gaming device, GameBoy, because, Switch is in itself both a console and a portable gaming device. A modern GameBoy won’t happen despite the tidal wave of nostalgia by gamers all over the world. Many fans took it in their hands to continue the legacy left behind by this memorable gaming device while the rest just learn to accept its demise and moved on. Then we came across this: the Nintendo Flex Concept by industrial designer YJ Yoon.
It is the GameBoy, reimagined for modern times. It is not only aesthetically brilliant, it also addresses some of the issues facing the original while updating to fit today’s gamers. I am not going to lie. The looks totally had me at hello. Taking the classic block form, YJ Yoon make this dream handheld gaming console slimmer and updated it with a larger, curved display for an immersive gameplay. The concept device pays homage to the original, updating the recognizable features like the linear pattern that runs from the side to the back and a streamlined control that now sits flush with the body.
The speaker is relocated to the top corner and not covered by the palm of your hand like it was on the original. Next to the speaker is where you find an innovative USB-C-based pen game cartridge that also doubles as a switch. Click it in place, you get the juice flowing for whatever the game title in the cartridge going. This is perhaps the single most brilliant proposition in this device. And if you look closely at Yoon’s concept, it appears to sport the same gray textured finish with the original.
Hopefully, if this ever gets made, it won’t yellow like the original plastic. The Nintendo Flex Concept is unmistakably the modern day GameBoy if it did existed. And folks, that is what I called a successful reboot. Though I highly doubt Nintendo will ever make another handheld game console. Smartphones have pretty much killed handheld gaming device. But if one day Nintendo decided to make a GameBoy again, Flex should be the design it should adopt. Period.
Source: Uncrate.
