Source time Edition date
IndustrySimon Willison
Game Boy Color on My Conference Badge
我的会议徽章上的Game Boy Color
Worth reading to see how far hobbyist hardware hacking can push retro gaming, and whether a conference badge can really stand in for a Game Boy Color.
Judgment
GitHub Universe attendees who own the badge and can obtain a ROM must decide whether to load the Game Boy/Color emulator onto a novelty device, trading a real handheld's controls and battery life for a hackable setup with upside-down touch buttons.
Basis
Simon Willison writes that this year's GitHub Universe conference badge is again a full-blown color-screen computer, and that Steve Francia worked with Gemini to get a full NES emulator running on it, then went further with emulators for both the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. Willison notes that if you can obtain the ROM, you can run The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on the badge. The badge's party trick is that you can turn it upside down and use game-controller touch buttons built into the badge body, so the mechanism is emulator software plus ROM plus the badge's own touch controls rather than external hardware.
Unclear The source does not say how well the emulator performs, what it does to battery life, or how ROM legality and touch-control ergonomics are handled.
Next Next check: whether Francia or Willison publishes install instructions or a demo video of Link's Awakening running on the badge.