Modder creates battery-free Game Boy

Modder Jasper de Winkel wanted to challenge himself, so he set out to make a battery-free Game Boy. Above is the result of a year's worth of work, and it doesn't require a single traditional battery to play.

The battery-free Game Boy uses Game Boy emulation, but it can also play traditional cartridges. Wondering where it gets its power? That comes from the small solar cells surrounding the tiny screen, but the portable also generates energy when the player presses buttons. In other words, the more you play, the more power you get.

There are some big limitations on the platform, though. As you can tell, the screen is much smaller than a traditional Game Boy. Even worse, there's absolutely no sound at all. Generating sound requires a lot of extra power, so the team decided to skip over it completely. Obviously a major downgrade from the original Game Boy, but some serious concessions had to be made.

The end result might not be the best way to play Game Boy games, but it's certainly a conversation starter, and quite the technical marvel.