Even in 2020, the modding scene remains booming. During that period, Game Boys went through a glowing resurgence of popularity in the form of modding. Popular enough for a niche of techies to cotton on, unpopular enough that they were mis-valued by the general public as trash.
Production of DMG-01 Game Boys stopped in the early 2000s, making them somewhat of a collector’s item. But even ten years later they were still considered cutting-edge. The non “Play it Loud!” mostly grey Japan-made variants had already been in production since 1989.
Of course, those bricks were the original DMG-01 Game Boys. While it may seem like being given the gift of a plastic brick with buttons on was some Victorian-era punishment, my late-90s childhood was enriched by that same situation. Before there were half-a-grand consoles and polyphonic ringtones, pre smart and arguably pre sleek technology, there was Nintendo Game Boy.
