The Game Boy Color might have included online surfing, email, as well as the way to export selfies via the built-in camera if Nintendo had launched a first-party accessory for the handheld. A recent episode of DidYouKnowGaming, hosted by Liam Robertson, showcased a device that would’ve been dubbed Page Boy.
In the clip, Robertson discloses that Eddie Gill, the creator of Source Research and Development and the inventor of the Workboy, was the driving force behind the ambitious project. The Workboy, a Game Boy attachment that would have provided the platform an address book, a global clock, the capacity to do currency conversions, and much more, was also canceled by Nintendo.
It was Gill’s notion of the Workboy that motivated Robertson to continue working on a gadget of a similar nature. They created the club Wizard with Christopher, their older brother. It’s interesting to note that the system would have utilized radio waves rather than wi-fi, as was the case with pagers at the moment (hence the name).
Ex-Nintendo exec Frank Ballouz was approached by Gill in order to get his proposal in front of the company. A business named Sirius Modelmaking was commissioned to make actual representations of what the device might look like in 1999 when Wizard proposed the concept to Nintendo.
A search engine dubbed “Ask Mario” was supposed to be built into Page Boy, as per a demonstration (procured by Robertson). Mario would converse to consumers as they awaited for search results, or even hummed the tune from World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros! Robertson compares the device’s “Game Boy TV” capability to an early version of Nintendo Live presentations, where Nintendo could announce things about forthcoming titles.
It would have cost $50 to buy the gadget. The idea was studied by Nintendo for three years before it was shut down in 2002. Even though Nintendo was intrigued by the notion, the technology would be exclusive to North America, excluding customers in Japan and Europe.
When it came to communicating with other Game Boy players throughout the world, the business believed that it had lost a significant portion of its attractiveness. Wouldn’t it have been cool if the idea had come to fruition and become a reality?
Are you upset that this accessory was never made available to the public? What are your thoughts on the idea of a Page Boy? What do you think? Please share your ideas in the comments below or straight on Twitter.
