After much arm-folding, head-shaking and controller throwing, a poor financial report earlier this year saw Nintendo finally declare it would start making smartphone games. By the end of 2015, we'll have our first taste of a Mario/Yoshi/Kirby app adventure to pump our thumbs into while waiting for a bus/meal/worthwhile conversation.
But what if Nintendo went all in on the smartphone market? Game apps currently outsell all other formats of gaming (even if they don't make as much money per unit), so what if the Japanese gaming group followed through this logic and made their own smartphone to power their games?
Well, it should look an awful lot like this.
The brainchild of Bangkok-based designer Pierre Cerveau (whose design of an 1987 iPhone we've previously featured), this is the Smart Boy - an inspired concept piece that borrows heavily from the original Game Boy of 1980.
Our favourite aspect of the design is the modular cartridge slot - included not for the sake of plugging in your favoured games, but for changing up your phone's features. Want a 3D camera? No problem. Expand the memory? Just pop it in the slot. You could even squeeze in more battery life.
To play games, Cerveau envisages adding the necessary physical buttons with a larger expansion, the 'Game Bat'. He really has thought all this through...
Unfortunately, we can't see Nintendo entering the handset industry any time soon, given their strong showing with the 3DS. We'll just have to stick to lugging our own Game Boy Colour around.
Which reminds us - has anyone got any spare AA batteries?
(Images: Pierre Cerveau)
