Pocket Sonar (Game Boy)
The very definition of a peripheral is that it caters to a previously unexploited niche. And as previously unexploited niches go, lonely Japanese fishermen who are so terrible at their chosen hobby that they require a ‘portable sonar device’ to locate their quarry and who also happen to own a Game Boy probably isn’t the greatest money-spinner around. Still, the Pocket Sonar worked well, and there was even a fishing minigame to play when the koi weren’t biting.
e-Reader (GBA)
If there was a device on this list that could have seen a wee bit more Nintendo support (not to mention a western release), it’s the Game Boy Advance’s e-Reader. Essentially a chunky add-on to the GBA, the e-Reader could scan pre-packaged cards in order to unlock new content for existing games, or play old-school classics like Excitebike and Donkey Kong - and it could even be connected to the GameCube for use with Animal Crossing. The Japanese loved it so much that it’s still being produced there to this very day.
Magnetic cooking stand (DS)
The perfect peripheral partner for such best selling, Japan-only cookbooks as Kenkou Ouen Recipe 1000 DS Kondate Zenshuu and Shaberu! Oryouri Navi, this magnetic stand for the DS Lite is handily designed to prop up the handheld as the ‘game’ talks you through the various steps to preparing a meal - much like cooking alongside a Jamie Oliver television show, only with less errant spittle. You could even put it on your fridge, terrifying your flatmates with a command of “Now marinade your chicken breast!” when they pop downstairs for a midnight snack.
Plastic fantastic - stories of accessories so weird, we had to share
The Rumble Pak tattoo gun
When prisoners across the US started panic-buying N64s, guards just thought they wanted a bit of in-cell entertainment. Little did they know that what they actually were after was the Rumble Pak, which with a bit of prison jiggery-pokery, could be converted into a functional tattoo gun.
Taking your Game Boy to war
We’ve always known that Nintendo make robust kit - just ask the GameCube controllers we’ve been using for SSBB. But we’ve never seen anything like this - a fully functional Game Boy that survived a bombing raid during the original Gulf War, on display in the Nintendo World Store in NYC.
Johnny Lee brings you tomorrow, today
Johnny Cheung Lee of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute is a pretty smart dude. So smart, in fact, that during his downtime from bringing about a sentient AI apocalypse, he likes to push the boundaries of the Wiimote - converting it into an incredible head-tracking 3D headset. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it outhere.
May 13, 2008
