A may have started as an April Fool's Day joke is turning into a reality. A hardware emulator that can convert an iPhone into a Game Boy will be released.
Hyperkin, an accessory maker, announced the hardware, the Smart Boy, on April Fool's Day.
"Meet the Smart Boy, an upcoming Game Boy-compatible device for the iPhone 6 Plus (with more compatible smartphones to follow)," stated Hyperkin in a Facebook post. "This concept art shows that it will attach to the iPhone 6 Plus, turning the phone into a handheld gaming device compatible with Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges."
With the base of an iPhone inserted into the Smart Boy, the smartphone gets all of the buttons one would find on a classic Game Boy. There's an eight-way directional pad, a start button, a select button and two action buttons.
The accessory will draw power from smartphone to which it is attached, providing up to five hours of gameplay.
Hyperkin took advantage of the April Fool's Day spotlight to reveal what it had already drawn up. If it was laughed off, "April's Fools!" And if the idea was received as warmly as it was, "Coming Soon, no joke."
"A lot of you were speculating that the Smart Boy is an April Fools' Joke," said Hyperkin. "Well, it sort of was."
Hyperkin confirmed that it "leaked" the Smart Boy concept with the intent to test the market, doing so under the guise of an April Fool's Day joke, the company said in a Facebook post.
"Looks like you awesome folks ACTUALLY WANT IT, so the Smart Boy is now in development," stated Hyperkin. "Thank you all for your enthusiastic responses!"
With the Smart Boy confirmed the specs and plans announced in the April 1 post now hold a lot more weight. The design isn't final. Some features may be added or removed, said Hyperkin.
Hyperkin isn't the first company to announce a something on April 1 and then later reveal that the product is in fact real and on the way. Back in 2013, Ubisoft announced a cool idea that seemed to fit all of the criteria of an April Fool's Day Joke.
It turned out dragons with lasers creating havoc on a 90's backdrop was actually a real game. A few days after making many video game fans wish Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was a real game, Ubisoft announced that the title was authentic and on its way.
