In an appeal to Nintendo nostalgia, a gamer posted an image of a fusion between the Game Boy and the DS, both of which were the top-selling lines of Nintendo handhelds for decades. The image was posted on Reddit, where the comments ranged from questions on how to get this Nintendo fusion to work to remarks about the unwieldiness of the device.
The original Game Boy was released in 1989, with subsequent iterations in the years that followed. From the Game Boy Color to the Game Boy Advance, and games such as Tetris and the Pokemon series, Nintendo was at the forefront of portable gaming for decades. The Game Boy's successor, the Nintendo DS, was released in 2004. Like its predecessor, the Nintendo DS saw multiple iterations, including the DS Lite, DSi, and Nintendo 3DS line of handheld consoles. With over 200 million combined units sold during their lifespans, the Game Boy and DS product lines gave Nintendo near-complete control of the handheld gaming market. To this day, Nintendo's handhelds are among the best-selling used video game consoles across multiple storefronts.
A Redditor by the name of EasyCowgirl posted an image of what they believed would happen if both a Game Boy and a DS were combined into one device, and they showed what they found. The device posed by EasyCowgirl revealed the clamshell design of a Game Boy Advance SP attached to a modified body in the likeness of the original Game Boy, with the startup screens of the Nintendo DS on both screens. The picture, however, did not show where the cartridge slots are, or if the handheld ran on AA batteries or a rechargeable battery. Though other designs have been made by fans before, such as a Pokedex DS design, this post summarized what the purpose of the fused device would be.
The post received over 1.1k upvotes in just half a day. In the comments section, other Nintendo fans chimed in with nicknames for the fusion, with names such as the "Game Boy DS" and the "Game Man" cropping up in multiple comments. Given the price tags that the original handhelds had at their respective release dates, if the "Game Boy DS" launched today, the total cost after adjusting for inflation would put it well over $400.
With a plethora of games across both the Game Boy and Nintendo DS lines, from the greatest hits to the more obscure and rare Game Boy titles, Nintendo's mark on portable gaming can never be understated. As demonstrated by Reddit posts and fan-made creations, the handheld gaming days of old truly live on.