Turn Your Phone Into a Game Boy Color With This Upcoming Add-On

Video game accessory maker Hyperkin has announced plans to release a new device that will essentially turn your smartphone into a Game Boy Color.

It works quite simply: Plug your iPhone 6 Plus (and, in the future, other smartphones) into the Smart Boy and it'll allow you to play Game Boy and Game Boy Colors cartridges. The Smart Boy is equipped with the standard Game Boy set of buttons, while the phone's screen is used to display the game. The Smart Boy has a built-in battery that can be charged by the phone; with a 6 Plus, gameplay is said to last for five hours.

The Smart Boy was originally announced earlier this week as an apparent April Fools' joke, but is now set to become a real thing due to the strong response to its reveal.

"A lot of you were speculating that the Smart Boy is an April Fools' Joke. Well, it sort of was," Hyperkin wrote on its Facebook page. "We 'leaked' it with the initial intent of testing the market, seeing whether or not it should be something we'd actually make, under the guise of an April Fools' Joke.

"Looks like you awesome folks ACTUALLY WANT IT, so the Smart Boy is now in development! Thank you all for your enthusiastic responses!"

The original announcement notes that the details and image above are for a conceptual design, meaning features could change between now and the time it's released. As for when that will be, or how much it will cost, there's currently no word.

It's also unclear what Nintendo's reaction will be to this. We know it likes to protect its intellectual property, but Hyperkin already offers the well-regarded Retron 5, a device that allows you to play games from a number of systems--NES, SNES, Game Boy, Genesis, and more--on your TV in high definition.