Nintendo’s obscure add-on WorkBoy found #Nintendo #GameBoy #VintageComputing
The Nintendo WorkBoy was an accessory that converted Nintendo’s handheld system into a sort of early PDA. Gizmodo summarizes some of the recent info:
Liam Robertson, a video game historian, posted a video recounting his dive into the history of the WorkBoy and his search for the lost prototype. He found that despite persistent rumors in the vintage gaming community claiming the WorkBoy was sold in limited quantities, it never made it to market.
According to Robertson, a prototype was featured at the CES electronics showcase in May of 1992. Following the tradeshow, the device received some press coverage with GameZone writing, “Nintendo’s success was visible by its showing at the CES—it virtually had a whole hanger to itself, filled with its own products and those of developers. But there was little on offer that was radically different—little that is, except the WorkBoy.” The Chicago Tribune was less kind and called the idiosyncratic accessory “ridiculous.”
In addition to a keyboard, it adds a clock, calendar, address book, conversion, and basic accounting, language, and geography tools.
Robertson’s been on this WorkBoy quest since 2019, and he’s done a spectacular job recovering the story of this lost device.
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