[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Risk Bodily Harm with STD
September 29th, 2014 by Benj Edwards
Push your friends to the edge — literally.
There is a certain irony to this pair of products by STD: one of them, the Handy Gear, makes your portable game console more rugged and less likely to break. The other, the Handy Boy, makes your console less rugged and more likely to break.
And both of them make you want to kill your friends, as this ad shows.
But seriously. One of my friends as a kid (who is amazingly still living) owned the Handy Boy accessory that snapped onto and around your Game Boy. The controller extension part looked cool but was useless and made playing games more difficult. But the magnifying glass and light were genuinely useful (especially the light part), since the Game Boy was notoriously difficult to play in low light conditions — which meant just about anywhere indoors.
By the way, long, long, long time readers of VC&G might remember that I lampooned this ad eight years ago in a column for GameSetWatch. But I just realized that I never featured it as a proper Retro Scan, so here it is.
Discussion Topic of the Week: Did you (or do you) own any notable Game Boy or Game Gear accessories? Tell us about them.
October 2nd, 2014 at 2:42 pm
I have almost every Game Gear accessory that was available at the time. The magnifying lens was always funny, the stupid battery pack that was completely separate from the actual unit. The TV tuner and the Sega Master System cartridge adapter.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:04 am
I just had a pair of GBC worm lights, which worked very well. The first one broke, and that’s why I had a second one. But they did their very best to let me play my Gameboy at night or in dark conditions.
I also had a screen magnifier with built in light for my GBA a few years later, and it was also indispensable. Plus, I had an adapter to let me power my GBA from a car’s cigarette lighter port, which worked wonders on long trips.
I do remember one friend had a GBC add-on that had extended battery life, and had it’s own amplifier and dual speakers. Along with making the unit’s maximum volume significantly louder, it also was a more comfortable grip as I recall, and he let me borrow it for a short time.
October 3rd, 2014 at 3:29 am
I own the mother of all GameBoy accessories: The BOOSTER. Or possibly BoosterBoy, depending on who you bought it from. As a quick image search for “gameboy booster ” will tell you, this is the best piece of beige plastic ever produced for a portable game console, bar none.
It completely entombs your GameBoy brick in a plastic coffin full of batteries and speakers and offers a “arcade-style” control panel, magnifier, light, and stereo of the art sound.
It’s… neat, of course. But largely useless.
I also own a combination rechargable battery/worm light for my NeoGeo Pocket Color, but that’s neither here nor there. I see no real need for the light, but the battery is nice.
Also a Shock N Rock for the same NeoGeo Pocket Color, but it never worked right.
No audio makes it to the speakers, and I stripped the screw head when I tried to open it for diagnostic purposes.
I mention both devices mostly because the NeoGeo Pocket Color deserves more love. It may be little more than an also-ran that failed to dethrone the GameBoy, but it’s an adorable piece of kit.
October 3rd, 2014 at 7:06 am
My brother and I both had the Handy Boy (or something like it). You are spot on with regarding the light being the most useful part.
Not mentioned in the ad was a neck strap. Nearly the thickness of waxed floss, it was more of a garrote than anything.
October 7th, 2014 at 4:54 pm
For those who want to know how that worked: Ashens made a video about Gameboy accessories including the Handy Boy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDF4T5X6tZM