If you've ever wondered what one of the biggest games of today would look like on a 30-year-old console, you're in luck. A modder has shown off how he managed to get Grand Theft Auto 5 running on the original Nintendo Game Boy.
This gaming feat comes from Sebastian Staacks, a coder who runs a blog detailing all his creations. Each blog post gives a descriptive and rather technical breakdown of how each creation came to be and how they work. He also offers a video explanation that is marginally easier to understand.
To get a game like GTA 5 to run on such an old console, Staacks first created a WiFi Game Boy cartridge. The cartridge inserts into the console, just as other Game Boy games do, and then allows it to receive a WiFi signal. Though Staacks calls it “one of the most useless things I ever created”, it is quite impressive. An in-depth write-up of how exactly the device was created can be found here, with a simpler video walkthrough found below.
A few weeks after creating the WiFi cartridge, Staacks took things a step further and used it to stream full-resolution video and play games on the console. Specifically, his accompanying video shows him enjoying a playthrough of GTA 5 on the unmodified Game Boy.
To avoid misunderstandings, although Staacks is playing GTA 5 on the system, the game itself is not running on the Game Boy. Instead, it's rendered on his PlayStation and streamed through WiFi, although pressing the buttons on the Game Boy does send the input back to the PlayStation, allowing him to control the game. A technical detailing of what is happening can be found on Staacks blog.
Staacks has also shared how others can make their own Game Boy WiFi cartridges, allowing them to stream onto their own devices. While the original Game Boy may not be everyone’s first pick to play a modern video game, it is amazing to see what technology makes possible.