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Nintendo’s Game Boy recently turned 25 years old and is fondly remembered by people of all ages the world over. With more than 118 million units sold worldwide, it’s fair to say that the monochrome portable was something of a hit, and there’s almost certainly a Game Boy or two lying around in a cupboard or attic near you at this very moment.

A pair of retro gaming enthusiasts are hoping to breathe new life into the Game Boy with a prototype product that allows gamers to hook their original 1989 portable up to their modern, high-definition TV sets with zero fuss. Dubbed the hdmyboy, the adaptor is still in development, but with the help of backing from Kickstarter users, the guys behind it are hoping to bring it to the world as early as next spring.

Fans of 8-bit games have been playing Game Boy classics on their PCs for years now, but it always required the use of emulation and the downloading of I-think-this-is-legal ROMs. It’s fun to fire up Super Mario Land or take the original Pokémon out for a spin whatever the hardware, but nothing really compares to playing old-school games on a big-screen TV from the comfort of your couch with friends.

That’s where Zane and Joshua Amiralis’s hdmyboy comes in.

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Attaching to any original (sorry Pocket and Color owners!) Game Boy, the hdmyboy connects to any high-definition television via HDMI cable and even comes with a built-in replica NES controller for that genuine retro feel.

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The designers’ product allows gamers to play their original Game Boy cartridges, emulation free, on their home TV sets, with the Game Boy itself becoming an under-the-TV console of sorts. Hmdyboy even allows you to give your games a splash of colour, Super Game Boy-style, with a selection of shaders and the option to play in “Scale” mode, which presents the image in the same dimensions as on the original Game Boy, or to stretch the image to fill your TV screen completely.

Here are the guys with their pitch.

Backing for the project starts at €1 (US$1.25), but if you want to get your hands on an actual hdmyboy you’ll need to cough up at least €115, which while not exactly cheap we think is a reasonable price to pay for something this nifty and which makes use of the original hardware.

To find out more or to back this exciting retro project, head over to Kickstarter.

Source: Kickstarter h/t Eurogamer
Images via YouTube