Nintendo had a curious project in the works for its Game Boy Color: the Pageboy. It was an extension that would have brought the Internet to the portable console. It was canceled and then forgotten, but a video tells us its story today.
At the end of the 1990s, the Game Boy Color was the queen of portable consoles and Nintendo did not hesitate to try sometimes far-fetched experiments, such as the Game Boy Printer or the Game Boy Camera. Another expansion was also planned by Nintendo but was eventually canceled: the Pageboy.
This device would have transformed the console into a smartphone before its time, but was eventually abandoned along the way. In a new video, journalist Liam Robertson, aka DidYouKnowGaming, tells us the story of this strange object.
The PageBoy was supposed to turn the Game Boy into a smartphone
The PageBoy was therefore to accompany the small console released in 1998. The goal was to connect it to the Internet via wireless transmission and roughly allow the user to use it as a 2021 smartphone. A revolutionary concept for the time, but also a little obscure: many people did not yet see the usefulness of the Internet.
According to Liam Robertson, Nintendo wanted to use the PageBoy to display information such as sports scores, the latest news, or even your emails. It would also have made it possible to communicate directly with your friends… and even use the console to reveal games via video streams. Nintendo Direct ahead of time!
Also read – Game Boy and Game Boy Color games soon on Nintendo Switch Online
Nintendo of America started the project in 1999 with Wizard and wanted to release it within three years. However, the network coverage was not ideal at the time and Nintendo quickly realized that only a part of the users could benefit from it. A constraint far from the philosophy of the manufacturer, who wanted to bring the same experience to everyone. In July 2002, the project was canceled.
However, all the work on the Pageboy was not lost, since some ideas were later taken up in the DS (with the chat tool) or even in the Wii, Nintendo’s first real connected console.
The Pageboy was therefore a true precursor who did not have the fate he deserved. You can find this whole story in the video below.
