- A modder has turned Valve’s Steam Deck into a modern Game Boy called the SteamBoy.
- It has a fully functional LCD, motherboard, battery, speakers, and face buttons.
- It also uses a small 30×7 mm fan and a heatsink for cooling.
Modders are known to push the limits of PCs and consoles. One Chinese enthusiast built a PC large enough for people to live inside, while another made a PS2 handheld using a custom motherboard. A gamer even combined all the modern consoles into one device.
Now, a modder has taken Valve’s Steam Deck and turned it into a modern Game Boy called the SteamBoy.
This impressive build features the dimensions of a Game Boy, a functional Steam Deck motherboard, a battery, speakers, and all the face buttons that you’d see on the nostalgic device.
Why it matters: The SteamBoy has impressed many fans by reviving nostalgia. This impressive conversion also shows that a Game Boy console would do wonders with modern handheld specifications.
According to the modder u/PhyFawkes on the r/SteamDeckModded subreddit, the device already works great on an external display. The SteamBoy’s screen is a work-in-progress at the moment.
the SteamBoy is coming along great! It has a fully functional LCD steam deck motherboard, battery, speakers, and all the face buttons you see here. No custom PCBs needed (so far), and all within the dimensions of a Gameboy.
-Redditor, u/PhyFawkes.
The modder is using a 1200 x 1080, 90 Hz AMOLED panel, which is originally intended for VR. He needs to make a custom adapter PCB between the Steam Deck ribbon cable and the display.
He would also have to mod the BIOS the same way that DeckHD and DeckSight do to get the display working. You can take a look at the SteamBoy demo below, where he showcases the handheld working with an external display.
For cooling, he uses a small 30×7 mm fan and a heatsink he bought from AliExpress, held by a 3D-printed custom mount.
The cooling works quite well for how small the fans are. The temperature remained in the 70s for Tunic and in the 80s for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 after the CPU and GPU were undervolted by -50 mV.
So, the SteamBoy might struggle to run intensive AAA games due to undervolted specs and high temperatures.
Do you think a Game Boy console with Steam Deck specs is amazing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or join the discussion on the Tech4Gamers forum.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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