GBA Consolizer Lets You Play Game Boy Advance Games on HDTVs

A new fanmade device allows you to play Game Boy Advance games on HDTVs. 

A YouTuber by the name of Woozle has been posting videos of a device he calls the GBA Consolizer. This peripheral looks like it lay on top of a Game Boy Advance’s screen, but it is actually effectively replacing the device’s screen. In fact, you actually have to do some smoldering in order to properly hook it up. This also means that you shouldn’t even consider attempting to use such a device unless you’ve got a Game Boy Advance you mind using specifically for this purpose. 

If that doesn’t dissuade you, you’ll likely find that the GBA Consolizer works about the way you’d expect. The peripheral itself comes with an HDMI port that you can use to hook up your GBA to just about any modern television. From there, you can play GBA games on your TV in a way that makes them look like they belong on much larger screens than they were probably ever really intended to be played on. You can even alter the visuals and technical details of some games via a built-in menu. 

Since this isn’t exactly a mass-market product, the only real evidence of how well the Consolizer works are the videos that Woozle has posted to his YouTube channel. So far as that goes, the results are impressive. While it doesn’t seem like most games fill the entire screen (at least by default), they also don’t seem to suffer from any input lag or noticeable framerate stutters. 

For the moment, though, whatever benefits the GBA Consolizer may offer will be limited to a small group of people. Woozle has already stated that he has sold off the first 100 GBA Consolizers he has manufactured and that he doesn’t plan on making any more until sometime next year. It’s not clear at this time when he will begin selling those additional units or how much they will retail for. 

Of course, such peripherals wouldn’t be nearly as necessary if Nintendo would just give people an easier way to access some of the games that appeared on their classic consoles and devices. As it doesn’t sound like Nintendo ever plans on releasing a virtual console for Switch, we’re left to wait for classic games to be released via the Nintendo Switch’s Online service. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014.