Did you ever wish that the first generation Pokemon games for the Game Boy were available on the Super Nintendo home console?
Well you would not be alone in this wish.
And a clever Pokemon enthusiast Below Average Gaming has taken it upon themselves to correct this gap.
But as straight forward as these new SNES cartridges look, there is actually a lot of really unique things happening to make it all work.
So let’s take a closer look at the creative wizardry that made this project come together.
Pokemon On The SNES
Reviewing the awesome breakdown video created by Jeremy aka Below Average Gaming, we can see how these custom SNES carts became a reality.
The basis of the idea was to combine a Super Game Boy cartridge with an original Game Boy cartridge.
Due to the price of a real Pokemon cartridge, Jeremy opted to work with an InsideGadgets writable game cartridge.
Most importantly, this means that no Pokemon were harmed in the making of these new cartridges.
Using a flex cable, Jeremy was able to lose the bulky cartridge slot on the Super Game Boy and remove a lot of size of the hardware.
And the last necessary modification was the Super Game Boy Clock Mod from Quertymodo.
This corrects the 2.5% speed difference that happens when using the Super Game Boy. Something later corrected in the Japanese Super Game Boy v2.
Combining these four vital components resulted in a package that would all fit within an original SNES cartridge shell.
But Jeremy didn’t just stop there. He also used custom boards to allow for functional trading between cartridges.
This part seemed the most complicated and the part that I could live without if I were doing this myself.
To deliver the full SNES experience, Jeremy also designed new labels and box designs for the full set of Pokemon Blue, Pokemon Red, Pokemon Yellow, Pokemon Gold, and Pokemon Silver! *chef’s kiss*
Impressions
Jeremy aka Below Average Gaming created his own custom SNES Pokemon cartridges for his own personal enjoyment.
And we don’t imagine these will be for sale anytime soon, if ever.
But there is nothing stopping you from trying this project yourself if you have the technical ability to make happen.
My own take away here is that it is possible to “port” an original Game Boy or Game Boy Color game to the Super Nintendo. With a bit of clever modification of hardware, of course.
You can simply take the Super Game Boy and use it exactly as it was intended. But if you particularly want a single game as a working SNES cartridge… Below Average Gaming has shown us what is possible.
Whether or not we have the ability or desire to make one for ourselves; these kinds of creative projects are inspiring.
And surely you’d agree that this is an awesome achievement for retro gaming.
The first gen Pokemon games have been ported to SNES a few years ago, but this is one of the first times the second generation games have ported.
