I love my retro gaming-themed keyboards. As you guys know, we use 8BitDo keyboards here at Retro Dodo Towers, with Brandon rocking their NES-themed unit and me writing my articles using their Sega Saturn-inspired keyboard. But it's not often I see keyboards based on our favourite handhelds.
I've covered DIY kits like the Key Boy from YouTuber The Lesser The Besser, but that was a shell for a standard Lenovo Keyboard. The KeyBoy Advance, however, is a unit that has all the design nuances and subtle features of Ninty's heroic horizontal handheld, and it's taken me right back to playing Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Kao the Kangaroo as an eleven-year-old gamer.
The GBA was a bold move for Nintendo; turning things horizontal and moving away from the Game Boy DMG and the GBC could have been risky, but it paid off. It's one of their most iconic designs to date in my humble opinion, and this 50% layout keyboard designed by PromoType (Galo) channels all of that nostalgia from the early 00's. Sleek, compact, and with a built-in number row, it's a small gadget that packs a punch, just like the GBA.
The Game Boy Advance was one of Nintendo's best-selling handhelds — and its wide, landscape-format silhouette with number row made it the very essence of mobile gaming. Exactly this compact, portable spirit is the starting point for the KeyBoy Advance: 50% layout, compact, landscape-format, with a built-in number row that makes small keyboards much more approachable for enthusiasts. The result is a 50% build that feels familiar. It even comes in translucent shell varieties too!
PromoType (Galo) has done a great job in capturing the essence of the GBA while still creating a keyboard that is functional and ergonomic. They have included the speaker grill on the front, the illusion of a batter compartment cover, and an LED power light just like the original handheld. The curving sides make it look like you're holding a giant GBA too.
We need to talk about those shoulder buttons too, because they can actually be programmed through Vial and used in your everyday work, kind of like the Super Buttons that come with the 8BitDo keyboards. They have micro switches inside, and I'm hoping they'll make a satisfying clicking noise when pressed!
In terms of specs, this is a 50% HHKB (Happy Hacking Keyboard) with a 7° typing angle and a front height of 19mm. Its effective key height is 22.9mm, and it uses a top mount with an O-ring mounting method.
The KeyBoy Advance is what you call a bare-bones kit, which means that you'll need to buy your switches and keycaps and fit them yourself. The kit that you purchase comes with the following:
- 1× KeyBoy Advance top & bottom case (in chosen colour and material variant)
- 1× PCB of your choice (MX wired soldered, wired hot-swap, dual-mode or tri-mode)
- 1× Plate
- 1× Set of top-mount O-rings
- 1× Poron pillar element (for stepped spacebar)
- 2× Shoulder button micro-switches (integrated)
- 1× Set of screws & hardware
- 1× Set of rubber feet
- 1× USB cable
- 1× 2.4 GHz wireless receiver (tri-mode variant only)
The keyboard is available as a Group Buy, which works like Kickstarter. If you purchase now, you'll get it at the lowest price, and it'll ship at a later date. The group buy ends on Jul 22, 2026, at 10:30 pm, with shipping expected to commence in Q4. It costs $345.60 inc VAT, which works out at around £258.
Head to ProtoTypist Keyboards to find out more!
Credit: Prototypist Keyboard/PromoType (Galo)
