Game Boy Head-to-Head Bundle - Two Restored DMG-01s, Tetris, Link Cable & Flash Cart

Two Game Boys, a cable between them, and Tetris

In 1988 Henk Rogers saw Tetris at CES, and told Nintendo of America’s president that it was the game to put in the box with the Game Boy. He was right in a way that reshaped the company: Tetris went on to sell over 35 million copies and is widely credited with turning the Game Boy from a gadget into the thing everyone owned.

Here is the part that matters for this listing. Tetris was the first game compatible with the Game Link Cable. Two-player Tetris is not a bonus mode that somebody added later. It is the original reason the port on the side of your Game Boy exists.

Which is the problem with buying one today. Two-player Tetris needs two working Game Boys, a real link cable, and a cartridge, and assembling that from eBay means three separate gambles from three separate strangers, arriving on three different days, with nobody having ever tested them together.

I tested these together. The video above is the two consoles in this listing, linked with the cable in this listing, running the cartridge in this listing. Not a stock clip, not a similar setup. These ones, on my bench.

What is in the box

• Two Nintendo Game Boy DMG-01 handhelds, both restored and tested, serials G706232507 and G29120585.
• A genuine Nintendo DMG-04 Game Link Cable. Big connectors on both ends, which is the version that actually fits two original Game Boys without an adapter.
• An authentic Tetris cartridge.
• A microSD flash cartridge, so one player can have the rest of the library.
• Two Console Artisan USB-C power adapters, one per console, because a head-to-head session on AA batteries has a clock on it.

Everything in that list has been in my hands and on my bench. Nothing is a representative photo.

Who this is for

This is the gift version of retro gaming. Most restored handhelds are bought by one person to play alone; this is two people on a sofa, which is a different and much older kind of fun. It works for a couple, for a parent and a kid, for someone whose sibling beat them at this in 1991 and has not let it go.

It is also one of the more expensive things on my store. Here is where that goes: two fully restored consoles plus four accessories, priced below what the parts come to individually. If you only need one Game Boy, this is not the listing for you, and you should ask me what else is on the bench.

About the flash cart

The included cart runs Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles off a microSD card, which means the whole library in one cartridge slot.

It is a clone, not a genuine Krikzz EverDrive. For the overwhelming majority of the library it does the same job just as well, and it will get you playing something like 99% of the Game Boy catalogue. Krikzz builds the original and is worth your money if you want the polished version, so go to krikzz.com with my blessing. If you want to know what actually differs between a clone board and a genuine one, I took several of both apart and wrote it up: cartridge level shifting.

The battery in this cart was dead, and I replaced it as part of my normal testing. That is the value I add over a listing that drop-ships one of these straight from China. On this model the battery is user replaceable with no soldering, which is nice. I also did some touch-up soldering work on it while it was open.

It plays what you put on the microSD, and it ships with a blank card ready to go. New to flash carts and not sure where to start? Message me and I will walk you through it: formatting the card, working the menu, the enormous free homebrew scene, and getting your own game backups running. Nobody should end up staring at an empty menu.

One flash cart, two Game Boys. That maths does not work if both of you want to pick, so I sell the same cart on its own and it ships in this box at no extra postage. Say the word when you order.

The detail on each console

Here is everything, per unit.

G706232507

Three parts are not original, and one of them is the best thing about it:

• The headphone board was destroyed, and I replaced it with my own. The CA-DMG-HPJ is a board I designed and sell, and this console has the assembled Base version fitted. A period-correct original is not sourceable; a modern equivalent that I build and can support is a better outcome than a dead jack. Photos 13 and 14 are this console, opened, with the board in place beside the Nintendo original it replaced. Those are the same frames I use in the install guide for that board, because this is the Game Boy I photographed while writing it.
• The front glass was missing and has been replaced. The protective film is still on it, which is why the lens looks slightly hazy in photo 2. Peel it when you want to. I left it on because it is doing its job.
• The battery door was missing and is now a replica.

The shell was cleaned carefully and never retrobrited. Worth saying plainly, because a chunk of the market treats retrobrite as damage and there is no way to tell from a photograph.

G29120585

This one is the more original of the two in the parts that show, and the less documented in the parts that do not.

I repaired this one, and I do not recall the details. It was before I kept proper notes on every job. What I can tell you is what it is now: it works correctly, the battery contacts are flawless with no corrosion, and the battery door appears to be an original. Its link-port cover is missing, which in a bundle built around the link port is not much of a loss.

About the maker

I’m an electrical engineer and long-time hobbyist with a passion for vintage electronics, especially classic video games. The items I sell are projects from my personal workshop. Everything is guaranteed working on arrival and in the state described. Thanks for looking.