In a parallel universe, Nintendo doesn't just make games and consoles. It also offers a smartphone that injects nostalgia into our veins and reminds us of a cherished era, when we had more fun with less. Unfortunately, in our universe that smartphone is nothing more than a concept called Smart Boy, designed by Pierre Cerveau. It's more likely that Nintendo makes games for Sony before launching a smartphone… but dreaming costs nothing…
The world was surprised when Nintendo announced that it will develop games for mobile platforms, but at the same time, it's a direction the Japanese giant must follow no matter what. The traditionalist stance of keeping its intellectual property limited to internal consoles has deteriorated greatly against the demands of a volatile and flexible market, which increasingly rejects platform exclusivities and welcomes direct downloads with open arms (especially when they are DRM-free). Basically, what Nintendo must do is open new fronts, and mobile devices represent one of the broadest. Even so… no company has managed to completely escape that quota of stubbornness that remains in the background. If Nintendo's mobile gaming adventure is successful… what are the chances that it will develop its own smartphone?
For now, what we have are concepts, crazy ideas that push all our buttons. One of those concepts is the Smart Boy, created by Pierre Cerveau. This designer has already made a name for himself through theoretical designs such as the Sony Talkman, the Macintosh Phone, and the Atari Pocket Computer System, but the Smart Boy is without a doubt the most polished of them all. Its shell is unmistakable, imitating the lines, curves, and colors of the traditional Game Boy. Fortunately, Cerveau recognizes the absurdity of playing with touch screens, and created the Game Bat, a gamepad that connects to one of the Smart Boy's side ports. The last detail, and perhaps the most important, is the modularity of the Smart Boy. According to your needs, the user can install in the slot a higher-resolution camera, an external storage module, or an additional battery.
Should Nintendo manufacture such a smartphone? I insist, it must first evaluate the results of its mobile project with DeNA, and from there see if it's worth risking resources in a market it doesn't know at all. One thing is to create handheld consoles with very defined environments, and another is to enter the whirlwind of mobile devices, with operating systems it cannot directly control.
