Anniversary: ​​the Super Game Boy turns 30

Nintendo’s Super Game Boy accessory is celebrating its 30th anniversary today.

The SNES cartridge – which lets you play Game Boy games on your TV with extra colors and special borders – was released in Japan on June 14, 1994 (thanks, Tokyo Game Life). It would arrive in North America and Europe in the same month.

Besides the obvious benefit of letting you play your Game Boy games on the big screen (and with added colors), the Super Game Boy allowed some titles to use the SNES hardware for bonus features.

For example, some games had improved sound, while titles like Killer Instinct used the Super Game Boy to provide a two-player option (which was only possible on the Game Boy by using a link cable, two consoles and two copies of the game). Others had unique borders that would surround the main screen.

Some games have gotten even more creative with the device; for example, the Game Boy version of Space Invaders includes the SNES version of the game on the same cartridge.

Nintendo would follow with the Super Game Boy 2, released in Japan in 1998. This device included, among other features, a link port for link cable playback. It was never released worldwide.