WorkBoy: Lost Game Boy Add-on FOUND After 28 Years - Game History Secrets
Рет қаралды 540,782
3 жыл бұрынSUBSCRIBE for more failed, cancelled & beta games ► bit.ly/DYKG_Subscribe
Failed Nintendo Pitches ► • Failed Nintendo Pitche...
Rare Nintendo Consoles ► • Nintendo's Rarest Cons...
Today on Game History Secrets, Liam talks about his journey to find the lost Nintendo Game Boy add-on, the WorkBoy. This peripheral has been lost for 28 years, but through determination and some amazing luck, the WorkBoy lives again for us all to see.
Liam Robertson is a video game researcher and archiver. In his spare time, Liam creates videos and articles for various outlets, and will also be contributing to the Did You Know Gaming channel.
Follow DYKG on:
Twitter: bit.ly/2oOavs2
Instagram: bit.ly/2oO4jjA
Facebook: bit.ly/2nIrFp9
Website: bit.ly/NpYDbD
Special Thanks to ConsoleVariations for donating the Game Boy used in this video: consolevariations.com/
Mystery music via Wee Free Music: • Free Mystery Music for...
• Nintendo Game Boy TETR...
• The Nintendo Booth at ...
www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...
• Gamesmaster Mobile G...
• Game Boy Accessories -...
/ source-the-software-ho...
• Atari Coin Op Video
Some footage via fuzzymemories.tv/
• Senate Hearings on Vid...
www.sega-16.com/2016/07/inter...
www.videogameschronicle.com/n...
/ 1286740356055408640
kotaku.com/new-nintendo-leak-...
/ waluigibsod
www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...
#WorkBoy #GameBoy #Nintendo
@abberline2664 3 жыл бұрын
You've just solved a 29 year old mystery for me, age 11 I badgered my mum and dad every weekend to go to toys r us in Hull and ask if they had one. On the rare occasion my parents gave in no one in the shops had any idea what I was talking about even when I showed them the article. Thanks mate, it's amazing to know the story now that I've just turned 40
@MJFallout 3 жыл бұрын
How cool. Did you actually turn up in a management function, entrepreneur, or teenage drug dealer (referencing 3:28 ) ?
@abberline2664 3 жыл бұрын
@@MJFallout 😂 neither, I always felt like it was the reason my drug business failed
@fredflintstone5356 3 жыл бұрын
Have you shown your parents this video? I am sure they would be intrigued!
@abberline2664 3 жыл бұрын
@@fredflintstone5356 I'm seeing them soon and I'll definitely show them, I hope they remember but I can't say for sure. I'll let you know
@richsubishi 3 жыл бұрын
lol 😂 i watching this and i am from Hull. Hulls toys R us was a magical place as a kid.
@ktvx.94 3 жыл бұрын
This is insane. How good it was, how the pieces came together, the fucking gigaleak actually reviving a device whose creator sent the last copy of it, what a ride! On par with the rest of 2020 itself
@rodak_ 3 жыл бұрын
Have you heard about McDonalds DS? Really similar story with
@Critwrench 3 жыл бұрын
@Censorship's For Pussies kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y8tmq7JzqKe6pnU.html I believe they're referring to this
@allhumansarejusthuman.5776 3 жыл бұрын
@Censorship's For Pussies it's not SJW overlords. It's basic economics. The public at large is fed up with anything overly violent, racist, sexist or bigoted and people who try to justify or apologize about the bigots. And If the public is fed up, the companies advertising don't want anything to do with those messages. Truth is we are all people. Just human. Appearance, lifestyles, sexuality and gender does not change that. And the internet has brought that truth to light in a bigger way then ever before. To the point where not realizing that denying that, and being open to any sort of bigotry you have to deny reality in a cult like manner hiding away in your own dark moist echo chamber of bigotry. And frankly that's just sad. Pitiful.
@allhumansarejusthuman.5776 3 жыл бұрын
@Censorship's For Pussies because your breaking the terms of service. Not because your being censored. Nobody is obliged to give you a soapbox, nobody is obliged to care about you or what you have to say. You have to earn that. Anything else is compelled speech, forcing someone to publish what they don't want. And that's exactly what the USSR did. That is censorship, to force a company to platform you. You want free speech you have it. You want free presses you have it. And that means nobody gets to tell you what you publish or allow on your own servers. That also means if you want to get published you better open your own servers and launch your own video hosting website, or stop crying about it.
@EvilApple567 3 жыл бұрын
A 30 year old single known prototype that can only interact with a 30 year old ROM that just so happened to have been recently leaked from Nintendo's official servers finally reunited and showcased for the world What a crazy story and set of finds
@parishna4882 3 жыл бұрын
No such thing as coincidences. it's the code breaking down into a singularity, soon everything will be perfect.
@XANAX-Pilled 3 жыл бұрын
@@parishna4882 Hare Krisna
@SegaDream131 3 жыл бұрын
What is the summation of all... Joy of JOYS.....
@glyph241 3 жыл бұрын
This Is Fractal Time Maze... Obviously.
@EricGranata 3 жыл бұрын
This video blew my mind.
@paulhome1883 3 жыл бұрын
Workboy waking up after all that shit: “The year is 2055”
@TheSurogate 3 жыл бұрын
i can only imagine the hype, if it instead say year 2077
@parishna4882 3 жыл бұрын
We have covid, the workboy has the Y2K bug.
@TheSurogate 3 жыл бұрын
@@parishna4882 dude....do you understand what Y2K bug was? Based on this video, WORKBOY is legit Y2K compliant.
@parishna4882 3 жыл бұрын
@@TheSurogate I worked during the Y2K bug, and had to maintain an entire college of tafe here, which is government funded and had multiple departments, across many areas here. To ask I know what it was, is pointless.. to say I saw the few things we missed, and dates were out of whack, is not. It was a JOKE by the way.... What wasn't a joke was every gd employee screaming at us for upgrading their hardware and software. You think the Y2K bug was nothing? I still have scars from computing lecturers....
@TheSurogate 3 жыл бұрын
@@parishna4882 so.....it had to be a JOKE....⬆️🦲
@sarowie 3 жыл бұрын
Frank is an interesting guy - he passed on his keepsake of a long gone era to the first person that genuinely sounded like he would treasure it. Great way to leave a legacy and making a lot of people happy by giving closure.
@tximinoman 3 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I was amazed by that too, what a nice gesture.
@agentafter 3 жыл бұрын
He's said that he has to return the prototype on twitter. Nevertheless what a guy to send the device for the video to someone you don't even know.
@PlatoonGoon 3 жыл бұрын
Insane generosity to even loan it, as it could be sold for thousands.
@AbjectPermanence 3 жыл бұрын
That surprised me too. That unit is probably worth a lot of money, and he just sent it off so that some guy could tinker with it. Very trusting.
@BladeRedwind 3 жыл бұрын
@@agentafter Really shows you that good people still exist who want to share history.
@crystaldawn2708 3 жыл бұрын
FRANK. The MVP. Bless his heart for being so kind to just straight up SEND what is possibly the only workboy left in existence out for fan inspection 😭❤
@SteelyDanzig 3 жыл бұрын
FRONK
@d33p345 3 жыл бұрын
Frikkin legend.
@inarieon8531 3 жыл бұрын
That's the golden way right there, sacrificing material possesion and wealth for the benefit of ALL! (Well, all Game Boy nerds :P)
@psinjo 3 жыл бұрын
I love this, but i also want to give credit to the original makers. "You're some random guy who called me up about this thing i was trying to build over 20 years ago, and i'm just going to send you the ONLY ONE IN EXISTANCE just in the hope you might be able to get something out of it" Kudos to them, I'm honestly so glad to see this little bit of history brought to light and explained.
@Spazilton1 2 жыл бұрын
Well that random person Most likely showed he had a KZfaq audience of more than 2+ million.
@themathgod9567 2 жыл бұрын
Most likely he loaned it to him for the sake of the video then he would send it back to him
@LiamRproductions Жыл бұрын
@@Spazilton1 I did not do any of that. I just found the right way to get a hold of him and asked him about it.
@safetinspector2 3 жыл бұрын
24:20 I was a young IT engineer when that fire happened. The local IT warehouse had ARMED GUARDS to prevent theft of ram until the prices got better.
@FirstWizardZorander 3 жыл бұрын
That's fascinating. I remember the price explosion of hard drives after that flooding in Thailand, after which I think Backblaze bought up external hard drives to take apart for the drives themselves. Still, RAM is inherently more expensive, and it's hard to imagine now how much that must have affected sales at the time.
@safetinspector2 3 жыл бұрын
@@FirstWizardZorander I remember that we could get certain Chinese manufactured drives that didn't have the same warranty and business customers would purchase them to tide them over with the intent to replace as soon as the crisis ended
@JakeKlineMusic 3 жыл бұрын
@@safetinspector2 *Plot twist:* I just looked up Sumitomo Chemical Company in Japan, and their company history gives their entry into IT-related chemical products as taking place in the year 2001, eight years after the explosion. *Only possible conclusion:* Both this, and the massively fortuitous recovery of one-of-a-kind WorkBoy software and hardware, both, after 28 years, leads me to the only possible conclusion: _We're looking at the convergence of alternate realities here, folks_
@JakeKlineMusic 3 жыл бұрын
@@FirstWizardZorander nice user avatar, good sir wizard.
@safetinspector2 3 жыл бұрын
@@JakeKlineMusic the work boy was the instrument that bent the reality
@antoniocialfi77 3 жыл бұрын
Holy shit, it actually exists! This is like finding bigfoot, having a beer with him, and then asking bigfoot to ring up his old buddy, the loch Ness monster, and asking Nessie if he just happened to have the holy grail in his studio apartment in the lost city of atlantis
@Minspi_26 3 жыл бұрын
Exactly
@antoniocialfi77 3 жыл бұрын
@@Minspi_26 I thought this was just a collective fever dream all gameboy enthusiast dreamed about
@Omnishredder 3 жыл бұрын
I've actually done this... You're late to the party, Bigfoot said that he only chooses one person every millennia... Also Nessie says the holy grail isn't quite what it's meant to be, there's hundreds of them and they really don't do anything besides make a great beer vessel... Surprisingly Bigfoot gave me another and I never could've guessed that was the holy grail until Nessie told me, not wanting to ruin the big secret I said that I didn't want either of them so even if it's true what evidence do I have? So please, don't take what I've said as truth, let humanity have something they won't ever know for several generations, because I have used Humanities only chance to keep it secret
@Paradroid1793 3 жыл бұрын
Wow
@WolfyRed 3 жыл бұрын
454 likes nice
@nvanearden 3 жыл бұрын
I feel like Indiana Jones saying this but, "It belongs in a museum!"
@shane1489 3 жыл бұрын
It should be studied by top men.
@andregon4366 3 жыл бұрын
Should be connected to the working charred Gameboy that survived the explosion.
@TonySki 3 жыл бұрын
@@andregon4366 I believe that one has Tetris stuck in it so they can't.
@andregon4366 3 жыл бұрын
@@TonySki Damn.
@ghostviddebunker 3 жыл бұрын
@@TonySki that’s not true! I seen it in person! It’s in the Nintendo Store in NYC! It is said they change the game every so often!
@JamilThePimpLol 3 жыл бұрын
WOW incredible! Brought a tear to my eye that the developer would trust you with the work boy keyboard, likely the last one surviving. He must be more than just a rich retiree, seems he cares about the historical factor of this type of thing. “Video game historian” is going to very quickly become an actual vein of study
@parishna4882 3 жыл бұрын
He's had it for 30 years and didn't even remember he had it at first... so giving it to someone vested enough to contact so many people out of pure nostalgia, would have been well worth it, imo!
@themathgod9567 2 жыл бұрын
Most likely he loaned it to him for the sake of the video then he would send it back to him
@SuperTrainStationH 3 жыл бұрын
As a kid with a disability who could have benefited from a laptop, but couldn’t afford one, I was fascinated about the Work Boy since the 90s. Great to finally see it.
@xtremekirby07 3 жыл бұрын
Imagine the wonders homebrewers could have programmed with this baby back in the day.
@brave_toaster_9961 3 жыл бұрын
I know right? It sucks nobody ever made separate controllers of any sort besides this.
@WH40KHero 3 жыл бұрын
@Censorship's For Pussies But can it run Doom?
@zombizzle_ 3 жыл бұрын
"We had some shit games." Way to keep it real, Frank.
@Acorn_Anomaly 3 жыл бұрын
I honestly quite enjoyed his attitude in a lot of this, it was amusing. "How do we know you won't do this again?" "If someone else offers me a 40% raise, I probably will do this again."
@chrisperatikos7001 3 жыл бұрын
the guy is a legend, we had some shit games BUT so did others . amen
@nthgth 3 жыл бұрын
He's the honorary origin of the phrase "let me be Frank'
@gedeuchnixan3830 3 жыл бұрын
The most mindblowing part of this story is to me, basicly a freaking GameBoy accessory is the fundation of Nokia´s communicators, who would have thought.
@magicsforce 3 жыл бұрын
I never imagined this would become such a touching story
@XANAX-Pilled 3 жыл бұрын
Holy shit! I'm 40, and was a gameboy fanatic, and remember reading about this as a kid. I thought it was brilliant, and every businessman would be using it. Thanks for this. I've not thought about it in decades! This is why I love all things retro gaming.
@freeculture 3 жыл бұрын
By the time the Gameboy came out, a decade of personal computers used the same cpu (z80), like all consoles, this was just a general computer lacking peripherals. Not too long later the PDA craze would come out which was essentially the same thing. History is a circle, now the Switch is using the very same thing you have in your smartphone: ARM, which is why people have run Linux and whatnot with it.
@4dscdriver 3 жыл бұрын
I remember reading about it as well. Awesome!
@XANAX-Pilled 3 жыл бұрын
@I OFFER YOU THIS it's fucking SIIIIIIIIIICK. time speeds up. you'll be thirty before you know it, and then, 40. And i guess, for YOU, it'll be '00s shit that gives you that special feeling- that memory of being a kid, and knowing you had pizza on the way, and a dope ass video game to play, you feel me? That's the silver lining of aging, and that's the magic of retro gaming.
@Tukaro 3 жыл бұрын
13:00 "But Frank had a simpler idea" I audibly responded "No shit..." in surprise that he would just ship it on to Liam (even if only on loan). What a guy!
@Pecetos 3 жыл бұрын
Imagine for how much it could sell on a auction. I wonder if owner just trusted Liam or there have been some sort of agreement signed.
@fuckbollock 3 жыл бұрын
@@Pecetos Definitely a contract of some sort.
@LiamRproductions 3 жыл бұрын
@@fuckbollock There is no contract between Frank and I.
@A_Gongora_ 3 жыл бұрын
I had the same reaction, but in spanish.
@Otis151 3 жыл бұрын
@@LiamRproductions still have it? I'll give you $30 for it. JK! Congrats to all involved. What a great story.
@Siska0Robert 3 жыл бұрын
Historical moment! Thanks for great example how "piracy" contributes to preserving our history.
@themathgod9567 2 жыл бұрын
The P.T. demo is another example of that
@lpfan4491 Жыл бұрын
It always does.
@jerb82 3 жыл бұрын
Imagine a time when something like this was created and the end game wasn't to harvest your personal finance data
@Kriae 3 жыл бұрын
insanity
@MrPikkoz 3 жыл бұрын
*putting on tinfoil hat* " Are you sure ? "
@SegaDream131 3 жыл бұрын
I seen a $ so prolly not.....
@shockdoggo6889 3 жыл бұрын
Franks a nice man, no other person would just give a one of a kind item they helped make away, but he did it for the sake of game preservation.
@johnathin0061892 3 жыл бұрын
Especially given it is probably worth $5,000-$10,000 or more to an insanely rich collector
@HHog 3 жыл бұрын
I'm assuming he might want it back at some point, especially now that the video is made and uploaded. But even then, just lending it out for the sake of learning about a long lost videogame obscurity is already quite generous itself.
@triggahappyyt5420 3 жыл бұрын
Probably sent for review only.
@tcrpgfan 3 жыл бұрын
@@triggahappyyt5420 Yeah, and probably why he sent it in a GBA case. Less suspicious-looking.
@LiamRproductions 3 жыл бұрын
Hey everyone. This is Liam here, the guy in the video. I hope you enjoy the vid and have a great holiday. Let me know if you have any questions about the video. Stay cool. Update: the response to this video has been overwhelming! Thank you. I have made some follow-up videos showing more of the WorkBoy on my channel. Check them out if you fancy.
@ISAK.M 3 жыл бұрын
Aight
@Foulowe59 3 жыл бұрын
👍
@MoButt 3 жыл бұрын
happy holidays! c.um
@XANAX-Pilled 3 жыл бұрын
Thx. Fcking fascinating, as I'm old enough to remember the original press hype.
@gyromurphy 3 жыл бұрын
No questions... But I just wanted to say I remember this vividly. Being a kid in the early 90s, I was really big into the Gameboy and all its accessories. I had that huge monstrosity with the fold out speakers, the powerboy, game genie, and a bunch of third party garbage add ons. I remember reading about the work boy and I wanted it desperately... But it soon fell out of my mind with the release of Link to the Past. After that I had a new obsession. So being 36 now I wonder what could have happened if I had never played Zelda. I'd potentially have the Workboy, but be without the fond magical memories of playing Zelda....and THAT'S not something I'd trade for all the rare Nintendo tech in the world
@h0zzle327 3 жыл бұрын
He was probably so honored and happy to help with this interview. Imagine holding on to it for all those years for what it could have been, to have someone reach out in genuine interest so long later. That was probably one of his babies!
@AlphaFox78 3 жыл бұрын
WOW!! I saw the ad for this in nintendo power back in the day and was so excited about it, I re-read all the features in the magazine over and over and then it never materialized. I always wondered what happened to it, thanks for the detective work!
@SatoshiMatrix1 3 жыл бұрын
As a GameBoy enthusiast myself, I would absolutely have bought one of these back in the day. Heck, given that the software exists and is abandonware, I would support a kickstarter to make a reproduction keyboard that works with the existing software. I want this thing to have a second chance!
@NueThunderKing 3 жыл бұрын
I can’t even begin to imagine your excitement when you first confirmed an existing Work Boy, and then when you were offered to be sent the device. And then a few weeks later having the software leak? It was serendipity if there ever was one, amazing video my friends.
@kakyoindonut3213 3 жыл бұрын
dude, this story is amazing, he talk to two guy who founded a company, to revive something that didn't exist
@4649kasumi 3 жыл бұрын
that is so incredibly kind of him to send it to you!!
@TheRetroFuture 3 жыл бұрын
No way.
@CPPRODUCTIONS1001 3 жыл бұрын
Dual keyboard workboy when?
@AzureQuality 3 жыл бұрын
Yes way
@fauxaccount6233 3 жыл бұрын
Si wey
@DougSalad 3 жыл бұрын
Waiting for the first ever TwerkBoy, get on it Elliot
@TVindustries5000 3 жыл бұрын
Elliot watches on, drooling at the mouth
@JohnRiggs 3 жыл бұрын
Amazing! I love finds like this.
@MrEandc4life 3 жыл бұрын
∆∆∆∆this guy's channel rules 2!
@brycestrife5605 3 жыл бұрын
This channel is ALWAYS blowing me away, such interesting stuff.
@johndripper 3 жыл бұрын
Hello there Mr John how do u you?
@adambest2840 3 жыл бұрын
Riggs!!!!
@gibraltar4841 3 жыл бұрын
Peepoo
@Big5mokE719 3 жыл бұрын
Workboy: "it's been so long since last time I was awake... It's got to be what, like year 2055?!?!" Lol
@midwestweirdo666 3 жыл бұрын
Don't laugh. 2055 isn't much further from us than 1992. 29 years vs 34.
@tantejunko 3 жыл бұрын
@@midwestweirdo666 Screw you, i'm gonna laugh and have a good time anyway.
@IndefiniteMark 3 жыл бұрын
@@tantejunko I think he meant it as a joke in itself dude. Have fun!
@yaknoe4659 3 жыл бұрын
Maybe we could eventually find a working Stealth Boy
@Kriae 3 жыл бұрын
it's 2155 later in the video
@Sunsetradi0 3 жыл бұрын
Damn this little thing is so cool, imagine what could have been if it was released The fact that world map has 8 bit renditions of national anthems is so charming, people would have loved this thing
@pafoneto1275 Жыл бұрын
No, as the videos say, too expensive and were better options in the market. Plus, the only people who would buy this to ACTUALLY use it and not just fool around with the anthems are adults that weren't into video games and probably wouldn't want a game boy in the first place.
@ZidaneTheTribal 3 жыл бұрын
This wouldn't had happened without the biggest leak in gaming ever, I love this so much.
@Paradroid1793 3 жыл бұрын
I can’t believe it exists
@toumabyakuya3498 3 жыл бұрын
I will never agree that Nintendo deserved to suffer such a leak and in hacking the servers of any company ever. However, I will agree that without it the WorkBoy might not have been completed. I suppose we should always see the positive in the negative.
@Breeze926 3 жыл бұрын
@@toumabyakuya3498 Nah bring the leaks. I'm curious and Nintendo won't talk about this stuff otherwise.
@toumabyakuya3498 3 жыл бұрын
@@Breeze926 I am also curious, but leaks are never correct. Nintendo themselves should be the ones releasing this info via artbooks and the like.
@Breeze926 3 жыл бұрын
@@toumabyakuya3498 As long as it's not personal employee information if they're never releasing it their fault. They don't get hacked for no reason.
@itsyaboycactus6096 3 жыл бұрын
Nick robinson be damned, you now have held one of the rarest gb accessories ever
@AsyrafFile 3 жыл бұрын
You mistaking Nick and Liam Robinson.
@THAT1ZELDAFAN 3 жыл бұрын
This man, held THE most valuable gaming accessory ever made. That, if it went up to auction, I think could fetch millions, give that it's a piece of forgotten Nintendo history
@TheDawnofVanlife 2 жыл бұрын
This is amazing. You literally brought to life a dead prototype product that was buried in someone's old work memories box. When the guy decided to keep the prototype, he couldn't have imagined decades later it would be reunited with it's software via a ROM leak and a dedicated gaming historian.
@LiamRproductions 2 жыл бұрын
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it.
@GoingtoHecq 3 жыл бұрын
"I need my game boy for work" It's really cool though and it's like how the gameboy was used to make the first programmable sewing machine controller
@customsongmaker 3 жыл бұрын
The first programmable punch-cards in the 1800s were to control looms.
@brahmse9409 3 жыл бұрын
TIMESTAMPS [Long Version] History of a Missing Peripheral 0:00-5:03 Mystery of the WorkBoy 0:45 WorkBoy at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2:33 WorkBoy Missing at Games Master Live 3:49 Production Myth (AVGN cameo) 4:17 Interviewing the WorkBoy Developers 5:03-13:00 Tracking Down the Developers 5:03 Developer Eddie Gill (Source) 6:04 Developer Frank Ballouz (Fabtek) 8:11 A wild WorkBoy appears!!! 11:53 Testing the WorkBoy (Failure) 13:00-18:50 Connectivity Problem 13:00 Beeping Sign of Life 14:11 Missing Cartridge Problem 14:46 Nintendo Gigaleak Security Breach 15:40 Testing the ROM without the Keyboard 17:38 Testing the WorkBoy (Success) 18:50-23:14 Clock 19:56, Calculator 20:04, Address Book 20:16 Temperature 20:34, Metric 20:45, Currency 20:56, Savings 21:15 Translator 21:30, World Map 22:01 Why WorkBoy Was Never Produced 23:14-27:08 Pricing Problem 23:14 Other Production Problems 24:02 Frank on What Could’ve Been 24:46 Eddie Inspired by WorkBoy 25:36 WorkBoy II for GBA 26:07 WorkBoy in the context of Productivity Software 26:43 Patreon Credits 27:08
@parishna4882 3 жыл бұрын
Well that's nice for people who arent interested in the video, really... I wouldn't think anyone watching it would require timestamps, as the entire content is in and of itself, why they'd watch it. but ok.
@davidvilchez2209 3 жыл бұрын
The world's first potential smart device, 20 years ahead of its time.
@stillbuyvhs 3 жыл бұрын
Eh, there was already a large selection of palmtops & calculator-sized computers.
@CoalCoalJames 3 жыл бұрын
there where "smart devices" but they where insanely expensive, the one's with similar functions/keyboard were pocket translators.
@ShrtStfflp 3 жыл бұрын
not really. PDAs did everything this did and more and were released around the same time the workboy would have been.
@davidvilchez2209 3 жыл бұрын
I guess I should've said affordable
@KairuHakubi 3 жыл бұрын
he's even calling the subprograms 'apps' rankles me but can't deny it's apt.
@StarLightNow 3 жыл бұрын
Outstanding work as always, Liam! Great to see this out in the wild.
@JeffHochberg 3 жыл бұрын
WOW! I’ve gotta say...this is one of the greatest gaming documentaries I’ve ever watched...and I’ve watched a lot of them! This is such an incredible story - amazing journalism - but even better is imagining how amazing must have felt for Frank and Eddie to see the hardware and software they labored over brought together for the first time in ~30 years! And the chances of a data dump containing the software that otherwise would never have surfaced??? What!?!?! Play the lottery man! This is an incredible piece of work! Bravo!!!
@Forever_Zero 3 жыл бұрын
Very impressive, the fact that you managed to get this truly unique piece of hardware so many years later, just wow, and thanks to Frank Ballouz for let the world take a look on this lost treasure.
@MoonPrincess28 3 жыл бұрын
The game historian in me is absolutely in love with this. Getting a prototype from a previous developer and the rom getting leaked a few weeks later...too perfect and too beautiful.
@SimonEllwood 3 жыл бұрын
The keyboard needs to be reverse-engineered so it can be added to Mame.
@brianmoreira7578 3 жыл бұрын
What a great review! I mean from getting the best sources to talk about it to actually getting a working WorkBoy! I can't believe this doesn't have 1million views. Thanks so much man-i grew up on this stuff and I don't know anyone who's into it. Watching this vid and vids like it warms my ticker and reminds me of the good old days.
@bigbetgaming 3 жыл бұрын
Can’t wait for the speed running community to get their hands on this.
@xnamkcor 3 жыл бұрын
"Dude, is console verified. I just used 8 controllers almost nobody ever owned that were used in an online horse betting game to input raw data into the RAM via an exploit!".
@DoctorBabby 3 жыл бұрын
@@xnamkcor Now I'm curious about that horse betting game because I think you're making a reference to something
@KBABZ 3 жыл бұрын
What an incredible story!
@quantumchill5237 3 жыл бұрын
Ahaha what a story Mark.
@markholland9278 3 жыл бұрын
This is why roms and emulation aren't evil! THIS IS WHY!
@wills242 3 жыл бұрын
Who’s saying they’re evil?
@Game_Hero 3 жыл бұрын
@@wills242 Nintendo
@dragoon6551 3 жыл бұрын
Internet history right here
@PopCultureFan_ 3 жыл бұрын
No, but its what you do with them that are. You use them in illegal ways, theres no denying that.
@MrFreddy123 3 жыл бұрын
@@PopCultureFan_ Only certain use cases are illegal. If I own let's say Super Mario World on SNES and I decide to put the ROM on an Everdrive in order to minimize wear and tear on my original cart, I'm 100% within my right to do so.
@MT-fl1eb 3 жыл бұрын
Amazing video! Perfect timing with the ROM dump and getting your hands on the hardware. Although it came from the illegal dump it was good to see this operational
@MrPanda040 3 жыл бұрын
Imagine finding one of a kind of something just for a KZfaq video, that my man it's dedication, :)
@fsekalak 3 жыл бұрын
But it's really not "just for a youtube video". This has helped to solve a part of missing game history that, without the effort, could have easily become unsolvable. Even if this channel is typically just neat facts about beloved video games, now and then we get to uncover old mysteries like this!
@MrPanda040 3 жыл бұрын
@@fsekalak hey amm I don't know how to put it, English it's not my first language, but waht I mean it's yes cool discovery and dedication to the hunt.
@myrmeko 3 жыл бұрын
I'm actually more surprised that this obscure add-on is the reason the Nokia Communicator even exists.
@L33PL4Y 3 жыл бұрын
Or "Nakia" as Liam would tell it.
@adamgardner28 3 жыл бұрын
CONGRATULATIONS! I had my eye on this since I first saw it in Nintendo Power...even calling the 1-800 number every now and again to ask the status on this peripheral. I had to settle for the Infogenius Personal Organizer that would actually crash my Gameboy and reset the cartridge. Thank you for solving a mystery I've been thinking about for almost three decades!
@chrisbednar3578 3 жыл бұрын
This is absolutely incredible. My jaw dropped when I realized you got your hands on the actual prototype - you have cemented your place in video game history my friend!! I hope you win an award for this one somehow, because you deserve it!!!!!! Thank you for your incredible investigative journalism for the posterity of video game history, without you taking this on, the workboy may never have seen the light of day. Hell I'm only half way through the video too! Incredible, incredible video.
@palmerav 3 жыл бұрын
Such a good deal, considering the cost of a full PC was still in the ~$3,000 range then. This was essentially a ultra-portable monochrome laptop with better battery life. Much appreciation for all the development hours that must have gone into this.
@DFX2KX 3 жыл бұрын
that's something that many younger folks, and even people my age (I'm 34) miss. A PC was extremely expensive then. a Portable (laptop was a pretty new term back then) even more so and what you got wasn't much better then this, and likely worse when you factor the 'hard drive/storage' was just a simple floppy disc on the cheap ones. I have a small monochrome compaq from the late 80s/early 90s, and other then coming stock with a backlight (the backlight on this gameboy is a mod) it had NOTHING on this setup in terms of cost to usefulness. Monochrome, floppy drive only storage, and the rtc battery required completely tearing it apart to get to....
@OhFishyFish 3 жыл бұрын
It was more of a palmtop really, but still affordable compared to most of them.
@derealized797 3 жыл бұрын
This is exactly what I was just thinking. Look at how many people bought the WII not even for playing games, but because at the time, for the price there were other things it could do for less. This could have been similar. Think I also saw somewhere that they used gameboy advance as a lower cost option for making some kind medical equipment for hospitals. Can't remember exactly what it was, heart monitor or something.
@flammybino8523 3 жыл бұрын
It was a terrible deal. And there was an obvious reason why the device never made it to market, it had no form of text editor.. It was not comparable to a fully featured PC in any way shape or form but there were a whole bunch of devices around at the same time ("digital organisers", "data claculators", "data banks"), that offered much more functionality for a similar price as the Work Boy. For less than the combined cost of a Game Boy and Work Boy you could get a "pocket computer", for just a little bit more you could get a basic computer (I mean a BASIC computer). Read the contemporary literature about it and you will see the team behind it bragging about the upcoming word processing features of the Work Boy 2! Yeah, before this was even released they were highlighting its missing features and hyping its succesor that would have those features.. Unbelievable.
@flammybino8523 3 жыл бұрын
No! We're talking 1992 here, not the bronze age. PCs weren't some wonderous new technology, there was a glut of hardware about, all kinds of different devices at all kinds of price points. Also, I think you're massively over-estimating the abilities of the Work Boy, it didn't even have a text editor. There was nothing wrong with floppy discs either!
@imaloony8 3 жыл бұрын
One thing I noticed when you were playing the national anthems: It has Germany listed as East Germany. This is interesting because the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and East Germany stopped existing in 1990. Yet this device was supposed to come out in 1992 and still referenced East Germany. Just strikes me as very interesting.
@parishna4882 3 жыл бұрын
very beta software. with no intention of being used after the device was canned. I can see it not being maintained.... which is why it's so surprising that it was actually archived. fortuitous outcome! Even if the wall still stood.
@fourteen-bit 3 жыл бұрын
It also plays the west german anthem, making it even weirder...
@this_connor_guy 3 жыл бұрын
Wow, that's wild! Given the features of it and the time it came out, there's no way that wouldn't have moved units. Pretty cool stuff and amazing that you were able to get in touch with those guys AND the prototype.
@joerobinson69 3 жыл бұрын
Incredible work! You set up the mystery, developed the backstory, and flawlessly laid out the roadmap to your incredible find. I am not sure what you did/do besides KZfaq, but you are an excellent investigative journalist. This is the very definition of quality KZfaq content. Keep up the great work.
@LiamRproductions 3 жыл бұрын
Thanks very much.
@justinmohns8279 3 жыл бұрын
Can you imagine playing Infocom text adventures on a Game Boy with a keyboard back in the 90s?
@parishna4882 3 жыл бұрын
Go north. Open door. Look. Take gum from pocket. Put on dressing gown. Go downstairs. Eat cornflakes. Go south.... I never got any further than that, tbh.
@YowLife 3 жыл бұрын
Perhaps someone could study that WorkBoy and develop reproduction WorkBoys.
@BrianHaddad 3 жыл бұрын
At the very least if we could get it emulated so that existing GameBoy emulators could be updated to emulate the WorkBoy hardware... That way the software could still be enjoyed.
@Z3DT 3 жыл бұрын
The risk of destroying the only known unit by disassembling it is too great, imo.
@Mainyehc 3 жыл бұрын
Z3DT if you know what you're doing, not really. It's just a matter of doing careful reverse-engineering, reading signals, x-raying boards, carefully desoldering chips and dumping ROMs, etc. If guys like Ben Heck can do it, any other expert can.
@japzone 3 жыл бұрын
You could possibly even reverse engineer it just by doing signal capture to observe how it communicates with the Gameboy. Might be harder, but it wouldn't require taking apart the Workboy itself.
@YowLife 3 жыл бұрын
I know, someone should get BenHeck to work on this. He has years of experience with modding and developing new software for retro games.
@deseiver2600 3 жыл бұрын
Insane! You really did some digging to bring us this video. This is awesome!
@JordanHowellMusic 3 жыл бұрын
17:10 the “coincendence” of the events of you obtaining this one of a kind prototype, and the source code of the cartridge being hacked and thrown on the internet within weeks of eachother is not a coincidence. There are no coincidences. That’s a crazy story and I sure did not expect to hear all this unfold in such a synchronistic, idiosyncratic way. What a great experience this must have been for you ?! Nice work and cheers from Philadelphia, that’s an awesome video to see for a geek/technician, who also lives for synchronicities like this! Thanks!
@Hotlog69 3 жыл бұрын
I'd say even if the Workboy costs double that of a full price Game Boy, it still would've been a great value and a popular product. The DRAM issue would've totally caused some problems.
@MISSCHAMPAGNE 3 жыл бұрын
This has got to be the best video I've seen on here, you've outdone yourself Liam! That reveal after the video chat was AMAZING!
@Onyxheart4754 3 жыл бұрын
Mad props for all the work finding and figuring out how to troubleshoot this product. This is impressive.
@jamesrichards9128 3 жыл бұрын
this is the kind of shit i want on the history channel im in tears this is so sad
@BlinksAwakening 3 жыл бұрын
Heh, looks like it was Y2K compliant too lol
@AllahDoesNotExist 3 жыл бұрын
Even year 38
@scoot6363 3 жыл бұрын
The fact all this came together you happen to find the one work boy and software soon after is amazing. It a great part of history and you should be so happy with your work.
@LegendaryPokemon1221 3 жыл бұрын
This is super fascinating! Thank you for your research, and thank you for sharing this information. DYKG is lucky to have you. Cheers!
@confusedkemono 3 жыл бұрын
Imagine yourself back then as a kid and this thing released. "DAD STOP HOGGING MY GAMEBOY AND WHO IS JANE?"
@remiremiremi111 3 жыл бұрын
No need, found myself in that situation with a Pokemon Red cartridge. :D We don't talk about Jane.
@UniversalJuan 3 жыл бұрын
Mom: Yes, honey... Who is Jane?! *Dad sweating profusely begins*
@CoalCoalJames 3 жыл бұрын
Seems like it would have been a hit with parents and even kids as the novelty of a keyboard and a cart with productivity apps is actually something kids did enjoy, I remember how all the kids at school would go nut's over the exchange students pocket translators (a very similar looking and functioning device) that cost over 500$ back in the 90's.
@jbozarth81 3 жыл бұрын
As a kid I actually had an organizer cart for the Gameboy. The Workboy would have blown that cart away, but it also would have cost a lot more
@Flash_Fire36 3 жыл бұрын
This dude, got the pieces and put them together over ther few years. Wow, now that's patience and a good job for connecting with the people that had it . Now that's good jobs done and history there.
@davidt3563 3 жыл бұрын
What a crazy journey! Thanks for taking us along.
@BBradCO 3 жыл бұрын
This was well put together and amazing to learn about, thank you for your time and research to bring this to everyone!
@joseaguilar3323 3 жыл бұрын
This is crazy ahead of its time. It basically turns the Gameboy into a proto-smartphone! The guy who did this is a genius.
@blumpth 3 жыл бұрын
This leaves me wanting a laptop style dock for my switch
@bbqsauce890 3 жыл бұрын
I would say same but im too poor to afford a switch lmao
@seto9897 3 жыл бұрын
lol it switches with the joycons so the screen can lay on the keyboard
@BigLord 3 жыл бұрын
The Switch already works with any USB keyboard, so it should be easy enough to create!
@seto9897 3 жыл бұрын
@@BigLord yes but you have to hack your switch for things like linux or windows.
@purelyconstructive 3 жыл бұрын
Wow, this had a lot of interesting features. Thank you so much for taking the time to put all of this together! ♥ The ability to playback the entries in the phone book app as a dial tone is genius, the 8-bit national anthems with the map is a nice touch, and multiple language phrasebooks!...what?! So cool! It's a shame it wasn't released.
@francisfranciscano 3 жыл бұрын
This is an amazing research job you did there. I sincerely admire your dedication.
@Levi_The_One_The_Only 3 жыл бұрын
0:18 is no one going to mention the "STD: We Can Help You Win" lmao what a poorly named company...
@Chaos89P 3 жыл бұрын
STD and its Handy Boy. Didn't they also make "The Booster"?
@thenightstar9 3 жыл бұрын
Yes I also watched the AVGN episode.
@Igorcastrochucre 3 жыл бұрын
When the winner of the Mask II Nintendo Power contest was found, I though nothing would top that finding. Turns out I was wrong.
@toumabyakuya3498 3 жыл бұрын
Wait, they were?! How did that happen?!.
@Wendy_O._Koopa 3 жыл бұрын
www.destructoid.com/stories/meet-the-winner-of-nintendo-power-s-the-mask-ii-contest-287112.phtml
@toumabyakuya3498 3 жыл бұрын
@@Wendy_O._Koopa Thanks!.
@AldorasDeranor 3 жыл бұрын
Wow, this find has to be the best thing to come out of 2020! Very amazing, great job Liam
@fredflintstone5356 3 жыл бұрын
I love how much research and effort you put into creating this very informative video! Well done!
@mraaronhd 3 жыл бұрын
Man, this story was interesting as heck. Thank you for the grunt work that you did, Liam. True gaming journalism.
@NemesisTWarlock 3 жыл бұрын
ALso, mandatory "THAT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!"
@PBaloo01 3 жыл бұрын
What an amazing work you did tracking and finding all of these things. Fantastic video! Thank you.
@Webspinner666 3 жыл бұрын
This is the best content provider in KZfaq so happy it took me forever to find you all because now I have so many videos to watch.
@Roboshi2007 3 жыл бұрын
you can tell it's a bit of 80's tech..."germany (east)"
@XANAX-Pilled 3 жыл бұрын
I caught that too
@Timerpoint 3 жыл бұрын
"Deutschmark"
@davidlemos1136 3 жыл бұрын
Haha yes, imagine having to buy the updated cartridge after the fall of the wall.
@nerdbot4446 3 жыл бұрын
also, that was the national anthem of west / current germany (Deutschlandlied / Song of Germany) and not east germany (Auferstanden aus Ruinen / Risen from Ruins)
@frostmourne1986 3 жыл бұрын
Holy shit, I've only ever heard rumours about it, and considered it to be something like Mew under the truck.
@RetroPC 3 жыл бұрын
Best KZfaq video I've watched in a while. What an amazing discovery and opportunity you had. Thank you for sharing it in this video. Subscribed.
@CO-wc8xh 3 жыл бұрын
It’s awesome that you were able to find it and that everything came together the way it did! Great video!
@JadenHybrid 3 жыл бұрын
I'm a child of this time. Seeing such work and investigation to this "great dinosaur find" is a real treat. Well done. A piece of history certainly.
@NintendoCollecting 3 жыл бұрын
Incredible story and video. Thank you for putting this together. I wish it came out as originally intended - it would have been a cheap personal computer for the early 90s!
@somebonehead 3 жыл бұрын
People like you are why video games are so expensive nowadays. You don't need 10,000 N64 controllers or copies of Fire Emblem, you're just making it harder for people with reasonable needs to obtain them.
@andrewbarnard3229 3 жыл бұрын
imagine if it ran basic...
@Veristelle- 3 жыл бұрын
@@somebonehead You okay, bud?
@pelletonin7241 3 жыл бұрын
@@somebonehead did someone hurt you?
@parishna4882 3 жыл бұрын
Imagine how things may have just turned out different, had it been. I mean, that's all it takes, one small change in something so new, to create a different reality 30 years later.
@AnthonyOrtale 3 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much for all the time and effort put into this video. This is such an incredible piece of history that you have now completed the story of and archived forever. I know videos like this are hard to get their return value on, but I wanted to make sure you know so many of us appreciate that there are people like you who do this!
@carlschiel4754 3 жыл бұрын
incredible documentry. Thank you for all your digging and investigative work, without it this knowledge would have been lost to the ages
@sonixthatsme 3 жыл бұрын
Wow, how all the stars alinged. Getting the hardware and the software leaks. Almost sounds like it was supposed to be. Very nice video. Thanks
@Harry777 3 жыл бұрын
That is AMAZING that you were able to find it and it's software after all these years!
@disruptive_innovator Жыл бұрын
I would've loved to have that back in the day. And Frank, you hero you, thanks for keeping that prototype all these years and then letting all of us have a look at it. Excellent documentary, top notch research. Subbed.
@poderr 3 жыл бұрын
Brilliant content. So glad the effort you put in had such wonderful results. Definitely earned a sub today!
@BurgerBunny 3 жыл бұрын
I've been watching DYKG for almost a decade and this is the best episode that I have ever seen!! >:O
@sirflimflam 3 жыл бұрын
I can't believe one of the gigaleaks just happened to have the rom. That is some galactic-scale luck right there.
@CarterHerrigstad 3 жыл бұрын
Wow, I really didn't expect this kinda video from this channel. This video was so great, that personal quest for the work boy paied off.
@kerriedasilva1583 3 жыл бұрын
Thankyou for putting in all that work to find that gem of gaming history. I love things like this ♡
HK Stuff Channel
Рет қаралды 8
Macho Nacho Productions
Рет қаралды 172 М.
ShadowPriestok - Евгений Чернявский
Рет қаралды 568 М.
CS GO NEWS 2.0
Рет қаралды 538 М.