The Pocket Sonar Was A Strange Game Boy Accessory That Helped You Fish – SlashGear

The simple 8-bit Game Boy saw some of the biggest releases in gaming history. “Tetris,” for instance, is a puzzler that needs no introduction, and the ultimate evidence that tech specs (as important as they can be) aren’t necessarily the be-all and end-all. Nevertheless, the system was compatible with some truly remarkable accessories. The iconic Game Boy Camera and Game Boy Printer, for instance, allowed users to take photographs using the system via a camera that protruded from the top like an intrusive alien eye and print them on small squares of sticky paper.

An equally remarkable (yet rather more obscure) Game Boy accessory was the Gyogun Tanchiki: Pocket Sonar. The peripheral was a curious Bandai venture released only in Japan, an intriguing blend of video game and device that allowed those enjoying real-world fishing to find their quarry.

According to Guinness World Records, this 1998 curiosity was officially the “First sonar enabled peripheral for a gaming console.” Though the Game Boy itself would not be submerged in water during use, the attachment would certainly get wet. As the name suggests, the Gyogun Tanchiki: Pocket Sonar would use sonar down in that watery world to highlight the location of any fish. Even more surprisingly, this wasn’t the only thing weird thing Game Boys could do. The Game Boy Color, for example, functioned as a sewing machine add-on.