A Singaporean student has made what he's called "the world’s first watermelon Game Boy".
Cedrick Tan, 24, a business analytics and marketing student at Singapore Management University, revealed his invention of a fully functioning Pokemon-playing game system carved into a handball-sized fruit, as well as the process of making it, through a YouTube video he posted on Saturday, August 22.
“This started out as a regular RetroPie project,” he says in the video, referring to projects that use the Raspberry Pi single-board computer system to make a retro gaming machine. “But I wanted to do something that was unorthodox. Something that was fresh and biodegradable, too!”
This is crazy 😝 someone in my country has modded a watermelon 🍉 into a playable gameboy #UniquelySingapore #Nintendo #Gameboy pic.twitter.com/xHDG5kIS5Z
— ☀️ Sunday ☀️ (@sunday_times) August 25, 2020
The video then shows Tan going to a market in Singapore where he buys a watermelon. “Here’s the watermelon,” he says to his phone’s camera. “It’s slightly tinier than my face.”
He then reveals the parts he is going to use for the gaming console, showing speakers, buttons, a power bank, and a small 1.8 inch screen. He then takes viewers through the process of making the watermelon Gameboy.
After whipping up the console's wiring and coding, he takes a knife to the fruit and scoops out its innards before putting its husk back together.
“Now we’ll get to drilling the holes in and fitting the screen,” he says.
"The Melon Boy" was created by Cedrick, a Raspberry Pi enthusiast and student from Singapore. He uses it to play Pokemon Emerald. pic.twitter.com/J3dB6eQScB
— IGN (@IGN) August 29, 2020
Speaking to Singaporean news outlet Mothership, Tan said the project started as a joke with his friends and family. "As the project progressed, I envisioned how funny it would be to see someone playing with a watermelon out in public. The humour of that thought alone convinced me to turn this thought into a reality."
Tan said the project took about a month to complete and that it took him a while to understand how electrical engineering worked.
"I was determined, however, to learn it and enjoyed the process thoroughly. Personally, I strive to learn at least two new skills a year, I guess you could count this as one of them!"
Tan said he was driven by nostalgia to load Pokemon Emerald into his watermelon Game Boy.
"Waiting for the Pokemon time slots on Kids Central back in the day, being imaginary Pokemon trainers with friends from primary school. Pokemon was something that tied everyone together; a common topic among all my friends and we enjoyed every single bit of it."
