PicoDMG rebuilds the original Game Boy experience with modern microcontrollers while preserving the original shell, controls, and AA-battery feel. Game files live on microSD, and a game can be selected by holding a cartridge fitted with an NFC tag near the system.

On the original Game Boy, changing games meant inserting a cartridge into the console. PicoDMG modernizes that interaction too: the open-source project by dodger-one can associate an NFC tag in a cartridge or other object with a corresponding ROM and launch it when scanned.