After cinemas, what’s the next best way to watch a big-budget movie? A Game Boy Advance SP, naturally.
Tenet, directed by well-known film director Christopher Nolan, is one such movie to benefit from a big-screen experience. It’s big, loud and full of visual spectacle.
So, YouTuber Wulff Den — known for tinkering with videogame hardware — decided Tenet needed to be seen on the 2.9 inch screen of a Game Boy Advance SP.
Sure, the SP’s display only has a resolution of 240 x 160 pixels, but unlike the original Game Boy Advance, it has a front-lit screen!
Wulff Den’s commitment to seeing the sometimes confusing and indecipherable Tenet on mid-2000s Nintendo tech is commendable.
To cut to the chase, Wulff Den’s DIY project involved ripping a 4K Blu-Ray of Tenet onto five writable GBA cartridges. Apparently five was the magic number because each cartridge could only fit 30 minutes of somewhat watchable quality footage.
Now, you can watch Tenet on any Game Boy Advance-compatible device, including a Nintendo DS and any GBA emulators — just as Nolan intended.
Filmmakers tend to be a picky bunch with how they want people to view their work. Martin Scorsese famously implored Netflix subscribers not to watch The Irishman on phones in his effort to get viewers to watch the three-hour movie on a big screen.
He did at least settle for people watching his work on “an iPad, a big iPad, maybe.”
Meanwhile, Nolan shares the same enthusiasm for the big screen but recognises audiences will watch movies however they want, including phones.
Although Nolan’s thoughts on phone viewership have possibly changed in the wake of his strong stance on Warner Bros.’ HBO Max streaming service. He sensationally labelled HBO Max the “worst streaming service” late last year.
And that was before Zack Snyder’s Justice League was confirmed for the platform.
The moral of the story is to watch and play stuff however you damn well want.
If that involves watching Tenet on a Game Boy Advance SP, or playing Doom on a potato-powered graphics calculator, then so be it.
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Chris is an award-nominated writer based in Adelaide who specialises in covering video games and technology. He loves Donkey Kong Country, sport, and cats. The Last Jedi is the best one, no questions asked.
