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This is certainly something a little different from the usual emulation devices featured here on Time Extension. Developed by Melted Electronics, the Glitch Boy is a portable handheld emulator and part-time troublemaker that allows users to corrupt NES games in real time, creating brain-warping visuals and audio.
Games are loaded to the Glitch Boy via SD Card, and then output to a monitor or display. By adjusting the Glitch Boy's twin dials, the user can then cause live corruption in the game's audio and video elements.
The "Glitch A" dial affects the NES emulator's CPU, causing sprite flickering while distorting the music and sound effects. Meanwhile, the "Glitch B" dial affects the NES' graphics processor, sending the game's sprites, backgrounds, and other graphical elements into a wild whirlpool. Though the game is emulated, the effects are "real", directly corrupting the emulator's performance, as opposed to applying a filtered effect.
You could get all the above effects simply by playing a NES Mega Man game, but that's beside the point.
Audio/visual corruption represents only part of the curious contraption's abilities. With MIDI connectivity and software support, the Glitch Boy also works as an 8-bit synthesiser, utilising the NES' four-channel sound chip to produce custom chiptunes, tunes that are equally open to audio corruption for those pushing for that Art Noise Collective project.
The Glitch Boy, which features open-source software, is designed to work alongside various MIDI music programs, devices, and mixers - including MIDIClock, Ableton Automaton and a model designed specifically for Eurorack setups. You can even use your MIDI keyboard as a game controller, assigning gamepad controls to keys and buttons.
Melted Electronics' crowdfunding campaign ended some months ago, with Glitch Boy raising just shy of £40,000 in just 30 days. While the device is yet to hit the market, pre-orders are live on the official Melted Electronics website, with both the standalone and Eurorack variants retailing for €189 / $210.
The Glitch Boy is expected to ship in November, so grab your copy of Fester's Quest and prepare to get real weird.