uXeBoy is a custom printed circuit board which draws its main design elements from two distinct sources, creating something greater than the sum of its parts:

1. uXeBoy takes its shape and size from the front ‘daughterboard’ of the original GameBoy, which means it can be easily installed in a GameBoy shell as a direct substitute – it is directly compatible with the already existing parts for the plastic buttons / rubber contact pads, and lines up perfectly with all of the mounting posts and screw holes inside a GameBoy.

2. For its circuitry, uXeBoy uses modern surface-mount components to replicate the design of a NES control pad. Based on an 8-bit 4021 shift register, this design allows the on / off states for eight separate buttons to be easily transmitted using five wires. The ‘NES control pad’ interface standard is well-defined, well-documented, and makes the uXeBoy board instantly compatible with any commercially-produced or open-source-hacked piece of electronics that has ever been attached to a NES controller.