A touch-screen Game Boy? See how Nintendo handhelds would have looked if things had turned out differently...

Come with us now, on a journey through time and space to a rare glimpse at some cancelled Nintendo prototypes...

First up is this first attempt at a full colour Game Boy, which would have used a 32-bit ARM7 CPU. Powerful at the time (way back in 1995) though because of this it was also big enough to feel like you were carrying an Xbox in your pocket. It's pictured above next to a DSi for size comparison.

Next up is this interesting concept which shows Nintendo had been thinking of touch-screen capabilities for a while. Apparently the Game Boy Color had a touch-screen adapter, though without a backlight in the system it was apparently too hard to use. Here is the adapter strapped to a GBA SP, though this too never made it on sale.

Finally, an early prototype of a DS with two game slots - so you could easily carry two cartridges with you at the same time (and presumably switch them easier too). But again, size issues prompted a re-design.