Create Your Own Game Boy Cartridges with KiCad Gamepaks!

22 May, 2025

Have you ever dreamed of creating your own custom Game Boy, Game Boy Color, or Game Boy Advance cartridge? Whether you're a hardware hacker, retro game developer, or just a huge Nintendo fan, there's now an easy way to bring your cartridge ideas to life — introducing KiCad Gamepaks by djedditt.

This open-source project is a collection of KiCad symbols, footprints, board outlines, and ready-to-use templates that make it simple to design your own Game Pak PCBs. No need to start from scratch — just fire up KiCad and start designing with the resources provided in this awesome repo.

What's Inside?

The repository includes:

KiCad symbols and footprints for the connectors and components commonly used in Game Boy cartridges.
Board outlines that match the physical dimensions of official cartridges, so your custom PCBs will fit perfectly inside the original shells.
Project templates to kickstart your design — just open the one you need (Game Boy, Game Boy Color, or GBA) and start building!

Whether you’re building a flash cart, testing homebrew code, or designing a cool art cart, these templates give you a head start.

Supported Platforms

The repo covers all the classic Game Boy generations:

Original Game Boy (DMG)
Game Boy Color (CGB)
Game Boy Advance (AGB)

Each one has different cartridge shapes, pinouts, and electrical specs, so having dedicated templates for each system makes the process much easier and more accurate.

Why Use KiCad Gamepaks?

There are a few solid reasons to love this repo:

✅ Time-saving: You don’t have to research dimensions or pinouts — it’s all done for you.
✅ Accurate outlines: Board edges and cutouts are traced from real cartridges.
✅ Great for modding & homebrew: Build your own carts to test hardware projects or distribute your games on real hardware.
✅ Community-driven: It’s open-source and welcomes contributions and improvements.

If you're into Game Boy dev or want to dive into retro hardware design, this repo is a fantastic toolbox.

How to Get Started

Head over to the GitHub page.
Download or clone the repo.
Open a template project in KiCad.
Start customizing your cartridge PCB!

If you're already familiar with KiCad, you’ll feel right at home. If you’re new to it, this project could be a great entry point into the world of hardware design.

Happy hacking, and long live the Game Boy!