Pull an old Game Boy off the shelf and the first thing it demands is batteries — a lot of them. The handhelds that ruled portable play in the late '80s and '90s were designed around disposable cells, and they empty them fast. The good news is that the fix isn't exotic. Modern rechargeables have quietly taken most of the pain out of it.

The advice here centers on the era's best-known battery-powered handhelds, the ones sold from the late 1980s into the first years of the 2000s. That covers Nintendo's Game Boy in its original, Color, Pocket and Advance versions, along with the Game Gear from Sega and the Lynx from Atari. Every one of them shipped before rechargeable cells became the habit most people keep now, which is exactly why they feel so thirsty today.

Moving to rechargeable cells buys you three things at once. It stops the slow bleed of money into single-use alkalines, it keeps a pile of spent batteries out of the bin, and it ends the recurring scramble for a fresh pack right when you want to play.

For nearly everyone, nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) is the sensible pick: dependable, reusable, and much gentler on your wallet over the years than throwaway alkalines. The line Engadget's staff keep reaching for is Panasonic's Eneloop, which stays steady and holds up better with age than the cheaper stuff. If you'd rather spend less, IKEA's LADDA cells make a solid budget stand-in. A long-running rumor pegs them as rebranded Eneloops, though nobody has ever proven it. You'll find both in AA and AAA, the sizes these systems take.

The counts vary by system. The original Game Boy runs on four AA cells. Its Color revision cut that to a pair of AAs, while the Pocket slimmed further to two AAAs. The Game Boy Advance also asks for two AAs. The heavy drinkers are the Lynx and the Game Gear, each swallowing six AAs.

A good baseline is to keep two complete sets going — one loaded in the handheld, one charged and waiting its turn. One quirk is worth remembering. These machines were never built with rechargeables in mind, so their low-battery meters can read a little off. When that warning lights up, save your progress right away instead of assuming you've got time to spare.

Mods bend the math. A handheld fitted with a brighter aftermarket screen drains cells quicker than the stock hardware did, so a third set isn't overkill in that case. And a few mods that are especially hungry for power, or touchy about voltage, behave better on 1.5V rechargeable lithium cells, which perform well but run pricier than standard NiMH.

There's also a more permanent route. Certain models, the original Game Boy among them, accept USB-C rechargeable battery-pack kits that graft modern charging onto vintage hardware and retire the battery swap for good. A number of them will even draw from a USB-C power bank, though not all of them let you charge and play at the same time.

That convenience comes with a caveat worth taking seriously. Some USB-C kits don't keep the cell fully sealed off while it charges, which can build up heat and makes playing mid-charge less safe. Before committing, read what other owners report and lean toward the mods that have earned a good reputation.

None of this turns a decades-old handheld into something new. It just means the batteries stop being the reason it stays on the shelf.

This article was rewritten from reporting by Engadget. Source: Engadget