Kevin Mellott has just started a label art contest and the winner will get one of his upcoming Virtual Boy ROM carts, the HyperFlash32.
The contest is meant to inspire the Virtual Boy community to make eInk label art for all the games in the VirtualBoy library, as the HyperFlash32 has the ability to display game art after a ROM is loaded. Then, after enough submissions are posted, Kevin will chose a winner for the best label art and reward them with a free HyperFlash32.
I’m sure artistic members of the VB community would have submitted their deigns regardless of a potential reward, but the contest certainly seems to have sparked interest from people! Here’s more info on the contest, as well as a look at people’s current submissions: https://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=44681
Kevin has also posted a status update on the entire HyperFlash32 project. Some notable points:
- A prototype run of 25 units is currently in fabrication.
- Prototype units to beta testers should ship around July
- After hardware is verified, it’ll be 45 days until the full production run arrives; Expect Fall 2020
- The eInk screen will be B&W only, as the red screen was far too slow to refresh for a device with a menu
Here’s his fully planned timetable, which of course is subject to change due to current global delays:
