The amazing USB-C gadgets that play old Nintendo cartridges

<figure> <img alt="" data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/epilogue-operator-sean-hollister-verge-331A2011.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Last week, I powered on a 26-year-old copy of <em>Pok&eacute;mon Pinball</em>, one of the best Game Boy games ever made. My save file was no more. The Charmander <a href="https://www.theverge.com/24303052/modretro-chromatic-review-game-boy-color-handheld-palmer-luckey#:~:text=I%20caught%20Charmander%2C%20my%20daughter%E2%80%99s%20favorite%20pok%C3%A9mon">I'd caught for my daughter</a>, the high scores we'd set together… gone. Before flash memory, Nintendo cartridges used tiny watch batteries to save their games, and those batteries were never meant to last this long.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">But it's not a huge deal, because I <em>saved</em> my family's save file months ago. I backed it up with an Epilogue Operator, a device that connects your real Nintendo cartridges to Windows PCs, MacBooks, even a Steam Machine. </p> <div class="youtube-embed"><iframe title="What if your Steam Deck took Nintendo cartridges? #TITW" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-jHKlKLz9EM?rel=0" allowfullscreen allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">The <a href="https://www.epilogue.co/product/gb-operator">$50 GB Operator</a> is a transparent trapezoidal cartridge reader th …</p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/games/987972/epilogue-gb-sn-operator-review-nintendo-game-boy-snes">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>