UPDATE: If you're interested in an unscripted followup, I recently obtained a complete copy of the ORIGINAL Play-Yan model, and unboxed it over on my Plus channel below! ua-cam.com/video/bC2R7takt6Q/v-deo.html Hi! 2020 me here to inform you that past me was a dunce and 2:06 is wrong, the Play-Yan Micro shares the exact same size and appearance as the original aside from the label.
Man this must’ve been so cool back before our phone became an all in one music player phone game machine. So cool to see an in depth look at this obscure little guy
I have the European version. It was my first MP3 player and I used it a hell of a lot back in the day. Oddly, the packaging says it will only work on the DS and not the GBA. But it works fine on GBA. Don’t know what that’s about. I was hoping it would play videos like the Japanese version as a sort of ‘unadvertised feature’. But no.
I remember reading about this in the November 2005 issue of Tips & Tricks. It states that if you plug the Play-Yan into the DS you get more storage capacity.
If I ever got a hold of one of those carts then I would put an mp4 of Fortnite gameplay and pretend that I am playing the game just to screw with people's minds.
You can get a gba flash cart, download avi2gba or whatever on a windows xp or something computer and drop a video file into the program and drop it on the cart
Yup. Over 2 years later I'm going to comment, because I got nostalgic and looked up some video, and came across this one. I have both, and I got them back in the day. Play-yan micro was simply available from asian webshops. I'd swear I ordered it from Yesasia back then, but order history doesn't show it.. But I ordered it from somewhere (unless I actually did go through the trouble of ordering it directly from Nintendo, but I can't imagine that. I don't read Japanese). There's actually a difference between the JP and EU version, this is why I got the "local" version in the first place, after already importing the JP version. EU version removed the video playback (which I didn't bother with since it was too much of a hassle), however it updated the support for SD cards with 2 GB capacity. Even that ended up being too small for my liking, so I upgraded later to an actual MP3 player that had 4GB memory, and was actually smaller than my micro. So even on release they weren't very practical, though now of course they're cute novelty collector's items. I still have both of them within reach, including their 1 and 2 GB SD cards I used for them (which are novelties themselves nowadays). Perhaps I'll use them again for fun. Edit: found it. Bought it from Playasia for $ 76.30 in 2007
Man. I remember hearing about this, how I’d never be able to get it, and ultimately settling for the dang old Datel Max Media Player for DS. Years later I just got an iPod, and then virtually all media devices were rendered obsolete by the smart phone haha
something ive found btw, the Nintendo MP3 Player, the EU version of the play-yan, seems to support the full 2gb. its basically a stripped down play-yan micro with just music capabilities.
Found you from Scott, damn dude nice quality and managing to talk about something I've literally never heard of. Keep up the good work and you definitely got a new sub!
I can't say anything about the Play-Yan Micro's "surround" feature since I don't have one, but I suspect it's the same basic tech as the "surround" options in Mario Kart DS and systemwide on the 3DS. On that it's a more or less standard "stereo widening" effect. It doesn't work with headphones, it's for speakers. The simple explanation is it adds part of a flipped version of each channel into the other channel, which can make hard-panned sounds seem to come from further to the side than where the speaker is. It's quite effective on the 3DS, making noises seem to come from a foot or two to one side or the other when the actual speakers are just a few inches apart. In normal stereo mode everything sounds like it's between the speakers -- which is why when setting up speakers you should place them as far apart as you can while still having yourself facing the center point between them.
I've got one of these. I had a DS and my friend had a psp. To prove that the DS could be just as a multimedia device i paid about $70 AUD for a Play-yen from ebay. It worked but things looked like shit.
I got one of the MP3 players for the game boy at a pawn shop when I was little. I had so much Tool and Mudvayne on SD card. I used this thing all the time
I in fact have one of the first ones. It’s somewhere in my Nintendo part of my attic. It came with the little Play Yan guy. And it had a mini SD adaptor to micro to mini sd card so it’s a micro sd to a mini sd to SD
There was one play yan micro on eBay that went on auction up to £22 (about $30 I think). I reckon it only sold so cheap because everyone tried to snipe it, annoying part is that I still haven't been able to figure out how the hell to get it to work and since it's Japanese I can't read the error messages
Goddamn I (still) love my gameboy micro. I wish I had known about this thing when I was carrying it *everywhere* as a teenager, even if I would have had to import it.
Came here from Scott The Woz. And you better do a video on the gameboy printer, cuz the gameboy printer looks awesome. I've heard and seen a bit of the gameboy printer, but a full video on it would be interesting to see
i heard the nintendo mp3 player can also play videos in mp4 somehow but they did not add it in the firmware :( maybe there is a way to get the play-yan micro update file that let it play mp4 files to work on the nintendo mp3 player im told that the devices are the same devices but they took out mp4 playback ect
Hotpies I commonly find him in Megamix and Tengoku and stuff and became so addicted to the game, that I became a fan of him, I suppose. Play-Yan and many monkey fans: I SUPPOSE! HEY! Emily: Additionally, I saw him when I was younger, I suppose. Play-Yan and many monkey fans: I SUPPOSE! HEY! Emily: But I did not know his name, but I first saw him in The Dazzles in either a Try again or an OK rating I had. I didn’t have as high of a sense of rhythm back then.
I still have a toy store around that sells GBA-MP3 Players for 10€. Just recently bought one. Out of curiosity. It's pretty much what he said. Minus the video playback. I guess that was too much for Europe to handle.
If only the european version were able to play video. The Nintendo MP3 Player was actually only able to play audio. Wich was very sad considering the Play-Yan was advertised in print media years before the MP3 Player was released.
...huh. That has better video quality than the Game Boy Player version of Shrek. ...or the Game Boy Player version of anything, for that matter. No choppy frame rates. ...wait, this was released in Europe?
Play-Yan for Smash!
RelaxAlax
Just imagine if that actually happens. I would love to see people’s reactions.
Do a video on mario baseball because it's the only other sport left
@RelaxAlex , what does Cat think of your opinion?
Relaxalax you thiccbih
Oof
> The secret mode on the Smash Ultimate menu is blurred
> Play Yan Micro blurs the hell out of videos
GUYS
G U Y S
G. U. Y. S
I get it
Holy s**t now we just need is Mike jones
Scott here.?
wha? didn't you know?
it's one of wario's greatest achievement, wario land 4!
The fact that play-Yan was both in the 3ds sound visualizer and rhythm heaven makes this even cooler.
Kinda sad we didn’t get this overseas..
The GBA was region free
Imagine how much even more obscure this would be if not for that Rhythm Heaven minigame.
Which one?
@@Karthikkun2805 It's called Night Walk and features the very same li'l dude
@@lrgogo1517 lemme guess the dreams of our generation minigame?
@@Karthikkun2805 technically it's from gba, dreams of our generation on wii was directly inspired by night walk
Came from ScottTheWoz, stayed for the quality content ❤️
I came from The Rhythm League.
Can’t wait to watch Infinity War on this
Can't wait to watch Endgame on this
Ham Khan cant wait to watch spongebob on this
Pizzatime! Then that’s no different from Game Boy Advance Video
Cant wait to watch the entire Shrek Movie in it!
@@gaburieruR there is a Shrek GBA video
UPDATE: If you're interested in an unscripted followup, I recently obtained a complete copy of the ORIGINAL Play-Yan model, and unboxed it over on my Plus channel below!
ua-cam.com/video/bC2R7takt6Q/v-deo.html
Hi! 2020 me here to inform you that past me was a dunce and 2:06 is wrong, the Play-Yan Micro shares the exact same size and appearance as the original aside from the label.
Ogey
How many music/video files can you put on the Play-Yan Micro before you reach the 1GB limit, just wondering.
Wh-
Why did you own a virtual boy AND a play yan micro before a gameboy player or even a gamecube?!
0:47 HKD?
*wait*
YOOOOOOO
A FELLOW RHYTHM HEAVEN FAN FROM HK? GUESS ITS NOT ALL THAT UNLIKELY
I've always wanted one of these. It's nice to see Play-Yan make a cameo on the 3DS Music app visualizer.
I love it when UA-camrs cover obscure pieces of tech like this and bring so much information about it to light.
Wow it has a headphone jack!?
Apple take notes!!
Gameboy Advanced SP didn't have one tho.
Wait, my bad. Didn't get that far into tbe video.
*Iphone doesn't have a headphone jack*
**GBA CARTRIDGE DOES** 💯
That Dumb Channel lol
Playan does what applendont
Man this must’ve been so cool back before our phone became an all in one music player phone game machine. So cool to see an in depth look at this obscure little guy
When I saw the memory card with a memory card with a memory card with a memory card, “YEAH BOI”
What
I have the European version. It was my first MP3 player and I used it a hell of a lot back in the day. Oddly, the packaging says it will only work on the DS and not the GBA. But it works fine on GBA. Don’t know what that’s about.
I was hoping it would play videos like the Japanese version as a sort of ‘unadvertised feature’. But no.
Who the heck has a “Play-Yan” Micro but not the “GBA GCN player”!?
Enjoyed the video by the way.
Or a gamecube
Play-Yan: I love music. (Runs away from Emily, up the stairs.)
Its cool that they actually added play yan in tengoku and remastered him in megamix
That was a real smooth opening. Great talk, this thing is impressive!
Danominator
Play-Yan: I love music. (Runs away from Emily, up the stairs.)
@@emily012804 plz stop
I literally thought this was gonna be about the Gameboy advance videos, that held cartoon episodes in cartridges
It was nice to learn about this obscure Nintendo product
Sent here by Scott The Woz. Great video
😑
😀 hey y'all
Hey all!
what the fuck was the video?!
0:27
We'll
Be
Right
Back
Doo da da deh deh dough.
**compressed on a Play-Yan**
I remember reading about this in the November 2005 issue of Tips & Tricks. It states that if you plug the Play-Yan into the DS you get more storage capacity.
Like only if it's used in the ds? Or like you unlock space for any other device?
Wow, more obscure gba accessories, kinda puts into perspective of how much more are really out there. Awesome video AK ^^
1:36 I didn't even noticed that but that play yan minigame on GBA version was my favorite one.
Seeing the people who don't get the reference is actually painful.
To what?
The little engine that could
@@krugbug oof
Who didnt get it? Lol
Play-Yan: I love music. (Runs away from everyone, up the stairs.)
I got mine from my local retro store for $60. I love it!
Also this video really helped me with the video converter settings. Thanks. :)
You lucky sob they sell over 100
I love obscure products like this! Thank you for making a video about it!
If I ever got a hold of one of those carts then I would put an mp4 of Fortnite gameplay and pretend that I am playing the game just to screw with people's minds.
This is Gold. Mind. Blown. (0-0)
i wanna see proof 😂😂
Skyrim.
People wouldn't be too surprised.
You can get a gba flash cart, download avi2gba or whatever on a windows xp or something computer and drop a video file into the program and drop it on the cart
Imagine gta5
Yup. Over 2 years later I'm going to comment, because I got nostalgic and looked up some video, and came across this one.
I have both, and I got them back in the day. Play-yan micro was simply available from asian webshops. I'd swear I ordered it from Yesasia back then, but order history doesn't show it.. But I ordered it from somewhere (unless I actually did go through the trouble of ordering it directly from Nintendo, but I can't imagine that. I don't read Japanese).
There's actually a difference between the JP and EU version, this is why I got the "local" version in the first place, after already importing the JP version. EU version removed the video playback (which I didn't bother with since it was too much of a hassle), however it updated the support for SD cards with 2 GB capacity.
Even that ended up being too small for my liking, so I upgraded later to an actual MP3 player that had 4GB memory, and was actually smaller than my micro.
So even on release they weren't very practical, though now of course they're cute novelty collector's items. I still have both of them within reach, including their 1 and 2 GB SD cards I used for them (which are novelties themselves nowadays). Perhaps I'll use them again for fun.
Edit: found it. Bought it from Playasia for $ 76.30 in 2007
Scott sent me over, loved the video and subbed. Hope to see that gameboy camera video next :p
I've heard of the Play-Yan Micro even before this video.
Not everyone can say that.
Man. I remember hearing about this, how I’d never be able to get it, and ultimately settling for the dang old Datel Max Media Player for DS. Years later I just got an iPod, and then virtually all media devices were rendered obsolete by the smart phone haha
These are some pretty good videos, I like the narration a lot
something ive found btw, the Nintendo MP3 Player, the EU version of the play-yan, seems to support the full 2gb. its basically a stripped down play-yan micro with just music capabilities.
Oh man I used to have that Nintendo MP3 player and I was taking that bad boy everywhere with me. Good times indeed.
Never thought I would see a Nintendo Direct being played in a GBA
Found you from Scott, damn dude nice quality and managing to talk about something I've literally never heard of. Keep up the good work and you definitely got a new sub!
This is indeed an obscure piece of hardware, thank you for sharing this.
Here from Scott the Woz. He shouted you out on a community post
Same
dude. play a mario odyssey video and pretend you're playing the game on this. fool people.
*Brilliant*
GENIUS
Great
Play-Yan: I love music. (Runs away from Emily, up the stairs.)
And imagine the kids believing it
I genuinely liked the opening to this video. Timing was dead on.
Here from Scott the Woz, awesome video, you just earned yourself a sub!
That intro was so slick!
This was certainly an interesting bit of Nintendo's history, shame it didn't blow up. It had so much potential!
flareon 71
Agreed.
At least Play-Yan the mascot (whose species became a staple) lived on.
7:57 *Drifting Soul* man of culture
Never before did I ever think I would one day see a Nintendo Direct being displayed on a *FUCKING GAMEBOY* .
your videos just keep getting better!
now i want GBA Remix 6 on a Play-Yan
One of the most clever intros I've ever seen
I had no idea this ever existed. Thank you! Now I want one. :)
Great video as always, Ak!
the nintendo MP3 player is reeeeally common in europe, you see them on ebay and everywhere for as low as $10!
I can't say anything about the Play-Yan Micro's "surround" feature since I don't have one, but I suspect it's the same basic tech as the "surround" options in Mario Kart DS and systemwide on the 3DS. On that it's a more or less standard "stereo widening" effect. It doesn't work with headphones, it's for speakers. The simple explanation is it adds part of a flipped version of each channel into the other channel, which can make hard-panned sounds seem to come from further to the side than where the speaker is. It's quite effective on the 3DS, making noises seem to come from a foot or two to one side or the other when the actual speakers are just a few inches apart. In normal stereo mode everything sounds like it's between the speakers -- which is why when setting up speakers you should place them as far apart as you can while still having yourself facing the center point between them.
I got here from Super Mario Broth's Mario Oddysey Twitter post. Great stuff man!
What do you mean
Cool video man. I had never heard of this device shoutouts to Scott for the link
That intro was the best thing I've ever seen.
Can AK have more subscribers than T-Series?
(Sees thumbnail)
Dang-it I wanna play Rhythm Tengoku now.
Superstar Yoshi
I agree with ya there.
Play-Yan: I love music. (Runs away from Emily, up the stairs.)
That was actually a clever opening lol
Well done.
Cale Coleman
Agreed.
I've got one of these. I had a DS and my friend had a psp. To prove that the DS could be just as a multimedia device i paid about $70 AUD for a Play-yen from ebay. It worked but things looked like shit.
Has a rare super limited edition obscure Nintendo product.
Doesn’t have arguably the most popular way to play GBA games.
No, he has a GBA
The DS.
I want a time machine so that I can play Rhythm Tengoku. And this.
Hey AKFamilyHome, Scott's fanbase here.
Scott the Woz sent me here. This is great stuff, definitely subscribing
There should be a version of this video being played on a Play-Yan Micro
CMG The Person
That will be funny.
Holy shit, I think one guy at my elemantary school had one of those. Always wondered what that thing was.
The Adventures of Carlos Caterpillar / The Zula Patrol / Turbo Dogs on Play-Yan Micro
I... had no idea this existed. And it's *THAT* obscure? Well I at least know where one of those equalizer displays on the 3DS Sound App comes from...
I got one of the MP3 players for the game boy at a pawn shop when I was little. I had so much Tool and Mudvayne on SD card. I used this thing all the time
Me n the boys listening to karkalicious on our gbas
**hears Night Walk Music**
YAAAAAAAHHHHHHH
yay
the compressed audio reminds me of flipnote studio
Scott the Woz landed me here. Great content!
AK casually plays videos and music that came out way after the PYM on the PYM
I’d really love to get one of those
I in fact have one of the first ones. It’s somewhere in my Nintendo part of my attic. It came with the little Play Yan guy. And it had a mini SD adaptor to micro to mini sd card so it’s a micro sd to a mini sd to SD
Very informative! I had never heard of this before lol
Thanks Scott
This is really good! When's 1 million subscribers?
There was one play yan micro on eBay that went on auction up to £22 (about $30 I think). I reckon it only sold so cheap because everyone tried to snipe it, annoying part is that I still haven't been able to figure out how the hell to get it to work and since it's Japanese I can't read the error messages
I had GBA video, (still have my only cart, even) so I’m fine with the audio *crunch*
Dear god I need this now
Goddamn I (still) love my gameboy micro. I wish I had known about this thing when I was carrying it *everywhere* as a teenager, even if I would have had to import it.
I imported a play yan when it came out. I loved it for the years I used it. Now I wonder what I did with it
I need this. It looks awesome!
i FINNALY know what the 3ds sound thing is from!
The Ridiculous Content - rein van harn
Play-Yan: I love music. (Runs away from Emily, up the stairs.)
This is so cool, I want one!
Came here from Scott The Woz. And you better do a video on the gameboy printer, cuz the gameboy printer looks awesome. I've heard and seen a bit of the gameboy printer, but a full video on it would be interesting to see
I saw Drifting Soul in the player.
Good choice
i heard the nintendo mp3 player can also play videos in mp4 somehow but they did not add it in the firmware :( maybe there is a way to get the play-yan micro update file that let it play mp4 files to work on the nintendo mp3 player
im told that the devices are the same devices but they took out mp4 playback ect
Did you ever find out?
If anyone finds out please let us know :)
Fantastic video!
Did anyone else come from Scott's Stash's last video "The Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia"?
I commonly used him as my background in the 3ds voice recorder app
Hotpies
I commonly find him in Megamix and Tengoku and stuff and became so addicted to the game, that I became a fan of him, I suppose.
Play-Yan and many monkey fans: I SUPPOSE! HEY!
Emily: Additionally, I saw him when I was younger, I suppose.
Play-Yan and many monkey fans: I SUPPOSE! HEY!
Emily: But I did not know his name, but I first saw him in The Dazzles in either a Try again or an OK rating I had.
I didn’t have as high of a sense of rhythm back then.
Play-Yan: I love music. (Runs away from Emily, up the stairs.)
Correction: Both Play-Yan models can play video files.
Basically the original model gave you more with its ability to play downloadable microgames.
Jonathan Grenci
Original design it is then...
Master Scott the Woz has sent us to your land.
Damn I had a chance to buy the nintendo mp3 player years ago but didnt =(
Be nice, and say thank you to Scott.
I still have a toy store around that sells GBA-MP3 Players for 10€. Just recently bought one. Out of curiosity. It's pretty much what he said. Minus the video playback. I guess that was too much for Europe to handle.
why cant dedicated media software always have such cute and creative guis...
If only the european version were able to play video.
The Nintendo MP3 Player was actually only able to play audio. Wich was very sad considering the Play-Yan was advertised in print media years before the MP3 Player was released.
"i have no gamecube"
*SOMEONE GET THIS MAN A GAMECUBE*
Thanks for the ear blasting dad ily
...huh. That has better video quality than the Game Boy Player version of Shrek. ...or the Game Boy Player version of anything, for that matter. No choppy frame rates.
...wait, this was released in Europe?
That is if you get that 2 in 1 Shrek/ *forgets movie name* thing.