Japanese commercial for Nintendo’s Love Tester, one of the first products from Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi!

In case it’s not obvious how this device works, the Love Tester is designed to measure the degree of affection between a couple. Two partners hold hands, then each grab an electrode — the connected meter registers their relationship compatibility.

Yokoi’s explanation for why he played with electric currents and created the Love Tester is quite charming:

“I majored in electrical engineering. If I didn’t do something electronic, I’d look bad, but then anything too complicated was out of the question. I was just playing around with resistance measurements on a multimeter when I noticed there was some electrical current running through the human body.

The Love Tester came from me wondering if I could somehow use this to get girls to hold my hand. … I wound up holding hands with quite a few girls thanks to it. Of course, somewhere along the line I started to feel like I wanted to do more than just hold hands. [laughs]”

Yeah, Yokoi employed “lateral thinking of withered technology” even when he was trying to score with girls.

Buy: Nintendo Magic (where I found this excerpt)

See also: Tiny Review: Nintendo Magic, Gunpei’s b-day

[Via GoNintendo]

tags / love tester / imports / gunpei yokoi / nintendo magic / gunpei yokois game house / yokoi gunpei game kan / ec