A History of A Console: Game Boy

In case you missed it, (how could you with it being one of the first things you saw when you booted up Facebook), the Nintendo Game Boy turned 25 recently (in Japan, it has a few more months before it hits the quarter-life crisis in North America). It is a landmark moment for one of the most successful handheld units of all time and one of the most important pieces of hardware in video game history. Ask a group of people if they have ever owned a Game Boy and I guarantee the majority of that group would say "Yes, I had that old, grey, brick version too".


Well, that "Old, grey, brick version" is now old enough to rent a car, so let's look back at what helped make Nintendo a powerhouse in the video game industry and what led to many fond memories for so many of us: the original Nintendo Game Boy.

Should we call it the 'Game Man' now?

The Game Boy was released in Japan on April 21, 1989, the U.S. on July 31, 1989 and Europe on September 28, 1990. It was the follow up to the successful Game & Watch line of handhelds. It was created by Gunpei Yokoi, who also worked on the Metroid series, as well as extensive work on the NES, and helped create the Virtual Boy (let's not talk about that, trying to stay positive here).

The idea was to take what people loved about the NES (simple gameplay, franchises, etc), and add the portability factor from the Game & Watch series. On top of that, they decided to bundle in one of the best and most influential games of all time: Tetris.

So many hours of fun and frustration.

Game Boy definitely kept it simple, 2 buttons, start/select, and a D-pad. That's what gamers at that time needed. The Famicom/NES were hot items, the Atari 2600 was a hot item, the Intellivision and Colecovision we experiments with various degrees of success because they were asking consumers of a relatively new concept to do way too much. Example: Baby Jeff, I know you are just learning to crawl and may start standing upright soon, but the Drake Relays are next week and we need you ready to go for your 400m Hurdle race.

Game Boy was very innovative as well. Sure, you could have used 4 AA batteries to get your 10 - 12 hours (!) out of it, but you could also use a rechargeable pack and/or AC adapter to help your power needs. There also was the multiplayer element with the addition of the link cable, which you could use to hook up 2 Game Boys, each with their own copy of whatever game you wanted to play. This would be used later on to be the form of communication for the Pokemon series.

It's super effective......in making sure you never sleep!

The Game Boy released with 4 games in Japan, 5 in North America, and 3 in Europe. (Imagine if the Xbox One or PS4 launched with that many today....people would RIOT). Besides Tetris, we had: Super Mario Land, Baseball, Alleyway, and Tennis. After all was said and done, counting Japanese, North American, and International releases, there were roughly 716 titles for the Game Boy. That is insane!

So let's look at some of the best, 2 have already been mentioned, and the others are expected Nintendo fare:

Super Mario Land:

While it may not be as world recognized as its NES counter-parts, the idea that you could take a great platformer on the go and have Mario go with you was a BIG deal. It also helped that the game was a lot of fun. Also, it helped that it was a launch title and gamers wanted stuff to play on their new systems.

The Legend of Zelda - Link's Awakening:

What started as a port of the SNES game Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past ended up becoming its own thing and produced one of the best Game Boy games of all time. A later "DX" version was released on Game Boy Color with color graphics and an exclusive dungeon.

Ducktales:

One of the best-selling games to not involve Nintendo's cast of characters. The Game Boy port featured the same controls, music, and stages as the NES version, though the stage layouts were changed to accommodate for the Game Boy's lower resolution screen.

Wario Blast featuring Bomberman!:

Video game crossovers were still a novel idea, so taking a Nintendo character like Wario and putting him in Hudson's Bomberman universe was a really interesting idea. It is worth noting that Blast is the U.S. version of what was Bomberman GB in Japan. Wario does not appear in GB. Bomberman's debut on the Game Boy was a very successful one, and even had special content you could access via the Super Game Boy, like color graphics, custom explosion sounds, and a multiplayer mode.

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I could go on with the games but know this: basically anything involving Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Zelda, Pokemon, etc, sold well and were good games.

The competition took notice, obviously, so what came out of the shadows to dethrone Game Boy's success were the SEGA Game Gear, the Atari Lynx, and the TurboExpress. All 3 were technically superior systems. The Lynx came at it with color graphics, a backlit screen and networking capabilities. However, the $189.95 price tag and necessity of 6 AA batteries for only 4 - 6 hours of use helped the Lynx to an early demise. The Game Gear was the strongest competition, sporting those much coveted (apparently) color graphics. What made the Game Gear stick, however, was the ability to be fully compatible (with an adapter) with all Master System games. Game Gear was successful, just not as successful as Game Boy. As far as the Turbo Express goes.....well this might actually be the first time you have ever heard of it huh? That might be all the explanation I need.

The system was revised a number of times throughout the years, the "Play it Loud!" series was introduced in 1995 and was the same concept, just with colored cases, there was the Game Boy Pocket which was lighter, slimmer, and used 2 AAA batteries. The Game Boy Micro, which could literally fit in the palm of your hand. The Game Boy Light, only released in Japan, featured a backlight and was the only one to feature that until the launch of the SP in 2003. Of course, there was the Game Boy Color as well, Nintendo finally caved in and gave us color. Geez.

Nintendo's history of accessorizing the hell out of its products was in full force with the Game Boy, I remember buying a unit that attached to the top of my Game Boy that acted as a magnifying glass to make the screen bigger, that also had a built-in light so I could see on those late car rides. I couldn't tell you if that was officially Nintendo who made that or not, just something I remember (maybe not so) fondly. There was the Game Boy printer and Game Boy camera, of course. There was also this:

The Super Game Boy which would allow you to play Game Boy games on your SNES. Sure, it might take away from the whole "mobile" aspect of the Game Boy but if your Game Boy was charging or your parents were out of batteries, you could just bypass that while at home and boot up your SNES.

It was reported that within the first 2 weeks of launch in Japan, the entire stock of 300,000 units were sold out. When the Game Boy was released in North America, it sold 40,000 units on the first day. Together, the Game Boy and Game Boy Color have sold over 118 Million Units worldwide. The price tag? $89.99. This was genius. Here is a simple, easy to use, handheld device allowing users to take some of their favorite franchises on the go AND it's affordable? Those are some of the reasons why most everyone you know either had one, or were around one while growing up.

The original Game Boy was discontinued in 2003. Nintendo was moving on with the Advance, the SP, and were working on a Game Boy with 2 screens. A Dual Screen Game Boy? That can't work, right? (Please sense the sarcasm, my 3DSXL is getting a workout as of late). If you don't have a Game Boy, you can play most of the library through the Wii, WiiU and 3DS via the 'e-shop'.

The Game Boy was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2009, and rightfully so. Game Boy gave gamers of that era exactly what they wanted and paved the way for future iterations and Nintendo's continued dominance in the handheld market. So let's all wish Game Boy a Happy Birthday and think fondly back on those times where we "went to bed" only to rack our brains around how to beat our friends Tetris score.