Game Boy: the 35th Anniversary
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on Aug. 31, 2024, 8:07 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
This year is the 35th anniversary of the Game Boy, one of the most successful and influential handheld video game consoles, ever; although it was not Nintendo's first handheld console, nor the first console ever to use interchangeable cartridges, it was certainly the one that had the greatest impact in the video game industry.
In the 1980's, designer Gunpei Yokoi designed a series of video games consoles known as the Game and Watch series, each of which was its own distinct game and sold fairly well, but he and other engineers at Nintendo wished to push the boundaries and expand the capabilities of their handheld systems, since the consoles in the Game and Watch series each could play only a single game with very limited graphics, so the designers eventually produced a handheld console that utilized cartridges, as did Nintendo's previous system, the NES, making the Game Boy Nintendo's first handheld console to use that medium, which was a major innovation, at that time. The Game Boy was very ambitious, but it was an immediate success, as players were excited to be able to have a portable system that gave them the ability to play their favorite games in any location, which was a revolutionary idea, at that time.
Of course, the Game Boy still had some technical issues, such as its screen having a green-tinted grayscale color scheme and being slightly too large to fit into a person's pocket, but its games were immensely fun, and it also introduced several of Nintendo's most famous characters and franchises, including Kirby, Wario, and Pokémon, all of whom are now well-recognized icons in the video game industry.
Naturally, other manufacturers produced their own handheld video game consoles to compete with Nintendo, with some of the most notable systems being the Sega Game Gear, the Atari Lynx, and Neo Geo Pocket, all of which were excellent systems in their own right, but none of which were able to seriously challenge the Game Boy, mainly because they drained their batteries far too quickly, despite having full-color displays, proving that raw power was not the only factor that would determine how successful a video game console could be, a lesson that Nintendo would prove multiple times in the future.
The Game Boy was successful enough to produce several successors, including the Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance, each of which improved upon the previous models in certain ways, and I owned both a Game Boy Pocket and a Game Boy Advance, skipping the original and the color, making it the only dedicated video game console that I have ever owned (thus far), as I usually play video games on my desktop computer, and I definitely enjoyed playing many games on that system, with some of my favorites being Super Mario Land 1 and 2, Wario Land 1 and 2, Kirby’s Dream Land 2, and three different Legend of Zelda games (specifically, Link's Awakening, Oracle of Ages, and Oracle of Seasons).
I do hope that Nintendo shall celebrate the anniversary of the Game Boy, as it is a milestone worthy of being commemorated, although it is more likely that they shall give only a minor acknowledgement and wait until the system's 40th anniversary in 2029. What does everyone else say about this? How do you feel about this year being the 35th anniversary of the Game Boy?
I had the BEST gameboy setup... my brother and I both had one with the link cable for some 2 player games or trading pokemon... had a bunch of the unnecessary accessories too like the lights and screen magnification crap and black gameboy case I crammed it all in with a bunch of games... went through sooo many AA batteries back then lol
September 1, 2024 11:23 a.m.
plakjekaas says... #4
I can hear the "pling" startup sound reading this post. Tetris is one of the most recognizable games ever, partly because you got it with buying the original GameBoy.
legendofa says... #2
I missed the original Game Boy, but I lived by the Game Boy Color when I was younger. I even still have it and all the cartridges, but it probably needs to be cleaned and maybe repaired, since the battery cover's missing. Hasn't been turned on in twenty years. Maybe I'll take it in some time and see if it can get freshened up.
August 31, 2024 11:48 p.m.