Game Boy Legacy: Domination of the Handheld Market

In videogame there has never been a handheld quite like Nintendo's Game Boy system, a portable videogame machine that was design as a way to play games on the go anywhere anytime. In this history we'll take a trip down memory lane through all the history of the Game Boy lifespan from the very beginning of 1989, through it's modern age in 1996, to its advance makeover in 2001, and finally it's present glory days in 2006 and beyond.

The Beginning of A New Age

As much as you know about Nintendo, it's a videogame company and it is also one of the most known company in Japan and worldwide. It is also the company that once produced Hanafuda playing cards in the non-electronic era and was also the one company that produced some of the best videogame home consoles and softwares in gaming history such as the NES, Super NES, Nintendo 64, GameCube, and Wii systems; though it started its success as a console gaming corporation, it is also the company that first created the most popular portable machine ever, the "Game Boy." Game Boy was created by Nintendo's greatest engineer and inventor, Gumpei Yokoi and features one game screen that can handle quality game play in 4-bits of monochrome graphics, a directional pad, a START and SELECT option buttons as well as two action buttons(A and B buttons) which interns looks very familiar like the NES controller. Game Boy was also the second videogame portable handheld to featured the ability to change games on the go(the first one been Milton Bradley's Microvision). Instead of playing videogames that were mainly installed on the unit like the old style "Game and Watch" portable devices(also designed by Gumpei Yokoi and produced by Nintendo), the Game Boy can play any games by inserting different cartridge into its cartridge slot and turn the power on to start a game. This feature was a great idea because gamers who wanted to play games can finally get the same treat that they experience witht heir console anywhere they go, this is just a first taste of the handheld, things will turn out for the better as the handheld age through. While the Game Boy was completely playable by hands it also need playable run times as well by the used of 4 AA batteries which will take likely to over 40 hours of game play and though the screen isn't backlit, fans who bought the system mostly had a great time playing it during the day instead of at night. Also knowing that the Game Boy is a great handheld won't raise the portable to success unless there are great games to be made and play for the small handheld. This encouraged Nintendo to released the unit with plenty of its launch titles with the most popular being Tetris which was bundle with the handheld and the second being Super Mario Land. Fans who deeply had a crave for Game Boy were wowed by the game play of Tetris and Super Mario Land that Nintendo hardly believe it to be a great success and later on released more popular game franchises like Metroid II: Return of Samus, Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, and Final Fantasy Adventure to updated the Game Boy library a bit.

The Competition Arrives

As 1989 went by, the Game Boy was quite a hit, but thing doesn't look good for the handheld when Atari and Sega started to pour in on the action. Late in the same year Nintendo released their Game Boy, Atari released a handheld of their own called the "Atari Lynx" in 1989 that featured a wider backlit game screen, four or so action buttons, 8-bit to 16-bit quality graphics with color display, and also the ability to change cartridge on the go, it even had an optional layout change buttont o let left-handed player get onthe action by flipping the system the other way. Though when most gamers think of it, some might realized this is one of the coolest handheld ever as compare to the Game Boy, but there are a few down side to this, the handheld speed processing is slow, it takes time just to get to one level to another in a game and since the system used a backlit screen fun for playing in the dark, there are no way to turn the light off, a layer model solve this problem but still the batteries didn't last long enough, and it fed on all four AA batteries that were use in less than four hours which ruin the fun when played. This made the Lynx a disappointment to many handheld gamers, what's even worst is that the system had no third party publishers except a couple few of them being from Activisions and Telegames company as well as Atari themselves and without more third party handling the handheld the Lynx is dead on to a demised more quickly than Nintendo's monochrome handheld. Who would have thought that the Game Boy is still on to success when the Lynx had already rest in peace at the end of 1993.

Then it all comes down to another company who started another handheld debut in 1991, another handheld of sort had emerge from this mysterious gaming company, a company which later rivalized Nintendo. That company is no other than Sega who is famous for creating cool and popular home gaming consoles like the Sega Master, 16-Bit Genesis, 32-Bit Saturn, Sega Genesis 32X add-on, Sega CD add-on, and the superb Dreamcast console, though Sega's reason for entering the handheld market is not just to give fans gaming on the go, but to beat Nintendo at its own game so later that year they released their very own portable game handheld called the Sega "Game Gear." The Game Gear was created to offer portable gamers the way to play to what Nintendo Game Boy won't. The Hame Gear featured one huge wide backlit color screen, two action buttons, and a superb library of Sega games, its statistic, and game play is amazingm it had a superb color palette that outpowered their curretn console the Sega Master, but uses the same proccessor and unlike the Game Boy where you can't play in the dark ,this system can be play in both days or night. Unfortunely, Sega forgot one thing, third party supports, and while Game Boy had less features it gave players enough games from different publishers to really had a go for the money, but Game Gear were mostly all about Sega games and games from mostly about four to five third and second party and that's not enough. Also what's disappointing is that Sega hadn't learned from Atari's mistake with the Lynx regarding using a backlit screen which fed on batteries more faster than what the Game Boy turn out to be. Because of use of the3 backlit screen, batteries for the Game Gear only lasted for five to six hours of game play with an expensive usage of six AA batteries and what's worst, their are no option anywhere in the handheld for gamers to turnthe lights off to save batteries. Also since handheld fans were expecting to play games on the go, this time they won't because of the gigantic size of the Sega handheld, some even had to carry the thing inside a backpack. With these downside features, handheld fans quickly throw away the battery eaters and went back to playing Game Boy for the rest of 1995, in early 1996 Nintendo had released an upgrade to the Game Boy called the "Game Boy Pocket."

Craving For An Upgrade

Game Boy Pocket had the same processing power of the original with a better wider, and clearer game screen, with the same control and same cartridge swapping features as the original, but what's truly amazing is that the system unit is now smaller enough to fit every pocket whenever you go and since the unit is now using two AAA batteries instead of the expensive four, the game play will last for a good old 15 hours or so and this is what keeps the Game Boy name alive. When it comes clear that the Sega Game Gear is finally long gone after 1997, Nintendo brighten every handheld fans by releasing the Super Game Boy enhancer for playing portable Game Boy games through the Super NES on TV. This enhancer also enhance plenty of old and new Game Boy titles at the time to be featured in superb deformed colorized version with upgraded graphics and control but since older Game Boy games are also compatible for play, fans were on there heels and this boost both the Game Boy and Super NES gaming library by a whopping hundreds. In the land of the rising sun, an upgraded Game Boy Light portable was released that had the same features as the Game Boy Pocket but with a blue backlit to light up the screen for night play, gamers can even turn the light off to save batteries, although this portable can only be bought through imports, it had become one of Nintendo's most rarest of their Game Boy portable brand. Nintendo stated that the western world wasn't ready for night play on their portable handheld so they decided to plan on a new future upgrade to the Game Boy to featured color instead of light.

Enter the New Competitors

While Nintendo is still going with the Game Boy Pocket and Super Game Boy, two other game companies had already step up to challenged Nintendo head-on. The first one is Tiger Corporation Inc. who once created the handheld series of Tiger handheld games had released a Tiger handheld system called the "Game.com." This system looks more sleeker and better than the Game Boy Pocket with clearer game graphics in unique backlit black and white monochrome color and a superb control with four action buttons and plenty of games to be played on the go from different third party publishers. To Tiger this system is a dream come true because it not only plays games but can also be use as a digital calculator, a calendar, and an internet browser. To handheld fans, however, this system is already a failure since it only features a few games from different publishers other than something entirely new or exclusive, the calculator and calendar are good features for the non-gamers but for the many it is useless, the internet browser modem cartridge was a great idea and gamers can surf the web with the handheld but its too bad the contents only display text and no colors and since many gamers expect online play for this handheld which it didn't offered, this handheld look like it is already outdated when it was actually just released. Though the battery usage was the same as the Game Boy Pocket and last for more than 15 hours, some fans see this handheld as mmore of a joke than a competitor and decided to choose Nintendo's handheld more because of a wider bigger gaming library and upgraded features and since the Game Boy Color upgrade is on its way, there is just no reason to buy a monochrome handheld anymore.

Next comes SNK, another gaming giant that had the same reason as Sega to create portable handheld game machine enough to crush Nintendo's long running Game Boy Pocket. In 1997, SNK released the Neo Geo Pocket which utilize 8-Bit of processing powered by two AA batteries enough to last for over 40 hours of continuous play and the system which features a wider clearer screen in monochrome black and white and two action buttons. With Neo Geo Pocket's released SNK hope to completely compete with Nintendo, however, by the time of Neo Geo Pocket's released, Nintendo's Game Boy library had already filled in the entired handheld market and the fact that gamers actually crave to play portable in color rather than in monochrome, this then encouraged SNK to released a color version of there Neo Geo Pocket the next year.

In 1998, Nintendo finally released its first ever color Game Boy along with plenty of launch titles enough to give fans gaming on the go. With Game Boy Color being backward compatible with classic Game Boy titles, the Game Boy library had also been boost to another three hundred adding those launch titles as well as future releases. With this much hype in Game Boy Color's processor, it worried SNK for it may mean doom to its Neo Geo Pocket, but SNK deceided to work on their color Neo Geo Pocket anyways hoping to stop Nintendo's Game Boy Color. Later in 1998, SNK released the Neo Geo Pocket Color, this new handheld is superbly powerful than the Game Boy Color, with a 16-Bit processing power, 40 hours of game play with the use of two AA batteries, a new wide color screen, a joystick style pad and great arcade style control features brought every handheld gamers a treat to have. Though the screen isn't backlit, it does had the greatest feature, and the better battery life compare to the Game Boy Color, but it forgot the main meat of the system, third party support. Neo Geo Pocket Color only sign a few supports for their handhelds and all of them are SNK's own games despite fans expect more from the Neo Geo Pocket Color they try to bring in a few third party like Namco's Pac-Man game, Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog's Pocket Adventure and some few arcade hits like SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium but overall the library is still not enough and the more they try to more they fall behind in the handheld market war, it's just impossible to beat the Game Boy library when your portable is not that popular or powerful than the Game Boy.

While SNK only releasef top handheld franchise titles for their Neo Geo Pocket Color boosting the gaming library a bet, Bandai, another company had started to join the competition with its Wonder Swan handheld portable which feature 40 hours of gaming play and the use of black and white monochrome screen but that ended quickly with Neo Geo Pocket Color being the top choice, Bandai later release the Wonder Swan Color with upgraded graphics now entirely in color and got beaten again. This also help Neo Geo Pocket Color boost its library to another two dozen. What SNK and Bandai didn't notice is that after 1999, Nintendo is planning to release another upgrade to its Game Boy they planned to called it the "Game Boy Advance."

Brightening the New Millennium

In 2000, Nintendo finally changed the way fans play handheld by releasing the new Game Boy Advance system which includes a new wider game screen large enough to play without squinting the eyes and a new look , the system is now horizontal align with four buttons(a layout similiar to Sega's Game Gear), two action buttons, and two shoulder buttons as well as the ability to play the complete library of new and classic Game Boy games and a 32-Bit processing power for 15 hours of game play with the use of two AA batteries. With this new handheld, SNK finally resigned and lost the handheld war and the Neo Geo Pocket Color is no more. his new Game Boy can also even play all the original titles from modern days to the very first launch titles since 1989, that's a full generation of all Game Boy games in one system. Though the new Game Boy Advance handheld is a lot of fun to have it still lack another important feature, a backlight which became a problem as the year progress.

Then in 2003, since Nintendo heard the prayers and the many lack of backlighting can now rest easy when Nintendo finally released an upgrade to their Game Boy Advance system called the "Game Boy Advance SP," which now featured a new sleeker better design with the screen on top and the control on the bottom, align with the action and shoulder buttons, nicely spread and out of the way, another great twist is that the Game Boy Advance SP can be folded in half to fit into anyone's pocket. The Game Boy Advance SP also saw the day when Nintendo finally put an internal light screen to the system as well as a new rechargeable battery pack to the western world which player can now use for over 20 hours of game play instead of wasting big bucks buying AA batteries. With this system in store shelves everywhere, handheld fans are greeted with joy and also receive many loves for Nintendo. Later that year Nintendo also released a new Game Boy Player adapter to be hook-up with the GameCube to play all the complete list of Game Boy library on TV through the GameCube similiar to the Super Game Boy was for the Super NES. This also boost both the Game Boy library as well as the GameCube's own library of great games.

What's Next To Come

Since the Game Boy Advance SP, there had being a lot of portable handheld that were released all having similiar features but had different usage as well as playing games. A few short months after Game Boy Advance SP's debut, Nokia, a phone company wanted to get on the handheld gaming market, they believed that gamers this generation likely want not just to play games but a lot more such as listening to music, talking on the phone, and online competition. This led Nokia to released a handheld of their own which had all these features, this handheld was known as the "N-Gage." Though not really a revolutionary handheld, it does had a better backlit screen than the GBA SP's frontlit one, it also had clearer graphics and had features for listening to music FM radio, player can even download music from their computer and copy them to any SD cards to be listen ont he Nokia N-Gage, there are even other games that allowed online competition but to all of these features, there are some flaws. First is the price, the Nokia N-Gage is way too expensive for the average gamer to get, it is even triple the price of a brand new GBA SP, second its game swapping feature is lame and tiresome because gamer will have to take out the battery and Sim Card in able to just swap games for play, third is that the FM radio and MP3 features lack stereo sounds and only mono music can be heard even witht he headset on, and lastly, the new handheld doesn't seem to offer any new exciting or exclusive games, but instead introduced ports of already existing games both from the PlayStation and GBA versions of some of them like Tomb Raider and Sonic N(a Sonic Advance port). With these downside tot he handheld, not too many gamers look at the N-Gage as a revolutionary game system and instead kept their GBA SP stating the large library of games and special features it had. Nokia later released an imprioved version of the N-Gage called the "N-Gage QD," which take away two of the features from the first design and solved the problem of swapping games on the go but since its really not a big upgrade tot he original, gamers are still not impress since the screen size is still a lame choice to view those games.

A New Generation of Handheld with the Game Boy in Between

Then as 2004 hits, the GBA library had improved yet ans yet again with new hits every month but as time went on, gamers started looking for some new ways to play. At the end of 2004, they finally got their wish when Nintendo released the Nintendo DS which feature two screens, a regular backlit screen and a touch screen for innovative game play. It also feature online plays on some games and wireless play through many multiplaying games as well as a wireless chat session for chatting with other gamers or friends. Things also got interesting when Sony released its new Sony PSP to compete with the new handhelds, by then gamers then completely think that the PSP was to compete with the Game Boy and not the Nintendo DS. Other prefer that it compete with the Nintedo DS because of similiar hardware powers and game play. Also at this time, most gamers now rely only ont he two new handhelds and see the Game Boy as an outdated brand to the handheld library. Unfortunely, the Game Boy name still had one more run before the handheld can finally put to rest, in late 2005, Nintendo had released a more smaller version of the GBA now called the "Game Boy Micro," it had the same processor as the GBA but lack backward compatibility for playing older games, despite the Micro's success, Nintendo also quietly released a new and improved version of the GBA SP now with a completely new backlit screen as compare to the frontlight of the original. Though Nintendo doesn't really focus that much on the new GBA SP as they are with the GB Micro, many gamers see them as great alternative choices for both gimiick fans and portable gamers alike. It seems that 2006 and beyond will not be a good year for the Game Boy brand as the handheld is aging quite outdated and the library is stil quite large but as far as Nintendo put it, it's not over until they say it's over and maybe in the near future, the Game Boy might make a surprising return in a new way.