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| The Nintendo Game Boy |
While Nintendo had a very definite grasp on the home video gaming console market, a new fad was fast on the rise. With manufacturers, such as Coleco and Mattel tapping into the market of handheld electronic gaming, bigger fish like Nintendo gave pause to think. If companies could make a living on hand held games that were hard wired to play only a single game, what would happen if the portability of these games was combined with the popularity of cartridge-based home video gaming consoles? Game Boy answered that question.
Nintendo already had some experience in this department following the launch of their Game and Watch series in 1980. But home video gaming was too fresh and too expensive for that series to make an impact like the Game Boy did. The Game Boy was launched as a bundle with the puzzle game, Tetris. It became the system’s hottest game, selling over 30 million copies. Pokemon was also a 25 million copy winner, and became the subject of many special edition Game Boys.
There were several handheld systems that were technologically superior, but the Game Boy emerged on top of the handheld field very quickly. Perhaps riding on the Nintendo name, the Game Boy sold a million units—its entire shipment—in just weeks after it was introduced to North America. People were craving this new product by Nintendo and new Game Boy games could not be introduced quickly enough.
Today, handheld gaming is just as popular as home consoles. As gamers work their way through PSP and 3DS games, many likely don’t spend much time thinking about the old Game Boy games. Those who do, however, are in luck. The Game Boy has already been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame and is the most successful handheld game ever. For that reason, it is still pretty easy to find Game Boy Roms that can be downloaded and played, offering some of the greatest nostalgia and a lesson in the turning point of handheld gaming. |
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