45 Interesting Gameboy Facts That You Probably Didn't Know About

Sridevi Tolety
Jan 27, 2023 By Sridevi Tolety
Originally Published on Jan 21, 2022
Edited by Kelly Quinn
Fact-checked by Nishtha Dixit
Gameboy! The dream game of every '90s kid, which needs no introduction.

Gameboy! The dream game of every '90s kid, which needs no introduction.

The Gameboy is an eight-bit handheld game console. It was developed and manufactured by Nintendo's Gunpei Yokoi and its Nintendo R&D1 team.

Nintendo's Gameboy was a big hit in 1998. Nintendo designed the most played game of all time, which kids and adults enjoyed; it was a popular handheld gaming device in video game history because it was portable, affordable, durable, easy to play.

Many redesigns were released, like the Game boy pocket which was released in 1996, the Game boy Light in 1998 in Japan only, and the Game boy Advance in 2001.

The Game boy has approximately 15 hours of battery life, and the life span of the Game boy was from 1989–2010.

Features And Uses Of Gameboy

The Nintendo Game boy shook the gaming world in the '90s, and it was a portable game that could fit the pocket. The Game boy became so popular that playing games such as 'Legend of Zelda' are considered fantasy.

Who knew this tiny, dull-looking portable device would shake the whole game world when it was launched 25 years ago in Japan.

The first Game Boy was introduced and bought to the gaming audience on Apr 21, 1989, in Japan, for 12,500 yen, and later was introduced in the same year to the North American gaming crowd. It was released in late 1990 in Europe.

The Game Boy was created by the same team that created the 'Game and Watch' electronic game series. The best game was 'Super Mario Land' which sold over 18 million copies.

The Game boy system is not the first handheld device by Nintendo, and it was Nintendo's second game console in the Game boy line, with the first one released in 1980. The Game Boy consists of a combination of the Game and Watch technology and NES home system.'

One feature of the Game boy was that four players could be connected with the link cable. The color strategy is of dark magenta, black, and blue accents.

All the units were rectangular with a curve in the right bottom corner. The Game boy was available and sold as a single unit or sold together with games; 'Tetris' and 'Super Mario Land' are among them. This second game console also developed a few other accessories, like a printer, a game genie, and a pouch.

The Game boy family comprises classic Game boy, Game boy color, Game boy pocket, Game boy advance, Game boy micro, and Game boy advance SP. There are over 700-1000 games in the system's library. The button design same and simple as the NES for easy handling.

The original Game boy had many redesigns over the years. The newer version of the Game Boy has a backlight not present in the original Game Boy. Another feature was 'The Play It Out Loud,' a darker border than the normal Game boy.

Play It Loud units were manufactured in blue, green, yellow, white, red, black, and transparent game boy and are known as X-Ray in the UK. The white color Game boy is the rarest one. The Game boy red is also rare and a limited edition Game boy, as the device's Manchester United logo was embossed on the device.

A Game boy digital camera could be combined with a thermal printer, allowing gamers to take pictures before printing. 'Tetris' is a popular puzzle video game created by Alexey Pajitnov in 1984 for PCs, but it did not do well.

When clubbed with the Game boy, it turned out to be a smash hit by selling 35 million copies on Game boy alone. The concept of 'Tetris' was also used for the Game link cable, which allowed two Game boys to connect to multiplayer for more fun.

'Pokémon' games series were created by the game developer Satoshi Tajiri and a few more as a method of communication and networking, which was inspired by the link cable used in the Game boy.

The Game boy classic is a portable handheld replica of the Game boy device manufactured by Nintendo in association with other World Studios. The original Game Boy was only available in the grey case, but then in 1990, a few more color cases were introduced.

Game boy classic comes with various games from both the Game boy libraries and Game boy color, and these can be downloaded and pre-installed from the internet. The Game boy classic can also connect wirelessly.

After the Game boy classic, Nintendo introduced the Game boy pocket in 1997, with a more compact version almost after seven years. The display was so soothing to the eyes with black & white color.

The smaller link requires an adapter to connect with the older Game boy. A smaller multilink port was used that became popular for the advanced Game Boy models.

After the Game boy pocket, another version that was introduced in Japan on Apr 14, 1998, was the Game boy light.

The Game Boy color is the fifth generation of video game consoles. The Game boy color is the future addition to the Game boy and is part of the Game boy family.

It has a custom eight-bit processor, which was developed by Sharp. The Game boy color has a slightly smaller color screen than the Game boy pocket, slightly thicker and taller.

The Game boy color has an infrared communications port that supports only a small number of games. Nintendo released several Game boy models.

The launch of colored Game boys set a pattern for later Nintendo handhelds, and then later reintroduced the Game boy advance with the Nintendo 3Ds using Wi-Fi. The Game boy color ended on Mar 23, 2003.

The Game boy advance is the sixth generation video game. The Game boy advance was released on Mar 21, 2021, in Japan, and then on Jun 11, 2001, in North America. It was developed with a 32-bit handheld game console. 'Pokémon Gold And Silver' was the best-selling game, which shipped 23 million units worldwide.

Game Boy Advance SP is a sixth-generation handheld, was released on Feb 14, 2003, with an upgraded version with a 32-bit Game boy.

On Sept 13, 2005, the Game boy micro was released in Japan by redesigning a lighter and smaller version. The Game boy micro is the last edition of the Game boy line.

Despite many prime competitors like NEC's TurboExpress, Sega game gear, Atari's Lynx, the Game boy received many compliments for its durability, cheap hardware compared to others, and battery life.

The Game boy color has a record of selling 118.69 million units worldwide and becoming the third best-selling video game console.

The Game boy had many great and rarest collections in its library like 'Kid Dracula', 'Sumo Fighter', 'Mega Man V', 'King James Bible, 'Knight's Quest', 'Amazing Tater', 'Spud's Adventure', from the game boy advance. However, 'Spud's Adventure' is the most expensive and rarest game on the Game boy and costs around $3,500.

By the time the Game boy micro was released, DS had already been released and was becoming the largest selling of all time, and also, due to the lack of compatibility with earlier games, the sale was not so successful. The Game boy micro was not as profitable as the original models sold and was finally discontinued in 2010.

Except in the Game boy micro, the port design is deployed on all the Game boy models. The Game boy production was stopped in 2003, and the Game boy micro was the last production by Nintendo. The Game boy was introduced into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2009.

Who invented the Gameboy?

Today in the modern world, we have many options for video games. But was it the same in the olden days when there were no PCs, laptops, and Wi-Fi.?

The Game boy was a big hit and is one of the most popular game consoles in history. Though there were many Game boys in the family, people still cannot forget the original Game boy device.

The Game boy was originally developed and manufactured by Nintendo's Gunpei Yokoi and its Nintendo R&D1 team. Yokoi got the idea of developing this device when he saw a businessman playing with a calculator.

Gunpei Yokoi was a Japanese toy designer born in 1941 and a chief engineer at Nintendo. He was known as the best creator of the Game & Watch handheld system. He was the inventor of the original designer of the Game Boy and the 'cross-shaped control pad. He also developed the Nintendo virtual boy.

The Modern Age Of Gaming

The gaming industry is one of the largest industries in the world and very entertaining for many people. It has not evolved recently, and many might think that video gaming was invented in the late '70s.

A lot of people believe that Atari invented the first videogame, 'Pong'. But the truth is that William Higinbotham created the first ever video game, 'Tennis For Two', in the '50s. And he actually just created this game for fun!

The huge change from modern gaming to original gaming is the expansion into multiplayer functionality. In the early days, games and consoles were brought for kids and families for entertainment purposes, and playing games was never social or an individual hobby.

After the Game boy was introduced, it completely changed the entertainment industry. This handheld device became so popular that we started playing games privately and stopped spending time with friends and families.

But in the '90s and 2000s, with the introduction of multiplayer, users could play with their families and friends. The biggest change in modern gaming, like Xbox Live and Playstation network was added to the existing consoles.

People's Love Of Online Gaming

Online gaming has become an addiction in our daily life. People love playing for hours. Online games can be simple or complex and can be played by creating groups, while others are social games. Online games over the years have increased tremendously in the family of video game culture.

It was announced in 1995 by Nintendo that 46% of Game boy users were females, which gave a new path to Nintendo's marketing and design approach. On Jun 6, 2011, the Game boy color and Game boy games were introduced on the 3Ds's Nintendo eShop.

Cosmonaut Aleksandr A. Serebrov, in 1993, took his Game boy along on Soyuz TM-17 space mission to the Mir station. The console returned safely, and later this was auctioned.

Online gaming is nothing but video games played through the internet or any other computer network. These online games can be played on PCs, tablets, consoles, and mobile devices. Online games can generate lots of revenue. However, we can not play online games permanently as they require special servers to run.

There are always pros and cons for everything, and it is similar to online gaming. The advantage of this online gaming is that you can interact with other players worldwide.

But sometimes, online gaming faces criticisms like violence, spending less time with families, slang used for communication, and promoting cyberbullying, which is not good for a healthy society. We should play games for entertainment and fun.

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Written by Sridevi Tolety

Bachelor of Science specializing in Botany, Master of Science specializing in Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs

Sridevi Tolety picture

Sridevi ToletyBachelor of Science specializing in Botany, Master of Science specializing in Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs

With a Master's degree in clinical research from Manipal University and a PG Diploma in journalism from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Sridevi has cultivated her passion for writing across various domains. She has authored a wide range of articles, blogs, travelogues, creative content, and short stories that have been published in leading magazines, newspapers, and websites. Sridevi is fluent in four languages and enjoys spending her spare time with loved ones. Her hobbies include reading, traveling, cooking, painting, and listening to music.

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Fact-checked by Nishtha Dixit

Bachelor of Arts specializing in English Literature

Nishtha Dixit picture

Nishtha DixitBachelor of Arts specializing in English Literature

Nishtha is an experienced SEO writer and editor, with a passion for writing and self-expression. She is currently pursuing an undergraduate major in Literature and Communication and a minor in Political Science from the University of Delhi. Nishtha has completed a certificate master course in English from the British Council and has been appointed as the editor for the bi-monthly magazine of the University of Delhi.

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