Twenty-five years ago Nintendo released its handheld video game player that bred characters from Super Mario to Pokémon and sold 200 million units worldwide.
When the original Game Boy was first launched in 1989, the Energizer Bunny was introduced to the world, Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” reached international charts, and Chinese students were protesting on Tiananmen Square.
The Game Boy was the first portable console with changeable game cartridges and batteries, marketed as “playing with portable power.”
“The Game Boy was very influential,” said Robert from EB Games who has been working in the gaming industry his whole life. “It really kicked off the relevance of the handheld market, especially to be able to play different games on the fly.”
“But man that thing sucked up my batteries,” he recalled.
The Game Boy line, which includes the original, pocket and colour versions, have since sold 118 million units, while the follow-up Game Boy Advance series sold 82 million consoles.
Robert said the original Game Boy player, known for games such as Tetris and the boundless adventures of Mario in the mushroom kingdom, has since then kicked off a revolution in the handheld market.
Twenty-five years later, the 3DS is the new generation of hand held game consoles by Nintendo made to complement the Game Boy Advance series. The first touch screen model, the DS, sold a little over 150 million units since its release in 2004.
Robert said the 3DS series have extra features like Internet browsing and built in-social media tools. He said gamers are always connecting and looking for gaming strategies, but the 3DS series are not the same as the originals for diehard fans.
For Rebecca Besnos, an eighties baby who considers the Game Boy as a part of her childhood says nothing would replace the original.
“I think the 3DS is better in terms of graphics but game boy is always going to have a special place in my heart.”
She says her little sister and friends, who play with new generation of Nintendo portable game consoles are not as obsessed as she was with the original back in the day.
“I was pretty obsessed with it. All of us were. I used to bring it to school and played at lunch, after school and before bed.”
Besnos remembers when she used to blow into her game cartridges to get rid of the dust before playing religiously. “It was a sort of cult,” she said.
“Ask anyone who used to play with the Game Boy and they can tell you they did the same thing.”
“Kids now a days don’t remember the old school ways. They just download the games online. There’s no fun in that,” she said.
Despite its popularity, the Game Boy line was discontinued in 2008. In fact in 2006, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said, “I would have a second thought about using our resources on what would be the next generation of Game Boy Advance, considering the strong support DS is now enjoying.”
Although gamers around the world now enjoy touch screen devices, the Game Boy with its buttons labeled A, B, SELECT and START, holds an iconic status.
It was inaugurated into the National Toy Hall of Fame at Strong National Museum of Play. According to the Rochester Business Journal, “Nintendo’s Game Boy transformed electronic gaming by popularizing handheld games, and its simultaneous multiplayer gaming and slate of games such as Tetris and Super Mario Land were cited as innovations.”
All data used comes from Nintendo’s consolidated sales report.