Technology was advancing, and the demand for bigger and better games was forever increasing. Gameboy Color (Credit: Retro Game Store Australia) Gameboy Advance – 2001Īfter the success of it’s previous consoles, Nintendo needed to do something different if it was going to keep ahead of the game. Most customers also grabbed Pokemon Gold or Silver along with the console, helping Pokemon to sell over 23 million units of Gold & Silver and making it the best selling Gameboy Color game ever. The last of the 8bit Gameboy’s were a huge success and the Gameboy Color sold tens of millions of units. Nintendo eventually revealed over 50 different colors and editions of the console, enticing gamers to buy more than one Gameboy Color and rack up an impressive, and colourful, collection. The Gameboy Color was the start of the company launching lots of coloured variants of the console. Heck, Nintendo even revealed Kirby Tilt N’ Tumble which was a cartridge that had a built in accelerometer, allowing you to play the game by tilting your Gameboy. With this, Nintendo launched a bunch of coloured Gameboy games such as Pokemon Gold/Silver, Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening and Super Mario Bros Deluxe. ![]() ![]() This feature in itself allowed the Gameboy Color to launch with a much bigger library compared to its competitors. It was renowned for bringing colour to the pocket console and the ability to be backwards compatible with older Gameboy games. The Gameboy Color had a more natural, curved aesthetic to it that fitted better in the players hands. Just 6 months after the Gameboy Light, Nintendo revealed the all new Gameboy Color, my favourite handheld ever. Gameboy light (Credit: MyKombini) Gameboy Color – 1998 He left with a number of his colleagues in order to form a new company called Koto, and then went on to create the Wonderswan handheld, a new portable gaming machine that brought joy to thousands upon thousands of gamers throughout Japan who loved playing the best Wonderswan games wherever they go. It wasn’t easy for Nintendo to see him go as he was one of the most innovative members of staff that they had ever employed. On August 15th 1996 Gunpei left the gaming giants for good after 31 years at the company. The Gameboy Pocket was Gunpei’s last project for Nintendo. ![]() So a few months down the line they planned to return it within the next batch. Many customers missed this feature as it would cause many missed saved states when the console ran out of juice. ![]() This move also allowed them to slim down the unit, but while slimming it down, they missed out a key component which was the battery light. Instead of 4 x AA batteries they changed the power supply to 3xAAA batteries, all while keeping the long 10 hour lifespan. This turns your Gameboy into a mini arcade cabinet and the Booster Boy, an accessory that puts your Gameboy on life support with boosted speakers and a magnifying glass with a front light, because we all know this thing was impossible to see at night. It became the most iconic 90s toys and sold mostly as a stand alone unit, although it did come with either Tetris or Super Mario Land should you want a bundle.īecause the Gameboy was such a success, other companies soon wanted a slice of the pie and launched many 3rd party accessories, some great, some… just plain wild, like the Konami HYPERBOY. It was a huge success for Nintendo, selling almost 100 million units worldwide and making it one of the best selling handhelds of all time. North America was the next to see a release on July 31st 1989, but it wasn’t until September 28th 1990 that us Europeans managed to get our hands on it. Nintendo and Gunpei released the original Gameboy to the public on April 21st 1989 in Japan selling out the first load of 300,000 units in a matter of days.
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