Game Boy lineThe Game Boy line (also: Gameboy, Game-boy; Japanese: ゲームボーイ Gēmu Bōi) is a line of battery-powered handheld game consoles sold by Nintendo. It is one of the best-selling game system lines selling over 120 million units world wide to date, and has spawned many successful spin-offs. The original Game Boy's design set the standard for handheld gaming consoles. HistoryNintendo's Game Boy handheld was first released in 1989. The gaming device was the brainchild of long-time Nintendo employee Gunpei Yokoi, who was the person behind the Ultra Hand, an expanding arm toy created and produced by Nintendo in 1970, long before Nintendo would enter the video game market. Yokoi was also responsible for the Game & Watch series of handhelds when Nintendo made the move from toys to video games. Some consider these early LCD-display handhelds to be a prototype of the Game Boy. When Gunpei designed the original Game Boy, he knew that, to be successful, the system needed to be small, light, inexpensive, and durable, as well as have a varied, recognizable library of games upon its release. By following this simple mantra, the Game Boy line managed to gain a vast following despite technically superior alternatives. Game Boy continues its success to this day and many at Nintendo have dedicated the handheld in Yokoi's memory. Game Boy celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2004, which nearly coincided with the 20-year anniversary to the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). To celebrate, Nintendo released the Classic NES Series and a NES-themed color scheme for the Game Boy Advance SP. VersionsThe Game Boy console went through several design iterations, without significant changes to its computing power, since its release in 1989. Game BoyThe original Game Boy was released on April 21, 1989 in Japan and in August 1989 in the United States. Based around a Z80 processor, it had a black and green reflective LCD screen, an eight-way directional pad, and two action buttons. It played games from ROM-based media contained in small plastic detachable units called cartridges (sometimes abbreviated as carts). The game that really pushed it into the upper reaches of success was Tetris. The original Game Boy was the first cartridge-based system that supported more than four players at one time (via the link port). In fact, it has been shown that the system could support 16 simultaneous players at once. However, this feature was only supported in Faceball 2000. From left to right: Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Light, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance(GBA), Game Boy Advance SP, Game Boy micro. The trademark Game Boy became ambiguous to fans of the Game Boy series.
Game Boy Play It Loud!A black Game Boy Play It Loud!!.In 1995, Nintendo released several colored Game Boy models, advertising them in the Play it Loud! campaign. This new unit is the same as the first version, except for the availabity of various colors. Game Boy PocketIn 1996, Nintendo released the Game Boy Pocket, a smaller, lighter unit that required fewer batteries. It had space for 2 AAA batteries, which would provide roughly 10 hours of game play. The Game Boy Pocket has a smaller link port, requiring an adapter for linkage with the older Game Boy. The port's design was used on all subsequent Game Boy models, up until the Game Boy micro. The screen was changed to a true black-and-white display, rather than the "pea soup" monochromatic display of the original Game Boy. The first version did not have a LED to show battery levels, but was soon added due to public demand. Game Boy LightThe Game Boy Light emits a green glow (very similar to an indiglow watch) when the light is turned onOnly available in Japan, the Game Boy Light was about the same size as the Pocket and had a backlit screen for improved visibility. It uses 2 AA batteries which give it approximately 20 hours with the light off and 12 with it on. The Game Boy Light is the rarest Game Boy variant outside of Japan. Due to its rarity, it often sells for many times more than the other models. Game Boy ColorReleased in November 1998, the Game Boy Color (also referred to as GBC) added a color screen to a form factor slightly larger than the Game Boy Pocket. It also has double the processor speed, twice as much memory, and an infrared communications port. A major draw of the Game Boy Color was its backward compatibility (that is, a Game Boy Color is able to read older Game Boy cartridges and even play them in selectable color). This became a major feature of the Game Boy line, since it allowed each new launch to begin with a significantly larger library than any of its competitors. Technologically, it was likened to the NES from the 1980s. Game Boy AdvanceIn June 2001, Nintendo released a significant upgrade to the Game Boy line. The Game Boy Advance (also referred to as GBA) featured a 32 bit 16.8 MHz ARM. It included a Z80 processor for backward-compatibility support. It was technically likened to the SNES and showed its power with successful ports of Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island. It has also been accompanied alongside new titles such as Mario Kart Super Circuit and F-Zero: Maximum Velocity. Game Boy Advance SPGame Boy Advance SPLaunched in March 2003, the Game Boy Advance SP resolved several problems with the original model. It features a new smaller clamshell design with a flip-up screen (protecting the screen, an issue with the original), an internal frontlight, and a rechargeable battery, but was otherwise unchanged. The SP stands for Special [1]. In mid September 2005, Nintendo released a new model that featured a new and improved backlit screen. As of this writing, the Game Boy SP is the last Game Boy handheld to offer backward compatibility with Game Boy/Game Boy Color games. Game Boy microA second Game Boy Advance redesign (third design), the Game Boy micro is four inches wide, two inches tall, and less than an inch deep and weighs 2.8 ounces, by far the smallest Game Boy created. It is slightly smaller than the SP or GBA screens while maintaining the same resolution (240 × 160 pixels). The Game Boy micro is not backward compatible with Game Boy or Game Boy Color games. It was released on September 19, 2005 in Japan and North America. It was released in Europe on November 4, 2005. The micro's North American launch price of $99.99 was lowered to $89.99 during the 2005 holiday season. Other Nintendo handheld consolesThere also other Nintendo handheld consoles that do not fit into the Game Boy category, but are similar. Game & WatchDesigned by Gunpei Yokoi, thse are considered to be the predecessor to the Game Boy. There were 58 different games and also included an alarm clock. The horitzontal orientation was later used for the Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Micro and the clamshell design of other games was used for the Nintendo DS. Nintendo DSThe Nintendo DS launched on November 20, 2004 in North America and December 4, 2004 in Japan, making it unusual as a Nintendo device to launch in North America before Japan. In fact, its unusual design and touch-screen control distinguish it from the Game Boy line. Nintendo refers to it as their third pillar; their home consoles, such as the Nintendo GameCube, being the first, and their Game Boy line of portable-gaming devices being the second. The Nintendo DS can be considered a part of the portable family due to structural similarities to Game Boy and its ability to play Game Boy Advance cartridges (but not Game Boy Color or original Game Boy cartridges). It has been technically likened to the Nintendo 64. Nintendo DS LiteOn January 26, 2006, Nintendo unveiled the Nintendo DS Lite, a redesigned version of the DS. It is smaller than the current DS model—133 × 73.9 × 21.5mm against 148.7 × 84.7 × 27.9. It is also lighter, at 218g against 295g. It will sell for 16,800 yen ($145), compared with the current model's price of 15,000 yen ($130). [2] AccessoriesGame Boy Camera & PrinterThe Game Boy Camera was a rudimentary digital camera. Main articles: Game Boy Camera, Game Boy Printer.The Game Boy Camera & Printer are accessories for the Game Boy handheld gaming console and were released in 1998. The camera could take basic black & white, often grainy, digital images using the 4-color palette of the Game Boy system. The printer utilized heat-sensitive paper to "burn" any saved images, making a hard copy. Both items were marketed by Nintendo as light-hearted entertainment devices, in all three major videogame regions of the world: Japan, North America, and Europe. The N64 magazine (published by Future) dedicated a monthly section to the device. It was never Nintendo's intention to transform the GB system into a PDA; any such claims are untrue. However, a commercial advertising the products showed a young kid using the devices, with an adult using a laptop looking over in astonishment. The commercial at least indicates that Nintendo was at least referencing and/or parodying adult-geared portable systems. There are also several mini-games along with the camera. A picture of the user's head is inserted into several mini-games.
Recently, the EyeToy accessory for the PlayStation 2 has vastly expanded upon the idea of using the image of the player in the game and as part of the game. Super Game BoyThe Super Game Boy is a plug-in cartridge for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that allowed Game Boy games to be played on a television screen. The black-and-white games could be colorized by mapping colors to each of the four grays. A follow-up, the Super Game Boy 2 (primarily released in Japan, though some sold through QVC's shopping channel in the U.S.), included more colors, frames, and a link port for multiplayer support. Transfer PakThe Transfer Pak was a device that fit onto the Nintendo 64 controller. However, unlike the Super Game Boy, it was only for the transfer of Game Boy Color data to their N64 equivalents. The only exception was Pokémon Stadium, which allowed players to play Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow on the television screen. Pokémon Stadium 2 was compatible with all the Game Boy and Game Boy Color Pokémon games except for the Crystal Version. Game Boy ExChanger (GBX)The (unofficial) GBX, produced by Bung Enterprises Ltd, was the best-known backup unit for Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. The device plugged into the parallel port of the PC and allowed dumping ROM and SRAM sumee data to PC, as well as rewriting flashcarts to play copies of Game Boy games. Game Boy PlayerThe successor to the Super Game Boy, the Game Boy Player allows Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games to be played on the Nintendo GameCube. It also has a link port so players can use multiplayer and e-Reader functions. It uses the same color palette built into the cart instead of colorizing the games. Game Boy Advance Wireless AdapterThe Wireless Adapter allows players to play wirelessly without a link cable. As of 2005, fewer than twenty games support this feature. The feature's greatest usefulness is most evident in Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald, where up to sixteen Wireless Adapter-connected players could convene in a "Union Room" of sorts. e-ReaderA peripheral released for the Game Boy Advance and SP that unlocks special content for certain games. Content includes mini-games, different worlds, or full and complete games. The content was added or unlocked by purchasing e-Reader cards and swiping them in. The e-Reader was considered to be a general failure; although still selling in Japan, it was not released in Europe, and was quickly discontinued in North America. CartridgesA Game Boy screen may look unusual if a game cart is pulled out while the power is on.Each video game is contained in a small plastic cartridge (or "cart"). Game Boy and GBC cartridges measure 5.8 cm by 6.5 cm. The software contained within provides the data, logic, and rules of the game, accepts input from the console controls or buttons, and outputs the results to the screen display and speaker. If the developer wishes, they can include either a small battery or a flash chip within the cartridge, which allows game data to be saved; this allows the game to be continued at a later time. The game cart is inserted into the console cart slot. If the game cart is pulled out while the power is on, the Game Boy will exhibit undefined behavior. This will freeze the game and may cause weird occurrences, such as rows of zeros appearing on the screen and the sound remaining at the same pitch as was emitted the instant the game was pulled out. Pulling a cart out of the Game Boy while the power is on may cause saved data or hardware to be damaged. This applies to almost all video game console using cartridges. The original Game Boy power switch was designed to prevent the player from being able to remove the cart while powered on. Cartridges intended only for Game Boy Color (and not for the original Game Boy) use the space intended for the locking mechanism to prevent insertion into the original Game Boy. Even if this is bypassed, the game will not run, and an image on the screen will inform the user that the game is only meant for Game Boy Color systems; however, the Game Boy Pocket allows for bypassing of the notch. Game Boy cartridgesThere are four types of cartridges used on Game Boy systems:
PopularityMost game consoles become obsolete as newer systems become available. The Game Boy is unique in its stamina. 2004 brought about its 15th anniversary and in that time it has seen off many (often technically superior) rivals; most notably the Sega Game Gear and the Atari Lynx. Thousands of games are available for the Game Boy, which can be attributed in part to its sales in the amounts of millions, a well-documented design, and a typically short development cycle. The Nintendo DS is able to play the large library of Game Boy Advance games. However, it cannot play multiplayer GBA games or link to the Nintendo GameCube, and it is not backward-compatible at all with the original Game Boy or the Game Boy Color due to the lack of a Z80 processor. Popular culture
EmulationSome firmware has been released for the GBA Movie Player to allow ROM images for old Game Boy games to be used on the GBA, as well as the Nintendo DS. The ROM images are stored on CompactFlash cards used in the GBA Movie Player. ScreenshotsThis page about Gameboy includes information from a Wikipedia article. Additional articles about Gameboy News stories about Gameboy External links for Gameboy Videos for Gameboy Wikis about Gameboy Discussion Groups about Gameboy Blogs about Gameboy Images of Gameboy |
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The ROM images are stored on CompactFlash cards used in the GBA Movie Player. The word "gas" was apparently coined in the early 17th century by the Belgian chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont, as a re-spelling of his pronunciation of the Greek word chaos. Some firmware has been released for the GBA Movie Player to allow ROM images for old Game Boy games to be used on the GBA, as well as the Nintendo DS. The particle (generally consisting of millions or billions of atoms) thus moves in a jagged course, yet not so jagged as we would expect to find if we could examine an individual gas molecule. However, it cannot play multiplayer GBA games or link to the Nintendo GameCube, and it is not backward-compatible at all with the original Game Boy or the Game Boy Color due to the lack of a Z80 processor. The reason is that Brownian Motion involves a smooth drag due to the frictional force of many gas molecules, punctuated by violent collisions of an individual (or several) gas molecule(s) with the particle. The Nintendo DS is able to play the large library of Game Boy Advance games. Since it is at the limit of (or beyond) current technology to observe individual gas particles (atoms or molecules), only theoretical calculations give suggestions as to how they move, but their motion is different from Brownian Motion. Thousands of games are available for the Game Boy, which can be attributed in part to its sales in the amounts of millions, a well-documented design, and a typically short development cycle. A material particle (say a dust mote) in a gas moves in Brownian Motion. 2004 brought about its 15th anniversary and in that time it has seen off many (often technically superior) rivals; most notably the Sega Game Gear and the Atari Lynx. Gas particles are normally well separated, as opposed to liquid particles, which are in contact. The Game Boy is unique in its stamina. Mutual collisions are important only for establishing the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. Most game consoles become obsolete as newer systems become available. A common misconception is that the collisions of the molecules with each other is essential to explain gas pressure, but in fact their random velocities are sufficient to define that quantity. There are four types of cartridges used on Game Boy systems:. Because of this high kinetic energy, gas atoms and molecules tend to bounce off of any containing surface and off one another, the more powerfully as the kinetic energy is increased. Even if this is bypassed, the game will not run, and an image on the screen will inform the user that the game is only meant for Game Boy Color systems; however, the Game Boy Pocket allows for bypassing of the notch. The kinetic energy per molecule in a gas is the second greatest of the states of matter (after plasma). Cartridges intended only for Game Boy Color (and not for the original Game Boy) use the space intended for the locking mechanism to prevent insertion into the original Game Boy. Unlike liquids, however, unconstrained gases do not occupy a fixed volume, but expand to fill whatever space they can occupy. The original Game Boy power switch was designed to prevent the player from being able to remove the cart while powered on. Like liquids and plasmas, gases are fluids: they have the ability to flow and do not tend to return to their former configuration after deformation, although they do have viscosity. This applies to almost all video game console using cartridges. These variables are related by the fundamental gas laws, which state that the pressure in an ideal gas is proportional to its temperature and number of molecules, but inversely proportional to its volume. Pulling a cart out of the Game Boy while the power is on may cause saved data or hardware to be damaged. The thermodynamic state of a gas is characterized by its volume, its temperature, which is determined by the average velocity or kinetic energy of the molecules, and its pressure, which is determined by the average velocity and density or number of molecules. This will freeze the game and may cause weird occurrences, such as rows of zeros appearing on the screen and the sound remaining at the same pitch as was emitted the instant the game was pulled out. Following the second law of thermodynamics, gas particles will immediately diffuse to homogeneously fill any shape or volume of space that is made available to them. If the game cart is pulled out while the power is on, the Game Boy will exhibit undefined behavior. Therefore, the gas phase is a completely disordered state. The game cart is inserted into the console cart slot. The particles move in random directions, at high speeds, whose range is dependent on the temperature and defined by the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. If the developer wishes, they can include either a small battery or a flash chip within the cartridge, which allows game data to be saved; this allows the game to be continued at a later time. Their only interactions are rare and random collisions. The software contained within provides the data, logic, and rules of the game, accepts input from the console controls or buttons, and outputs the results to the screen display and speaker. In the gas phase, the atoms or molecules constituting the matter basically move independently, with no forces keeping them together or pushing them apart. Game Boy and GBC cartridges measure 5.8 cm by 6.5 cm. If the gas is further heated, its atoms or molecules can become (wholly or partially) ionized, turning the gas into a plasma. Each video game is contained in a small plastic cartridge (or "cart"). "dry ice") can directly turn into a gas: this is called sublimation. The e-Reader was considered to be a general failure; although still selling in Japan, it was not released in Europe, and was quickly discontinued in North America. In some circumstances, a solid (e.g. The content was added or unlocked by purchasing e-Reader cards and swiping them in. water vapor). Content includes mini-games, different worlds, or full and complete games. water), which will then boil or evaporate to become a gas (e.g. A peripheral released for the Game Boy Advance and SP that unlocks special content for certain games. ice) will first melt to become a liquid (e.g. The feature's greatest usefulness is most evident in Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald, where up to sixteen Wireless Adapter-connected players could convene in a "Union Room" of sorts. Thus, as energy in the form of heat is added, a solid (e.g. As of 2005, fewer than twenty games support this feature. A gas is one of the four main phases of matter (after solid and liquid, and followed by plasma), that subsequently appear as a solid material is subjected to increasingly higher temperatures. The Wireless Adapter allows players to play wirelessly without a link cable. It uses the same color palette built into the cart instead of colorizing the games. It also has a link port so players can use multiplayer and e-Reader functions. The successor to the Super Game Boy, the Game Boy Player allows Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games to be played on the Nintendo GameCube. The device plugged into the parallel port of the PC and allowed dumping ROM and SRAM sumee data to PC, as well as rewriting flashcarts to play copies of Game Boy games. The (unofficial) GBX, produced by Bung Enterprises Ltd, was the best-known backup unit for Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. Pokémon Stadium 2 was compatible with all the Game Boy and Game Boy Color Pokémon games except for the Crystal Version. The only exception was Pokémon Stadium, which allowed players to play Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow on the television screen. However, unlike the Super Game Boy, it was only for the transfer of Game Boy Color data to their N64 equivalents. The Transfer Pak was a device that fit onto the Nintendo 64 controller. A follow-up, the Super Game Boy 2 (primarily released in Japan, though some sold through QVC's shopping channel in the U.S.), included more colors, frames, and a link port for multiplayer support. The black-and-white games could be colorized by mapping colors to each of the four grays. The Super Game Boy is a plug-in cartridge for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that allowed Game Boy games to be played on a television screen. Recently, the EyeToy accessory for the PlayStation 2 has vastly expanded upon the idea of using the image of the player in the game and as part of the game. A picture of the user's head is inserted into several mini-games. There are also several mini-games along with the camera. The commercial at least indicates that Nintendo was at least referencing and/or parodying adult-geared portable systems. However, a commercial advertising the products showed a young kid using the devices, with an adult using a laptop looking over in astonishment. It was never Nintendo's intention to transform the GB system into a PDA; any such claims are untrue. The N64 magazine (published by Future) dedicated a monthly section to the device. Both items were marketed by Nintendo as light-hearted entertainment devices, in all three major videogame regions of the world: Japan, North America, and Europe. The printer utilized heat-sensitive paper to "burn" any saved images, making a hard copy. The camera could take basic black & white, often grainy, digital images using the 4-color palette of the Game Boy system. The Game Boy Camera & Printer are accessories for the Game Boy handheld gaming console and were released in 1998. [2]. It will sell for 16,800 yen ($145), compared with the current model's price of 15,000 yen ($130). It is also lighter, at 218g against 295g. It is smaller than the current DS model—133 × 73.9 × 21.5mm against 148.7 × 84.7 × 27.9. On January 26, 2006, Nintendo unveiled the Nintendo DS Lite, a redesigned version of the DS. It has been technically likened to the Nintendo 64. The Nintendo DS can be considered a part of the portable family due to structural similarities to Game Boy and its ability to play Game Boy Advance cartridges (but not Game Boy Color or original Game Boy cartridges). Nintendo refers to it as their third pillar; their home consoles, such as the Nintendo GameCube, being the first, and their Game Boy line of portable-gaming devices being the second. In fact, its unusual design and touch-screen control distinguish it from the Game Boy line. The Nintendo DS launched on November 20, 2004 in North America and December 4, 2004 in Japan, making it unusual as a Nintendo device to launch in North America before Japan. The horitzontal orientation was later used for the Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Micro and the clamshell design of other games was used for the Nintendo DS. There were 58 different games and also included an alarm clock. Designed by Gunpei Yokoi, thse are considered to be the predecessor to the Game Boy. There also other Nintendo handheld consoles that do not fit into the Game Boy category, but are similar. The micro's North American launch price of $99.99 was lowered to $89.99 during the 2005 holiday season. It was released in Europe on November 4, 2005. It was released on September 19, 2005 in Japan and North America. The Game Boy micro is not backward compatible with Game Boy or Game Boy Color games. It is slightly smaller than the SP or GBA screens while maintaining the same resolution (240 × 160 pixels). A second Game Boy Advance redesign (third design), the Game Boy micro is four inches wide, two inches tall, and less than an inch deep and weighs 2.8 ounces, by far the smallest Game Boy created. As of this writing, the Game Boy SP is the last Game Boy handheld to offer backward compatibility with Game Boy/Game Boy Color games. In mid September 2005, Nintendo released a new model that featured a new and improved backlit screen. The SP stands for Special [1]. It features a new smaller clamshell design with a flip-up screen (protecting the screen, an issue with the original), an internal frontlight, and a rechargeable battery, but was otherwise unchanged. Launched in March 2003, the Game Boy Advance SP resolved several problems with the original model. It has also been accompanied alongside new titles such as Mario Kart Super Circuit and F-Zero: Maximum Velocity. It was technically likened to the SNES and showed its power with successful ports of Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island. It included a Z80 processor for backward-compatibility support. The Game Boy Advance (also referred to as GBA) featured a 32 bit 16.8 MHz ARM. In June 2001, Nintendo released a significant upgrade to the Game Boy line. Technologically, it was likened to the NES from the 1980s. This became a major feature of the Game Boy line, since it allowed each new launch to begin with a significantly larger library than any of its competitors. A major draw of the Game Boy Color was its backward compatibility (that is, a Game Boy Color is able to read older Game Boy cartridges and even play them in selectable color). It also has double the processor speed, twice as much memory, and an infrared communications port. Released in November 1998, the Game Boy Color (also referred to as GBC) added a color screen to a form factor slightly larger than the Game Boy Pocket. Due to its rarity, it often sells for many times more than the other models. The Game Boy Light is the rarest Game Boy variant outside of Japan. It uses 2 AA batteries which give it approximately 20 hours with the light off and 12 with it on. Only available in Japan, the Game Boy Light was about the same size as the Pocket and had a backlit screen for improved visibility. The first version did not have a LED to show battery levels, but was soon added due to public demand. The screen was changed to a true black-and-white display, rather than the "pea soup" monochromatic display of the original Game Boy. The port's design was used on all subsequent Game Boy models, up until the Game Boy micro. The Game Boy Pocket has a smaller link port, requiring an adapter for linkage with the older Game Boy. It had space for 2 AAA batteries, which would provide roughly 10 hours of game play. In 1996, Nintendo released the Game Boy Pocket, a smaller, lighter unit that required fewer batteries. This new unit is the same as the first version, except for the availabity of various colors. In 1995, Nintendo released several colored Game Boy models, advertising them in the Play it Loud! campaign. However, this feature was only supported in Faceball 2000. In fact, it has been shown that the system could support 16 simultaneous players at once. The original Game Boy was the first cartridge-based system that supported more than four players at one time (via the link port). The game that really pushed it into the upper reaches of success was Tetris. It played games from ROM-based media contained in small plastic detachable units called cartridges (sometimes abbreviated as carts). Based around a Z80 processor, it had a black and green reflective LCD screen, an eight-way directional pad, and two action buttons. The original Game Boy was released on April 21, 1989 in Japan and in August 1989 in the United States. The Game Boy console went through several design iterations, without significant changes to its computing power, since its release in 1989. To celebrate, Nintendo released the Classic NES Series and a NES-themed color scheme for the Game Boy Advance SP. Game Boy celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2004, which nearly coincided with the 20-year anniversary to the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Game Boy continues its success to this day and many at Nintendo have dedicated the handheld in Yokoi's memory. By following this simple mantra, the Game Boy line managed to gain a vast following despite technically superior alternatives. When Gunpei designed the original Game Boy, he knew that, to be successful, the system needed to be small, light, inexpensive, and durable, as well as have a varied, recognizable library of games upon its release. Some consider these early LCD-display handhelds to be a prototype of the Game Boy. Yokoi was also responsible for the Game & Watch series of handhelds when Nintendo made the move from toys to video games. The gaming device was the brainchild of long-time Nintendo employee Gunpei Yokoi, who was the person behind the Ultra Hand, an expanding arm toy created and produced by Nintendo in 1970, long before Nintendo would enter the video game market. Nintendo's Game Boy handheld was first released in 1989. . The original Game Boy's design set the standard for handheld gaming consoles. It is one of the best-selling game system lines selling over 120 million units world wide to date, and has spawned many successful spin-offs. The Game Boy line (also: Gameboy, Game-boy; Japanese: ゲームボーイ Gēmu Bōi) is a line of battery-powered handheld game consoles sold by Nintendo. Notably: 6955, Bit Shifter, Bubblyfish, Covox, Cow'P, dot.matrix, FirestARTer, Gameboy Music Club, Gameboyzz Orchestra, Glomag, Lo-bat, Bud Melvin, Nullsleep, OMAC, Saitone, etc. Numerous musical acts have appropriated the Game Boy as a musical instrument. Thomas Ian Nicholas' character plays "Tetris" for Game Boy in the 1993 film Rookie of the Year. However, many saw these commercials as petulant admissions that the Game Boy was thrashing the Game Gear in sales (as indeed it was). Television commercials in the early 1990s for the Sega Game Gear often mocked the Game Boy, at one point alleging it had a "creamed spinach color" in contrast to its own full-color graphics. The short-lived 1980s cartoon series Captain N: The Game Master featured a life-sized Game Boy character, who communicated via faces on its screen. However, the DS cannot use the multiplayer modes of some Game Boy Advance titles due to its lack of a link-cable port. Advance cartridges are half the size of all earlier cartridges and can only be played on Game Boy Advance and beyond and on the Nintendo DS. Roughly three quarters of Game Boy Color releases were clear cart games. They do not physically fit in the Game Boy micro or DS due to their design. Clear cartridges can only be played on Game Boy Color and beyond. A small number of these games also had Super Game Boy enhancements. Roughly one quarter of Game Boy Color releases was black cart games. Games such as Wario Land II DX, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, and Tetris DX were re-releases of gray cartridge games with additional content and in full color. Pokémon Gold and Silver and Dragon Warrior I&II). Black cartridges are compatible with the Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Light systems, and are in full color on Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and SP (e.g. Many games produced from 1994 through 1998 also had Super Game Boy enhancements. These games were programmed in black and white; when used on the Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance, the color of the graphics can be chosen at the start-up screen. Sometimes these cartridges came in other colors, such as red and blue for Pokémon Red and Blue or yellow for Donkey Kong Land and Pokémon Yellow. All original Game Boy and Game Boy Pocket titles are of this type. Gray cartridges can be used with all Game Boy systems except the Game Boy micro and the DS. The player's head becomes attached to a cartoon body, and he or she races against a mole and a bird for the finish line. Run! Run! Run! is the bonus game, which is obtained by reaching a score of 2,000 or more in Space Fever II. The player's head becomes the boss of each level. In the game, the player controls a spaceship which fires missiles at other ships. Space Fever II is an exact port of its arcade version. The player's head is the DJ. DJ, probably the most popular game on the Game Boy Camera, the player can mix and create his or her own music. The head is the person juggling. Ball is a juggling game, in which the player moves his or hand around to catch and throw balls. |