• ARTICLE: Nintendo's Legendary Game Boy Turns 30 Years Old

    From JonD@21:1/5 to All on Wed Apr 24 17:16:07 2019
    From <https://www.techtimes.com/articles/242105/20190423/nintendos-legendary-game-boy-turns-30-years-old.htm>

    _Nintendo's Legendary Game Boy Turns 30 Years Old_

    The legendary Game Boy, Nintendo's 8-bit handheld game console
    released on April 21, 1989, turned 30 years old on Easter Sunday this
    year.

    Indeed, congratulations are in order for Nintendo. For that, here is
    a look back at Game Boy's remarkable milestone that spans three
    decades.

    *Game Boy Is Nintendo's Third Best-Selling Console*

    The Game & Watch first defined Nintendo as a video game firm.
    However, players on Game & Watch were limited to play video games
    tied to the system. Game Boy, on the contrary, is a portable system
    that is able to switch games. Gamers can connect their consoles to
    other Game Boys using a link cable to enable multiplayer.

    Game Boy continues to be a big hit. To date, it remains as the third best-selling video game console of all time, selling more than 115
    million units. In Nintendo's history, only the Nintendo DS has
    surpassed the unit sales of the Game Boy.

    Since its birth, Game Boy has been an inspiration for the development
    of Nintendo's other portable systems that follow afterward, including
    the Nintendo Switch. It cements the Japanese publisher's trademark in
    the video game industry. In fact, the portable gaming market has been
    heavily influenced by how Nintendo took risks on the creation of Game
    Boy.

    Although the 8-bit console's hardware is not on par with the quality
    of its competitors' gaming systems, it is a huge success still.
    Sources said the original Game Boy has redeeming qualities such as a
    10 to 30 hours of battery life on four AA batteries. Nintendo made
    this feat of longevity in its first handheld gaming device possible
    by utilizing a non-backlit monochrome screen and a low-power 8-bit
    processor.

    Seemingly, Game Boy's legacy would go on, with Nintendo proving a
    repeated success with its line of retro consoles. According to Screen
    Rant, this console comes as a "natural fit for a portable mini system."

    *Game Boy's Iconic Video Games*

    Notably, there are a couple of iconic video games associated with
    Game Boy's legacy. The first one is the Tetris, which was bundled
    with the console. This video game is a killer app of Game Boy for a
    long time, it became the best-selling video game of all time.

    The second one is the Pokémon Red & Blue, the first video game in the Pokémon franchise on the Game Boy. The device's portability and link
    cable features have amazingly worked with the game. This explains why Pokémon became the highest-grossing media franchise of all time.

    Other video games launched for the Game Boy Classic system also
    include Super Mario Land, and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

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