Post by Thenodfather on Apr 16, 2008 5:22:26 GMT
Released in 1989 it was the predecessor to all others in the Game Boy line.
It was the challenged by Sega’s Game Gear in the early 1990’s for the handheld top slot. It was initially packed with the puzzle game Tetris.
Although the Nintendo Game Boy wasn’t a handheld version of an existing console meaning that there were many titles quickly ported over and in colour, the Game Boy was a marathon runner over the Game Gear being a competitor in the 100-meter sprint.
While the Game Gears looked great with it’s colour it’s quickly accessible titles, Nintendo’s machine attracted people by being far better value for money. On release it was $60 less to buy than their rival and it needed one-third less the amount of batteries to power it and gave you more than double the length of playing time, (11 plus hours on 4 AA Batteries on the Game Boy over 4 – 6 hours for 6 AA Batteries on the Game gear).
Although the target of negative advertisements on Sega’s part, propaganda used by them to put down Nintendo’s machine, it was ultimately to Sega’s detriment and did them more harm in the end as they were seen as arrogant and condescending and with what they were offering, their claims were hollow.
Another victory for the Game Boy was the backing they got from the games companies. There were far more interested in releasing titles for the Nintendo Game Boy than the Game gear and therefore showed Nintendo to be the stronger contender.
Another testament to the Game Boy’s staying power is that it was released a year earlier and still was having releases for it a year after the Game Gear’s demise.
While the Game Gear was a Master System on the go and had to games ported over to it, Nintendo did the opposite to Sega with the Super Game Boy. This device allowed you to play the games of the Game Boy on you Super Nintendo console. This gave it another avenue of play allowing those with a Super Nintendo to play the usually uniquely Game Boy games.
Another successful move on Nintendo’s part was that they had another machine to follow up the Game Boy when it came time, Sega did not and it never has since, the Game Gear being it’s only portable handheld console
Accessories for the Game Boy include the Game Boy Battery Pack (or AC Adapter), sold for about US$30, was roughly 3 in. long, 2 in. wide, and 0.5 in. thick.
Released in 1998, the Game Boy Camera was able to take pictures that could be printed out using the Game Boy Printer. The photos were in black and white only, and the resolution of the pictures was 128 x 123. Both the Game Boy Camera and Game Boy Printer products were marketed together in Japan, the United States, and Europe, primarily towards children.
Released at the same time as the Game Boy Camera, the Game Boy Printer was a thermal printer. It ran on six AA batteries. In addition to printing out Game Boy Camera photos, it also ran in conjunction with several Game Boy games, such as The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX and Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition.
The Work Boy was an unreleased accessory for the Game Boy. It included a mini keyboard that plugged into the link cable outlet. The Work Boy cartridge included such programs as a clock, calendar, measurement conversion, and a phone book. This accessory was featured in Volume 36 (May, 1992) of Nintendo Power.
Specifications:
RAM: 8 KB internal S-RAM
Video RAM: 8 KB internal
ROM: On-CPU-Die 256-byte bootstrap; 256 Kb, 512 Kb, 1 Mb, 2 Mb, 4 Mb and 8 Mb cartridges
Sound: 2 Square Waves, 1 programmable 32-sample 4-bit PCM Wave, 1 White noise. The unit only has one speaker, but headphones provide stereo sound (for further information, see Game Boy music)
Display: Reflective LCD 160 × 144 pixels
Screen size: 66 mm (2.6 in) diagonal
Color Palette: 4 shades of "gray" (green to (very) dark green)
Communication: Up to 4 Game Boys can be linked together via serial ports
Power: 6 V, 0.7 W (4 AA batteries provide ~#35 hours)
Dimensions: 90 mm(W) × 148 mm(H) × 32 mm(D)/3.5 × 5.8 × 1.3 (in)
Worldwide: 118.7 million units were sold, (this is including Game Boy Colour units)