Nintendo’s Famous Game Boy turns 25 Tomorrow
April 21, 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Nintendo’s Game Boy, the handheld device that changed the world.
Released in 1989, and cited then as a ‘handy game machine’, who knew it would turn the console-based industry on its head by revolutionizing portable gaming? At one point, portable gaming was synonymous with the Game Boy, akin to what the Walkman did for mobile music.
Nintendo’s famous device moved 119 million units over its lifetime, followed by another 81.5 million units of the next-generation Game Boy Advance series, which launched in 2001. The evolution continued with the dual-screened Nintendo DS consoles, and into the current line of 3DS. It would be fair to say that the Game Boy laid the foundation for what we call portable gaming today.
Unfortunately it seems that Nintendo has no commemorative events planned for the Game Boy, however its legacy lives on every time we pick up a mobile device and play a game.
Here’s a quick recap of Nintendo’s portable Game Boy line of consoles.
- Game Boy (1989)
- Game Boy Pocket (1996)
- Game Boy Color (1998)
- Game Boy Advance (2001)
- Game Boy Advance SP (2003)
- Game Boy Micro (2005)
Did you own a Game Boy, or one it’s many iterations? Let us know your fond memories in the comments section.
April 20, 2014
I owned an Advance SP a while back. I’ve lots of fond memories playing through Yoshi’s Island on that wonderful piece of hardware. When I was young, I wasn’t all that good at playing video games, so the task completing Yoshi’s Island was nigh impossible one for me.
April 20, 2014
I hate that I traded in my original Gameboy for the Gameboy Color… but I currently still own the GBC, GBA SP, DS lite, DSi and 3DS…. and have passed my gaming onto my daughter, who recently purchased an original GB from a pawn shop.
April 21, 2014
I need to find my old Game Boy …
April 20, 2014
Some of my best gaming memories are with the original Game boy. Happy birthday Game Boy!
April 20, 2014
Same here! I remember getting one for Christmas as a kid, very exciting!
April 20, 2014
I got mine for Christmas too. I got the Game Boy/ Link’s Awakening bundle! That and Donkey Kong were my first two games ever. Since my big sister had the Snes (I had to ask her to let me play it) the Game Boy was the first console that was all mine :)
April 21, 2014
Still own my GB Pocket
April 21, 2014
As a kid I was not allowed to have a handheld video game system. I was hardly allowed lucky enough to have a NES, so unfortunately for me I did not have a Gameboy until I was a teenager and able to buy myself one. Too bad by that point it was a Gameboy Color. I eventually upgraded to a GBA then a Ds…ect.