Gameboy a History and Whats the Greatest Gameboy Game Ever?

[wraggster]

Continuing our network wide feature for just about every console thats emulated and that we own, in time it can be used as a reference point for people to look at what games are the very best on each system

Firstly heres a look at each system and a description to remind you of the history of the console.

Nintendo Gameboy

Nintendo was at the peak of their success with the Famicom / NES console, and were doing quite well with their "Game & Watch" Japanese toy line spawned by inventor Gumpei Yokoi. Why not combine the programmable cartridge capability and D-Pad controls of the NES with the portability of a handheld?
Gunpei Yokoi took the best of both worlds, and invented the Nintendo Gameboy in 1988. It was bundled with a highly addictive puzzle game called Tetris (made by a Russian mathematician named Alexey Pajitnov). The Gameboy was released in Japan in April of 1989, and in the US soon after in August at a retail price of $99.99 USD. It redefined what a portable game system should be like. It has a reflective "dot-matrix" LCD screen, good sound, large game library, good control interface, and most importantly it has excellent battery life.
The Gameboy became the most successful gaming handheld with an amazing 15-year life span. It had an enormous user base (with over 190 million units sold worldwide), Nintendo’s popular game franchises, and strong developer support. Nintendo drove sales even further with strong marketing campaigns, and numerous redesigns. One example was Nintendo’s "Play it Loud" series. Nintendo produced colored versions of the original (black, green, red, yellow, and transparent), and sold them at a slightly lower price.
The Gameboy’s first redesign appeared in September 3rd of 1996. It was called Gameboy Pocket, and was 30 percent smaller (and half the weight) then the original. The Gameboy Pocket (GBP) also increased the size of the LCD screen (from 2 to 2.6 inches), and left behind the "pea soup" green colored graphics for a clearer gray monochrome. An LED light was also added to alert the user of low battery. The GBP retailed for a much cheaper $59.99 USD. The new design rekindled interest in Gameboy, but a game called "Pocket Monsters" (Pokemon) drove sales even more then Tetris. Nintendo would again use a "Play it Loud" color series, and debut green, blue, black, red, atomic green, transparent, and pink (Japan only) units.
Another redesign appeared in Japan only. The Gameboy Light appeared on April 14, 1998 for ¥6800. It was essentially a Gameboy Pocket with built in "indiglo" back lighting. The Gameboy Light came in gold or silver colors, and had better battery life then GBP thanks to the use of 2 "AA" cell batteries (instead of GBP’s 2 "AAA" cell)
The Gameboy made Nintendo the reigning champ of portables through the 1990’s. It’s impressive game library continued to live on through backwards compatibility of Nintendo’s more advanced portable game handhelds. It became the industry standard to go by (or out perform), and has cemented it’s place in portable handheld history.

Whats the greatest Gameboy Release Ever ?

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Thanks go to Dark Watcher and his old site on the now defunct PSxfanatics domain.

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[wraggster]

Super Mario Land for me, one real quality game, next i suppose Tetris

[WhizzBang]

Tetris is probably the best but Donkey Kong was a particular favourite of mine.

[kings325]

A Game Boy Advance? Those can be bought on Amazon for anywhere from $20 to $200, no clue why $200. Honestly, a Nintendo DS ( DS not 3DS) is much better. Plays GBA and DS games and costs between $65 and $120. If you don't want to get the DS, at least go for the Game Boy Advance SP.

[Reidster]

Tetris and Mario Are the classics for me. However, when I dig out my old Gameboy Colour, it's usually Pokemon Yellow I play through. Pure Nostalgia fest.