Determining the future of Nintendo's Game Boy

Via Joystiq

Modojo examines what they call "a series of mistakes" made by Nintendo in managing the Game Boy and claim the handheld line all but dead. The portable site blames a lack of advertising, a high Micro launch price of $99, and poor peripheral support for the suggested demise and even likens the Micro's performance to that of the Power Glove and Nintendo 64 disc-drive. Ouch!

From the article: "When it was announced that the Nintendo DS was going to be a portable gaming device that not only played Nintendo DS games, but GBA games as well, it pretty much defeated the purpose of owning a GBA in the first place ... Nintendo pretended to support the three pillars as a way to fight Sony's looming release of the PlayStation Portable. If the new dual screen and touch screen didn't appeal to the mass market then Nintendo could fall back on the Game Boy."

When rumors surfaced back in May that Nintendo would discontinue the Game Boy from an interview with Reuters, Iwata denied the claim in speaking with Game Daily saying his original quote was taken out of context, and only that Nintendo is currently focusing its efforts on the DS and Wii before planning a GBA successor. You make the call: Will Nintendo kill off the Game Boy, or not?

The DS is a Game Boy, only with a different name.

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Originally Posted by JKKDARK

The DS is a Game Boy, only with a different name.

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That's what I always thought too. Any new handheld they produce would surely be a successor to the DS

Yah plus if they still want to make GBA/SNES style games, they can still make those games for the DS or the successor of the DS. Not everything has to be 3D.

well, in the gameboy's defense, the micro was just yet another revision of the same hardware (that being the fourth GBA compatible portable). I'm sure than when (or if) a new gameboy comes out, it'll fly off shelves much like the DS has been. Although there is no reason for them to make another gameboy, not with the image Nintendo has been going for recently. Can you imagine a sleek white device with the word "gameboy" embossed upon it? Neither can I.

I could see em keeping a gbmicro style portable for the young child market. Something cheaper and more simple then a ds. A 5 year old will murder any touch screen you put in his chocolate covered toy throwing hands.

Nintendo did not push Gamecube & GB connectivity anymore... They pretty much killed the Gamecube after the Odama hype was over earlier this year.
Seing Polarium come out for the GBA was a pleasant surprise along with some other identical titles that hit the GBA/DS this year I think that nintendo is keeping their promise of not abandoning the GBA at least for the time being. I think they could have made better efforts to market the Micro specially after the faceplate editions came out. imho, wireless connectivity is something all future incarnations of portable gaming devices should have!

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Originally Posted by bagofsnakes

I could see em keeping a gbmicro style portable for the young child market. Something cheaper and more simple then a ds. A 5 year old will murder any touch screen you put in his chocolate covered toy throwing hands.

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LMAO!!! Dude that is so true too. My little cousin has an older DS. And i'll tell you, i wouldn't want to be that DS. lol

I love my gameboy, and I don't really have any use for the DS. I doubt that nintendo will ever come back to the gameboy brand, except mabye to make a watch replica of it. They're just making way too much money on the DS to even look back.

The Game Boy Micro is a wonderful system though, for its size and weight. It's also why I got into this homebrew stuff to begin with - I bought a flashcard so I could emulate older Game Boy games on the no-longer-backward-compatible Micro, and found that I could do so much more.

All in all, the Game Boy line had a great run, even if it's the end.

I'm really looking forward to the XGP Mini as well. I expect it to be even more awesome.

I found it odd the gameboy advance even gets new games, DS is the the new gameboy, just without that name (and thank god, its too cool to be called "GameBoy") Eventually GBA will phaise out and it will be all DS focused, alot like how Gameboy eventually dissapeared and all new games has the "only for GBC" symbol, and like when GBC dissapeared eventually and it was just GBA, its the same hear, and the same thing will happen to DS once a new handheld appears.

As an owner of a Gameboy Pocket, 2 SPs and a Gameboy Player (for the Gamecube), I say it's time to move on. The DS is the obvious successor, even if it doesn't use the name.

I understand that some people prefer backwards compatibility, but that just adds cost to the hardware. I never liked putting a regular GB cart in the SP, the thing stuck out like a sore thumb.

I'm waiting for a DS 'extra-lite' that completely excludes the GBA and then I'll buy it.