Gaming anniversaries are something we love to celebrate on our site and for a basic reason. That reason being the games and systems we celebrate are a key part of the gaming culture and its history. By looking back at these titles and platforms, we can see how far we’ve grown since then or admire what it took to make all of these things possible in the first place. The perfect example of this happened when Nintendo posted on Twitter that yesterday was the 35th anniversary of the original Game Boy coming out to North America. This handheld gaming system changed a lot of things for the industry, so how can we not celebrate it?
The reason that Nintendo decided to try and make this device was because of the success of the legendary Game & Watch titles. These were small little devices that you could play simple games on, and they were a big success. They even brought in the man behind those titles, Gunpei Yokoi, to take what he learned from those mini-games and put them into a true “portable console.”
Here’s where things get really interesting. You see, at the time, Nintendo was in a fierce rivalry with some other companies, including Sega. As such, their competitors also tried to make entries into the handheld console system. The twist is that the ones like the Sega Gamegear and beyond actually had better graphics and processing power than the Game Boy. Given what we’ve seen in recent generations, that would be enough to have Nintendo go down on its sword, right? Wrong!
While those systems were more powerful, they were also quicker to burn out on the batteries that powered them. The Game Boy, despite it being so simplistic in its game graphics and the bulkiness of its design, was the perfect mix of having something you could play for a long time and still enjoy what you’re looking at.
Plus, given that it was Nintendo, they put all sorts of legendary franchises and titles on the platform, including help selling the original version of Tetris.
The platform’s success is undeniable, and it led to numerous successors that made Nintendo the true dominating force in the handheld console market. While the regular console market has been a roller coaster ride for them, The Big N has never lost in the handheld console wars. It was the Game Boy that started that domination, and it’s one that technically continues with the Nintendo Switch.
