Seriously Cool Game Boy Timeline

I still remember standing outside Toys R Us the day the original Game Boy system was released. I was just about to start college and I ended up blowing most of my book money on the Game Boy and Super Mario Land.

Game Boy and I are the same age

i had my gameboy till i was 7 then someone stole it but i enjoyed me some mario land & many more.
ALSO: you have it saying 1889 it was 1989 ^^″

@tails86 i thought it was a mistake but it does date back to 1889

i had a gameboy colour but never original gameboy

very intersting article about the handhelds my brother had the advance and colour when i got older i played em im 14 by the way

Game Boy is as old as I am. I've got some good memories of it, especially the Game Boy Color. I loved the GSC Pokémon games!

I'm much older than the GB (I'm more from the ZX Spectrum generation ). I remember when the GB was released, I hated it It wasn't until I saw the smaller GBC and Zelda Links awakening that I started loving the system

I loved my old fat classic Game Boy.

Anyhow, notice what it says about Game Boy Color, because something almost exactly parallel is happening right now with the DSi:

"... with two times the processor speed and three times the memory."

The DSi has four times the memory of the DS and roughly twice the processor speed. Just as the GBColor was slowly phased in, first with some games that would run on both systems but look better on GBC, then eventually GBC exclusives, Nintendo has announced DSi-enhanced games which will surely be followed in time by DSi exclusives which will harness the full power.

Also note that three years passed before the GBC was followed by the next iteration of the system, the GBA. So, if they follow a similar timeline, you could expect the DSi to be the only DS successor until about 2012.

@maka

That means you missed out on Link's Awakening for about 5 years by waiting for the color (DX) version!

@ Damo: the site has posted an illustrated timeline of the machine's history which goes all the way back to 1889

Hahaha you're joking right? I can just picture Einstein smashing line out on tetris back in the day. I loved Tetris on my brick gameboy. I remember reading a great story about video game rage which featured someone trying to flush their old brick gameboy down a toilet. It was too big for the s-bend, so once they'd regained their composure they fished the brick out, sat it in the sun and apparently the thing still worked (albeit with a new fragrance).

And the moral of the story (because this is the retro section) they just don't make em like they used to.

1889! LOL!

The Game Boy is about a year and a half older then me.

@warioswoods
Yep... but I wouldn't call it "waiting" because I didn't even learn about the game until I got the GBC... At that point my experience relating to console gaming was pretty much zero Until I got the GBC, all my gaming had been computer based (ZX Spectrum, Amiga 500, then PC and Mac). In fact, at that time I wasn't even interested at all in console gaming and only bought the GBC because of its portability and a bit later the N64 because of Zelda Ocarina of Time... Of course, after that I learned to appreciate the differences between computer and console gaming, which now only Nintendo seems to remember anymore....

Probably my favourite games machine with lots of great games released during its lifetime(s). I got the original xmas '91 then played (or owned) the various different upgrades as the years went by. I always keep my SP(brighter 101 model) nearby and have recentley been enjoying a combination of Mario Land, Cannon Fodder and Alpha 3 Upper.

@maka

That's a good point; one of the reasons I'm so partial to Nintendo is that they think of console gaming as a completely distinct entity that has nothing to do with the kind of games you'd find on a PC, and likewise they understand that handheld games should obey completely different rules from their console counterparts (something the PSP doesn't seem to get).

I do occasionally play something like Half Life 2, Portal, or random older games on a PC (or actually a Mac running windows, but close enough), but I personally would never buy a system for my TV that focuses on that kind of gaming.

@Other Dave

I need to pick up an SP brighter-model sometime to fill in the void left by selling my Lite towards a DSi. All I have left that will run old GBA games is a first-series GBA, which of course requires that one be within 10 feet of the surface of the sun in order to see anything.

"The site has posted an illustrated timeline of the machine's history which goes all the way back to 1889."

Yeah, Lincoln sat in his office playing Tetris during his down time.

And the Game Boy is older than me, but only by 2 years.

Come on Nintendo, launch the DSi VC soon to celebrate!

I just purchased an original beige GameBoy at a thrift store for my mini-collection of GameBoy products, but found out it had massive battery corrosion all on the contacts and circuit board. Since the outside was pretty much unscathed and had no yellowing, I decided it was worth it to try to restore it. After spending over an hour dissolving the corrosion off with white vinegar, I eventually got it back in perfect running operation. Long live GameBoy!

Retro Gamer has a feature on the Game Boy, and guess which site they mention in it?

Yep, Nintendn^Holife

Happy Birth Day Game Boy your like a older brother to be by a year

It's cool to hear that the Game Boy is 20!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2 U!!!!!!!

I remember getting the GameBoy in the 4th grade!

I wanna play Super Mario Land 2! NOW! Gimme Mario Land 2 Nintendo! WAAAAAAAAH!

Joking aside, I think that this would be the perfect year to introduce the DSi Virtual Console: I mean, it's the 20th birthday of the Game Boy (Really? It's been that long already?); Us DSi owners, retro enthusiasts, Nintendo purists, fanboys, fangirls etc. are eagerly awaiting the release of Mole Mania in the DSi Shop (or is that just me?)...seriously, what are they waiting for?

Oh, and my first game was the original Super Mario Land (strangely enough with a blue Game Boy pocket).

@Muzer - not quite sure what you mean by that, though considering a certain somebody here has been known to freelance for Retro Gamer it's no surprise the site gets a few mentions!

I have never owned an original GameBoy, though I do have a GameBoy Colour lying around somewhere that I actually bought last year for my beloved, along with a boxed, mint condition Super Mario Land and Pokémon Blue too. I'm the best, me.

Damn did I ever have a hell of a long love affair with that little handheld up to it's death with the Advance. Looking back it went along largely in directions I nor anyone could have ever suspected. You went from the basic look and sound of things like Tetris and Super Mario Land and then ended up nearly duplicating (in 4 colors) laserdisc based Dragon's Lair, Warlocked(warcraft clone), and Cannon Fodder. It's nuts really. And if you look back check out how many franchises broke off there or even got a start (Seiken Densetsu ie: Secret of Mana), or substories to franchises that did (Gargoyle's Quest.)

I miss the little thing but I parted with it and the Advance(backwards compatable you know) at the same time. I just have not enough time in my life to play, store, and lug around more than one or two handhelds. I hope and pray that NCL does the right thing and makes a handheld virtual console as I'd so pay up a good 500pts for an old GB/C title I loved to have another go again with them. Hell I still think that Super Mario Land 2 was one of the hugest 1st party accomplishments because a year after Super Mario World they went from the ugly look of SML1 and duped nearly the SuperNES experience on the go.

Guys, it did start in 1889, Nintendo Co. Ltd. was founded.

My first Game Boy was the Game Boy Color, that translucent purple launch edition. I was a senior in high school then, but my real nintendo obsession did not start until the discovery of a still-in-box nintendo whilst cleaning out the garage four years later in 2002

I remember when my first Game Boy went missing along with my entire library of games...I was devastated...

At least my Dad replaced it with a Game Boy Color (Dandelion) and a whole swag of new games! I never would've had the chance to play Kirby's Block Ball if my old Game Boy never went missing. I also got SML2 as well!

By the way, has anybody ever had a Game Boy game stolen because a teacher made you keep it on a chair at the far end of the room (or similar, equally-unusual circumstance)? Just wondering...

I loved my Gameboy, but it's still younger than I am by a handful of years. Ended up getting one when the TV my NES was hooked up to died.

It is older than me!!!! OMM!
Oh
My
Mario

yeah but my Dad use to let my play the original but it mysteriosly broke
So they bought me a Gameboy color (purpel) and i played my DADs super mario land 2

1989-1990, where the most exciting years of home video games in my life. You had the GB, TG16, Genesis, Lynx, Konix Multisystem, FM Towns, Neo Geo, Super Famicom, Game Gear, and Super Grafx all making their big splashes in the issues of EGM and GamePro!

Happy B-day Game Boy. My original Game Boy is still working and awesome looking in a Game Boy pouch in my closet. I'll keep it forever!!

If only someone kept this in mint condition and still boxed up...