Avid gamers would be familiar with the Nintendo brand. Other than being one of the pioneers and leaders in the gaming industry, Nintendo is also known for its trailblazing Game Boy.
Yesterday, the Game Boy celebrated its 25th birthday.
Nintendo first released the 8-bit Game Boy on the 21st of April, 1989. Soon after, Game Boy started a revolution for portable gaming and helped turn titles such as Super Mario and Donkey Kong into global franchises. Gamers can also change their favourite games on the go just by inserting small cartridges which is preloaded with games into the device.
According to Serkan Toto, a Tokyo based games industry consultant, at one point, portable gaming was synonymous with the Game Boy.
“It laid the foundation for what we call portable gaming today, regardless of whether it is console or smartphone games, because the basic concept is the same… That’s the legacy of Game Boy.” – Serkan Toto.
While the Game Boy is celebrating its 25th birthday, there are no events held by its parent company Nintendo, as the device was discontinued years ago. The portable gaming industry is currently dominated by portable devices such as smartphones, tablets as well as other consoles such as the Nintendo’s Wii, the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox.
In its prime, Nintendo sold almost 119 million Game Boy consoles globally.
Here’s a commercial for you by Nintendo Game Boy in the late 80s to celebrate the coolest device one can own at that point of time:
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