Back in April we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the one handheld to rule them all - the humble Nintendo Game Boy. We ran a series of features on the all-conquering lump of grey plastic and had fun reminiscing about green screens, AA batteries and some incredible games.
Well, that was in celebration of the Japanese debut of the console - today is the day that the seminal little chap landed on North American shores three long decades ago. Nintendo of America tweeted out in celebration of the milestone:
In honour of the date we've decided to collect all our features together again in one post for your (and our own) enjoyment, so feel free to browse through the articles below and relive a misspent childhood or, alternatively, learn about how gaming used to be from your elders. Brightness settings?? We used to be thankful if we could see anything at all!
Feature: Our Favourite Memories Of The Original Game Boy
Feature: What Developers Really Think About The Nintendo Game Boy
Feature: Keeping The Game Boy Retail Dream Alive, 30 Years After Launch
Feature: The Handheld Rivals Which Tried And Failed To Beat The Game Boy
Feature: How R-Type Was De-Made For The Game Boy, Before Demakes Were A Thing
Feature: The Konami Hyperboy Is A Dumb But Loveable Throwback To A Bygone Era
Feature: I Think My Game Boy Predicts The Future
Guide: Celebrate Game Boy's 30th Anniversary With This Lovely Merchandise
And while, we're at it, here's a selection of great articles from previous years related to the granddaddy of handheld gaming:
- Feature: The Making of the Nintendo Game Boy
- Hardware Classics: Nintendo Game Boy
- Gunpei Yokoi Discusses The Struggle To Make The Game Boy In One Of His Last Interviews
- Hardware Classics: Game Boy Pocket
- Hardware Review: GB Boy Classic And GB Boy Colour: The Best Way To Play Game Boy Today?
- The Game Boy Was Nearly a Cheap, Short-Term Project
- Ninterview: Jeremy Parish On Cataloguing The History Of The Game Boy, One Game At A Time
- Video: It's Fun To Learn About The Game Boy's CPU
- Feature: Creating The Ultimate Game Boy
- Video: Here's The Ultimate Game Boy Cartridge Storage Solution
- Art: If Nintendo Did Resurrect The Game Boy, We'd Want It To Look Like This
- Bertil Hörberg Releases Playable Game Boy ROM of Gunman Clive
- Video: The History Of The Super Mario Land Series
How's that for a nostalgia trip! Let us know your best memories of the OG DMG-001 below with a little missive, if it please.
Comments 37
My childhood!! Gameboy will always have a special place in my nostalgia soaked heart.
Game & Watch came first, but it was the Gameboy that set the portable gaming world on fire.
Having the pack-in of Tetris was such a brilliant move.
I’ve recently started collecting Game Boy, GBC, and GBA titles (as well as NES, SNES, N64, etc, but that’s another story for another anniversary). Playing games from before my time is something special. Magical, almost. A lot of them hold up surprisingly well.
My favorite Game Boy games at the moment are Super Mario Land 2 and Kirby’s Pinball Land. 😃
Edit: Also, if anyone knows any reliable websites that sell retro games for reasonable prices (and ships to the US), I’d be grateful if you shared them!
Happy 30th Game Boy. And happy 30th to Tetris and Super Mario Land too.
Man, do I feel old. The Game Boy had some fantastic games!
Love playing it as a kid!
Thanks to the bad days of the later 90s for Nintendo, Gameboy became not only my system of choice for the most buys/plays, but it also made me care even more about handheld gaming than console too. As it stands today I own at least one of every primary model of system, even the GB Light from Japan. I've had one since Christmas of 1989 and have used the GB line on and off (far more on than off) since.
It may have always been basic, underpowered, an 8bit dinky thing against what else was on the market, but it sold on that value too as it lasted, was cheap, and had a heap of variety for any group.
vmprhntrd.byethost24.com/ (Have separate links on the left to GB, GBC and GBA.)
@MH4 dkoldies.com is legitimate and safe, in my experience (though I've only bought one game from there)
My favorite console ever. Happy American birthday!
Physical releases are why this is still playable.
In 30 years I bet the digital games on the switch will no longer be working.
@StevenG Even physical can go so far depending on the game. Most games need downloaded patches now a days too. That is why I'm careful of what I buy for physical games on all my consoles now.
This reminds me. I need a lot of new batteries for my games
@ZeldaToThePast The games at least will work without the patches, to some degree.
I do agree however that this mess has gotten out of control
Too bad they didn't stick with the name, we could have been playing
Gameboy DS
Gameboy 3DS
Gameboy 2DS
Gameboy Switch
Gameboy could have been as big a name in gaming as Playstation.
I dont' think Nintneod or Sony are as marketable in gaming as Gameboy or Playstation. Microsoft and Xbox either, though MS is pretty much a household name all over the planet for Windows and Bill Gates billions.
@bleedinmagic81 Thank you! I’ll check them out.
Nothing like a rerun to fill space.
I thought at first Nintendo had announced its comeback!
This handheld is amazing loved it very much and stil do
I'm old. Great gift when i turned 10
Woo hoo! Getting old!
Thought it was a GB Mini at first. then I'd have to Ctrl + F up Mole Mania.
They should re-release it with anniversary collection cartridges. ❤️
Pokémon Red and Blue. Takes me back. Happy Birthday
@MH4 Hey me too! except, I only have my Uncle's gameboy. Super Mario Land 2 is amazing. In fact, I'm currently playing Red on it right now!
@J-Plap I have my dad’s GBA, but I’m planning on getting my own GBA SP later on, maybe for Christmas or something. I still need to get the retro Pokémon games!
would be a great year release a GB well mini sort of come on nintendo classic GB 40 games screen you can actually see would sell millions. But shakes my head at them for a company so succesfull they are so blind and hopeless sometimes.
@StevenG Yeah, pretty much to some degree. Ubisoft probably has the weakest physical games when released, usually heavily patched. Nintendo is definitely the strongest when it comes to physical.
Ok, now I think it is officially time for some of us to start feeling old. I never had the original gameboy but my two little sisters both had one each. They used to play those but as for me, I was usually always at home playing my Atari 2600 or NES. 😄
Even when the N64/GameCube stalled the Game Boy Line kept Nintendo in the black and not going 3rd Party like Sega.
Part of me knew back in 2002 that if Nintendo had to chose they would of kept the Game Boy Line around.
Granted we have the Switch now but it is almost similar.
Nintendo, this would be the perfect time to have Game Boy games added to NSO (and Game Boy Color)
Christmas of '89 was special for a lot of kids. I'll never forget booting up Super Mario Land for the first time. It was amazing being able to play Nintendo anywhere. I still love the Gameboy and play my backlight modded Gameboy Pocket regularly.
I would not get my first (of two, eventually) Game Boy's until Christmas 1990. I still remember and have every game I got initially for it:
A fine line-up of titles to start off with, loved them all, still play them ever so often , either on the original hardware, or on the Super Game Boy SNES Adapter. Now, reason why I said two Game Boy's..is for I broke my first one, after bashing the screen against my forehead in anger back in '92, infuriated at the game Nemesis (Gradius.) Had to be slick to come up with a fib to tell mom, but I think she knew what really happened. Either way, I wound up with a new GB later that week and learned to calm my young AVGN-ass down and make better use of my pillows to take my anger out upon instead. Good times! As were spending clear, warm, late summer afternoons out on the back porch with my bag of GB games playing until the sun went down.
@SpicyBurrito16 Tetris is older than the Game Boy!
Ahh, the most wonderful and highly nostalgic OG Gameboy. I still remember standing around an older kid at school watching him play Super Mario Land and trying it for a bit. It was an extremely impactful moment that would motivate me to get my own and buy my 4 yr old younger brother is own.
Long live the original Tetris (which I'm gonna play tonight on my New 3DS) and a very happy birthday to one of the most influential, enjoyable consoles to grace the gaming world.
Thank you Nintendo!!!
@tstorm
I meant the Gameboy version of Tetris.
Omg, the same packaging that we had in Europe! I remember getting it when I was 10!! I think i'll go and dig it out and go play it, just for old time's sake. p.s I often change my Streetpass Mii to the Game Boy hat too! <3
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