20 Years After – Is A Nintendo Game Boy Still Worth The Purchase In 2010
Anyone above the age of 25 will have fond memories of the Nintendo Game Boy. It is, after all, the very first portable video game console that allowed users to change games on the fly. Before the Nintendo Game Boy arrived, gamers were stuck with “fixed” portable gaming systems, i.e. handhelds which only played one game.
The Nintendo Game Boy was a technological marvel during its time. Released in 1989, 4 years after its bigger cousin, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) took over the Western World and changed the way we lived, the Nintendo Game Boy possessed the same processing power as the NES, albeit, displayed grayscale tones because of the limits of its LCD screen during those times. Cartridges were sold separately, with most games during the first few months of the system being downgraded ports of NES titles.
To say that the Nintendo Game Boy was a success would be an understatement. The first iteration of the handheld, along with its second, improved version: the Game Boy Color, sold almost 120 million units all over the world.
This is, by no means, a small number. If we are to find a comparison, 120 million Game Boy owners are as many as 2/5 of the population of the United States.
Indeed, the Nintendo Game Boy was a huge success.
To many, the handheld system even defined an entire generation.
But that was 21 years ago.
Fast forward to today, the age of Nintendo Wiis, Sony Playstation 3s, and Microsoft Xbox 360s. Portable gaming systems in this day and age are more powerful than the home gaming systems of 1999, with the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP leading the way. Since the Game Boy’s release in 1989, the handheld has seen many upgrades, from the aforementioned Game Boy Color, to the bigger leap that is the Game Boy Advance, to the current king of the hill, the Nintendo DS.
All of these advancements beg the question: is there still a place for the Nintendo Game Boy in today’s electronic entertainment world?
The answer, of course, is no.
Being rendered obsolete with the coming of newer technology is the fate of all video game systems, no matter how influential they may have been. The Sony Playstation, for example, marked a dramatic change in the industry as the system and its games forced developers to create 3D titles. Today, people don’t speak of the Sony Playstation as they are all preoccupied with its latest and most powerful iteration, the Sony PS3.
Is the Nintendo Game Boy still worth a purchase 21 years after its release?
Yes, but only for nostalgic purposes.
As a gaming system, the Nintendo Game Boy’s time has passed.
As a legacy however, the memories made possible by the Nintendo Game Boy will live on forever.
Tags: Nintendo DSi, Nintendo GameBoy