“Happy Birthday To You” The Nintendo GameBoy Turns 25 Today!

It only seems like yesterday that I got the original GameBoy… ok no it doesn’t, I was only four years old when it was released, and I certainly wasn’t getting a brand new handheld games console at that age, it was another three years before I managed to obtain one of my own. 25 years ago today Nintendo took the gaming world by storm by what has been one impressively successful line up handhelds, with their battery destroying, pixelated box of wonders.

When it launched in Japan in 1989 the $89.99 Game Boy actually had pretty good battery life for a device of this sort, but that’s mostly thanks to its simplistic design, it had a low resolution, low quality screen, a few face buttons and it read its game data from simplistic cartridges, but that didn’t prevent it from becoming a global sensation, and an iconic page in the history of gaming.

Within two weeks the console shifted over 300,000 units in Japan alone and a further 40,000 on its first day of release in the US. After various updates and iterations of the console, Nintendo managed to sell a staggering 118.69 million units, the kind of figures that are comparable and in many cases better than the top devices of today, including those from the mobile phone market.

Personally I have fond memories of my Gameboy, as well as the 2nd one I obtained, the link cable and playing two player games of Tetris with my friends. Happy Birthday GameBoy, you served us well for many years.

Thank you Tweak Town for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of GiantBomb.