GAME BOY

1989

LAUNCH

1049 GAMES

OFFICIALLY RELEASED

118 MILLION

UNITS SOLD WORLDWIDE

PORTABLE
8-BIT POWER

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GAME BOY

1989

The Nintendo Game Boy was first released in 1989 and became an instant sensation selling over 118 million units worldwide, this makes the Game Boy one of the highest selling consoles of all time. The Game Boy was essentially supposed to be a portable NES and provided a few hours of entertainment at the expense of four AA batteries which gave you approximately 15-20 hours of play time. While other handhelds at the time boasted superior specs, bigger screens and full color the Game Boy had an outstanding lineup of games, better battery life and was often the more affordable option.

Tetris

The puzzle game created in Soviet Russia by Alexey Pajitnov captivated the world and became a pop culture phenomenon. Tetris deserves a lot of credit for being one of the reasons the Game Boy became such a mainstream success. Tetris amassed a total of 35 million sales on the Game Boy alone and was even bundled along with the Game Boy due to it's success and popularity. Chances are that if you knew anyone who owned a Game Boy, they most likely owned Tetris, yes including your grandma or grandpa.

Variants

The Play it Loud series brought fresh new shell color designs giving a whole new level of personalization to the Game Boy lineup. With the ongoing success of the Game Boy, Nintendo decided to give the Game Boy a major facelift with the release of the Game Boy Pocket in 1996. The Game Boy Pocket is substantially smaller than the 1989 version making it lighter and easier to handle, it also only needed two AA batteries which gave you approximately 10 hours of battery life.

Pokemon

Pokemon or Pocket Monsters, as known in Japan became a global sensation and was the talk of every single kid in town. The first games of the historic franchise was released on the Game Boy as Pocket Monsters Green and Red in 1996 in Japan and as Pokemon Red and Blue in 1998 in the United States. These games combined with 1999s Pokemon Yellow are the best selling games on the Game Boy with a total of 45 million sales worldwide.