Nintendo Game Boy 101: A Beginners Guide



By Ack, Noiseredux, and Zen Albatross

Check out other Guides in the Retro Gaming 101 Series

In 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy, a grey brick of plastic with a green screen and only four audio channels. Nintendo’s leadership believed it would be popular. But it wasn’t just popular, it became a cultural icon. Now the Game Boy is one of the most easily recognized pieces of machinery in the entire world, Pokemon is a common household name, and nearly everyone and their mother has heard of Tetris. It is a testament to toymaker Gunpei Yokoi that his creation has brought so many years of laughter and joy to the people of the world. In the realm of video games, few machines can claim to have had the impact of the Game Boy, and fewer still can claim its longevity. Its legacy continues to inspire and to fill our hearts with wonder.

It should be noted that this piece focuses on the Game Boy, not the Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance, though they are mentioned at several points. All three featured different hardware, bring different strengths to the table, and are important enough to warrant separate articles.

I would like to thank both Noiseredux and Zen Albatross for their help creating this article. Noiseredux is well known in the Racketboy community for his love and knowledge of the Game Boy and maintains a blog on the handheld at RFGeneration, while Zen Albatross has contributed in the past to Racketboy, including an excellent piece on the handheld’s 20th anniversary in 2009.

Background Information

The Game Boy was Nintendo’s second handheld idea and Gunpei Yokoi’s concept, modeled after his earlier Game & Watch line. The project was three years in development.

The Game Boy was released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in the USA on July 31, 1989, and in Europe on Sept. 28, 1990. In South Korea, where it was distributed by Hyundai, it was known as the Mini Comboy.

Between the Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Color, a combined 118.69 million units were sold worldwide.

Despite releasing at the same time as the more powerful Atari Lynx and a year before the Sega Game Gear, the Game Boy had a much lower price of $89.99, which helped it outsell the competition.

The handheld was also aided by its simple button layout, which was reminiscent of the NES controller.

Historical Relevance

The Game Boy was the start of the Game Boy lineage, which included its release in 1989, the Game Boy Color in 1998 and the Game Boy Advance in 2001.

The Game Boy would feature a variety of popular titles, some of which would have a profound impact on gaming, including the likes of Tetris, Kirby’s Dreamland, Pokemon, and many, many more. Pokemon even made the aging handheld a bestseller again based on the hype, and during the troubled N64 era, the handheld RPG series would help keep Nintendo afloat while also showing the company that older technology can still dominate in sales, a trend continued with the Nintendo DS and the Wii.

When first shown a prototype in 1987, global Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi believed the unit could sell 25 million units in three years. The unit did better than expected, selling 32 million units by the end of the three year deadline.

Following the release of music titles Nanoloop, by Oliver Wittchow, and Johan Kotlinski’s Little Sound DJ, the chiptunes community has taken a shine to the Game Boy, further increasing the handheld’s popularity and longevity.

In 2009, the Game Boy was inducted into the US National Toy Hall of Fame.

The Game Boy was also the best selling item created by Nintendo R&D1 head Gunpei Yokoi. Yokoi developed many popular items, such as the Ultra Hand, Game & Watch, R.O.B., popular series like Metroid and Kid Icarus, and even helped pioneer the D-Pad and develop the Beam Gun with Masayuki Uemura, a predecessor of the NES Zapper. After the Game Boy, Yokoi went on to develop the Virtual Boy before leaving Nintendo in 1996 and forming Koto Laboratories, where he made a deal with Bandai to help develop the Wonderswan before his tragic death on October 4, 1997.

Strengths

Long Battery Life: It was Gunpei Yokoi’s main concern to make the hardware light enough to not require excessive battery power. The original model boasted between 10 and 30 hours, far more than the Sega Game Gear, Atari Lynx, or other handhelds.

It was Gunpei Yokoi’s main concern to make the hardware light enough to not require excessive battery power. The original model boasted between 10 and 30 hours, far more than the Sega Game Gear, Atari Lynx, or other handhelds. Region-Free: Nintendo started a tradition with the Game Boy of keeping their handhelds region-free, exponentially increasing the size of the Game Boy’s library.

Nintendo started a tradition with the Game Boy of keeping their handhelds region-free, exponentially increasing the size of the Game Boy’s library. Large Game Library: Almost every major franchise has appeared on the Game Boy through direct ports, exclusive sequels or side games.

Almost every major franchise has appeared on the Game Boy through direct ports, exclusive sequels or side games. Durability: The original Game Boy is incredibly tough. It’s not a common handheld to find broken in the wild, and repairs are usually relatively easy. Nintendo offered repair services for the handheld up until 2007.

The original Game Boy is incredibly tough. It’s not a common handheld to find broken in the wild, and repairs are usually relatively easy. Nintendo offered repair services for the handheld up until 2007. Lineage: Thanks to backwards compatibility the Game Boy actually lived on until 2007 through the SNES Super Game Boy, the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and the GameCube Game Boy Player.

Thanks to backwards compatibility the Game Boy actually lived on until 2007 through the SNES Super Game Boy, the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and the GameCube Game Boy Player. Cheap: Besides a handful of elusive titles and imports, the Game Boy is an especially affordable console to collect for.

Besides a handful of elusive titles and imports, the Game Boy is an especially affordable console to collect for. Multiplayer: As long as players both had the same game and a link cable, Game Boys could be hooked together for player vs. player action, swapping Pokemon, or other things, depending upon the game. A four player adapter was also manufactured, though it still requires players to have link cables.

As long as players both had the same game and a link cable, Game Boys could be hooked together for player vs. player action, swapping Pokemon, or other things, depending upon the game. A four player adapter was also manufactured, though it still requires players to have link cables. Killer App Pack-In: The Game Boy debuted with Tetris, one of the most well known games ever and hands down one of the handheld’s killer apps.

Weaknesses

Blurry Screen: The original Game Boy is infamous for its blurry dot-matrix screen that could often make too much action difficult to perceive.

The original Game Boy is infamous for its blurry dot-matrix screen that could often make too much action difficult to perceive. Limited Color Palette: In aiming at a low-battery requirement, Yokoi opted to utilize only four shades to color the original Game Boy games. In some games this limitation made differentiating sprites rather difficult.

In aiming at a low-battery requirement, Yokoi opted to utilize only four shades to color the original Game Boy games. In some games this limitation made differentiating sprites rather difficult. Bulky: The original Game Boy is heavy and far too big to fit in a pocket. This is of course where the somewhat affectionate nickname “the gray brick” originated.

The original Game Boy is heavy and far too big to fit in a pocket. This is of course where the somewhat affectionate nickname “the gray brick” originated. Link Cables: Unfortunately link cables and four player adapters for multiplayer can fluctuate wildly in price, so you’ll have to pay a bit to play with others or hope someone else has the required cable.

Unfortunately link cables and four player adapters for multiplayer can fluctuate wildly in price, so you’ll have to pay a bit to play with others or hope someone else has the required cable. Screen Replacements: While the handheld has a low failure rate and is quite durable, the screen has a chance for burnout and isn’t easy to replace if damaged.

Technical Specs

The Game Boy houses an 8-bit Sharp LR35902, similar to a Zilog Z80, with a clock speed of 4.194304 MHz.

The handheld uses 8 kB internal S-RAM and 8 kB Video RAM.

The screen size is 2.6 inches diagonally, with a resolution of 160×144. The max sprite size is 8×16, while the minimum is 8×8, on a screen which sports a mere 2-bit color palette. The image runs at 59.7 frames per second, or 61.1 on a Super Game Boy.

4 AA batteries are needed for the required 6V 0.7W, though the Game Boy Pocket requires only 3V 0.7W from two AAA batteries.

The Game Boy puts out sound on 4 audio channels, each with 4-bit sound. There are two pulsewave channels, a wave channel providing basic soft-synth with a 32-bit sampler, and a white noise channel for percussion, ambience, and sound effects. While there is only one speaker, using headphones reveals that the grey brick puts out audio in stereo.

Hardware Variations

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Accessories

Game Library

The original Game Boy had a tremendous amount of games that popularized a number of franchises and brought many established ones to the portable gaming world for the first time. Popular games and series include Tetris, Super Mario Land Series, Wario Land Series, Pokemon series, Kirby, Final Fantasy Adventure, and many more. Here at Racketboy, we are planning on developing some additional Game Boy game guides, but here are a few excellent lists to look over:

Emulation