Nintendo Game Boy

The Game Boy was a handheld game console released in 1989, developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was the first widely successful handheld console, selling over 70 million units worldwide, and formed the first in a series of Game Boy models, including the Game Boy Light and the Game Boy Pocket.

The Game Boy came on the market at the same time as the Atari Lynx, which featured a backlit screen, colour graphics (the Game Boy's screen was monochrome) and networking capabilities. However, its bulky size, high power consumption and lack of games meant that the Game Boy soon took the market lead.

One of the Game Boy's selling points was the phenomenally successful game, Tetris, which sold approximately 30 million copies. The console came bundled with the game, and soon many people were buying the Game Boy simply in order to play Tetris. Other hugely successful games included Pokemon Red, Blue and Green, which sold over 20 million copies.

Controls

The Game Boy's main controls are located on the lower half of its front frame, beneath its 2.6 inch (measured diagonally) screen. The unit had four face buttons labelled A, B, SELECT and START, along with a Directional Pad on the left hand side that could allow up to eight directions of movement. The right hand side of the console featured a volume control knob, whilst the left hand side housed a similar knob to change the contrast. The ON/OFF switch was positioned on the top of the Game Boy.

Accessories

There were a number of accessories released for the Game Boy, including the following:

The Game Boy Battery Pack

A 3 x 2 x 0.5 inch unit that could be plugged into the Game Boy to give 4-5 hours of gameplay without using the standard disposable AA batteries. When the unit was exhausted, its nickel-cadmium batteries could be recharged for further use, with approximately 1,000 recharge cycles before any significant loss in effectiveness.

Game Boy Camera

The Game Boy Camera was released in 1998 and could be used to take black and white pictures that could be printed out using the Game Boy Printer (below). The photos had a resolution of 128 x 123.

Game Boy Printer

A thermal printed released in 1998 that could be used to print images from the Game Boy Camera or from a number of Game Boy games, such as Pok�mon Yellow and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX. Due to the paper's adhesive backing, these images could be used as stickers.

Game Boy Link Cable

An accessory that could be used to establish a data connection between two Game Boys that were running the same game or game from the same series.

Input and Output Connectors

The Game Boy contained the following input/output connectors:

A power input, located on the left side of the handheld console used primarily with the Game Boy Battery Pack or the AC Adapter.
A link cable port, located on the right side, used to connect two Game Boy handheld consoles in order to transfer information between two games of the same type or same series, particularly Pok�mon.
A 3.5mm stereo headphone jack output, located on the bottom side of the console.
An input for Game Boy cartridges, located on top of the Game Boy.