Game Boy

This article is written from the Real Life point of view

Game Boy
Manufacturer	Nintendo
Type	Handheld Video game console
Generation	Fourth generation era
First available	April 21, 1989 / August 1989 / 1990
CPU	ARM7TDMI, 16.78 MHz
GPU	Custom 2D core
Media	Game Boy cartridges
Units sold	Worldwide: 118.69 million, including Game Boy Color units
Top-selling game	Tetris, 33 million combined
Successor	Game Boy Color

The Game Boy (ゲームボーイ, Gēmu Bōi) is Nintendo's second handheld video game system, following the Game & Watch series, both of which were created by Gunpei Yokoi. It was first released on April 21, 1989 (1989-04-21). It is an 8-Bit system said to be "All the power of the NES, Pocket-Size." This console had a color limitation, giving the screen a monochrome effect. Despite other, technologically superior handheld consoles introduced during its lifetime, the Game Boy was a tremendous success with classics such as Tetris, Super Mario Land, and the second game of the Metroid series - Metroid II: Return of Samus. It also boasted new revolutionary titles such as the Pokémon series. In 1996 a second generation of Game Boys were released, the Game Boy Pocket, which was a smaller version of the original Game Boy, that played the same games. Besides the size difference, another notable difference betweeen the original Game Boy and the Game Boy Pocket was the screen display. The original Game Boy had a green monochrome screen, while the Pocket had a standard monochrome screen.

A trademark for a Game Boy Mini Classic was unearthed that suggested that the Game Boy would have been subject to the Classic series of emulated games, like with the NES and SNES. However, such never came to fruitition.

Controls

The Game Boy's main controls are located on the lower half of its front frame. Like the NES controller, the Game Boy has four face buttons labelled "A", "B", "SELECT", and "START". The functions of these face buttons vary from game to game, though generally, the START button is used as a "pause" function to temporarily stop gameplay. The Game Boy also features a directional pad, allowing up to eight directions of movement in its games.

Outside of buttons used in gameplay, there is a volume control knob on the right side of the console, and a similar knob to change the contrast on the left side. The ON/OFF switch is located at the top of the Game Boy.

Technical Specifications

PAL Game Boy Pocket bundle with Metroid II and Wave Race.

Metroid II: Return of Samus commercial

• CPU: Custom 8-bit Sharp LR35902 core at 4.19 MHz.

• RAM: 8 kB internal S-RAM

• Video RAM: 8 kB internal

• ROM: On-CPU-Die 256-byte bootstrap; 256 kB, 512 kb, 1 Mb, 2 Mb, 4 Mb and 8 Mb cartridges

• Sound: 2 square waves, 1 programmable 32-sample 4-bit PCM wave, 1 white noise, and one audio input from the cartridge[22].

• Display: Reflective LCD 160 × 144 pixels

• Screen size: 66 mm diagonal

• Color Palette: 2-bit

• Communication: Game Boys can be linked together via built-in serial ports

• Power: 6 V, 0.7 W

• Dimensions: 90 mm (W) x 148 mm (H) x 32 mm (D)

Metroid games for the Game Boy

• Metroid II: The Return of Samus

Metroid cameos for the Game Boy

• F-1 Race
• Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
• Wario Land II (a version for the Game Boy Color was later released to all territories)