(PCM) Gosh…we are really starting to feel our age! Today, marks the 25th birthday of Nintendo’s iconic Game Boy hand-held gaming system. A Japanese firm released the very first 8-bit Game Boy on April 21st 1989 and we are sure no one at the time knew just the impact that it would have on the gaming industry as we know it today.
We remember begging our parents for one of these back in the early 90’s! The Game Boy marked a true revolution in the world of hand-held gaming by allowing players to take their favorite games such as Mario, Tetris and Donkey Kong on the go and there was no looking back ever since.
While Nintendo was not the first company to come up with the idea for portable gaming, both their price point and incredibly popular and addictive games made the Game Boy a must have for gamers and truly helped Nintendo make their mark in pop culture history.
While the Game Boy itself has been discontinued, it has certainly laid the groundwork for the faster and sleeker hand-held gaming consoles that are available today, as well as, many if not all of the smartphone games we find ourselves engrossed in currently.
Nintendo sold almost 119 million original Game Boy consoles when they were initially released and then another 81.5 million of the next-generation Game Boy Advance consoles, which were later launched in 2001.
Sometimes we truly miss the simplicity of those big red A + B buttons and large cross-directional pad, as it makes us want to dig out our original just for old times sake. We are certainly all about embracing technology and moving forward with the times, but every so often a trip down memory lane can be therapeutic. Happy 25th Birthday Game Boy…we still love you!