Happy (Belated) Birthday, Game Boy
September 30, 2015
Monday marked the 25th birthday of the Game Boy, well, its European release. And let’s face it, many of us wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for this 2-bit grey box of dark green. Maybe we would. Maybe we would have been Sega Game Gear fans instead.
I remember being on numerous car journeys as a kid, being kept company by my trusty Game Boy, playing Castlevania, barely able to see the game due to the glare of sunlight on the screen. But that was its charm. Those kinds of things don’t matter when you have a killer storyline and challenging gameplay.
Moving towards the late nineties I got a hold of the Gameboy Color. Both The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX and R-Type DX were my (respective) jams, and this added colour element was mind blowing.
What was inspiring to me was that, despite the console’s low resolution and memory restrictions, the Game Boy was constantly trying to evolve, not letting limitations get the better of it (see Game Boy Camera and Game Boy Printer, for example). If that’s not an inspirational life lesson right there, I don’t know what is.
Happy Birthday, Game Boy!
Image: popularmechanics.com
