In more news that will remind you how old you really are, the Nintendo Game Boy is celebrating its 25th birthday today. The iconic handheld video game system was released in Japan 25 years ago today.
Nintendo’s Research and Development 1 developed the device under the leadership of the legendary developer Gunpei Yokoi, notes The Guardian. While it would go on to be the best-selling handheld video game device with interchangeable cartridges to play different games, it was not actually the first. That was Milton Bradley’s 1979 device Microvision.
It finally launched in the U.S. in July 1989 and didn’t reach the U.K. until September 1990. Thanks to its controls - which were very similar to the original NES’ controls - and popular games like Super Mario Land, the device quickly became an international hit. The original Game Boy would go on to sell 18 million copies.
As Digital Spy notes, the first Game Boy could only show four shades of color, but that was enough for gamers at the time. Tetris could still be addictive, even if it wasn’t all the colors of the rainbow.
Game Boy had a real role in making video gaming a mainstream hobby and the height of its power came in 1995 when Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue launched. To this day, Pokemon remains one of the most lucrative video game franchises ever created.
So, in honor of the Game Boy’s anniversary, let us know what your favorite Game Boy game was!