Is the Game Boy the Toughest Product Ever Made? [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

An anonymous reader writes "CNET is running an article about tough technology, which aptly includes the Nintendo Game Boy, a device so tough that mine still works after many years. 'There's no two ways about it: the original Game Boy is one of the hardest gadgets ever conceived. Rumor has it this beige behemoth isn't made of plastic, but from the skulls of fallen Gurkhas. If you ever saw one that was broken, it's because it lost a boxing match with a nuclear bomb — on points.' So do you agree that the Game Boy is the toughest consumer electronics device ever made?"Read more of this story (http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/05/185255&from=rss) at Slashdot.
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[veronica_marsfan]

I vote for this. Over 25 years old:

http://www.aqualion.com/blog/uploaded_images/football-777893.jpg

[neuropolitique]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/33/45214051_48ee39c14f.jpg

[Poofta!]

it is tough. very tough. built as a portable should be (unlike the psp). however it is prone to internal failure, as witnessed by the many gameboys out there with missing pixel lines and failed speaker.

[Jorpho]

Aye, those blanked pixel lines didn't seem to be too uncommon back in the day. Was the Game Boy Pocket not sturdier?

[kaedesdisciple]

I see that charred one every time I stop by the Nintendo World store. It is quite a sight, especially thinking of how it got that way.

[Matt-El]

Looks like a copy of the Necronomicon.

[mailman187666]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/33/45214051_48ee39c14f.jpg

this is on display at nintendo world in NYC. I went there a few years ago and there it was in the glass case in full working condition. I don't know if the buttons all still work but that one was actually with somebody in the army durring desert storm I believe and somehow survived an attack.

[smork]

It's funny how the Lomo is listed in the original article as indestructible -- mine failed within a few weeks of ownership. Sigh!

[rbudrick]

Can somone tell me why that burnt GB is backlit?

-Rob

[jb143]

I thought it was a fake when I first saw it. If it was burnt then I don't see how the screen could have posibly survived. If your going to replace the screen then you might as well light it too.

[rbudrick]

Yeah, but I think the point of Nintendo displaying it was that it still worked. Why replace the screen? That would make it seem staged. Also, if that exact model LCD came in a backlit version, it could have been used back in the day (sure, costs, whatever). It was a proprietary screen, so I'd have a hard time believeing they made a one-off just for the display in Nintendo World.

-Rob

[jb143]

It's probally a front light...like the afterburner kit. I've seen people put those on regular gameboys before. It's basically a thin sheet of plactic with leds along the edge that sets on the screen. But yeah...if it's not faked then it is definatly staged a wee bit.

[ProgrammingAce]

On the original gameboy, there's a clear plastic screen with gray borders that protects the LCD. That's probably what protected the LCD from being scorched. Supsoedly that's exactly how it was found out in the desert.

Go back and look at an original GB, the screen is *really* reflective compared to what you see these days. That one isn't backlit, it's just reflecting the stage lighting.

[98redM6]

Over the years my brothers and I have owned several gameboys. Mine hung inthere until my brother thought it would be a cool idea if he'd play with it when he was taking a bath. My brothers have owned GB color, pocket, and advance. Never have they had a problem with one other than the damn back battery cover breaking and needing tape or being lost.

They are sturdy as hell and don't break like a remote control, cd player, ipod, or cell phone would. Those are the only things I can think of that are about the size of a gameboy.

[Push Upstairs]

Can somone tell me why that burnt GB is backlit?

-Rob

I believe that is the light shining on it, much like who those old displays had a light focused on the screen so you could play it.

Or how you had the angle the system (or GB color, or original GBA) just right so as to get sufficient light but not terrible glare?

[Steve W]

The Gameboy the toughest product ever made? Hell, after nuclear armageddon all that'll be left are Atari 2600s plugged in to Commodore monitors, while Gameboys will be melted piles of goo. The 2600 could survive a Cruise Missle strike, and Commodore monitors were built to withstand the gravitational forces of a black hole.

[Jorpho]

The Gameboy the toughest product ever made? Hell, after nuclear armageddon all that'll be left are Atari 2600s plugged in to Commodore monitors, while Gameboys will be melted piles of goo. The 2600 could survive a Cruise Missle strike, and Commodore monitors were built to withstand the gravitational forces of a black hole.

Heh. I've sometimes thought that would be an interesting premise for a science fiction piece: in a post-apocalyptic world, all major electronics are fried, and the only widely-available computing power comes in the form of overly-shielded video game consoles. They are ultimately used to coordinate battles over valuable resources, like a rare 286 that happened to survive in a Faraday cage!

[rbudrick]

I believe that is the light shining on it, much like who those old displays had a light focused on the screen so you could play it.

Or how you had the angle the system (or GB color, or original GBA) just right so as to get sufficient light but not terrible glare?


Well, that green is just too bright. I've used front lights of all kinds on my GB and it NEVER looked that good. I gonna have to not believe there's a liht shining on it. Afterburner-type kit maybe.

-Rob

[skaar]

Wasn't the torched gameboy originally from a Nintendo Power letter? I seem to remember reading about it in NP.

[neuropolitique]

You can see the harsh shadow from the lights shining on the screen. Look at the top and right sides of the screen. the burnt case is casting that shadow. All the light is coming from the lights, nothing internal. Also, check the difference between the actual display portion of the screen and the edges. The edges are much brighter than the actual display, which looks pretty muddy to me.

This is the real deal.

[Famidrive-16]

My dad took me to the Nintendo HQ in Washington when I was younger and I remember that burnt game boy being there. I don't remember any internal light, but they had a small outside light shining on it, I guess so people could see the screen working.

[cyberfluxor]

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/0,39029552,49294281-7,00.htm
All credibility has left the room. Give me under 10 minutes and that baby is broke.

As for the GameBoy, great achivement in portable gaming. If only more handhelds followed this practice but there's more money in replacing.

[Dreamcast]

You can smash the Gamecube a ton and it wont break. I have hear Dreamcast is a little less stronger than gamecube. But I'm talking externally. If it was internally.... It would have to be a game gear (my speaker broke :( ) Or the Saturn. I have rarely heard of saturn problems.

Handheld wise it might be that game boy. Big, Bulky, and lot of Armour.

[Frogger49]

It sure didn't take all that long for my neighbor to "break" my first Game Boy in 1991. My mom had given it me for my 7th birthday along with Super Mario Land (that I wish I still had. I could go for some old-school battling in the Chai Kingdom right about now). I had only had it for a few hours when I let my neighbor play with it. She promptly dropped it on our concrete back driveway and it stopped working (whenever you turned it on, the screen would be completely black). We ended up making her mom go to the late, great discount store Bradlees to buy a replacement (for $100). A year or so later, the old Game Boy came back to life from the dead, so I had 2 Game Boys (and 2 copies of Tetris, the pack-in game at the time).

[mr.soul]

I believe this. My Game Boy pocket from '96 has withstood insane amounts of abuse and I was just playing it yesterday. I seem to have lost the outer part of the screen though :(

[Jorpho]

I completely forgot to mention that my first brick actually did kick the bucket eventually - specifically, the D-pad gradually lost its "springiness", until it started to unpredictably act as if some directions were being pressed even when they weren't pressed anymore. Of course, that took quite a few years, but it was far from invincible in the end!

If there's actually an easy way to fix this, I'd like to know... (Maybe I can borrow a security bit from somewhere hereabouts.)

[Rob2600]

Well, that green is just too bright. I've used front lights of all kinds on my GB and it NEVER looked that good. I gonna have to not believe there's a liht shining on it. Afterburner-type kit maybe.

-Rob

I go to Nintendo World all the time and that burnt Game Boy doesn't have a back-lit or a front-lit screen. It's just a normal Game Boy screen, I promise.

[rbudrick]

I go to Nintendo World all the time and that burnt Game Boy doesn't have a back-lit or a front-lit screen. It's just a normal Game Boy screen, I promise.

Hmm, wow. I'm surprised. I wish I could have lit my GB that well back in the day! Why didn't any of the third-party lighting solutions work that well!?

-Rob

[winniethepujols]

Back when our town flooded, I sat out in our RV all day playing Game Boy.

However, when I was younger I had video game rage. This was usually limited to just breaking controllers. While playing Mega Man, though, I died at one of the Wily stages and literally headbutted my Game Boy, and ended up really messing up the screen.

If it cannot survive a headbutt, it cannot be considered one of the toughest systems -- let alone gadgets -- of all-time.

[Push Upstairs]

Maybe you are a master of the headbutt and are unaware of your true strength.

[boatofcar]

If it cannot survive a headbutt, it cannot be considered one of the toughest systems -- let alone gadgets -- of all-time.

I think you should headbutt all your systems and give us the results.

[bangtango]

it is tough. very tough. built as a portable should be. however it is prone to internal failure, as witnessed by the many gameboys out there with missing pixel lines and failed speaker.

Exactly.

You may be able to toss around the Gameboy a lot without breaking the outer casing but it won't be very playable afterwards.

I've owned at least 3-4 Gameboy's (brick model) that ended their lives with the orange lines of death running from side to side or top to bottom. One or two accidental drops and you are almost guaranteed to get those.


However, when I was younger I had video game rage. This was usually limited to just breaking controllers. While playing Mega Man, though, I died at one of the Wily stages and literally headbutted my Game Boy, and ended up really messing up the screen.

If it cannot survive a headbutt, it cannot be considered one of the toughest systems -- let alone gadgets -- of all-time.

I don't headbutt systems on account of video game rage. I usually headbutt systems because they have a lot of bad games. Like Sega CD *slinks out of the thread before trouble starts*

[winniethepujols]

I think you should headbutt all your systems and give us the results.
I used to strike the top of my PS1 (like a downward strike using the controller). It survived a LOT of hits, but it eventually broke.

By the time I moved on to the PS2 generation I stopped breaking stuff (sans a controller here or there). But wow, I used to be a freak!

[Kyle15]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/33/45214051_48ee39c14f.jpg

WOW. 0__0
I remember hearing about that!
It would be awesome if I could see that for real and not just in a picture....

[Haoie]

When I was in Nintendo World, in NY, I saw some badly fire damaged GBs still working, I recall.