Happy Birthday Gameboy!

[c0ldb33r]

The gameboy first went on sale in Japan twenty years ago.

Has it been twenty years already? Where does the time go.

I remember that before I got a Gameboy I used to go to K-mart and play tetris in that little display they had. I wanted it soooooo baddddddd!!! I ended up getting one from my sister surprisingly enough (she's nine years older than me). I remember it came with tetris, batteries, an AC Adapter and those little headphones that had red on one side and blue on the other :)

Happy Birthday Gameboy!

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/c0ldb33r/th_normal_IMG_2153.jpg (http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/c0ldb33r/?action=view&current=normal_IMG_2153.jpg)

[Flippy8490]

:hail:Happy Birthday Gameboy!!! Wow, so many fond memories growing up ;) I remember my first Gameboy was the green one from the Playitloud! series. I had Super Mario Land for it...so awesome. I played that game so much, probably could have done it with my eyes closed. Hah.

[otoko]

Happy birthday Gameboy. I had the Ice Blue Pocket. It was the first game system I ever owned.

[Pantechnicon]

I figured GB's twentieth birthday was sometime soon, and here we are. Wow...

Gameboy was what brought me back to gaming in my adult life. Hadn't done any gaming since leaving my Atari 2600 behind upon high school graduation and joining the Marines. I bought my first one in December 1989 and was absolutely blown away by it.

That bears a little elaboration for those of you too young to remember life before handhelds. But back then, for those of us who cut our teeth on 1980's home consoles, the notion of a portable gaming system that had interchangeable cartridges (yeah I know, "Microvision", but I'm talking about portable system that didn't suck) was an absolute godsend. This was especially true for someone like myself; in the military, living on a naval ship, it's not as if you could just hook up a console anywhere you wanted to.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/pzcortez/pzc_usmc_gb_1989.jpg

Gameboy was also my first positive exposure to Nintendo and the types of games it offered. Like I said, I was (am) an old Atari fan, and what I saw on the NES didn't interest me, or (believe it or not) I thought it was too complicated to play. Gameboy helped soften my position against Nintendo considerably. In fact, looking back at those early GB titles, I'd say the best thing Nintendo did for the GB from a marketing standpoint was to try and recreate as much as possible the NES experience in a portable system - from the controller layout to the function of the menus, the absence of color notwithstanding, I think they did a pretty good job.

GB may very well be the most important game system ever made.

Anyway, a thread like this is going to go on for a while, and I probably have some more GB lore up my sleeve. But for now I'll just say Happy Birthday to the old boy. We've had a long and happy relationship.

[c0ldb33r]

In honour of the Gameboy's birthday, there was a bit of a reunion here at my place. Although my original Gameboy is long gone, the others remain. On the left is the immediate family with the extended family is shown on the right.

Not shown is that bastard child DSi which is "too good" to play with the Gameboy crowd.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/c0ldb33r/th_024.jpg (http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/c0ldb33r/?action=view&current=024.jpg) http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/c0ldb33r/th_028.jpg (http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/c0ldb33r/?action=view&current=028.jpg)

The reunion was so well attended that even crazy uncle Transfer Pak showed up. Good for him, he doesn't get out much.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/c0ldb33r/th_030.jpg (http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/c0ldb33r/?action=view&current=030.jpg)

[leicamaster]

The Gameboy is my favorite console ever. Well it was my first one too. I LOVE IT and still play it today. Recently I was able to get a new sealed game boy (1989) Box variation 1 witha brand new gb printer.

[Enigmus]

Happy birthday Gameboy. I had the Ice Blue Pocket. It was the first game system I ever owned.

Same goes with me: 2003: my dad brings home an Ice Blue GBP with a copy of Super Mario Land. Mid-2003: I search in my sisters' room and find a (labeless) copy of Kirby's Dream Land. 2004-ish:I receive a red Game Boy Advance SP with SMA4 and Mario Pinball Land, and my sister gets a purple GBA with Kirby and the Amazing Mirror and A Series Of Unfortuante Events (which was slightly horrible), but I eventually lost my GBASP to the 3rd grade teachers (damn teachers.:frustrated:) 2007: After getting 15 games, from GB to GBA, I finally not only get a free Game Boy Case (Pokemon), it was filled with my first GBC games (SMBDX, Donkey Kong Country, and 2 copies of Pokemon Crystal) AND I get my very first Pokemon games, Pokemon Red, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, and Pinball, and then I get a DS Lite for X-Mas. 2008:I finally get a GB Camera, and over 20 games (mostly DS and GB-GBC). And, this year, I now have, at the moment, over 70 games, for GB, GBC, GBA, and DS. Man, what a joyride it's been for me and the Game Boy. Me and my Game Boy, Pocket, Advance, Advance SP, DS, and DS Lite.:p

End lifetime of Game Boy rant.

[guitargary75]

The gameboy first went on sale in Japan twenty years ago.

Has it been twenty years already? Where does the time go.

I remember that before I got a Gameboy I used to go to K-mart and play tetris in that little display they had. I wanted it soooooo baddddddd!!! I ended up getting one from my sister surprisingly enough (she's nine years older than me). I remember it came with tetris, batteries, an AC Adapter and those little headphones that had red on one side and blue on the other :)

Happy Birthday Gameboy!

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/c0ldb33r/th_normal_IMG_2153.jpg (http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s182/c0ldb33r/?action=view&current=normal_IMG_2153.jpg)

That cake is just plain awesome!

[neuropolitique]

Happy Birthday Game Boy

[boatofcar]

I still play original GB games on my Game Boy Light. The system still stands up for me more than the Game Gear, color nonwithstanding.

[joshnickerson]

Happy Birthday, ya old brick! I think I spent more hours of my youth playing the Gameboy than the NES or SNES.

[calistarwind]

Wow..I can remember my brother saving up half of the amount for the Gameboy and my father chipping in the other half for the day it came out. I quickly ended up taking over the Gameboy from my brother which led to a lot of fights. I played tons of Balloon Kid and Tennis. I can't believe it's been that long ago already.