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Thread: Why was the Game Boy so good in 1998?

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    Default Why was the Game Boy so good in 1998?

    The original brick, not Color.

    1998 was a time when graphics meant good games. Ask anybody who was a gamer during that time, whether it be a boy or girl, and they'll tell you that they bought games based on how they looked. Nintendo 64 vs. PlayStation vs. Saturn. So why did many still flock to the Game Boy?

    I imagine that most kids would consider the Game Boy outdated considering it was made in 1989 and 9 years old by then. But for some reason, ports of Nintendo 64/PS1/Saturn games like WWF WarZone were made for the Game Boy, and despite the reviews the games got, KIDS STILL PLAYED THEM. (What if Spice World was ported to the Game Boy?) Hell, even the COMMERCIAL for WWF WarZone shows the Game Boy logo at the very bottom at the end. The only Mulan game that came out when that film was new was the Game Boy game. No PS1 game like Hercules (which did get a GB release.) Only a stinking Game Boy game. That must suck. Nintendo's WEBSITE during this period had a Game Boy section. They were so desperate to keep the ol' grey brick alive, they had to resort to the fucking infant Internet.

    And then there was Pokémon.

    TWO YEARS after its Japanese debut did this mass media phenomenon make the Game Boy "cool" and "relevant" again. Don't get me wrong, I love Pokémon, but STILL. Every single VHS of the show ended with THIS commercial and on cable, all of the game's ads had to do with capturing Pokémon in ways that'd make Team Rocket worship you. And then literally a month after its release came the Game Boy Color. But most kids only had a brick then, and despite begging parents to get it for Christmas, sometimes their parents forgot. When Yellow came out, it was 1999, and even though it was advertised as a Color release, it was made for the original Game Boy. Hell, in March 1999, GT Interactive published a Beavis and Butthead game 5 years too late on the GODDAMN BRICK, not the Color. It was released in Europe a year before, too! European countries also got a game called "Reservoir Rat" in 1999, but it's not US so...

    Even when the Game Boy was discontinued after Pokémon Yellow's release, Game Boy Color games were backwards compatible with the brick for quite some time. A game called "Tara's Adventure" from 2001 was the last compatible game, and the last Super Game Boy compatible game.

    OH, WAIT! I THINK I'VE GOT IT!

    The Game Boy Camera.

    In a desperate attempt to make kids play Game Boy again, in April 1998 Nintendo made the world's first - and smallest - digital camera. Neil Young's daughter Amber took a picture on it that became the cover of his Silver and Gold album in 2000. Shouldn't she be using it on a Game Boy Color? Don't forget to attach the printer, too! And keep a few dozen rolls of printer paper! If you're lucky, you can look up on the infant Internet how to transfer your pictures to your Windows 98! Oops, you hit the run option! Enjoy that nightmarish face with the droning 8 bit music!

    I just wonder what made this puke green screen (greyscale if you're using your X-TREME! Game Boy pocket) brick so popular during the final years of the 1990s. I have a lovely Dandelion Game Boy Color I got four Christmases ago along with a dark blue Game Boy Camera, and an assortment of colorful cartridges including the aqua blue Blastoise-endorned Pokémon Blue, the banana yellow Donkey Kong Land 2, the bright, translucent pink Kirby Tilt 'n Tumble, and the dull grey Tamagotchi. COLOR.
    Holy dapperdoodles! You found me!
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    Well maybe a little of the Retro aspect took hold. Also cheaper by then maybe too and a catalog of games to go with it. I also remember the thing as a tank. Very reliable, wouldn't break down. Keep it in your pocket (or a hip pack) while traipsing through the mud playing paint ball and it would still work At a time before any other real mobile devices as we know them now even in '98 the battery still held and could take it on the go. It's a solid piece of tech.

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    Because when you actually had something to do, and invest your own attention in on your own at anytime, in the moment, it was like classy as shiz back then, man. It felt like being productive more than anything.. it felt good.
    Nowadays people retreat to their phones. Back then we had gameboys, though, for awkward moments and situations...
    Currently playing:
    ~~ Pokemon Emerald on VBA ~~ Star Ocean on ZSNES ~~ Tales of Phantasia on ZSNES ~~ Star Ocean: The Second Story on ePSXe ~~ Breath of Fire III on ePSXe

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    Still, wouldn't people want something in color? Thank God 1998 gave us the Game Boy Color. By 1997 when the Spice Girls started (not sure what they have to do with anything but still) and the N64 was new, people should've been like "DUDE! I want color! Give us color!"
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    Quote Originally Posted by Danielle Otaka View Post
    Still, wouldn't people want something in color? Thank God 1998 gave us the Game Boy Color. By 1997 when the Spice Girls started (not sure what they have to do with anything but still) and the N64 was new, people should've been like "DUDE! I want color! Give us color!"
    For me it was (lack of) choice- I didn't get a game boy color til my... more well-off, friend, got a game boy pocket and for some reason thought that was better than his game boy color(?)!

    Also, AC power adapters that fit my old gameboy also fit a lot of other things... I first learned about DC, and volts/amps/watts only because of gameboy color and gameboy advance! Oh gameboy Advance... now we can go in to the verrrry same thing with the original wide Gameboy Advance and the GBAP, with the backlight.

    That backlight meant, like, everything, for me. Tell me how crazy it was playing handheld games without THAT, huh!
    Currently playing:
    ~~ Pokemon Emerald on VBA ~~ Star Ocean on ZSNES ~~ Tales of Phantasia on ZSNES ~~ Star Ocean: The Second Story on ePSXe ~~ Breath of Fire III on ePSXe

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    I knew one person who had a Lynx in 1992. Mind-blowingly beyond a Game Boy, yet nobody bought them. Gameboy was great, especially with the rechargeable battery pak. Not sure if I would have rather had a Lynx though, because with the limited sales it probably didn't have a great game library.


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    LMAO I was happy to even have any portable console to begin with, damn. We definitely did not come from money, let me tell you what

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    I once knew a cat who actually had a Sega Game Gear- I know the feels, like a glimpse of something rare and beautiful, you will always treasure~ that same guy refurbished his ps2 into a computer ^^ what a B.A.!

    Aye I'll have to check out the 'Lynx'~ predisposed to like it, I may be, for Chrono-Cross/Serge/Trigaucity~
    Currently playing:
    ~~ Pokemon Emerald on VBA ~~ Star Ocean on ZSNES ~~ Tales of Phantasia on ZSNES ~~ Star Ocean: The Second Story on ePSXe ~~ Breath of Fire III on ePSXe

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    Puke green eh? You're pretty unbiased and not hateful in the least bit about Gameboy are you? Also you can't just discount it as the original model as it had been off the shelf for a year to two by then as the GB Pocket showed up in in 1996 (to your 1998 question.) Most people either were happy with what they had or moved on to a more responsible pure black and white system. The GB Color also came out in 1998 too so you can't discount that as well.

    While people may have been caught up in the whole early 3D thing, enough still cared about the old style of gaming and even some preferred it. Also the Gameboy was portable, and the games were cheap at $20-30 vs $50 for console games. This was a time before cellphone games were a thing. You basically used a really janky old Palm/HP stylus device which didn't have much or you used a Gameboy or one of the few now dead battery sucking others (TE, GG, Lynx) instead which had no new games anymore. Also the used gaming market really started to take off around 1994-5 too between private and Funcoland sales and old GB games most could be had for like 50 cents to 5 dollars. I was 19 in 1996 and regularly used the Gameboy so I don't know why you're ignoring reality calling it a kids only thing with nothing to do. I loathe licensed games.

    Gameboy won it out before Pokemon breathed life back into it because it was the only handheld gaming system. Like it or not, it wasn't uncool and people of various ages used it, even adults given some of the titles so it wasn't just some kiddie baby sitter box. Nintendo wasn't desperate to use the infant of the internet to pitch it, but why woudln't they show it on their site right along side the mini-SNES and the N64 at that point? It's their job to sell stuff or they vanish, sort of common sense.


    I'm more curious, why are you so nasty and butthurt over Gameboy? Did one touch you one night in a funny way?

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