20 Years of Game Boy

This month marks twenty years since Nintendo's first Game Boy was released in North America. It's become a symbol of modern culture - there are few people that haven't played, or at least seen, a Game Boy. It dominated the portable gaming market for over a decade, evolving through many different forms like Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. 1Up has an interesting article looking at the history of the system.

Did (or do) you own a Game Boy? Which makes/models have owned or played? Which one did you prefer? Do you think Nintendo will ever revive the brand or will they leave it in retirement to favor the DS?

I only ever had a Game Boy Advance, which I got for the Spyro games that came out on it and a few other things. I sold it for a bit of credit to use for my Wii and now I have a GBA emulator...as I have no other way to play Mother 3 with the translation patch. And I got some of the those old games I used to have on my GBA in ROM form as well.

Did (or do) you own a Game Boy? Which makes/models have owned or played?
I had an original Game Boy back when they were new, probably got it in 1990. Unfortunately it's totally dead now. I skipped the Game Boy Color and original GBA but bought a GBA SP when they launched. I also got a GBA Micro when they went on clearance. If the Game Boy Player and Super Game Boy count then I have those too.

Which one did you prefer?
Overall I have to go with the SP because it was good improvement over the original GBA and still supports Game Boy Color games. When I first bought the SP the only games I initially owned were the Zelda games for Game Boy Color. It was a few months before I even bought a GBA game. For traveling though, the Micro is perfect, it easily fits in your pocket and the battery lasts a long time.

Do you think Nintendo will ever revive the brand or will they leave it in retirement to favor the DS?
Considering they still release Game & Watch collections every few years I think they'll have some kind of revival. Maybe they won't release a new Game Boy system but instead collections of old Game Boy games for the DS or some future handheld.

I own a Green Game Boy colour and a Black GBA SP. I also own the original fat looking DS. I also have a large collectin of Mario games because Game Boys were like the only gaming system I would play during primary school and a Mario or Yoshi releated game was almost always in the cartridge slot.

I've had a few versions of the Game Boy as well. I started with the original bulky one, but sold it a year or two ago. I have a color and Advance as well, though I don't use either very much any more.

hugues wrote:

If the Game Boy Player and Super Game Boy count then I have those too.

Ah, those are pretty neat. I have a Super Game Boy also, but not the Player. I always wanted to get one, but when I was ready to actually buy it, the stores had taken it off the shelf.

hugues wrote:

Considering they still release Game & Watch collections every few years I think they'll have some kind of revival. Maybe they won't release a new Game Boy system but instead collections of old Game Boy games for the DS or some future handheld.

So, something like the old NES Classics series, but Game Boy Classics instead? That would be pretty awesome. Some of those old GB titles could probably sell pretty well on a modern system.

I own:

- Game Boy (grey), which was gifted to me back in '90 or '91.
- Game Boy Pocket (red)
- Super Game Boy
- Virtual Boy
- Game Boy Color (don't recall the color) - Have owned several of these.
- Game Boy Advance (purple)
- Game Boy Player
- DS (original silver)
- DS Lite (white)

Of the actual portable "Game Boy" named systems I've got I'd have to say I prefer the Pocket.