Game Boy

The Game Boy is a handheld gaming console developed by Nintendo, and the first of the Game Boy line. It was released in 1989 for Japan and North America and 1990 for Europe.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The Game Boy revolutionized handheld gaming with interchangeable cartridges similar to a regular console.
 * 2) At the time, the games for the system were heavily praised for being as complex as a regular Nintendo Entertainment System game. James Rolfe in his AVGN persona described the Game Boy as a "portable NES" because of this.
 * 3) Over 1,000 games for the system.
 * 4) It powerfully combined with the NES and the Game & Watch portables.
 * 5) Simple button layout similar to an NES.
 * 6) Several different models including the tiny Game Boy Pocket and the brightest Game Boy Light (which was a Japan-exclusive).
 * 7) Many great titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Tetris, Super Mario Land, and most notably Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue.
 * 8) Excellent battery life, a major factor over why the Game Boy outsold its competition.
 * 9) A burned down melted Game Boy was recovered from a war zone and it was found to still be fully functional, showing the system is extremely durable.
 * 10) Astronauts took it into space, literally.
 * 11) The Game Boy had some very useful accessories, such as a printer, a light bulb so you can see the screen at night, among others.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The screen is only black and white on a greenish background screen with no backlight to increase battery life.
 * 2) The game cartridges' save batteries dry out over time causing save data to be lost and you being unable to save your game. You can replace the batteries though.
 * 3) The console's screen is prone decaying over time when exposed to the sun (with effects such as screen fading, blurring, dead pixels, etc.). Fortunately, aftermarket replacement screens are available for the system, though the replacement process can be difficult to do yourself.
 * 4) Plenty of shovelware and bootleg games made it to the system.
 * 5) Some third party accessories were either inconvenient or useless.

Reception
Within the first two weeks being sold in Japan, the entire stock of 300,000 units was sold. 40,000 units were sold in its first day being sold in the U.S. In 2009, the Game Boy was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. Despite competing against handhelds with superior hardware and colored screens the Game Boy completely outsold them and is still considered superior to them, mainly because of the good battery life and library of games.