Ah, the Game Boy. A classic handheld system that’s been around for 25 years — meaning, it has a rich and fascinating history. Let’s take a look back, shall we?
DYKGaming/Normal Boots walks us through a lot of cool Game Boy trivia in this video, including:
- How the Game Boy was the first video game console to be played in outer space
- How the system’s origin dates back to 1979 (and how the idea for the system took root)
- How the Game & Watch preceded the Game Boy (and would later go on to influence the later Nintendo DS)
- How the first instance of the modern D-Pad was used on a Donkey Kong game
- Why the original Game Boy has a green-tinted screen
- Why the Game Boy was more popular than other more powerful systems
- How there’s a Game Boy that survived a bombing — and it still works
- How the most expensive handheld is a gold Game Boy
- How Samsung started selling slightly renamed versions of Nintendo systems
- How the Game Boy’s camera was the smallest digital camera back when it was originally released
- How the Super Game Boy was basically a Game Boy minus the screen and buttons
- How the infamous Virtual Boy worked
- The truth about the Game Boy creator’s departure from Nintendo
And in case those don’t provide enough factoids for you, the voice behind the video is Jake from VSauce… who also incidentally has a video up today about Game Boy facts. This one, however, features a stop-motion break down of the console and the trivia is more based on the hardware itself:
I wouldn’t be surprised if all Nintendo systems could survive bombings, to be honest. And in case you’re curious about the Wonderswan, you should definitely read US Gamer’s great article about it — it’s considered the “true” successor to the Game Boy.
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