21 Apr: Game Boy: Game Changer
Costing just 12,500 yen, Nintendo’s revolutionary handheld console, the Game Boy, was released in Japan on 21st April, 1989, quickly selling out its initial stock of 300,000 units.
With its compact size, cartridge-based games, and impressive battery life, the Game Boy went on to become a cultural phenomenon, setting the stage for a new era of portable entertainment.
Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the device’s humble monochrome display and lack of backlight were actually secrets of its success; consider Gunpei Yokoi’s design philosophy of “lateral thinking with withered technology”; and reveal how Super Mario Land, not Tetris, was very nearly bundled in with the U.S. release…