Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
Moderators: mknott, NickThorpe, Darran@Retro Gamer, MMohammed, lcarlson
- greenberet79
- Posts: 3350
- Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 10:37 am
- Location: Liverpool
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
Oh and I had the TV tuner on the GG, it was awesome! (for a ten year old in 1990 anyway).
"Very soon our luck will change, we'll do what we need to do to win matches, and we'll fly."
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
I always wanted onegreenberet79 wrote:Oh and I had the TV tuner on the GG, it was awesome! (for a ten year old in 1990 anyway).

- Antiriad2097
- Posts: 26630
- Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2005 2:48 pm
- Location: http://s11.zetaboards.com/RetroLeague/
- Contact:
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
There's a composite video input on it, so you can plug a betamax in there and watch stuff on the GG still.
The Retro League - Where skill isn't an obstacle
Retrocanteen, home of the unfairly banned
Retrocanteen, home of the unfairly banned
Tom_Baker wrote:I just finished watching a film about Stockholm syndrome. It started out terrible but by the end I really liked it.
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
My original Lynx 1 was a bit long, it used to stick into my armpittheantmeister wrote:No way! It was too tall/wide, wasn't it? Or was that only the first version?The Laird wrote:I took my Lynx to school every single day, in my blazer pocket!

But the Lynx 2 was fine, although it did bulge a bit as you can imagine.
I remember my mate Alex getting one, he brought it into school and we had to pull the massive aerial right out and then climb on top of the science block to get any picture at allgreenberet79 wrote:Oh and I had the TV tuner on the GG, it was awesome! (for a ten year old in 1990 anyway).

I was one of 7 people in my year at school with a Lynx, we used to have a riot with games like California Games, Warbirds, Zarlor Mercenary, Rampage and Xenophobe over Comlynx in out lunch breaks.psj3809 wrote:Did your mates have gameboys or lynx's ? Just curious.
- retrosofer
- Posts: 974
- Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:11 am
- Location: UK
- Contact:
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
Lets not speak of that monstrosity that was the Game Gear, worst system I ever had. It ate batteries like they were going out of fashion to the point where in the end I only used it with the mains adaptor, and it was a heavy brick to. I also thought at the time it was pointless playing on it when I could just play on the Master System instead.
The game Boy had better battery life, was lighter more portable, had better games and everyone had one, so it was well supported and easy to share games with others. You couldn't part me from the Game Boy when I was younger, never left home without it lol.
The game Boy had better battery life, was lighter more portable, had better games and everyone had one, so it was well supported and easy to share games with others. You couldn't part me from the Game Boy when I was younger, never left home without it lol.
- paranoid marvin
- Posts: 14266
- Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:28 pm
- Location: 21st Century Earth
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
You could argue battery life, you could argue it was the company name on the console.
I personally would say it was Tetris. Everyone played Tertris; even girls. This meant it was 'cool' to own a Gameboy and it was cool to be seen playing one.
Same reason that the Playstation beat the Saturn.
I personally would say it was Tetris. Everyone played Tertris; even girls. This meant it was 'cool' to own a Gameboy and it was cool to be seen playing one.
Same reason that the Playstation beat the Saturn.
Mr Flibble says...
"Game over , boys!"
"Game over , boys!"
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
Tetris is the ONLY reason to ever have owned/own a Gameboyparanoid marvin wrote:You could argue battery life, you could argue it was the company name on the console.
I personally would say it was Tetris. Everyone played Tertris; even girls. This meant it was 'cool' to own a Gameboy and it was cool to be seen playing one.
Same reason that the Playstation beat the Saturn.
- outdated_gamer
- Posts: 2599
- Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 12:14 pm
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
I only saw one from up close once. The premise of a handheld game console that's also a phone seemed interesting back then but there were a lot of criticisms like the screen aspect ratio (good for vertical shooters, bad for FPS and racing games), sluggish and very blocky 3D graphics (CoD ran at like 5 fps on it), a lack of "must have" games (or games in general), sayings that you "looked stupid" making phone calls with it, ect.Lost Dragon wrote: I actually loved the NGage more than i did the GB, at least it was powerful, i could see the screen and had games i wanted to play (Pathway To Glory was superb).
Nintendo's answer to the n-Gage was the DS which atleast had smooth 3D graphics and the novel second, touch screen and despite the initial skepticism surrounding it (was originally supposed to be a "3rd pillar" Nintendo system), it pretty much took the handheld market by storm, suprising the skeptics (which I too was) and replacing the Game Boy line altogether.
-
- Posts: 849
- Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2013 7:59 am
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
Think it speaks volumes that when UK press were reporting on Atari's redesigned Lynx Mk II (April '91?) they were listing all 17 games avaiable for the Lynx with only a further 16 'promised' for that year, by comparison, just how many games were out/due later that year for the GB?.
Lynx never had the software support it deserved and badly needed.
Lynx never had the software support it deserved and badly needed.
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
Shameless plugs:
Atari Lynx Review
Sega Game Gear Review
Haven't got round to doing the Game Boy yet!
Atari Lynx Review
Sega Game Gear Review
Haven't got round to doing the Game Boy yet!
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
Why did the Gameboy kill the competition?
Because...
It's crap!
Because...
It's crap!
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
It's weird, whenever we look back on systems, I realise I never liked the Nintendo console of its generation as much as its competitors. That holds true for every single generation. I was never a big Game Boy fan, but I absolutely loved my Game Gear. I remember one of the girls at work pinching it off me on overtime to play Sonic, good fun!
- Scratch_Porkings
- Posts: 777
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 10:27 am
- Location: Eastbourne
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
BennyTheGreek wrote:tetris, battery life and the fact i could sneak it into the toilet at work
It was six inches long, hard and fun to play with in the toilet.
Scott me up beamie!
- outdated_gamer
- Posts: 2599
- Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 12:14 pm
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?
Here's another overlooked handheld that took a shot at the Game Boy - Game.com

It was the first handheld that could connect to the internet and featured a touch-screen and stylus. Here's a review:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tIBIny4L6E

It was the first handheld that could connect to the internet and featured a touch-screen and stylus. Here's a review:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tIBIny4L6E
-
- Posts: 849
- Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2013 7:59 am
Re: Why did the Game Boy "kill" the competition?

Home computer rights to Tetris going to Andromeda who divided them between Spectrum Holobyte and Mirrorsoft, Mirrorsoft then selling USA Coin-Op rights to Atari and Jap.Coin-Op rights to Sega etc.Nintendo realising that console rights, technically remained up for grabs and thought Tetris would be an ideal 'Killer-App' for GB and signed a deal?.
Atari then priduced a NES version of Tetris (under the Tengen label) and was sued, Atari defending itself in court by claiming NES was in reality a home computer as Nintendo had said it'd be bringing a keyboard and disk drive out for the NES, Nintendo countering NES was nothing but a console.Nintendo winning...
Atari then forced to warehouse then destroy it's version of the game, some 263,000 carts.
Or is this just another urban myth?
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest