Graphics
160×144
- Colors on screen
- 4
- Palette
- 4 colors
- Sprites
- 40
- Screen
- 2.5″ Reflective STN LCD (monochrome)
Above: Coleco 15 colors
Game Boy
Also known as DMG-01 · Mini Comboy
- Nintendo
- Handheld
- Fourth generation
1,123 Game Boy games, all playable free in your browser.
Nintendo released the Game Boy in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America on July 31, 1989 and in Europe on September 28, 1990. Designed by Nintendo Research & Development 1 under Gunpei Yokoi and Satoru Okada, it was the company's first handheld to use interchangeable cartridges, following the single-game Game & Watch line.
- First released · Japan
- 1989
- CPU
- 8-bit
- Games in the library · all playable
- 1,123
TIMELINE
1989–2003
- JPJapan
- NANorth America
- EUEurope
- ENDDiscontinued
Games per release year
| Year | Games |
|---|---|
| 1989 | 13 |
| 1990 | 89 |
| 1991 | 96 |
| 1992 | 119 |
| 1993 | 100 |
| 1994 | 78 |
| 1995 | 55 |
| 1996 | 25 |
| 1997 | 23 |
| 1998 | 30 |
| 1999 | 5 |
| 2001 | 2 |
| 2004 | 1 |
- PC EnginePC Engine / TurboGrafx-16: Oct 30, 1987 – Dec 16, 1994
- CPS-1Capcom CPS-1: May 13, 1988 – May 11, 1995
- GenesisSega Genesis / Mega Drive: Oct 29, 1988 – 1997
- PCE CDPC Engine CD / TurboGrafx-CD: Dec 4, 1988 – end not recorded
- Game BoyGame Boy: Apr 21, 1989 – Mar 31, 2003
- LynxAtari Lynx: Sep 1, 1989 – 1995
- Neo GeoNeo Geo: Apr 16, 1990 – 2004
- Game GearSega Game Gear: Oct 6, 1990 – Apr 30, 1997
- SNESSuper Nintendo: Nov 21, 1990 – Sep 25, 2003
All 36 systems
- Atari 2600Atari 2600: Sep 1977 – 1992
- SpectrumZX Spectrum: Apr 23, 1982 – 1992
- ColecoColecoVision: Aug 1982 – 1985
- Atari 5200Atari 5200: Oct 1982 – May 21, 1984
- VectrexVectrex: Oct 1982 – Feb 1984
- NESNintendo Entertainment System: Jul 15, 1983 – Sep 25, 2003
- SG-1000Sega SG-1000: Jul 15, 1983 – Oct 1985
- MSXMSX: Oct 21, 1983 – 1993
- Amstrad CPCAmstrad CPC: Jun 21, 1984 – 1990
- Master SystemSega Master System: Oct 20, 1985 – 1996
- Atari 7800Atari 7800: May 1986 – 1992
- X68000Sharp X68000: Mar 28, 1987 – end not recorded
- PC EnginePC Engine / TurboGrafx-16: Oct 30, 1987 – Dec 16, 1994
- CPS-1Capcom CPS-1: May 13, 1988 – May 11, 1995
- GenesisSega Genesis / Mega Drive: Oct 29, 1988 – 1997
- PCE CDPC Engine CD / TurboGrafx-CD: Dec 4, 1988 – end not recorded
- Game BoyGame Boy: Apr 21, 1989 – Mar 31, 2003
- LynxAtari Lynx: Sep 1, 1989 – 1995
- Neo GeoNeo Geo: Apr 16, 1990 – 2004
- Game GearSega Game Gear: Oct 6, 1990 – Apr 30, 1997
- SNESSuper Nintendo: Nov 21, 1990 – Sep 25, 2003
- Sega CDSega CD / Mega-CD: Dec 12, 1991 – 1996
- CPS-2Capcom CPS-2: Sep 10, 1993 – Dec 22, 2003
- Neo Geo CDNeo Geo CD: Sep 9, 1994 – 1997
- 32XSega 32X: Nov 1994 – 1996
- PS1PlayStation: Dec 3, 1994 – Mar 23, 2006
- N64Nintendo 64: Jun 23, 1996 – 2002
- CPS-3Capcom CPS-3: Nov 21, 1996 – end not recorded
- NAOMISega NAOMI: 1998 – end not recorded
- GBCGame Boy Color: Oct 21, 1998 – Mar 31, 2003
- NGPCNeo Geo Pocket Color: Mar 19, 1999 – Oct 30, 2001
- PS2PlayStation 2: Mar 4, 2000 – Jan 4, 2013
- WonderSwanWonderSwan Color: Dec 9, 2000 – 2003
- GBAGame Boy Advance: Mar 21, 2001 – 2010
- OpenBOROpenBOR: 2004 – today
- TIC-80TIC-80: Mar 22, 2017 – today
A bar that fades out means the end date is unknown. Fantasy consoles and game engines are still available.
UNDER THE HOOD
Technical specifications
Processor
4.19MHz
- CPU
- Sharp SM83 (in the Nintendo DMG-CPU / Sharp LR35902 system-on-chip)
- Core
- custom Intel 8080 / Zilog Z80 hybrid
- Word size
- 8-bit
4.194304 MHz master clock
Memory
8KB
- Main RAM
- 8 KB
- Video RAM
- 8 KB
Below: Atari 7800 4 KB · Above: NGPC 12 KB
Sound
4channels
Two pulse-wave channels, one wave channel and one noise channel; built-in mono speaker, stereo headphone output
Sales
119million
- Scope
- Worldwide, Game Boy and Game Boy Color combined (as of 2003)
- Best-selling game
- Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow · 46 million
Media
Cartridge
Launch price
¥12,500
- Japan
- ¥12,500
- North America
- $89.99
Power
30h
- Batteries
- 4 × AA
- Battery life
- about 30 hours
Family line
- Before
- Game & Watch
- This system
- Game Boy
- After
- Game Boy Color
THE STORY
About the Game Boy
In line with Yokoi's approach of using mature, low-cost technology, the design favoured price, battery life and durability over color graphics, with a monochrome dot-matrix screen and an 8-bit processor. The Game Link Cable allowed multiplayer play and data exchange between units. In North America and Europe it was sold with Tetris, which widened its audience, and the Pokémon series later kept it popular into the late 1990s. Nintendo also produced the smaller Game Boy Pocket (1996) and the Japan-only backlit Game Boy Light (1998).
Together with the Game Boy Color, the line sold 118.69 million units and was the best-selling game console at the time of its discontinuation in 2003. The Game Boy is credited with establishing handheld gaming as a mass-market category; an original 1989 unit is on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, and the system was inducted into the US National Toy Hall of Fame in 2009.
- Nintendo's first handheld to use ROM cartridges, succeeding the Game & Watch line.
- Bundled with Tetris in North America and Europe.
- The Game Link Cable enabled multiplayer play and data transfer between consoles.
- Game Boy and Game Boy Color sold 118.69 million units combined, the best-selling console line at the time of their 2003 discontinuation.
- Inducted into the US National Toy Hall of Fame in 2009.
- A staple of the chiptune scene through trackers such as Little Sound DJ and Nanoloop.
THE LIBRARY
1,123 Game Boy games on Back2OldGames
1,123
games, all playable right in your browser
Release years 1989–2004
<p class="lib-span">248 developers</p>Genres
Top developers
Players
236 games with a known number of players.
Regions
THE GAMES
The Game Boy library
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Decade
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Game Boy ARCHIVETITLE · CREATOR · PUBLISHER
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Sources
Specifications and history from the sources below (Wikipedia text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; facts summarized in our own words). Library numbers come from the Back2OldGames catalog.
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