Gameboy - 1989 - 2007

[Johnny]

Just read it. George Harrison, Senior VP of Marketing of Nintendo, said that with the sucess of the Nintendo DS, there's no reason to maintain the old brand GameBoy - that still exists with the GameBoy Micro and GameBoy Advance SP.

I think it means an end of an era. And i still haven't got a GBA SP myself. :banghead:

[subbie]

I think it sucks they would kill the GB line. I personaly still think GBA > DS.

[WolverineDK]

I think it sucks too, I think the DS is a piece of crap really ! And yes I have tried it, and I am not impressed.

[Tachikoma]

Same here, the GBA SP and to a lesser extend the Micro are perfect "leave one in your pocket" gaming devices, the DS is too cumbersome... and the games are IMHO shit in comparison to GBA games. 3D on the DS is fucking terrible, yet they insist on making nearly everything in 3D, anything not 3D is a goddamn puzzle that you can get in the back of every newspaper.

[Matthijscoman]

They´re killing the most brilliant videogaming brand IMO. With that, it makes me wonder how they´ll name the next handheld. DS advance? Something more lame? I hoped the gameboy returned after the DS died, but I guess that won´t happen now.

[limey]

There was a wired blog a while back, where Harrison said that Iwata had urged "Game Boy will take its own course, so put all of your energy and muscle behind the Nintendo DS, and let's get on track where we need to be". In short, the 2 lines were seen to be competing with each other.

Losing the iconic GB moniker is quite a step, but personally, I'll mourn the GB-advance form factor the most - it's simply the most convient to carry gaming system I've ever owned.

[Tatsujin]

first, the micro can't play GB(C) games, only GBA.
2nd, the GBA games won't be dead in near future. for sure not in japan, since new releases still coming over and over into the shelves. don't know about oversea releases.

[MottZilla]

They are being idiots if they don't continue the Gameboy line. Similar to Wii, Nintendo needs to stop with trying to break traditional gaming. GBA was a great platform and would be awesome to see brought to the next level. NDS is like a mutated GBA which is technically superior, but not all that much. Nintendo should put out a new GameBoy. Fully backwards compatible, higher resolution, faster cpu, more robust graphic and sound. That's not all that hard is it?

I like the DS but I don't like all the touch screen stuff. It's nice from time to time but always is a chore. And I'm still disappointed in the low resolution and it seems like no real attempt made to really bring certain genres to it. There's Nanostray for shooters... There's nothing for fighting. No beatemups that I know of. It's sad. PSP atleast has the right idea. Be a portable gam console.

[WolverineDK]

It certainly looks like I am going to save up for a gamecube with a GB adaptor to it .

[MindChild]

I heart my Gameboy color... and the fact that games are no more than a $5.

[3do]

losing the gameboy name is just showing the wrong direction they are going in, portable gaming has had one solid name that everyone knows and uses and that is GAMEBOY.

sure the ds has touch screen and all but what nintendeo should do now is concentrate on a purly gaming handheld with the gameboy name. If they take the style of the ds lite and gba micro but really portable, do proper hi res fully 3d graphics, wifi for (multiplayer + chat and updates only), leave out the fancy touch screen no mp3,video or internet then we could see a really amazing portable gamning machine

[JamesMichael]

An end to a great era. I myself like some people here think gameboy advance is better than the DS I mean the DS is good but I like a pad a lot more than anything else so thats why I still don't have a Wii and I think the PSP is better for me than the DS. Shame really because I thought the N64 was one of the best consoles of all time and today its still one of my best just like the first gameboy. I feel like its the end of buying Nintendo hardware for me and will just stick to Microsoft and Sony.

[Shadowlayer]

Well guys thats what happens when so much praise goes into something that most people considered an experiment...

nintendo got arrogant and how they think that no matter how powerful the PS3 and a Zune-console may be, since the Wii did outsell the PS3 and the DS kiked PSP in the ass now they can burn any other ships they had (GB) and continue releasing stuff that more weird and annoying than innovative and fun to play.

I tell ya, if PSP and DS were 50/50 in the market (or 65/35 like the Genesis and Snes) nintendo would've already replaced the DS, or launched a GBA2 at the same time so those who want to touch get the DS (pervs....) and those who wants graphics get the GBA2.

[GodofHardcore]

All good things come to an end.

There was a rumor the Next Gameboy would take Gamecube discs. I guess that wasn't true.

[1080Peter]

Thing is, the DS can function as a as a GameBoy and I'm not talking about the backwards compatibility. I actually praise developers who have no qualms in releasing a game with purely button controls, or both buttons and stylus separately, so long as it benefits the game. The touch screen and microphone are only options, in my opinion, and developers shouldn't necessarily need to develop for those ASSUMING the game plays fine/better without them.

Diddy Kong Racing fails this test; touch controls were shoehorned in and actually made it worse.

[GodofHardcore]

I think the DS is amazing and I've been showing it more love lately. with my 360 out of commison for an unknown amount of time. I gotta spend more time with my DS.

On the other hand my PSP is just sitting there not being used.

[1080Peter]

Yeah, the DS certainly does bring up possibilities not possible on the original Gameboy lines... But that doesn't mean the established button-only control method is forsaken.

It's just that there are games that make so much sense on the DS. Case in point: Elite Beat Agents (or Ouendans 1+2, all from INIS, makers of Gitaroo Man). I played that game last December at a demo station, failed miserably on the levels I tried out, but grew addicted. The simple "tap tap tap" along with the music just sealed the deal for me. The next January, I was the proud owner of a black DS lite and rotely memorizing patterns with no skill necessary (according to Assembler, ;D).

[jp.]

They are being idiots if they don't continue the Gameboy line. Similar to Wii, Nintendo needs to stop with trying to break traditional gaming.

Why? Its what makes them money.

For all intents and purposes the N64 and Gamecube were failures (yes, I know, Nintendo made money and were happy to do so, but in the grand scheme of things, neither machine was very successful).

Hell, Nintendo probably thought the PSP was going to be the final nail in the coffin for them. Sony comes out with some all purpose multi-media handheld that plays "pretty" games and takes handheld gaming to a new level that Nintendo wasn't ready to go to.

So what does Nintendo do? Comes up with something different. Something quircky, something that hasn't really been explored before. They make the DS. Next thing they know the DS is a cultural phenomena in virtually EVERY region while the PSP is slowly being forgotten.

So Nintendo decides they can make lightning strike twice. They make the Wii. They make the Wii and they make A LOT of consoles and boast that their's will be the console you can actually FIND during the holiday season.

Now its looking like you won't be able to snag one easily until after this COMING holiday season.

Nintendo struck gold and they know this. They know they don't have to waste their time coming up with a new machine every 5 years and worrying about being graphically superior than the competition or worry about what features they'll cram in. Nintendo knows they can just throw some shit together, make some fun games, add in a gimmick, and BAM! Everyone buys it.

Its funny really, shortly before and after the DS came out Nintendo always spoke of a three-tiered business model. "The Gameboy line, the DS, and their consoles." Once the DS became the fastest selling console ever such talk ceased to exist and most everyone forgot about it. But if the DS had only served what I imagine its original purpose was (hold off the PSP until Nintendo could make a new Gameboy to compete), then I imagine we'd have a new GB coming soon and the Wii would be non-existent (hell, Nintendo might've just stuck with the Gamecube, or quit bothering with consoles all together).

But thanks to Sony threatening them in the handheld market and forcing them to make a gamble... Nintendo's pretty much found their sweet spot and have it made (and is pretty much in line to dominate the market again). Kinda ironic idn't it? ;-)

[Jamtex]

Neither the Wii or DS did anything new, Wiimote? Some of the technology was used in a more simple form in the Powerglove... which is coming up to 20 years old. DS? Touch screen? Hmm there's me thinking that the Apple Newton / Palm Pilot did that many years ago...

Nintendos biggest challenge is going to be what they can do to improve the DS and Wii, and lets think about it, most of the top selling DS games in Japan that have been great sellers are games that could have been done on inferior hardware, hell most of them could have been done on the Palm Pilot, see palm you missed a trick there... even the Wii games that have sold in large numbers could have been done on the Gamecube, I'm talking about you Zelda, Paper Mario, etc... Nintendo are likely to have to improve the CPU / Graphics of the next machine and still probably keep the Wiimote, but will it go the same way as the Tamagotchi and people will get bored of playing games in the same basic way all over again?

It's sad that Nintendo didn't called the DS the Gameboy DS as that would have taken the legacy a lot further. Sad to see that the best selling games of all time are mainly on the Gameboy...

[GodofHardcore]

well remember Jamtex Paper mario and zelda WERE CUBE GAMES at one point before coming to wii.