The Game Boy (ゲームボーイ Gēmu Bōi?), commonly abbreviated as GB, is an 8-bit handheld game console which was developed and manufactured by Nintendo and first released in the 100th anniversary of Nintendo in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America on July 31, 1989 and in Europe on September 28, 1990. It is the first handheld console in the Game Boy line and was created and published by Satoru Okada and Nintendo Research & Development 1. This same team, led by Gunpei Yokoi at the time, is credited with designing the Game & Watch series as well as several popular games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Redesigned versions were released in 1996 and 1998 in the form of Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Light (Japan only), respectively.
The Game Boy is Nintendo's first handheld game console and it combined features from both the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game & Watch. It was sold either as a standalone unit or bundled with the puzzle game Tetris.
During its early lifetime, the Game Boy mainly competed with Sega's Game Gear, Atari's Lynx, and NEC's TurboExpress. The Game Boy outsold its rivals and became a significant success. The Game Boy and its successor, the Game Boy Color, have sold over 118 million units worldwide. Upon the Game Boy's release in the United States, its entire shipment of one million units was sold within a few weeks. Production of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color were discontinued in the early 2000s, being replaced by the subsequent Game Boy Advance, released in 2001.
Game Boy Color
The Game Boy Color, commonly abbreviated as GBC, is the successor to the original Game Boy and is part of the Game Boy family. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November.
The GBC features a color screen rather than monochrome, but it is not backlit. It is slightly thicker and taller and features a slightly smaller screen than the Game Boy Pocket, its immediate predecessor in the Game Boy line. As with the original Game Boy, it has a custom 8-bit processor made by Sharp that is considered a hybrid between the Intel 8080 and the Zilog Z80. The American English spelling of the system's name, Game Boy Color, remains consistent throughout the world.