Now that we know the origin of the Game Boy, let’s take a look at what makes it tick.
Engineers at Nintendo were faced with a problem – “How can we take the incredible graphics of the Nintendo Entertainment System, remove the color, halve the resolution, and do it all while requiring a mere 4AA batteries/minute?”
The solution was to combine the finest green LCD panel with the most powerful CPU outside of a solar powered scientific calculator.
The Game Boy was capable of displaying a baffling 4 shades of green, varying from “I faintly see some green that’s darker than the green the screen always is” to “that’s a very dark green, right there”
Your controls are fairly standard, with “A”, “B”, “Select” and “Start”. Though some Game Boys shipped with the elusive Nintendo PowerPad, making it possible to unfurl the pad and do some impromptu jogging on the spot.
Coming up: The exciting conclusion – the Top 10 Game Boy releases of 1989.
