Nintendo Game Boy Color
For nearly ten years following the Game Boy's release in 1989
Nintendo thoroughly dominated the handheld video game market. By
1998, designer Gumpei Yokoi's creation had sold over 60 million
units worldwide. Companies like Sega and Atari tried to break into
the portable game industry by introducing color platforms but were
unable to make an impact. The monochrome Game Boy trounced its
competition due to a combination of quality, affordability, battery
efficiency and a superior library of game titles. In November 1998,
Nintendo finally introduced a successor, or in movie terms, released
a "color remake," to its legendary Game Boy system.
In the mid-1990s, Nintendo attempted to build on the phenomenal
success of Game Boy by starting the development of a revolutionary
new 32-bit color handheld platform code-named Project Atlantis. This
proposed system never made it past the developmental stages and
instead on November 18, 1998 (October 21, 1998 in Japan), Nintendo
released the Game Boy Color in North America. The Game Boy Color was
not the groundbreaking handheld console the company had originally
planned, it was mostly an updated and improved version of the
original 8-bit Game Boy system. At its launch the U.S. retail price
of Game Boy Color was $79.95 and was available in only 2 colors:
"Grape" and "see-thru Atomic Purple."
Like the Game Boy, the Game Boy Color is powered by a Z-80
processor, however the color version has been customized to run at
twice the clock speed (4.28 MHz) as the original (2.14 MHz). Sharp
manufactures the Z80 processor in Game Boy Color as well as the
2.3-square-inch TFT (Thin-Film Transistor) color LCD display screen.
In the past, the purchase of a color portable game system meant that
inevitably a lot of money would be spent on batteries. The Game Boy
Color, with its highly efficient TFT (Thin-Film Transistor) color
screen from Sharp, broke this rule. The system is capable of
displaying 56 colors onscreen simultaneously from a palette of more
than 32,000 and is extremely battery efficient. It requires 2 AA
batteries that last an average of ten hours during continuous play
(though there is also a "high speed" CPU mode that consumes battery
power at a greater rate).
Another factor that contributed to Game Boy Color's great battery
mileage is that its liquid crystal display is not backlit, instead
it is highly reflective and can be played in direct sunlight and
virtually any situation but total darkness. While a non-backlit
screen may appear to be a limitation, it does provide a tremendous
boost in battery economy. The Sharp-designed TFT screen represents
an improvement over the original's giving a crisp edge to images and
eliminating blurring problems.
On the top of the Game Boy Color case there is an infrared
communications port which allows low rate data transfers between two
consoles. Players can exchange game data information from one Game
Boy Color to another without a cable (though for head-to-head play a
cable is still required). The Game Boy's two player abilities have
also been speeded up with the Game Boy Color's Game Link Port which
features a data transfer rate that is 64 times faster than the
original's.
Another important feature that Nintendo has provided Game Boy Color
with is that it is backward compatible with original Game Boy game
titles. There are 3 different types of Game Boy Game Paks that will
work with the Game Boy Color:
1. "Original" - when an original Game Boy Pak is inserted into the
Game Boy Color's slot, a palette of 4 to ten colors is added over
the monochrome game in effect "colorizing" it. Original Game Paks
can be used on both the Game Boy and Game Boy Color.
2. "Dual mode" - A Dual Mode Game Pak contains two different
versions of the same game, one for the original Game Boy using 4
shades of gray and one that is capable of displaying 56 colors (out
of a palette of 32,000) that can be played only on Game Boy Color.
Dual Mode Game Paks can be used on both the Game Boy and Game Boy
Color.
3. "Dedicated" - A Dedicated Game Pak offers enhanced colors and
graphics and has been programmed to run only on Game Boy Color.
The Game Boy Color's RAM (random access memory) has also been
expanded to 32K from the original's 8K. Because the Game Boy Color
features a 16K graphics buffer, 512 tiles can be displayed on screen
at once compared to 256 for the Game Boy.
The games that were released at the North American launch of the
Game Boy Color were Game & Watch Gallery 2, Tetris DX, and Bomberman
Pocket. Nintendo also has plans to release a Game Boy Color Pak that
features a built-in rumble capability. By the end of December 1998
Nintendo claimed to have shipped approximately 5 million units of
Game Boy Color worldwide. Six months after its launch by May 1999,
the Game Boy Color has averaged sales of 94,000 units per week in
the United States. Also by May 1999, of the 30 top-selling Game Boy
titles, 19 were for the Game Boy Color.
— Dave Beuscher
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