Why the GameBoy won

[HiFiInsider]

I still have original GB with Tetris game and it works today. lol...

[AirLancer]

It was also ridiculously durable. My mom threw mine out of the 5th story window of our apartment. I went out back where it had landed in some dirt, and it was completely undamaged.

[Peter_Parker]

Nintendo understood early that quality games is what matters the most.

[jamesmott]

I had one in 1989. It was a game changer. I loved it.

[thehound]

They were so cool back in the day. I don't suppose the kids would be impressed by them today, seeing as they have access to much better games on their phones. But the Gameboy was great at the time.

[TheTriumfAnt]

I chose the Sega Game Gear partly because of the better screen. It ate batteries so I only used it plugged in. Kind of defeated the purpose.

[Soulintent]

The gameboy line of consoles were incredible. My top 5 consoles go snes, gba, gb/gbc, ps4, gamecube. Its amazing that 2 of those slots can be taken by handheld consoles. Some of the best games of all time are on those little things.

[felixar]

I think Sega probably designed the GameGear working with the assumption that cold fusion would be publicly available before the end of the development cycle…

[Portuducks]

One thing Nintendo did not cheap out on was the capacitors. Find me a Game Gear, Lynx, or TurboExpress that still works as intended without any repairs done to it.

[ecospider]

The Game Boy requirements were definitely not thought up by an engineer. 😁

[FueledbyJohn]

Nintendo and the weathered vine approach, ruddy legends. 🙌

[MJeep]

I had both a game boy and a Gamegear when I was a kid in the '90s I know with all the Sega one was superior and almost every way gaming wise It was bigger heavier and absolutely annihilated batteries which it took significantly more of. As a kid on a long car drive I would definitely rather have a smaller lighter and lesser gaming system if the two AA batteries in it lasted 10 times as long as the six double a batteries in the Gamegear.

[biocalicoe]

I had both the Game Gear and Game Boy. I understand why Nintendo succeeded, with a better and bigger catalog and battery life.
And that's also very important when you plan to take your console for a long road trip or a plane. Game Boy would perform just right but the Game Gear would need some extra battery packs to make it.
However, I remember that Nintendo's small and unlit screen made a terrible experience overall. You had to either use strange accessories (like a magnifying glass with light) or ending up with a headache by the end of you journey.

[monster_]

True, because the Gamegear might have been superior but the portableness was lacking. It would run through the six AA batteries that it required ☠️

[StevieCooper]

Also, I remember my neighbour getting Pokemon and the three of us, trying to work out what to was going on.
Now, between my brother and I, we hold some very rare Pokémon cards.

[faenethlorhalien]

Good points. I do remember, as I was a kid then, that I didn't care about it. I am well aware that portable systems have always been 1-2 generations behind proper ones in tech, but a B/W one with a crap screen was a bit too much to ask. My Spectrum had better graphics, let that sink in.
I liked the Game Gear better, and if I had ever seen a Lynx, I might have seized up, but those systems were expensive. I played a GG once as my brother borrowed one from a friend of his and the screen looked blurry, but it was a cool system. But, in the end, I have never ever been a portable game player, because I could find better quality games for the PC or the console I would connect into the TV.

[HipposHateWater]

It was cheap, durable as hell, and insanely efficient in a time where each and every "recharge" tangibly cost you money.

[armchairwarrior]

I love my game boy as a kid, my mom got rid of it. When I got older. She gotten rid of all my toys lol. When I wasn't looking.

[TheAmericanAmerican]

The OG Pokémon Gameboy games and the trading cards were my entire preteen years!

[djkanyetwitty]

I'm just glad I got mine at 11 years old when it first went to retail and I avoided the dumbass Pokemon crap entirely