Overview:
Release:
Japan: April 1989
USA: August 1989
Europe: 1990

Spesifications:
CPU: Custom 8-bit Sharp processor
Palette: 4 shades of gray
Resolution: 160x144
Battery Life: ~35 hours

Peripherals:
-Game Boy Battery Pack
-Game Link Cable
-Game Boy Camera
-Game Boy Printer

Other:
Approximately 70 million units sold worldwide
Top selling game: Tetris (pack in)/Pokemon Red/Blue

Released originally in 1989, the Game Boy had a rather long run with the last game, Pokemon Yellow, being released as late as in 2000 in Europe. The Game Boy was by far the most successful handheld in it's generation, beating the Atari Lynx by a landslide. This due to the Lynx' high price ($179, twice as high as the GB's $89) and extremely low battery life (4 hours as opposed to the GB's 35), in addition to the Lynx being generally clumpy and uncomfortable. The Lynx had far superiour hardware though, with a backlit colour screen and better graphics. The Game Boy, of course, had neither colours or a backlit screen.

The GB also benefitet from great, addicting games such as the Pokemon series, Tetris, the Super Mario Land series and The Legend of Zelda: Link's awakening. Tetris was sold with the system in many areas and sold loads of systems alone, many gamers buying a GB simply for playing Tetris on the go.