Nintendo moving to retire Game Boy

GameDaily is reporting that Nintendo is apparently set to retire the Game Boy brand name ... at least for now. The Nintendo DS has become such a strong component of Nintendo's gaming strategy that it's almost completely overshadowing the original Game Boy line: something that wasn't predicted when the DS hit the market a few years ago.

Since the first Game Boy model went on sale in 1989, the line has sold a staggering 200 million units, from the original "spinach-green screen" Game Boy to the Game Boy Advance SP Mark II.

I bought my first Game Boy - the original - in 1993 to play on the plane during my trip to Belgium. I played the heck out of that lil' unit (still have it in great condition too) and accumulated quite a library of games for it. Then the Game Boy Color came out in 1998: the moment I heard that Game Boy was finally going color, I knew that I had to upgrade. The day after that Christmas, I went all over town trying to find a Game Boy Color and ended up buying one (it was the purple translucent model) at the Target off Wendover Avenue in Greensboro. That one went everywhere with me and was quite a faithful companion when I moved to Asheville a little over a year later.

Then for our first Christmas since getting married, Lisa gave me a Game Boy Advance. I think I played it for about 5 minutes on Christmas Day 'cuz Lisa couldn't let go of it! The next day we went and got her one too and used to play against each other with that link-up cable. Then for Christmas 2005 when the Game Boy Advance SP with the brighter light-up screen came out, I got that for her as a Christmas present and she gave me a Nintendo DS. So in one form or another, portable Nintendo gaming has been a part of our lives for most of the past decade and a half. So many fond memories ...

I might do a feature at some point about all-time best (and worst) Game Boy games. In the meantime, it's sad to see Nintendo retiring a long-respected brand. But by any standard, it has had quite an enviable run for a video game system!