History Of Portable Gaming Discussed

Thanks to Boomtown for the first part of their ongoing series, discussing the early history of handheld videogames. They start off with the Milton Bradley Microvision, which "actually arrived ten years prior to the release of the Game Boy", in 1979, and then discuss "Nintendo's famous line of simple portable LCD video games", the Game & Watch series, before covering the classic original Nintendo Game Boy, and "the world's first color handheld", the attractive but ultimately doomed Atari Lynx.

Comments

History

[Anonymous Coward]

Bah, damned youngins! I had portable gaming long before this -- twas called a ball. Hell, it even handled multi-player pretty well.

Microvision article looks fishy

[LookSharp]

The link to the Microvision states:

"Microvision was introduced by Milton Bradley in 1982. ... Milton Bradley rolled out just two new cartridges in 1980, and a final two in 1981."

So, was it released in 1979, or 1982? And:

"...an initial release of seven cartridges... two new cartridges in 1980, and a final two in 1981 ... With a small library of 10 titles..."

So seven plus two plus two equals ten? (Must be midwestern college math, where the "Big Ten" actually has 11 teams :)

Just seems like a strange set of mistakes for one article.

Are 3d games on portable console likely to exists?

[imperator_mundi]

At present day portable games are more or less equivalent to console game of early 90 (i.e. GBA SP is more or less a portable SNES) on a smaller screen, now the question is if it's possible to do the transition to 3d games with this kind displays.

Otherwise it will be interesting to see the direction in wich the genres of "portable games" (or better games for portable devices) will evolve (Just one thing is sure, we will see more and even more Pokemons).

GameBoy

[vasqzr]

I think the reasons why the Game Boy was the most/only successful portable gaming system were:

1. Cheap. The color units were very expensive.
2. Fun games. Nintendo was ruling the homes with the NES and it only made sense to make GameBoy versions of the games. Third parties had a ton of success here too.
3. Battery life. 30 hours. The color units didn't last nearly as long and some required more than 4 AA batteries.

The screen was tiny, the sound was bad, and the spinach green graphics left lots to be desired.

Compare Tecmo Bowl on GameBoy to Joe Montana on Game Gear. You'd think the GameBoy would never have seen the light of day.

The Game Gear was $179.99 when it first came out and the Game Boy was around $99.99 I think...

Re:GameBoy

[cynicalman]

I think the reasons why the Game Boy was the most/only successful portable gaming system were

<david_letterman voice="top_ten">

One word: Tetris.

</david_letterman>

Turbo Express

[displague]

When did the Turbo Express come out? This site gives the specs on the Turbo Express, which could play ALL of your normal Turbo Grafix 16 games (which beat the pants off most Genesis and some SNES games).

It had nice color, good portability, and a wide selection of TG-16 Hu-Cards to choose from. The games were even smaller than Game Boy cartridges!!

I have a Vectrex - NOT portable

[hirschma]

There is no way that a Vectrex could be considered portable :)

The unit is about the same size and weight as an old-time all-in-one-Mac (in fact, it is so similar that most folks that see it think it IS a Mac with a built-in portrait screen). Batteries are out of the question, and the built-in CRT is simply too fragile to take too many knocks.

Yes, it has a handle on top, but I doubt that any of its owners were lugging it to school very often.

I will say that it is very fun little system, and can't be beat for games like Star Castle and Asteroids - absolute clones of the originals due to the vector graphics employed.

Re:Are 3d games on portable console likely to exis

[h0mer]

I don't think 3D will make the same splash on portables as it did on the previous generation of consoles. The Sony PSP will most likely have 3D capability, and the N-Gage (which comes out this week) can do 3D as well. The problem is field of view. For now, the LCDs are too small and too low resolution to have decent 3D movement. I think trying to play something like Super Mario 64 on a tiny screen would be an exercise in frustration.

3D will be used, this I'm sure of, but it won't be for platform type games. I imagine you'll see 3D used in racing/flight games, and probably some psuedo-3D games such as Klonoa 1/2.

Let's not forget that portable games are generally played for shorter periods of time. It's much easier to pick up a 2D game and think "Ok I have to keep going right" than a 3D game where you have to orient yourself before you know where to go.

I think me and countless others look at the GBA as our 2D sanctuary. Let's hope that doesn't change anytime soon.

Geez, it's like the 70's never existed.

[Rimbo]

Remember that old football game? The same line of games also had basketball, baseball, and at one point they came out with Super Football that allowed you to pass!

And then of course was Parker Bros' MERLIN from 1978. That was one of my favorite road-trip toys ever.

Remember all of the little portable Pac-Man and Space Invaders type games?

I think there's an entire generation grown up now who think that every video game and cartoon ever made was done in Japan.

Re:Geez, it's like the 70's never existed.

[Rimbo]

There were actually 2 -- Football (later "Football I") and Football 2. The "Classic" is "Football 2." The revised versions use backlit LCD displays; the originals used bright-as-the-sun LED's.

Mattel had a whole line-up of portable electronic games that were initially sold through Sears. The first one, Auto Race, was in 1976, which makes it THE first portable all-electronic handheld game.

My love affair with portable gaming.

[VermifugeRT]

Yes, I posted this on the site too, but it's rare for me to write as much on any subject so I thought I would share.

As a kid I ha a number of these game and watch systems, including the double screen donkey Kong. Portable gaming ever since has been a big part of my daily life.

I had a GameBoy at launch. I think the price was about $89, and it came with Tetris. I was instantly fascinated ability to swap games just like my NES! I must have been 11 years old or so, and $89 was no small amount of money.

With a little convincing (and a lot of annoyance) My mother got me a game boy right at launch. I still have it, with all the games. It's in immaculate condition. The GameBoy traveled with me every where. To school, Vacations or even just as far as my back yard. No I wasn't a very active child.

As the 16 Bit era ushered out the 8 bit cpu the market changed, as did the portable gaming scene. With it came my favorite gaming system, and portable of all time. The NEC Turbo Grafx 16! The Turbo Grafx 16 never had enough respect state side. Its Japanese counterpart the PC Engine was a phenomenal success in Japan. Because of this it spawned of several variations of the hardware including the PC Engine Core systems, The PC Engine Shuttle, PC Engine LT, Super Grafx and the PC Engine GT!

Ah the PC Engine GT. Other wise known as the Turbo Express. Was, and a way still is the best portable game system ever made. It wasn't a complete dog on battery life like the Lynx (which I did enjoy but never owned.) It featured dimensions similar to the GameBoy with an active matrix screen. The best since passed or present ever featured on a portable game system. Sure it had a few poor pixels but it was better looking and more visible then even the GameBoy Advance SP.

I loved this system! It played the same games as my Turbo Grafx 16 and was light years ahead of my game boy. Sadly its high price of $299 (back in 1992) was and still is restrictive. I just could not justify traveling with such a pricy pricey of tech. Because of this it mostly stayed at home.

Now I am a happy owner of the GameBoy Advance (Both the classic and SP.) Its low price point makes it "disposable" and I do so much commuting. It's also the best showcase for some of the best 16 bit 2D gaming the 90's had to offer. With new classic like Advance Wars and Final Fantasy : Tactics, the GBA continues to be one of my all time favorite gaming systems only matched by the failed yet amazing NEC Super Grafx.