You can take it with you: Nintendo handheld retrospective
by Alisha Karabinus 
{ Jul 14th 2008 at 11:00AM }
Tomorrow is the big day -- Nintendo's E3 2008 media briefing. Will there be a new DS? A new handheld altogether? A new array of DS Lite colors instead? Nearly anything is possible, and while we wait, bouncing up and down on our toes and struggling to remember to breathe through the excitement, it's a good time to look back at the history of Nintendo's handhelds. From the extensive Game & Watch collection to a few portables you may have forgotten, Nintendo has a rich and storied handheld history, and it's one we celebrate every day -- just not like this. |
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| Step forward into the past |
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kimiko @ Jul 14th 2008 11:15AM
Hey, someone actually spelled 'bated breath' correctly! That's too rare these days..
aj @ Jul 14th 2008 1:22PM
Someone spelling anything correctly is a miracle these days.
I read the word "threw" used in place of "through" today from someone in a professional setting. Oh God, why?
Alisha Karabinus @ Jul 14th 2008 7:59PM
I too hate it when someone writes "baited" breath. I always wonder how they're luring it in. Cold hard cash? Lots of carbon dioxide to complement the oxygen? Who knows!
Zealot @ Jul 15th 2008 1:10AM
Although I'm a mid-class grammar/spelling Nazi myself, I can kind of understand the mass misspelling of "bated" as "baited", considering that the verb "bate" is quickly slipping into forgotten English. One will sometimes still hear "abate", but never the other form.
Nigeria @ Jul 14th 2008 11:42AM
I had a Game and Watch, the Zelda one. It came with the NES my mother brought for me when I was a young boy...
And I loved it, I really did. I can't really remember much about it but Link was in it - that's quite obvious, actually. I used to use it as an alarm clock for school. Good times. Too bad it got boosted out my backpack by someone, though.
Eric @ Jul 14th 2008 1:00PM
Do the Fanboy sites ever do any fact-checking? I pointed out an error on Wii Fanboy last week.
In the Game Boy Pocket slide, you say that it required two AAA batteries instead of the Game Boy's six.
It took 4 AA.
aj @ Jul 14th 2008 1:23PM
It was the Sega Game Gear took 6 AA batteries, and I think that's why it failed. That, and the 6 AA batteries would run out in about ten minutes.....
Alisha Karabinus @ Jul 14th 2008 8:00PM
Boy, one error a week and we're in the doghouse!
I've fixed it.
Eric @ Jul 14th 2008 10:08PM
I didn't mean to be rude... I got a little excited.
ecco6t9 @ Jul 15th 2008 12:15AM
I am just glad someone else pointed out the real reason the Micro failed was due to timing and not size.
I wouldn't mind a Micro sized DS next.
Mr Khan @ Jul 14th 2008 5:49PM
A solid trip down memory lane
Though some mention of software might've been nice
Alisha Karabinus @ Jul 14th 2008 8:01PM
Why mention it? We're all just playing it all again and again, in remade form. ;)
Zealot @ Jul 15th 2008 1:18AM
Ah, so many colors, even within one iteration. I never actually stuck with one color consistently. My progression was Game Boy Pocket (cobalt) -> Game Boy Color (teal) -> Game Boy Advance -> (translucent purple; I think the official name was "glacier") -> GBA SP (limited edition NES scheme) -> DS Phat (silver, but the only color at launch. I would have taken the cobalt one if I had a choice) -> Game Boy Micro (Famicom edition).
Later on I went back to get the earliest model, and got the original off-white Game Boy as well as a translucent Play it Loud version. I'm on a mission to get every color of GB Pocket/GB Color I can, but most people still want insane prices for theirs at yard sales and flea markets--$20+ usually. I also have a Virtual Boy, a pink GBA, and a purple (Smoochum?) Pokemon Mini. You can get Minis for next to nothing on ebay, but the few games they made for it are extremely rare. I only have the one that came bundled with it. I'm too young to have had a Game and Watch, and have actually never seen one in person before. They're rarer than a lot of you older gamers might realize.