Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: When did the Game Boy come out?
Though it was less technically advanced than the Lynx and other competitors, the Game Boy's excellent battery life and rugged hardware and the popularity of the bundled "Tetris" and other games made it much more successful. In its first two weeks in Japan, from its release on April 21, 1989, the entire stock consisting of 300,000 units was sold; a few months later, the Game Boy's release in the United States on July 31, 1989, saw 40,000 units sold on its first day. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color combined have sold 118.69 million units worldwide, with 32.47 million units in Japan, 44.06 million in the Americas, and 42.16 million in other regions. By Japanese fiscal year 1997, before Game Boy Color's release in late-1998, the Game Boy alone had sold 64.42 million units worldwide. At a March 14, 1994 press conference in San Francisco, Nintendo vice president of marketing Peter Main answered queries about when Nintendo was coming out with a color handheld system by stating that sales of the Game Boy were strong enough that it had decided to hold off on developing a successor handheld for the near future.
This red monochromatic 3-D "virtual reality" system failed due to issues related to players getting eye strain, stiff necks, and headaches when trying to play it, along with the console's price and unportability. It came out in 1995 and was Nintendo's first failed console release. Gunpei Yokoi, the designer of the platform and the person largely credited for the success of the original Game Boy handheld and the "Metroid" series of games, resigned from the company shortly after the Virtual Boy ceased sales in order to start his own company, although for reasons unrelated to the console's success. The Virtual Boy was included in a "Time" "50 Worst Inventions" list published in May 2010.
The Sega Genesis, known as the in regions outside of North America, is a 16-bit video game console that was developed and sold by Sega. First released in Japan in 1988, in North America in 1989 and in PAL regions in 1990, the Genesis is Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. The system supports a library of more than 700 games created both by Sega and a wide array of third-party publishers and delivered on ROM cartridges. It can also play the complete library of Master System games when the separately sold Power Base Converter is installed. The Sega Genesis also benefited from numerous peripherals, including the Sega CD and Sega 32X, several network services, and multiple first-party and third-party variations of the console that focused on extending its functionality. The console and its games continue to be popular among fans, collectors, video game music fans, and emulation enthusiasts. Licensed third party re-releases of the console are still being produced, and several indie game developers continue to produce games for it. Many games have also been re-released in compilations for newer consoles and offered for download on various digital distribution services, such as Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Steam.
In 1972, the first commercially available video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, had a light gun accessory, the Shooting Gallery. This was the first involvement of Nintendo in video games. According to Martin Picard in the "International Journal of Computer Game Research": "in 1971, Nintendo had -- even before the marketing of the first home console in the United States -- an alliance with the American pioneer Magnavox to develop and produce optoelectronic guns for the Odyssey (released in 1972), since it was similar to what Nintendo was able to offer in the Japanese toy market in 1970s".
The Nintendo DSi (abbreviated to DSi) is a dual-screen handheld game console released by Nintendo. The console launched in Japan on November 1, 2008, and worldwide beginning in April 2009. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP). Development of the DSi began in late 2006, and the handheld was unveiled during an October 2008 Nintendo conference in Tokyo. Consumer demand convinced Nintendo to produce a slimmer handheld with larger screens than the DS Lite. Consequently, Nintendo removed the Game Boy Advance (GBA) cartridge slot to improve portability without sacrificing durability.
Pokémon is a series of video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo as part of the "Pokémon" media franchise. First released in 1996 in Japan for the Game Boy, the main series of role-playing video games (RPGs), also referred as the "core series" by their developers, has continued on each generation of Nintendo's handhelds.
The development of "Galactic Pinball" was managed by Gunpei Yokoi, who also created the Virtual Boy. It was directed by Kenji Yamamoto, who composed the sound alongside Masaru Tajima. It was shown during the Virtual Boy's Las Vegas debut alongside "Teleroboxer". It has been known at varying points as "Space Pinball", "Virtual Pinball", and "Pinball VB". It was one of the launch games for the Virtual Boy, and was released on July 21, 1995 in Japan and on August 14, 1995 in the United States. Like all Virtual Boy games, "Galactic Pinball" uses a red-and-black color scheme and parallax visuals to simulate three-dimensional depth.
Released July 15, 1983, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa and was Nintendo's first home video game console released outside Japan. In Japan, it is known as the "Family Computer" (or "Famicom", as it is commonly abbreviated). Selling 61.91 million units worldwide, the NES helped revitalize the video game industry following the video game crash of 1983 and set the standard for subsequent consoles in everything from game design to business practices. The NES was the first console for which the manufacturer openly courted third-party developers. Many of Nintendo's most iconic franchises, such as "The Legend of Zelda" and "Metroid" were started on the NES. Nintendo continued to repair Famicom consoles in Japan until October 31, 2007, attributing the decision to discontinue support to an increasing shortage of the necessary parts.
The original Xbox was released on November 15, 2001, in North America, February 22, 2002, in Japan, and March 14, 2002, in Australia and Europe. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market. As part of the sixth-generation of gaming, the Xbox competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast (which stopped American sales before the Xbox went on sale), and Nintendo's GameCube. The Xbox was the first console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996. The name Xbox was derived from a contraction of "DirectX Box", a reference to Microsoft's graphics API, DirectX.
In North America, a bundle containing an 80GB PlayStation 3, a DualShock 3 wireless controller, a downloadable game coupon for "Pain", and a copy of "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots" was released for US$499 on June 12, 2008, to coincide with the release of the standalone edition. Japan saw the release of the "Guns of the Patriots Welcome Box" that contains the game itself, a DualShock 3 controller, a Sixaxis controller, and a 40GB PlayStation 3 in either black, white or silver.
That same year saw the release of the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console which could be connected to a television set. The inventor, Ralph H. Baer, had initially had the idea in 1951 to make an interactive game on a television set. Unable to do so with the technological constraints at the time, he began work on a device that would attach to a television set and display games in 1966, and the "Brown Box", the last prototype of seven, was licensed to Magnavox to adapt and produce. They announced the console in May 1972, and it went on sale that September. The console and its games featured numerous innovations beyond being the first video game device for home consumers: it was the first game to use a raster-scan video display, or television set, directly displayed via modification of a video signal; it was also the first video gaming device to be displayed in a television commercial. It sold for US$100 and shipped with several games, including "Table tennis", which Bushnell had seen a demo of and which "Pong" had been based on. The Odyssey sold over 100,000 units in 1972, and more than 350,000 by the end of 1975, buoyed by the popularity of the table tennis game, in turn driven by the success of "Pong". "Pong" and the Odyssey kicked off a new era of video gaming, with numerous other competitors starting up in the video game industry as it grew in popularity.
The Game Boy's black-and-white graphics resulted in changes to Samus's gear that eventually became permanent. In the original "Metroid", color was used to differentiate between Samus's Power Suit and her Varia Suitan upgraded version. However, without color on the Game Boy, the two suits would have appeared similar, requiring the developers to develop a visual indicator for players to determine which suit Samus is wearing. They also updated her Varia Suit, adding round metal shoulders that have been a part of the suit in every game in the series since then. Nintendo R&D1 was also involved in developing the Game Boy Color, a successor to the original Game Boy with a color screen. Nintendo of America's Dan Owsen noted that Nintendo R&D1 included a special ""Metroid" palette" in the Game Boy Color's hardware, which "makes "Metroid II" look really, really nice on Game Boy Color", remarking that this made the game's graphics comparable to the original "Metroid" on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
"Gears of War" was an immediate hit upon its release. On November 7, 2006—the day that it was released—it became the most popular game on the Xbox Live service, until the release of "Halo 3", overtaking "Halo 2" which had held the spot since its launch in November 2004. "Gears" was the second most-played game on the Xbox Live service throughout 2007. "Gears of War" sold one million copies in its first two weeks on sale making it the fastest-selling Xbox 360 game to date. By January 19, 2007, just ten weeks after its debut, over three million units of the game had been sold. It received a "Double Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom. As of November 7, 2008, the game has sold 5.88 million copies worldwide. "Gears of War" was also the first Xbox or Xbox 360 game to sell out and reach the top ten charts in Japan.
One popular electronic gaming company, Nintendo changed the world of gaming. The founder of Nintendo, Fusajiro Yamauchi, initially created Japanese flower cards. These became a huge hit in the western world. Yamauchi Nintendo & Co. was their first company name, then in 1951, the company changed their name to Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. The company created a laser clay shooting system which many took on as a hobby. Nintendo then developed a 16mm projection system in 1974 which also became a huge hit in the western world. Six years later, Nintendo created “Donkey Kong”, a game in which the “Jumpman” has to rescue his girlfriend from the ape. They later named “Jumpman” to “Mario” after their office landlord. In 1984, the company created split screen multiplayer screens which changed video games forever. As it allowed multiple people to play at time, Super Mario Bros. interested most people in this type of game play. In 1989, the GameBoy was introduced and became the company’s most popular game console. As a result, many of the consoles that came after the Nintendo Gameboy were also very popular like the Nintendo DS, Wii, and DSi. When it comes to gaming consoles, the Nintendo products have been the most versatile systems. While most companies have created stationary systems, not meant to leave the living room, Nintendo has thrived off of mobile gaming systems. Specifically, according to the Nintendo Switch Website, “Nintendo Switch is designed to go wherever you go, transforming from home console to portable system in a snap. So you get more time to play the games you love, however you like.”
A radically altered version of "Silent Hill" was released for the Game Boy Advance. Titled "Play Novel: Silent Hill" and released only in Japan in 2001, it is a gamebook-style visual novel. It contains a retelling of "Silent Hill"s story through text-based gameplay, with the player occasionally confronted with questions concerning what direction to take the character, as well as the puzzles, which are a major part of "Silent Hill"s gameplay. After completing the game once, the player has the option of playing as Cybil in a second scenario, with a third made available for download once the second scenario has been completed. When the game was exhibited, Western critics were unimpressed, and criticized the lack of any soundtrack as severely detracting from the "horror" factor of the game.
Released in 1988, the Sega Genesis (known as the Sega Mega Drive in Japan, Europe and Brazil) was Sega's entry into the fourth generation of video game consoles. Selling 30.75 million units worldwide, the Genesis was the most successful console Sega ever released. The successor to the Genesis, the Sega Saturn, was released in Japan in 1994. The Saturn was a CD-ROM-based console that displayed both 2D and 3D computer graphics, but its complex dual-CPU architecture made it more difficult to program for than its chief competitor, the Sony PlayStation. Although the Saturn debuted before the PlayStation in both Japan and the United States, its surprise U.S. launch—which came four months earlier than originally scheduled—was marred by a lack of distribution, which remained a continuing problem for the system. Moreover, Sega's early release was undermined by Sony's simultaneous announcement that the PlayStation would retail for US$299—compared to the Saturn's initial price of $399. Nintendo's long delay in releasing a competing 3D console and the damage done to Sega's reputation by poorly supported add-ons for the Genesis (particularly the Sega 32X) allowed Sony to establish a foothold in the market. The PlayStation was immediately successful in the U.S., in part due to a massive advertising campaign and strong third-party support engendered by Sony's excellent development tools and liberal $10 licensing fee. Sony's success was further aided by a price war in which Sega lowered the price of the Saturn from $399 to $299 and then from $299 to $199 in order to match the price of the PlayStation–even though Saturn hardware was more expensive to manufacture and the PlayStation enjoyed a larger software library. Losses on the Saturn hardware contributed to Sega's financial problems, which saw the company's revenue decline between 1992 and 1995 as part of an industry-wide slowdown. Furthermore, Sega's focus on the Saturn over the Genesis prevented it from fully capitalizing on the continued strength of the 16-bit market.
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), also known as the Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Australasia (Oceania), and 1993 in South America. In Japan, the system is called the Super Famicom (SFC). In South Korea, it is known as the Super Comboy and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics. The system was released in Brazil on August 30, 1993, by Playtronic. Although each version is essentially the same, several forms of regional lockout prevent the different versions from being compatible with one another.
The game was publicly announced first at E3 2005, by means of a humorous and slightly abstract gag machinima using characters from "Metal Gear Solid 3", under the slogan of "No Place to Hide". The title was described as "essentially finished" by January 2008 and went through extensive beta testing. At Destination PlayStation on February 26, 2008, Sony announced that "MGS4" would be released worldwide on June 12, 2008, along with the special "MGS4" PlayStation 3 bundle. It was announced that "Guns of the Patriots" is the first PlayStation 3 game that uses a 50GB dual layer Blu-ray Disc even with the use of file compression.
The Sega Genesis, known as the in regions outside of North America, is a 16-bit home video game console developed and sold by Sega. The Genesis was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released the console as the Mega Drive in Japan in 1988, followed by North America as the Genesis in 1989. In 1990, the console was distributed as the Mega Drive by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe, Ozisoft in Australasia, and Tec Toy in Brazil. In South Korea, the systems were distributed by Samsung as the Super Gam*Boy and later the Super Aladdin Boy.
Metal Gear Solid is an action-adventure stealth video game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and released for the PlayStation in 1998. The game was directed, produced, and written by Hideo Kojima, and serves as a sequel to the MSX2 video games "Metal Gear" and "", which Kojima also worked on. The game started development in 1996 and was officially unveiled in the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 1997, before eventually releasing in late 1998.
Grand Theft Auto is an action-adventure video game developed by DMA Design and published by BMG Interactive. It was first released in Europe and North America in October 1997 for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. It was later re-released on 12 December 1997 in Europe and 30 June 1998 in North America for the PlayStation. It is the first instalment of the "Grand Theft Auto" series, to be followed by 1999's "Grand Theft Auto 2". The series, which has led to five main entries and several special edition games over 16 years, has sold more than 150 million units as of September 2013. The story follows a group of criminals in three fictionalised versions of US cities as they perform bank robberies, assassinations, and other illegal activities for their respective crime syndicates.
In July 21, 1996, Nintendo released the Game Boy Pocket: a smaller, lighter unit that required fewer batteries. It has space for two AAA batteries, which provide approximately 10 hours of gameplay. The unit is also fitted with a 3 volt, 2.35mm x 0.75mm DC jack which can be used to power the system. The Pocket has a smaller link port, which requires an adapter to link with the older Game Boy. The port design is used on all subsequent Game Boy models, excluding the Game Boy Micro. The screen was changed to a true black-and-white display, rather than the "pea soup" monochromatic display of the original Game Boy. Also, the Game Boy Pocket (GBP) has a larger screen than the Game Boy Color (GBC) that later superseded it. The GBP's screen has a diagonal, width, and height, compared to a diagonal for the GBC. Although like its predecessor, the Game Boy Pocket has no backlight to allow play in a darkened area, it did notably improve visibility and pixel response-time (mostly eliminating ghosting). The first version did not have a power LED. This was soon added due to public demand, along with new Game Boy Pocket units of different colors (released on April 28, 1997), some of them new to the Game Boy line. There were several limited-edition Game Boy Pockets, including a gold-metal model exclusive to Japan. The Game Boy Pocket was not a new software platform and played the same software as the original Game Boy model.
Released in June 2003 as the spiritual successor to the Super Game Boy, the Game Boy Player allows Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games to be played on a television screen via the Nintendo GameCube. The add-on attaches to the GameCube's base through the "Hi Speed" port on the bottom. On the front of the Game Boy Player is a link cable port, offering support for multiplayer gameplay, Game Boy Printer, and expanded e-Reader functionality. Essentially a Game Boy Advance designed to output to a television, the Game Boy Player uses the same colorization hardware and methods as the handheld system. Some Game Boy Advance games, such as "Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga", have enhanced gameplay (such as force feedback) when played on the Game Boy Player, while the Game Boy Advance Video series is intentionally incompatible with the Game Boy Player due to concerns of piracy.
The best-selling video game of all-time on the Game Boy and Game Boy Color is "Tetris". First released in Japan on June 14, 1989, "Tetris" was often released as a pack-in game for the original Game Boy, and went on to sell in excess of 35 million units worldwide. The second best-selling Game Boy games are "Pokémon Red", "Green" and "Blue", which sold over 31 million units combined, followed by the best-selling Game Boy Color games "Pokémon Gold" and "Silver", which sold over 23 million units in total. The top five is rounded out by the platform's first "Super Mario" title, "Super Mario Land", which sold over 18 million copies worldwide, and "Pokémon Yellow", which sold over 14 million units in total.
The Game Boy Pocket is a redesigned version of the original Game Boy having the same features. It was released in 1996. Notably, this variation is smaller and lighter. It comes in seven different colors; red, yellow, green, black, clear, silver, blue, and pink. It has space for two AAA batteries, which provide approximately 10 hours of game play. The screen was changed to a true black-and-white display, rather than the "pea soup" monochromatic display of the original Game Boy. Although, like its predecessor, the Game Boy Pocket has no backlight to allow play in a darkened area, it did notably improve visibility and pixel response-time (mostly eliminating ghosting).