After the massive success that was the NES, Nintendo once again pioneered another gaming market with the launch of its handheld Game Boy system in 1989. Designed by Satoru Okada, Gunpei Yokoi, and their team at Nintendo's Research and Development department, the Game Boy would take the world by storm by offering players the ability to play popular titles on the go. While not the most technically advanced handheld system on the market at its launch, the Game Boy stood out from its competitors with a more affordable price point and host of must-have launch titles.
Today, the Game Boy is remembered for more than just its iconic design, dot-matrix screen, and memorable start-up jingle. It was its library of games that propelled the Game Boy to stardom and led to Nintendo's eventual handheld market domination. Players might remember classic titles like Super Mario Land or Tetris for their novelty on a portable system, but there were a handful of other titles early-adopters could enjoy that launched alongside the platform in 1989.
Every North American Launch Title for the Game Boy
Although notable games like The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Kirby's Dream Land, and the system's best-selling titles Pokemon Red and Blue wouldn't release until later in the console's life, the games that did launch with the system were important in their own right. As a console designed for on the go play, puzzle games were a perfect fit for the Game Boy, and it received two of them at launch. The first was Alleyway developed by Intelligent Systems, which wasn't anything special being mostly just a clone of Atari's iconic Breakout. However, it did offer bonus rounds, alternating stages, and hazards in a portable package to differentiate from its inspiration.
The other puzzle game to launch with the Game Boy was Tetris, a port of the 1984 title that would go on to have massive success becoming the second-highest selling game for the system. Tetris was perfect for the Game Boy with its simplistic graphics that could be seen on the dot-matrix screen and easy to understand falling-block gameplay. The game likely wouldn't have become the iconic title it is today if it hadn't paired so nicely with the Game Boy's pick-up-and-play design.
Sports games were also a feature of the Game Boy's launch, with two games simply titles Tennis and Baseball releasing alongside the system. These two Nintendo-developed titles were handheld ports of the NES games by the same names that offered simple ways to play these sports in video game format. Due to the hardware constraints of translating the games from the NES to a handheld, concessions had to be made to fit the games on the smaller screen of the Game Boy. While they didn't offer much more than their NES versions, the novelty of a console quality game on the go was enough to entice players to check out these titles.
The final launch title for the Game Boy was developed to capitalize on the popularity of Nintendo's platforming mascot, Mario, to sell the handheld system. Super Mario Land was the first appearance of the plumber on a handheld device and was intended to translate the gameplay of Super Mario Bros. to the portable format. Despite the inferior graphics of the console, Super Mario Land on Game Boy captured fans attention with its promise of a console-level experience on a handheld platform. The success of this title, along with the popularity of its future system-sellers, cemented the Game Boy's legacy in the gaming world.