The reign of Game Boy as the undisputed champion of handheld gaming is approaching its ninth year. A monstrously successful combination of a profitable launch, a strong resurgence with the Play It Loud campaign, and the introduction of Game Boy Pocket in '96 resulted in over 60 million units sold. Now, Nintendo is putting the proper pieces in place to ensure it remains king into the new millennium. Hot off the press, Nintendo of America declared two new varieties of their portable hero will be making its way to the market.
One special revision is called Game Boy Light. It will contain a backlit screen, like Sega's Game Gear, allowing one to play in the dark without use of a separate accessory. A switch on the top of the device lets players choose to turn on the light or leave the display as normal. It is slightly larger than the Game Boy Pocket and lasts about 12 hours on a single pair of batteries (AA, not AAA). The premier editions, launched in Japan-only as of April, are available in either a gold or silver shell. Looks sleek!
But this is the one we've been waiting for. After years of speculation, Nintendo finally verified rumors that a new Game Boy featuring color graphics will be released in 1998! Our team confirmed the Color Game Boy will display 56 bright colors out of a complete palette of 32,000 on a hi-tech, reflective screen to avoid glare outdoors. Color GB will utilize two AA batteries, and due to the energy-saving technology of the LCD, its battery life will be improved over GB Pocket. Its official debut will be taking place at E3.
