December 8th, 2014 by Benj Edwards
With great portable power comes great portable responsibility.
The box art for Game Boy’s launch titles was brilliant. So distinctive, playful, and irresistible. Even though the games themselves were blurry messes on the original Game Boy screen, the art makes me want to go back and buy those games all over again.
[ From Game Boy pack-in flyer, ca. 1989]
Discussion Topic of the Week: How many items on this flyer do you own?
Tags: 1989, Alleyway, baseball, Compact Carrying Case, flier, Game Boy, handhelds, Nintendo, portable gaming, Portable Power, Rechargable Battery Pack, Retro Scan, Super Mario Land, Tennis
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With great portable power comes great portable responsibility.
December 9th, 2014 at 3:15 pm
Tennis, Super Mario, and Baseball. All were great fun. I wish I could find a mobile baseball game as fun as that one, actually.
December 9th, 2014 at 3:23 pm
Super Mario Land, I loved that game, it had poor graphics compared to the NES but at least I was able to play it in school with my ex-girlfriend.
December 10th, 2014 at 9:41 am
This makes me want to be a kid again.
Great scan by the way.
December 12th, 2014 at 9:57 am
Hey, Benj! I currently own all four of these games and play them often. They look great on my GBA SP with extra bright back-lighting. I even still have the rechargeable battery pack. The only thing I don’t own (and never did have) is that particular porable carying case (though I do have other varieties).
I think I need to play some Alleyway later today! Folowed by Super Mario Land (I have to diisagree with Galaxian becuase I thik the graphics for SML are great for what it was. It’s unfair to compare them to those available on the NES – though I will the say the graphica on SML2: Six Golden Coins were much improved).
December 12th, 2014 at 10:14 am
Very cool, Johnny.
Does anybody else remember how amazing it was to be able to play NES-style video games on the go? My god, it was incredible. I was 8 when the Game Boy came out, so it was a magical time.
December 12th, 2014 at 11:01 pm
I remember playing a Bambino Basketball handheld game in the early 80s, it was heavy, clunky and it quickly ate batteries.
But the Bambino was the center of attention at school, everybody begged me for a game.
When I got the Gameboy sure it was interesting enough to raise an eyebrow or two but nothing close to what you experienced carrying a Bambino back then, maybe it was because a lot of people saw an Atari or a NES before, so they saw it as something familiar already.
I think the best Gameboy for me was the GBA, the screen was dark but it had a lot of good games available and decent battery life.
December 15th, 2014 at 11:53 am
There is no way any child of that age would rather play with a Bambino Basketball than a Game Boy. Maybe you are confusing it with another handheld of the time, especially considering the Bambino Basketball was 11 years old when the Game Boy came out.
December 16th, 2014 at 3:55 pm
No Rob, read again. It clearly says the Bambino is from the EARLY 80s, of course there is a decade between the Bambino and the GB, the Bambino was BEFORE the NES when handhelds were cutting edge, the Gameboy came AFTER the Atari and the NES, the Bambino was years ahead BEFORE the Gameboy, not in the same era.
See, life can be so easy. 🙂