Features

Game Boy Start Here

Small and now cheap as chips, the hugely popular Game Boy isn't forgotten

Game Boy Start Here
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The Game Boy is the most popular pocket gaming console ever. In fact, if you added up sales of all the Game Boy formats (the original console and the follow-up Game Boy Color, the Game Boy Advance (GBA), the square GBA SP, and the Game Boy Micro) you'd be looking at well over 200 million of the little devils – enough to build a Tetris-style wall to the moon. Probably.

The big benefit of still owning the most popular games platform is that GBA players also get the pick of the biggest games back-catalogue of all the handheld consoles. As well as the multitude of titles that have been released for the GBA, you can also play original Game Boy titles so there's something out there for every taste.

Although the Game Boy lacks the bells and whistles of successors like the DS or the PSP, there is a clear advantage in terms of lower prices, not only for the console itself but also for the games (of which we've reviewed the best) – you can pick both up for relatively little from either shops clearing their old stock or, more likely, by browsing your favourite internet auction site or visiting your nearest car boot sale.

There are other advantages. Without the need to power huge screens, Game Boys also boast long battery lives. Additionally, they're among the most compact consoles, especially if you've got an SP or the even more miniature Game Boy Micro, making them ideal for long journeys. It gets better still if your travelling chums are enlightened enough to own a GBA, too: thanks to the link cable add-on that connects up GBAs, there are lots of games you can play head-to-head against your friends.

Sure, it no longer grabs the headlines (and you can play many of the GBA titles on a DS) but we'll forever have a place in our pockets for Nintendo's portable wonder – particularly the GBA SP, which we still dig out to have the odd play of Advance Wars. It may be 'dead' but we'll never forget it.

Joao Diniz Sanches
Joao Diniz Sanches
With three boys under the age of 10, former Edge editor Joao has given up his dream of making it to F1 and instead spends his time being shot at with Nerf darts. When in work mode, he looks after editorial projects associated with the Pocket Gamer and Steel Media brands.