Game Boy

Nintendo R&D1, led by Gunpei Yokoi and Satoru Okada, started the project in June 1987 under the codename Dot Matrix Game, which became the DMG-01 model number. Hiroshi Yamauchi wanted a Game & Watch successor priced under ¥10,000. In line with Yokoi's preference for mature, cheap technology, the team chose an unlit monochrome screen and an 8-bit Sharp processor. Yamauchi cancelled the project in 1988 because the screen was hard to see, then approved it three months later after seeing a prototype with an STN display.

Nintendo announced the system in January 1989 and released it in Japan on April 21 for ¥12,500. The first production run sold out within two weeks. It reached North America on July 31 with Tetris bundled, as it was in every region except Japan. In Spain, Erbe Software handled distribution from January 1991 until Nintendo España took over in 1993. Reviews were mixed: critics disliked the lack of colour and the motion blur, but liked the battery life, durability and games.

The library grew past 1,000 games, with Super Mario Land, Tetris and the first Pokémon games among its key titles. The Game Link Cable, designed by Okada, allowed multiplayer between consoles and later made Pokémon battles and trades possible. Instead of releasing a successor, Nintendo refreshed the hardware: Play It Loud! coloured cases in 1995, the Game Boy Pocket in 1996 and the Japan-only Game Boy Light in 1998.

The Game Boy Color arrived in 1998 and still played its cartridges, as did the later Game Boy Advance. Nintendo stopped making the Game Boy on March 31, 2003. In 2009 it was inducted into the U.S. National Toy Hall of Fame, and a 1989 unit is on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. It remains a common tool in the chiptune scene through trackers such as Little Sound DJ and Nanoloop.