The Game Boy Era Is Over

[SpoDaddy]

I don't live in Japan and neither do you.

You never said anything about region, and Pokemon's wild early success in Japan was certainly relevant to the overall handheld war.

And Lynx launched with Blue Lighting and Electrocop.

Exactly. The average gamer is going to take Mario and Tetris over two generic sounding games for a system that costs twice as much and is hard to find in stores.

Bullshit. A) Jaguar didn't even come out until 1994, and B) A lot of the jag staff was unique from the Lynx staff.

Atari shifted most of it's internal development towards Jaguar games in 1994 by all accounts. Lynx development didn't officially end until 1996 but there was a clear dropoff.

I wouldn't have included Ninja Gaiden 3, but I also would have added a half dozen more games. And you clearly don't know what you're talking about, but then you're Spodaddy, so...

Resorting to personal attacks doesn't make your argument stronger, and neither does padding lists with shit like Ninja Gaiden 3, Gauntlet, Klax, etc.

[Tain]

So we're talking about sales wars now, cool.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

shit like Ninja Gaiden 3, Gauntlet, Klax, etc.

you clearly don't know what you're talking about

[Frogacuda]

You never said anything about region, and Pokemon's wild early success in Japan was certainly relevant to the overall handheld war.

Sort of, but it's not relevant to the discussion of Gameboy vs Lynx vs Game Gear in any event.

Exactly. The average gamer is going to take Mario and Tetris over two generic sounding games for a system that costs twice as much and is hard to find in stores.

If you're argument is that Nintendo's properties had better brand recognition at the time, that's a point I'll concede, but it doesn't make them more deserving.

Epyx/Atari was cranking out brilliant original franchises when the best Nintendo had to offer were watered down versions of old NES games.

Atari shifted most of it's internal development towards Jaguar games in 1994 by all accounts. Lynx development didn't officially end until 1996 but there was a clear dropoff.

Yeah, but you said 1991 initially, which is asinine. By 1995 Lynx games were slowed to a trickle, it's true. Battlezone 2000 was brilliant, but the pickins were slim by then apart from a few greats.

Pickins were kinda slim for Gameboy during those years, too, now that I think about it. Gameboy was on the verge of death for a while before Pokemon hit.

Resorting to personal attacks doesn't make your argument stronger, and neither does padding lists with shit like Ninja Gaiden 3, Gauntlet, Klax, etc.

Ninja Gaiden 3 was a mediocre NES port (Ninja Gaiden 1, however was probably the best home version that game had for a long time). Gauntlet was actually an original game, not an arcade port, and pretty damned good, with 4 player network play and shit. It's deserving. I like Klax, too.

Don't write off Lynx "conversions" because you think you know the original game. Lynx Rampage, for example is like a completely different game, and far better than any other Rampage game. The only one that's aged really well, in fact.

[rezo]

I think the gameboy games I got the most out of when I first got the system were Final Fantasy Legend 2, Nemesis, Dr. Mario, Kid Icarus and of course Tetris.Sometimes my mom would come home with a bag full of random gameboy games and they would all be terrible stuff like "Bo Jackson Hit and Run! Baseball and Football" which is responsible for me never touching anything that said THQ on it ever again, but besides that it was a fun little system.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

My memory is foggy, but I'm pretty sure pokemon saved the Gameboy from a death knell.

now that I think about it. Gameboy was on the verge of death for a while before Pokemon hit.

there an echo in here?

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

Also, fuck anyone who says Gauntlet Third Encounter is trash.

[Frogacuda]

He doesn't think that. He's never played it, he just thinks he can shit on it because he knows the name Gauntlet.

[mollipen]

There's one factor that led to Gameboy's success and that's price.

No, it isn't: it was a NUMBER of factors. Battery life was a factor. Portability was a factor. Most importantly, as SpoDaddy pointed out, it was having games people had actually heard of before. Doesn't matter how good the Lynx's game library was, most people don't know what the hell S.T.U.N. Runner, Electrocop, Blue Lightning, or any of those other games are. Mario, Zelda, Tetris, Castlevania, those are very, very well known games.

[Frogacuda]

Again, I'm not trying to say the Gameboy's success was a fluke, I'm trying to say it was undeserved. I know what the reasons were that it did well, and it wasn't superior hardware or software.