Evolution of Handheld Game Consoles By Ashley Trimble From To

Microvision 0 The world of handheld video game consoles all started with Microvision by Milton Bradley. 0 It was released in It was designed by Jay Smith 0 It grossed $8 million in the first year of release 0 It appeared in the movie “Friday the 13 th Part 2” 0 Few cartridges, small screen, and lack of support from home video game companies, led to its demise in 1981

Game Boy 0 The second handheld console was the original Game Boy. 0 Five years after the Microvision hit its demise, the Game Boy was released. 0 It was released by Nintendo 0 Its “killer app” was the famous ‘Tetris’ 0 As of 2005 the Game Boy and Game Boy Color combined to sell million units worldwide.

Atari Lynx 0C0C reated in 1987 Epyx created Handy Game, which became Atari Lynx in F0F irst handheld console with colour and a backlit screen. 0F0F eatured network support-up to 17 other players. 0C0C ould be turned upside down to accommodate left hand players. 0C0C ame at very high price, leaving people looking for cheaper choices.

TurboExpress 0 Portable version of TurboGrafx 0 Released in 1990 for $ Price briefly raised to $ but soon dropped back down. 0 Most advanced handheld of its time. 0 Could play all TurboGrafx-16’s games. 0 Had an optional “TurboVision” TV tuner. 0 “TurboLink” allowed for two player multiplayer.

Bitcorp Gamate 0 One of first handheld systems made in response to the GameBoy 0 Games designed with stereo sound but console only came with mono speaker, to get full music you must plug in headphones to reveal sophisticated music. 0 Internal components professionally assembled. 0 Bitcorp closed in New games continued to be published, possibly until 1994.

Sega Game Gear 0 Third coloured handheld console. 0 It was released in Japan in Released in North America in Based on Sega Master System, which gave Sega the chance to make games quickly from its Master System library. 0 Most frequently seen in black or navy-blue, but also came in red, light blue, yellow, clear, and violet.

Watara Supervision 0 Released in 1992 in attempt to compete with the GameBoy 0 Never impacted the sales of Sega or Nintendo 0 Watara designed many games themselves but had third party support, mainly from Sachen. 0 TV adapter could transfer the black and white colour pallet to four colours.

Hartung Game Master 0 Obscure handheld released at an unknown point in the early 1990’s 0 Graphics lower than most of its contemporaries. 0 Was available in black, white, and purple. 0 Likely around 20 games were released for the console. 0 Frequently turns up in Europe and Australia.

Game.com 0 In TV commercials pronounced it Game com not Game dot com. 0 Released in 1997 by Tiger Electronics. 0 Featured many new ideas for handhelds 0 Aimed towards older targeted audience. 0 Tiger also hoped it would gain the attention of a younger audience as well. 0 Two slots for game cartridges.

Game Boy Colour 0 Nintendo’s successor to the GameBoy. 0 Released in Response to pressure from game developers for a new system. 0 First handheld with backward compatibility 0 Capable of displaying up to 56 colours simultaneously on screen. 0 Could add four colour shading for games made for the original GameBoy.

Neo Geo Pocket Color 0 Released in 1999 by SNK 0 16 bit handheld game console 0 Dropped in US and Europe markets in More successful than any Game Boy competitor 0

WonderSwan Color 0 Released in 2000 by Bandai 0 Had moderate success 0 Original had only black and white screen 0 Slightly larger than the original WonderSwan 0 512kB of RAM and colour LCD screen 0 Bandai got a deal with Square 0 Only released in Japan

GameBoy Advance 0 Released in 2001 by Nintendo 0 Nintendo added two shoulder buttons, a larger screen, and more computing power than the GameBoy Color 0 Design revised two years later into the Game Boy Advance SP 0 In 2005 the Game Boy Micro was released 0 As of December 31, 2007 all of the above consoles including the GameCube combined sold million units world wide

Game Park 32 0 Released in 2001 by Game Park 0 Released a few months after the GameBoy Advance 0 32bit CPU, 133MHz processor, Mp3 and DivX player, and E-book reader 0 SmartMedia cards used for storage 0 Redesigned in Popular with developers and technically-adept users

N-Gage 0 Released in 2003 by Nokia 0 Designed as a combination of MP3 player, cellphone, PDA, radio and gaming device 0 Received much criticism 0 Defects in physical design include its vertically oriented screen and you must remove the battery to change the game 0 Most well known defect was “sidetalking” which was the act of placing the speaker and receiver on the edge, not a flat side, which made the user look like they were speaking into a taco.

Nintendo DS 0 Released in Had two screens, a touchscreen, and a normal screen 0 Also had wireless connection and a microphone port 0 In 2006 Nintendo revealed an updated version- the Nintendo DS Lite 0 The DS Lite has a cleaner design, longer battery life, and a brighter, higher quality screen 0 The DS Lite was also able to connect with the Wii

Game King 0 Released by TimeTop 0 Released in The first design owes a large debt to the GameBoy Advance 0 The second design was a more direct rip-off of the PSP

PlayStation Portable 0 Abbreviated to PSP 0 Manufactured and Marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment 0 Released in March First handheld to use an optical disc format, the UMD (Universal Media Disc) 0 Can connect to the PlayStation 3, other PSPs, and the Internet

Gizmondo 0 Released by Tiger Telematics 0 Released in Designed to play music, movies, and games, have a camera, and GPS functions 0 It also connected to the internet 0 Had a phone for sending texts, and multimedia messages 0 was promised but never happened before Gizmondo and Tiger Telematics downfall

Game Park Holdings GP2X 0 Open source, hand held console and media player 0 Released by GamePark Holdings 0 Commonly used to run emulators for other game consoles such as Neo Geo, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Amstrad CPC, and Commodore 64 0 Designed for homebrew developers and commercial developers

Dingoo 0 Micro-sized handheld that looks similar to the GameBoy Micro 0 It supports music, radio, emulators, and a recording program 0 Currently two colours-white and black

PSP Go 0 Version of the PSP 0 Manufactured by Sony 0 Released in In 2011 the PSP Go was discontinued so Sony could focus on the PSP 0 Later Sony said it would only be discontinued in Europe and Japan 0 Shape and Sliding Mechanism are similar to the Mylo COM-2 internet device

iPod Touch 0 Portable media player, personal digital assistant, hand held game console, and a Wi-Fi device 0 It is the first iPod with wireless access 0 It has wireless access to the iTunes Store, and App Store 0 You can download and purchase apps straight onto your iPod 0 The fourth generation of the iPod Touch includes a camera

Nintendo 3DS 0 The successor to the Nintendo DS handheld 0 Released March 27, 2011 in North America 0 Able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without requirement of an active shutter or a passive polarized glass 0 ^^ Above requirements are necessary for most 3D televisions to show the 3D effect 0 Has online service called the Nintendo eShop

PlayStation Vita 0 The successor to the PSP 0 Released in Japan and parts of Asia on December 27, Was expected to be released in North America on February 22, Has a four core processor and a four core graphics processing unit 0 Supports Bluetooth, and optionally, 3G

Bibliography 0