Game Boy retrospective: DMG-001 | Game Boy Works

[@megamanfan3]

You're quite correct about the durability of the original Game Boy. As a matter of fact, one just system even managed to survive the Gulf War.

[@michaelnorrisisdabesteva]

@@SpoonyBard88 Yeah its fun to see and watch. Worth stopping by the stores for that alone

[@backwardsface3046]

That’s dope as hell!

[@CODMarioWarfare]

Worth noting that the screen was toasted, but the rest was still functional. Whatever engineer or technician received it was allegedly surprised to still be able to hear the games, so they replaced the screen.

[@WhiskeyNixon]

The unit you're referring to is on display at the Nintendo Store in New York.

[@OliverCarson]

This video comes off as incredibly well researched. There are a few things I learnt about the gameboy today.

[@JeremyParish]

Thanks, I appreciate that.

[@MrYancakes]

+Oliver Carson Except that that's rotting beans, not asparagus :V In all seriousness though watching this series in chronological order and I'm totally enraptured. You're the Every Frame a Painting of the GameBoy.

[@yoshi6106]

+Oliver Carson I'd second that. Stuffed full of TIL

[@Gadzooki]

This was hands down the best Game Boy hardware and history video I've seen or heard (and I've been listening to your work since back in the 1up early Retronauts days). Excellent work Jeremy, here's looking forward to more of these videos from you! I still have my original Game Boy, it still works as well as it ever did and it now entertains my young children who sometimes prefer it over the DS. If that's not a testament to the power of Game Boy I don't know what is.

[@clydemarshall8095]

I think that there was a Gameboy that a soldier took with him during the Gulf War that survived taking a shrapnel hit and could still run.

[@antshield]

I can't skip a video, because every single one gives me new information in ways I wouldn't have guessed. Unlike other channels, where I hear all the same info regurgitated back to me over and over. Be proud of your work, it's great.

[@Kafei2006]

I wasn't even aware that Battle of Olympus had been released on the Game Boy! Good NES game :D !

[@yoshi6106]

My fav line: "Game Boy was a K car". Well played. Seriously, this is really well written and produced; I'm super impressed. Subscribe activated.

[@DylanGallagher]

I really appreciate the insight and amount of detail you put into these videos. Keep up the good work!

[@stephenbianchi7141]

When I thought this video couldn't get any better, the rare Atari Lynx edition 1957-1958 Cadillac El Dorado Brougham made an appearance.

[@douro20]

The Handy was a remarkable achievement; not only was it the first colour handheld, it had an almost unheard of colour pallette- 4096 colours, and it could display all of them simultaneously! It was also the first game console to have a dedicated blitter, math coprocessor and hardware sprite zooming and rotation. David Needle, the hardware designer, said that he could had made a system with more than one million displayed colours but the technology was too expensive at the time.

[@bencheshire]

Absolutely loving this video.

[@GordAllott]

I always have a hard time with the GBC, its hard to define it as a sequel to the gameboy, but hard to define it as just an upgrade either. it has faster hardware, it has new features, it has its own unique games. It sits in a unique place between actually new product and upgrade of the old product. Something Nintendo seem to struggle with sometimes like with the DSi and confusion around the WiiU.

[@jokerzwild00]

And the *new* 3ds now as well. Has upgraded hardware and even a couple of games exclusive to it, yet most people see it as little more than a 3ds with a thumb nub. They do have a history of this sort of thing. We will see what they do with the Switch, I'm betting something similar. An upgrade just mild enough not to upset people who recently purchased the old device and want to stick with it, but big enough to entice more "hardcore" players to replace their old units. And of course it will play the same games as the old hardware.

[@mielthesquid6536]

If you look at Nintendo own reports they say the GBC is the same system as the GB. The successor of the GB brand was the Gameboy Advanced.

[@otakubullfrog1665]

The point about it being a logical evolution of the Sony Walkman was very salient. Kids growing up in the smartphone era will likely never know the experience of having almost all your technology (your stereo, your television, your video games and your computer, if you even had one of those yet) anchored in physical locations rather than coming with you wherever you went and having the anticipation of wondering just when you could finally get home to your Nintendo.

[@Konuvis]

I don't think the concept was nothing special, even in 89. Sure we'd played game & watch or similar stuff but i remember seeing a friend okay the Gameboy for the first time and was blown away seeing what were essentially console games on the go. It was revolutionary. I also remember seeing that blown up GB at the Nintendo store in NY, from the Iraq war vet. Insane.

[@CullenX]

These are incredible. I really hope you continue with the GBA. I'd love to hear about your favorite games for that system as well. Keep up the great work!

[@BlueTrane2028]

Unless a Game Boy stayed wet for a long time, it's usually a clean of the contacts away from functional. They're great and a big tie in to my youth. I have 33 games and several of the original DMG-01s. Just resurrected a late 1989 CPU-02 version yesterday.

[@Rubberman202]

It's also interesting to note how the Game Boy's flaws didn't prevent it from being a success... Kind of like how the perceived flaws of the Switch didn't stop it from being a big hit initially.

[@OsakaSan]

6 years later, with the Switch approaching DS numbers, this comment is more relevant than ever. And the explanation is simple: As Jeremy says in the video, Game Boy is a no frills gaming experience, just like the Switch is. A simple concept for a simple console that anyone can pick up for a quick play session A system doesn't have to be flawless, just appealing. That's why Nintendo handhelds have survived every single competitor in the market, hell i'm sure Nintendo could have taken the Game Boy line way beyond the Advance.

[@getter7seven]

Huh, never knew about the Turbo Express---if anything, I'd have thought the Neo-Geo Pocket Color would be the one popping in at that part of the segment. Very good episode.

[@squonk2630]

Really enjoyed this, thanks for making.

[@AlfaTrion]

I'm here from listening to retronauts for a year. This is a great vid! I will definitely be checking out other ones in the series.

[@hdofu]

The Z80 was pretty effective on the ti 8x calculators... back in the day

[@neoku84r.p.g93]

I love this channel it's just interesting how gaming has evolved.

[@Rubberman202]

Nintendo's NES and Game Boy helped put Nintendo on the map in terms of dominating their respective fields for years before everyone else either caught up to them or even surpassed them in popularity. I'm curious to think what the gaming scene would be like without Nintendo's influence, even in countries (i.e. most European countries) where Nintendo was not as widespread or successful.

[@roccaturi]

Excellent video! I'll be keeping an eye out for some videos covering GB titles I played back in the day (already saw and enjoyed Super Mario Land). Hope you have an opportunity to do some more hardware in the future.

[@allluckyseven]

OMG! The Ten Billion! I had one of those! But I had no idea it came from Nintendo, much less that it came from the mind of Gunpei Yokoi! For some reason this makes me so happy! :D

[@psychedelicbear2159]

Really interesting. Terminator bit was funny

[@jokerzwild00]

The ruggedness of Nintendo hardware was always something I admired, and was sad to lose in the Switch. I think the Switch is perfectly fine hardware-wise, but it lost something in the "feel" and even aesthetic of Nintendo hardware imo. It looks nice, like a modern tablet device, but I don't think Nintendo when I see it. And it's definitely not as sturdy as their previous handhelds and consoles.

[@TheCodeTinkerer]

That sort of bubbly retro futuristic design

[@pdhirst1978]

This made me smile "dodged enough bullets to belt-feed an M2 Browning" Somehow the reference seems out of character for you, I couldn't tell you why. Keep up the good work. #whoamItoblowagainstthewind?

[@pentelegomenon1175]

I read somewhere that Gunpei actually planned a more humble version of the Game Boy, which I can't even imagine, I can't imagine the point of a machine like the Game Boy but with even less specs, coming out at that time.

[@rowtow13]

Magazines at the time were relentlessly critical of the Game Boy, pronouncing it dead every six months (even though it would go on to outlast all of its contemporaries as well as their successors). They had lots of good things to say about the Game Gear, which I thought was nuts, since I had a Game Gear but rarely used it because of how fast it ate batteries.

[@MrPoeGhost]

It seems nothing changes. Every couple of months we see people pronouncing the Nintendo Switch as dead or outdated and in desperate need of an upgrade, nevermind the fact it's still selling tens of millions each year.

[@OrtadragoonX]

I know how you feel. I was a Game Gear kid too. I invested in a wall charger pack for it just so I didn’t have to use precious double As at the house. And I had a car charger for in the car play. I only used batteries when I had no other option.

[@appleplates]

Excellent job. Very much looking forward to the continuation of the series, as well. Godspeed. :P

[@mattpelzek3809]

If you go to the Nintendo Store nearby the Rockefeller Center in NYC, you can see a game boy that survived a bunker being blown up around it during the Gulf War in working condition.

[@tripdefect87]

I think the reason why I love and continue to love the Gameboy is much the same for the Atari VCS/2600; pure, simple, unabashed fun

[@flyingninja1234]

Nintendo does handhelds well. Good quality games, low cost & nigh indestructability.

[@cube2fox]

The original Game Boy came out when the NES was still a current generation system. Since it was basically a portable NES, it was quite powerful for the time. It's as if the GBA did have the power of the N64.

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

Someday, I am going to sit down with the elder of my young nephews, produce a small, strange-looking device and declare to him "I have something for you. Your father's Gameboy Color. This is the tool of a gamer. Not as casual or filled with exploitative auto-playing microtransaction-riddled garbage as a smartphone. An elegant platform, for a more civilised age." The pop-culture education of my two nephews is my highest and most sacred calling. I just hope he appreciates it.

[@darsparx]

I almost wonder what would've happened if that project atlantis went further. I never noticed this before but that prototype has 4 face buttons, which would've made it better compatible with snes titles than the gba was. IDK why but for lttp I always wondered growing up why the gba didn't have 4 buttons....I never knew the snes existed for the longest time(I skipped from nes that my dad had and I played growing up to n64), and somehow knew something was missing control wise. That is the oddest feeling in the world

[@krisu0100]

That Sega ad. Maybe I'm only one that haven't seen that ad, but damn that is bold and really offensive today.

[@releasethedogs]

krisu That's how sega ads were back then. This was around the time that Mortal Kombat was shocking the world and the video game rating system was implemented. Nintendo took the role of "family friendly" and Sega went the other way. They even had an imprint, "deep water" so you knew the game was mature audiences.

[@PSYK0MANT1S]

You sir are my hero. Can't wait until you get to Quirk The Chilled Tomato

[@ButteredToast32]

Kwirk is a great game! Definitely one of the better titles in the pile of Gameboy puzzle games.

[@jamescboyd]

This is amazing.

[@Moshugaani]

Very well written! Subscribed. ;)

[@matt4392_]

Vinny from Vinesauce on Twitch just went on about you being a favorite of his. To about 6K viewers btw so prepare for subs :)

[@GXEntertainment]

Nintendo is either the most economical company or the cheapest. It's kind of incredible how they invested in obsolete mid-1970s processing technology and squeezed 20 and 14 years out of it (Famicom/NES and Game Boy, respectively). That's making money on a form of technology _30 years_ after the fact. There's too much competition to get away with that now, but I'm sure they'd like to.

[@tannisroot]

it's funny reading the latest sentence after the release of Switch.

[@FabbrizioPlays]

The library is everything. You could make a state-of-the-art console out of components one step ahead of the rest of the industry, and sell it at a loss, but without any remarkable games to get people talking, the console simply won't sell. In fact, this is literally what happened to the PSVita.

[@DaneeBound]

Happy 34th birthday, Game Boy

[@timothydoom]

I still have your Gameboy gamespite book with your personal edits in it i got from you on ebay.

[@JeremyParish]

Nice

[@RyumaXtheXKing]

I'm just wondering why they gave the GB a wave channel in place of the triangle wave.

[@droopydog6272]

What game is that at the end there? Looks sick.

[@AlfaTrion]

+Joe Perinelo looks like a Bionic Commando game

[@johneymute]

I still wish nintendo called their handheld the gameman because it’s blurry screen could cause eye strain to boy’s why playing with it,but i guess nintendo wanted to convince everybody that the gameboy was a user friendly handheld ,so friendly that even boys could use it, another reason why they didn’t want to call it the gameman is maybe because they may would,ve fear that sony and namco would go after them with the claim that that name could be too easily associated with walkman and pac man.

[@othgalaldridge6019]

I hope that reach mahjong game is the remarkable one instead of meh one!

[@Blur2040]

I really enjoy your videos, but occasionally encounter something not quite right. 2:50 -in what universe was Game Gear an improvement on Lynx’s tech? Lynx had hardware sprite scaling, amongst other cool features. Lynx was pretty much the most technologically advanced handheld until GBA arrived. I suggest checking out Warbirds, Steel Talons, and Battle Wheels in an emulator.

[@boatofcar3273]

I can't wait for my next opportunity to use the phrase "filthy lucre."

[@PandaXs1]

I still remember the time I brought up gunpei yokoi with someone back in high school, he then told me about how he got fired from nintendo after making the virtual boy and the game girl (what).

[@JeremyParish]

So much for equality

[@PandaXs1]

@@JeremyParish at that point in my life I knew he actually quit nintendo to work on the wonderswan before his untimely death, and I never heard this gamegirl rumor since then so I still don't know what that was all about.

[@TheMaskarad]

Saying that Game Boy runs on a Z80 is partially wrong. Its CPU was a Sharp LR35902, which (while packing some sound capabilities alongside) is sort of a hybrid between the Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80. Also its variant of Assembly language is called "GB-Z80", because it uses the more obvious Z80-style syntax. Source: gbdev.gg8.se/wiki/articles/CPU_Comparision_with_Z80 realboyemulator.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/the-nintendo-game-boy-1/

[@geekgo4]

The handheld systems was truly the best thing that came from Nintendo.

[@Ambidextroid]

5:46 is this your guess or something sourced from Nintendo? I've been wondering where the name comes from for a while now

[@susanfit47]

Game Boy-turned NES era games design into a solitary pursuit. 2 years after the Game Boy, launched the Super NES would draw fire for the NES obsolete, and moving kids expensive 8-bit libraries.

[@TheT3rr0rMask]

Why do people hate Jeremy? All of the vids I've seen by him are fucking awesome

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

People hate Jeremy?

[@colmcarrigg]

Have you ever played a game called Nobunaga's Ambition for the Gameboy?

[@JeremyParish]

Not yet, but check back in a few months.

[@Thewesrobertson]

As always it comes down to the games and Nintendo was [is?] the best at making games that are designed well and fun to play.

[@Nathan-rb3qp]

The last GBC game in the US was Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets.

[@AmeshaSpentaArmaiti]

i was triggered by the crap tetris playing.

[@sirknight4981]

Lol, me too even though I'm not necessarily the best Tetris player either.

[@FabbrizioPlays]

It's honestly impressive how confidently he screws himself over after very nearly choosing the correct option. Consistently.

[@SuperAntichicken]

Same, wtf Parish. Yu do this?

[@brentburgess5218]

I think it was on purpose...

[@darsparx]

yeah....didn't really catch it before but now at 10:30 ....that hurts me in so many ways. I'm not a good tetris player by any means but oh boy does he screw himself over a few times in that sequence

[@isthisnickvalid]

So true that the DMG was indestructible hahah But my DMG's screen does not want to work anymore! :( It turns on and sometimes i see some lines on it... I can hear the music and all... any ideas?

[@rossy105]

isthisnickvalid The soder connecting the screen to the motherboard has come loose over time, You'll have to take it apart and fix it.

[@AverageDaveVideos]

+isthisnickvalid There is a ribbon cable that goes to the screen. Using a soldering iron you can run it along the cable (for a short period) to reconnect the cable, don't melt it. Should resolve the issue :)

[@BusyMEOW]

For me the Gameboy was like a portable Snes, until Pokemon came around and made it just the machine you need to play those boring games

[@TrueGrandImperial]

Game boys can survive warfare, but not me throwing it at a wall after dying in Wario? WTF?

[@JeremyParish]

I blame Wario

[@jandoor2068]

"Game Gear improved on the Lynx's tech"?!?! What?! The Lynx was more advanced than the Game Gear in almost every way except for screen resolution. Sprite scaling and rotating, hardware blitter, built in FPU, larger colour palette, superior audio etc - the Game Gear was a hand held Master System - more powerful than the Gameboy, but hardly more advanced than the Lynx.

[@jamesmoss3424]

The game boy is the best handheld console that ever lived. 😀👍🎮

[@BastetFurry]

The design philosophy of the Gameboy shines trough all other systems that where successful, don't have the fastest or the most polygons but use tried and tested technology to generate fun experiences that will life on forever. I just wish they weren't such pricks against their creative fanbase, AM2R and Pokemon Plutonium comes to mind here.

[@javascap6258]

Maybe you can help me find a game I used to love and have long since lost. I don't remember the story too well, it was a fantasy-adventure game, top-down perspective. You controlled a character, some sort of knight (?). I remember there was a black knight you needed to get a specific sword to even damage, and some sort of spell you could cast to place a bridge that would collapse after you stepped off it. The A and B buttons could be binded to spells (or sword use?) as you wanted. I remember there were boats you would walk into and they would go in a straight line to nearby islands. Any idea what game it is? This has been bothering me for years.

[@HollowRick]

Final fantasy adventure?

[@PaulMcKinney216]

What's the game pictured at 14:20?

[@cashnelson2306]

Bionic Commando Elite Forces

[@KuraIthys]

Nothing else like it? The Atari Lynx launched within a month of it. Sure it's ultimately a less practical system, given it's bulk and poor battery life, but still...

[@brianm2881]

The Gameboy was affordable, had an incredibly simple and addictive game included, and enjoyed continued support from its company. Crucial things no other handheld had at the time. I did like the Lynx, though.

[@smedlings]

The video that started it all

[@JeremyParish]

They got better, thankfully

[@smedlings]

@@JeremyParish Yep! I support you on Patreon and gotta say, you are doing an amazing job documenting the early history of this medium and doing so in a really accessible way through your videos. Keep it up!

[@smedlings]

Seriously, when documenting and writing about the history of video games becomes more common in academia (which I’m sure it eventually will, hopefully as common as writing about film now is), your videos will be a key source for researchers looking for background and secondary sources on both specific games and early trends in the medium

[@InnoVintage]

I hope they make a game boy classic that's game boy pocket sized

[@JeremyParish]

Would you settle for a Game & Watch that plays two Mario games and "Ball"?

[@zxGHOSTr]

Could you tell me the name oft the game at the end oft your Video? Some Kind oft bionic commando with a female player caracter.

[@EhrisaiaOShannon]

zxGHOSTr I was JUST about to ask that question!!! Lmiao. It looked amazing. Did you ever find out what it is? It did look very Bio Commandoish. Let me know honey. Thanks.

[@plateoshrimp9685]

Bionic Commando Elite Forces

[@EhrisaiaOShannon]

Jay C Ohhhhhh!!! Ok! Awesome. Thanks Baby. Much appreciated. 💜

[@fstim82]

Wait... What is that Zelda 2 ripoff game at 8:50???

[@PScoopYT]

A little searching and found out it's name was "The Battle of Olympus" That was a port of a NES game actually.

[@michalander2131]

In Japan: Game Boy: exists Horse racing, Pachinko and Mahjong games: *It's Free Real Estate*

[@solomonstillthebest5737]

.... why is youtube telling me this was just uploaded?

[@JeremyParish]

Time is an illusion, upload time doubly so

[@locke103]

at 12:27, what's the game on the lower left? that particular kamen rider and villain stood out to me.

[@mt-ks7nx]

スーパーパチンコ大戦, which translates to "Super Pachinko Great Battle". Part of the Compati Hero crossover series from Banpresto.

[@jorymil]

What is the game at 2:24?

[@MrJWTH]

John Miller Final Fantasy Adventure, Or Mystic Quest if you live in Europe. It’s sequel was released as Secret of Mana in the West.

[@tarotrue8317]

2:43 what game is that

[@MsBee]

K Car haha 1997 senior auto auto shop had a green drop top K car...Aries I think. Memories haha

[@JeremyParish]

Yeah, I drove a Plymouth Reliant in high school... a grim version of the K car.

[@ridjexmc]

what was this edited with?

[@JeremyParish]

Lots of love, and careful attention to detail.

[@ridjexmc]

would you mind in i rephrased that: what editing software was this edited with

[@Spartanhero613]

>2-bit pokemon clones Good one.

[@RWL2012]

DMG-01 not 001

[@Seburo77]

5:47 blew my mind...

[@legs1773]

Number set starts at 0; I'm sold already.

[@schizoid2673]

What game is showing at 12:43

[@JeremyParish]

Kid Dracula. The NES version is on the Castlevania Collection on PS4/Switch/XB1/Steam.

[@schizoid2673]

@@JeremyParish Kool thanks. I love this series been checking em all out. Some hidden gems and not so good games but still interesting

[@Video-Games-Are-Fun]

8:30 VERY poorly edited here. you should have showed an actual gameboy game showing motion blur (mario land is a good example). i myself HATED this problem especially on games like super mario land. even tetris was bad and annoying because the blocks would blur as they moved down but action games were the worst.

[@SendyTheEndless]

FISH DUDE

[@themaybatatter]

bukkake master?

[@nerdster8057]

What's the game at 1:31?

[@JeremyParish]

+Nerdster Check out Game Boy World Episode 54 and find out!

[@AlfaTrion]

+Nerdster Gargoyle's Quest is one of my fav GB games ever

[@flyingninja1234]

Jeremy Parish - I like how you think.

[@brentburgess5218]

What game is at 8:48?

[@SynopsisGrim]

Battle of Olympus