HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY DMG!
April, 21th, 2019.
Today, the Game Boy turns 30 years old!
But every other mobile gaming device is jealous of Game Boy timeless success.
So they decided to team up to ruin the party. They came by and stole the cake!
DMG, the first Game Boy model, must save the day!
Use your hands to catch enemies and to smash them on the walls.
You can also smash them together!
Can you fight your way up to room #30 to retrieve your birthday cake?
CREDITS
a game created by:
Dr. LUDOS
(Game Design, Graphics, Code, Sound Effects,
Music, Cover Art, Box, Label and Manual)
physical release made by:
CATSKULL
(PCB design and assembly, manual and box assembly, sales)
Beta testers:
Elodie Marquet, Xavier Henneuse, Olivier Garnier.
HOW TO PLAY
2) Press A / B again
to smash them
on the walls!
1) Press A / B to
catch enemies
You can also smash
enemies together!
DMG, the real Game Boy (1989)
« The Legend »
Released in 1989, the original Game Boy was code-named “Dot Matrix Game
(DMG).” It is, without question, the most successful and iconic handheld game
console in history.
Microvision (1979)
« The Ancestor »
This is the first real handheld game console, manufactured by MB. While it has
very basic features like a 16x16 pixel screen, it was a real engineering tour-de-
force to create such a portable device in 1979. Its inventor Jay Smith also created
the Vectrex home console in 1982. In recent years, Satoru Okada, co-inventor of
the Game Boy, acknowledged that he was directly inspired by the Microvision to
make the Game Boy.
GB Boy Classic (201X)
« The Clone »
Over the years, many counterfeiters tried to illegally clone the Game Boy. The
GB Boy Classic is one of the most recent efforts in this domain. It’s a very good
copy of the Game Boy Pocket that can play all the original Game Boy games
cartridges. The only issue is that it plays them slightly faster than a real Game
Boy, causing audio or graphic glitches in many games.
Smartphone (2007)
« The Ordinary People »
Today, people who want to play everywhere no longer use a handheld game
console, but their mobile phone. The so-called “smartphones” are actually real
pocket computers. Besides making phone calls, they can do all the tasks of a
desktop computer: Internet browsing, file management, content creation, and of
course, game playing!
iPhone XS Max (2018)
« The Rich One »
If you are rich enough, you can play games on a top-notch OLED screen with the
classiest (and priciest) mobile phone around: the iPhone XS Max!
Nokia 5110 (1998)
« The Mobile Phone »
Before smartphones, mobile phones were solely dedicated to making phone
calls and sending SMS. In the late 90’s, Nokia, the then-leader of the mobile
phone industry, introduced games in their phones. Their most famous entry is the
“Snake” game, first released on the Nokia 5110 phone!
Nokia 3310 (2000)
« The Mobile Phone, Better »
The Nokia 5110 was replaced by an even more successful mobile phone, the
3310. While it still allows you to play Snake, it has a tinier form-factor and no
more visible antenna! It’s one of the best-selling phone in history, with about 126
millions units shipped around the world.
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Nokia N-Gage (2003)
« The Hybrid »
While today being able to play games on a mobile phone seems obvious, it wasn’t
always the case. In the 90’s, the famous “Snake” game on Nokia’s phones was
very crude compared to the games available on the handheld consoles of the era.
That’s why, in 2003, Nokia released the first “mobile phone / handheld console”
hybrid: the N-Gage. Sadly, this good idea resulted in a cumbersome device, quite
inconvenient to use for phone calls and games. It was a commercial failure.
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Tamagotchi (1996)
« The Pet »
The Tamagotchi is an electronic toy asking the player to take care of a virtual pet.
You’ll have to feed him, wash him and play with him regularly to make him happy
and stay in good health. This toy was highly popular in Japan and in Western
countries at the end of the 90’s. It even inspired an actual Game Boy game, also
titled Tamagotchi and released in 1997.
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WonderSwan (1999)
« The Half-Brother »
Gunpei Yokoi, the co-inventor of the Game Boy, created another good handheld
console: the WonderSwan. Released by Bandai-Namco, it was the strongest
Game Boy competitor in Japan, even spawning a color model afterwards. Sadly,
despite Bandai-Namco best efforts, it was never as popular as the Game Boy!
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NEC PC Engine GT (1990)
« The High-End »
In the 90’s, there was no iPhone XS Max yet, but rich players could show off
with the most expensive handheld console: the PC Engine GT. This is a portable
version of the PC Engine (1987). It can play all the games cartridges from this
home console, thanks to a beautiful color screen and a crisp sound delivery.
However, quality comes with a price: not only the console is very expensive, but
it’s also a real battery hog (more than the Lynx and the Game Gear!).
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Watara Supervision (1992)
« The Wannabe »
While some pirate manufacturers tried to illegally clone the Game Boy, others
decided to stay on the right side of the law: they created handheld consoles
inspired by the Game Boy. The Supervision is arguably the best in this category.
It features a large 160*160 pixels screen, good sound, and rather responsive
controls. About 70 games were released for the machine, although none of them
matches the quality of the best Game Boy titles.
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Delplay Game Plus (1991)
« The Imitator »
Much like the Watara Supervision, the Hartung Game Master is an attempt to
build a Game Boy-inspired handheld console. In order to save costs, it features
much lower quality hardware, namely an horrible 64x64 pixels screen with a
single shade of gray. The Game Master had an horizontal from factor, like the
Lynx and the Game Gear. Several variations of this console were produced by
different manufacturers: VideoJet, Impel, Virela, and Watara. All these models
look the same despite having different case colors, and use the same cartridges.
All of them, but one: the Delplay Game Plus!
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Indeed, while it uses the same electronic hardware inside, its form factor was
changed to look like a Game Boy. The cartridges were also reduced in size,
making them incompatible with all the other Game Master variations. All this
modifications resulted in a very cheap handheld: the screen is barely usable, the
control buttons are working half of the time, and the software library is very limited
as it’s not compatible with other Game Master games. So, if you’re searching for
the worst Game Boy imitation ever, looks no further: behold the Game Plus!
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