The Evolution Of The Handheld Video Game

Handheld Video Game Handheld video game has come a long way since it was first introduced in late 1970's. A handheld video game was extremely popular in the 1980's and is still quite popular among children of different age groups as well as teenagers. Let us take a brief look at the innovation processes involved in making a handheld video game advanced over the years.

First of its kind The first ever handheld video game was the Mattel's LED-based handhelds, which were introduced in 1977-78. These were single-game handhelds and the some of the popular handheld video game included Football, Basebal and Basketball. Some of the non-sport games released at that time included Armor battle, Missile attack, and Sub Chase.

Microvision 1979 Microvision came into the handheld video game arena in 1979 and captured the market with by introducing a handheld video game console that was compatible with interchangeable cartridges.

Nintendo1980-91 Nintendo of Japan actually ruled the early handheld video game era with their Game & Watch handhelds in 1980. Most of their handhelds also featured an alarm clock. The games introduced by Nintendo rose to popularity especially with Mario Bros and Donkey Kong.

Nintendo Game Boy 1989 The introduction of the Game Boy changed the handheld video game market completely and is considered by many critics and gaming enthusiasts as the most successful handheld video game system ever. One of the main aspects of its success can be contributed to its price, which was $109.

Atari Lynx / Lynx II 1989 Atari was one of the many Game Boy challengers and they introduced their handheld video game system called the Atari Lynx in 1989. It had better graphics as compared to Game Boy but was more expensive than the former.

Sega Game Gear 1990 In the early 1990's Sega entered the market of handheld video game by launching Sega Game Gear. Sega Game Gear had a color screen and the only aspect where it failed to compete with Nintendo's game Boy was the price, which was $149.

Tiger Electronics game.com 1997 This was the first company that tried to revolutionize the concept of handheld video game by using of Internet video game libraries. They had opened a website called game.com and their main aim was to bring internet access and the PDA capabilities together into the handheld video game.

Game Boy Advance 2001- 2005 This was the nail in the coffin for most of the handheld video game developers. This has been the greatest success for Nintendo and is considered to be the second most popular handheld video game console after the original game boy.