Nintendo achieved success with the Game Boy by using a simple design featuring a fully tested microprocessor and a power management system that enabled a much longer battery life than the competition (seven to nine hours on four AA batteries for the Game Boy, vs. three to six hours for completing platforms). The Game Boy reigned supreme until 1998, when Nintendo finally decided to take the system into the world of color.
For the Game Boy Color, Nintendo largely stuck with the design formula that had worked for the first Game Boy. In fact, if you were to place an earlier Game Boy next to the color version, you wouldn't notice any difference in the physical look of the systems.
For the newer system, Nintendo again went with a Sharp-manufactured microprocessor, based again on the Zilog Z80 architecture. The device, labeled CPU-GBC, doubled the clock speed from the original Game Boy's processor, to 8 MHz, to account for the processing required for the addition of color. Total SRAM density was increased to 32 kbytes, and the two SRAMs, labeled LH52CV256JT-10LL, were again provided by Sharp.
Sharp again scored major design wins in this next iteration of Game Boy, providing the LCD voltage generator (IR3E06N) and the audio amplifier (IR3R53N) in addition to the aforementioned parts. Sharp maintained its goodwill with Nintendo to see continued use of its ICs in the highly successful series of handhelds.
The dot-matrix display was replaced with a reflective LCD screen that offered the same resolution as its predecessor (160 x 144 pixels) but was capable of displaying up to 56 colors. The strength of the Game Boy brand name, a large catalog of game developers and backward compatibility with the original Game Boy games let Nintendo score another success in handhelds with the Game Boy Color.
But the color version, though popular, couldn't match the sales numbers of its predecessor. By 1998, the graphics of the system (which were similar to the original Game Boy graphics) seemed outdated compared with the graphics being seen in home consoles such as the Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64. People were beginning to ask for more from the handheld gaming experience.
Thus, Nintendo very quietly began development on a handheld system that would stray not only in look but also in technology from the tried-and-true Game Boy model.
In Part 2, I'll investigate the technological changes Nintendo made for the next generation of Game Boy.
Allan Yogasingam is a technology analyst for TechOnline, a division of TechInsights. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from the University of Manitoba.
