Game Boy Color: The Age of Experimentation

For our parents (and some of us) the age of experimentation was the Hippy movement of the 1960s, while others chose to experiment in college, but Nintendo's Game Boy waited until the late 90s to test the boundaries of reality with groundbreaking technology that evolved into much of what we take for granted in gaming today. So pull out your lava lamps, put on your tie-dies and let's look at the trippy experimental history of Game Boy Color, which is, like, groovy.

This one might be obvious, but the GBC was the first Game Boy to play color games. The ability to show up to 56 colors simultaneously on screen from a palette of over 32,000 was a big boost for the little handheld system. Game developers took full advantage, utilizing the colors to enhance the quality of graphics and add depth to the environments and gameplay. This was a major step for Nintendo's advancements of the Game Boy and inevitably paved the way for the Game Boy Advance.

GBC was the first handheld to be backwards compatible, meaning you could play a vast number of the original Game Boy Classic games on this new system, giving the GBC the largest library of any other handheld. They also added limited color to the old GB games. When you put a GB cartridge into the GBC you could use the default colors or pick ones you want manually using the A/B buttons and directional pad. This showed how invaluable backwards compatibility is, something that is still practiced today.

Yet another first, the GBC used an infrared communications port to allow information to be exchanged between two systems. This feature never became popular, but it was a precursor to the wireless link that is built into the Nintendo DS. The GC however utilized a more primitive infrared signal similar to the one in your TV Remote control. This was mostly used in the Pokemon games, but was also included in the final GBC game, Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets.

You think the GBA game Wario Ware: Twisted was the first Game Boy title to use Motion Sensors? Think again. It all started with a little GBC game called Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble. The motion sensor, aka tilt cartridge, can sense how you move the GBC and how short and fast you shift it, allowing you to use the system as a controller. In Kirby Tilt 'n' Trouble you move the GBC to control Kirby, even making him jump by a quick jerk of the wrists. This device was developed by Nintendo's team R&D2.

In the late 90s Rumble Packs were all the rage on console systems, so it was only natural that Nintendo created another first, the Rumble Cartridges. These were longer and had thicker ends to accommodate a battery. Due to the small size and the fact that when shaken too hard the GBC will cease to function, the cartridges only emitted a slight vibration. This is still used today as a another feature in the GBA game Wario Ware: Twisted, plus the DS game Metroid Pinball has a separate rumble pack.

That's quite a lot of innovation for a system that was often criticized by just being a glorified Game Boy Classic. Nintendo, always being the forward thinking company, has used the GBC's techno amazements as inspiration for many of the features in their next-gen console, the Nintendo Wii. The Wii sports a wireless controller, motion sensor and a rumble feature. Oh and the games are in color too...does that count?