Handheld Gaming: A Timeline

With much of the gaming spotlight falling on non-portable systems like Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 these days, handheld gaming devices are often lost in the fold. At one time, the video game market had a large sector of sales devoted to platforms like the Game Boy and the Game Gear. Even though non-portable consoles dominate the industry in sales and records today, sales on smart phone applications, PSP Go and Nintendo 3DS games continue to do relatively well. A look back over the years proves that there have been plenty of different styles on the way to the current state of handheld gaming and just how far the sector of the market has come.

Milton Bradley released one of the first handheld gaming devices back in 1979 with the Microvision, a large machine with a black and white LCD screen. The system included ready-to-go versions of paddle games and limited play, which led to relatively poor sales. Even though it didn’t stick around, the system was used as a model for later designers of handheld games.

Throughout the mid 1980’s there were a couple more game machines, but none that really stood out. The Entex Select A Game Machine was released in 1981, but was still rather large. It was designed for two players to participate and was usually played on a table where both could sit down and see. The machine contained a vacuum fluorescent display which led to a number of sight issues and a limited amount of video games ultimately had a major effect on its downfall. In 1984, the Epoch Game Pocket Computer set the track for some future systems. It had a black and white LCD display which used cartridges. It was released in Japan, but failed to truly gain any steam, leaving the market open for others.

The industry was revolutionized in 1989 when Nintendo released the Game Boy platform. It had a long battery life, as well as a number of games available. With over 100 million units sold after its original release, Nintendo went on to develop an advance, light and color version later in the 1990’s. With the upgrades made to the line, it became one of the longest running video game systems in history.

The Gameboy’s main competitor came about in 1990 when Sega released the Game Gear. Even though Atari and NEC had attempted to build systems to compete with Nintendo, they were largely unsuccessful. The Game Gear came in color and was considerably inexpensive. Also pushing its popularity was the fact that the Sega Genesis was widely popular at the time.

The mid 90’s saw another release from Sega with the Genesis Nomad in 1995. This came at a rough patch for Sega, when it had a number of other releases on the market. The system was one of a kind in that it actually played the same cartridges as a genesis did, allowing for multiple platform game usage. The Nomad was widely ignored upon its release, leading to poor sales.

The market was saturated with smaller name systems throughout the early stages of the 2000’s including releases from Nokia, Bandai and Game Park which were all rather unsuccessful in the United States market. Nintendo released its first non-Gameboy portable device with the DS in 2004. This had two screens including one that was touch controlled. Although first viewed as a failure, the system has gone on to sell millions and stay one of the company’s major products.

Play Station finally got into the act in 2004 as well with the release of its own Portable device. The PSP was originally viewed as a better product than the DS, but long term sales went against the grain. Even being viewed as somewhat of a competitor, the PSP has still done well sales wise because it still offers some different aspects, especially with updates throughout the last decade.

Today, much of the handheld gaming industry is focused in smart phones and portable music devices such as the IPod Touch. Nintendo and Play Station have been forced to really improve their online game access with the widespread availability in the smart phone sector. It will remain to be seen how long handheld devices for gaming only stay on the market, considering that devices are getting smaller with more memory. 

Written by Justin Taylor - N-Handhelds contributor