The Bitcorp Gamate was one of the first handheld game systems created in response to the Game Boy. It released in Asia in 1990 and distributed worldwide by 1991.
Unlike many later Game Boy clones, it was a higher quality. Unfortunately the system's fatal flaw is its screen. Even by the standards of the day, its screen is rather difficult to use, suffering from even worse ghosting problems than the first generation Game Boys. Likely because of this fact sales were quite poor, and Bitcorp closed by 1992. However, new games continued to be published for the Asian market, possibly as late as 1994.
The total number of sales and games released for the system remains unknown.
The Watara Supervision (QuickShot Supervision in the UK) introduced in 1992 as a cut-price competitor for the Game Boy. It came packaged with a game called Crystball, which is similar to Breakout for $50.
One unique feature of the Supervision was that it could be linked up to a television via an official accessory. Games played in this way would display in four colors, much like Nintendo's Super Game Boy add-on for the SNES. A full color TV link was also in the works, but because of the Supervision's failure to make a major impression among gamers it was cancelled, along with the games which were in development for it.
65 games were released for the Supervision before it was canceled in 1993.
The Mega Duck WG-108 (also known as Cougar Boy) was a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Hong Kong-based Welback Holdings through its Timlex International division, and released in 1993. It was marketed under various different brands worldwide including Creatronic and Videojet.
Conceptually, the electronics inside the Supervision and the Mega Duck are very similar. The position of the volume rocker, contrast controls, buttons, and connectors are virtually identical. However, the LCD of the Supervision is larger than the Mega Duck's.
The Mega Duck had 35 games produced for it.
There were many many other Game Boy clones produced around this time by various companies throughout the world. Most of which were not successful.
In 1995 Sega released a revolutionary device to the handheld market. A fully portable version of the Genesis. The Sega Nomad exclusive to the US market for the price of $180. The hardware was heavily based off of a custom unit produced for Japan Airlines known as the Mega Jet. Hoping to capitalize on the popularity of their home console they released the Nomad instead of a true successor to the Game Gear.
Able to play over 500 Sega Genesis games, it featured a port for a second controller and even had an A/V output that allowed the Nomad to be played on a TV. The controller port functions as player 2, so single-player games unfortunately cannot be played with a Genesis controller.
It sold 1 million units and weighed nearly 2 lbs.
It could run for 2-3 hours on six AA batteries.
The Tamagotchi is a handheld digital pet that was created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was released on November 23, 1996 in Japan and in the United States on May 1, 1997, quickly becoming one of the biggest fads of the late 1990s and the early 2000s.
According to Bandai, the name is a portmanteau combining the two Japanese words tamago (たまご), which means "egg", and uotchi (ウオッチ) "watch".
Pets have a Hunger meter, Happy meter and a Training meter to determine how healthy and well-behaved the pet is. There is also an age and weight check function for the current age and weight of the pet. Filling up the Hunger meter can be achieved by feeding the pet a meal (usually bread or burger) or a snack (usually a candy or cake). Filling up the Happy meter can be achieved by playing mini-games with the pet or by feeding it a snack.
Mini-games usually vary between versions. The Training meter (formerly called Discipline in earlier releases) can be filled by pressing the "scold" option when a pet calls for attention despite neither its hunger or happy meter being full, calls for attention but refuses to play or be fed a meal and in later models, sending a prank gift to a friend. Later models added a "praise" option for when the pet sulks or performs a good deed.
The pet will leave droppings around the screen from time to time and can become sick if they are not cleaned up. Before the pet goes to the bathroom, it will make a face and "stink" lines will appear around it. If the player activates the toilet icon during this animation, but before the pet has gone to the bathroom, the pet will use a toilet instead. When done repeatedly, the pet can be potty trained.
44 different versions of the Tamagotchi have been produced as well as 23 video games released on various platforms ranging from the Game Boy to the 3DS.
As of June 2023, over 91 million units have been sold worldwide.
When releasing the Tamagotchi in Japan, Bandai initially marketed them exclusively to teenage girls. Bandai and WiZ would later create a masculine counterpart to the Tamagotchi, the Digital Monster, which would spawn the Digimon franchise.
Tiger released the Game.com(pronounced game com, the dot is silent) in 1997 for the price of $70. It was the first console to feature a touch screen. It was also the first handheld system to feature internet connectivity if you connected it to a modem, hence the ".com" in the name. It was essentially a PDA that could play cartridge based games. It came with a pack in game called Lights Out and had a built in version of Solitaire on the system memory.
The device was powered by four AA batteries. Also available was the compete.com serial cable, allowing players to connect their consoles to play multiplayer games. The console had two game cartridge slots, in addition to reducing the need to swap out cartridges, this enabled Game.com games to include online elements, since both a game cartridge and the modem cartridge could be inserted at the same time.
Tiger developed 21 games for the Game.com. Notable games include: Duke Nukem 3D, Mortal Kombat, Sonic Jam, Resident Evil 2, and multiple Wheel of Fortune games. There were 20 other games that were announced, such as a port of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but never released due to the system being discontinued.
One of the major drawbacks of the system was the black and white display. Accessing the Internet also required the use of an Internet cartridge and a dial-up modem, neither of which were included with the console. Later on they released the Web Link cartridge which allowed you to connect to their PCs, but this only allowed you to upload your game scores to the game.com leaderboards.
It had a legendarily bad marketing campaign with a TV commercial in which a spokesperson insults gamers who ask questions about the console, while stating that it "plays more games than you idiots have brain cells!".
It sold approximately 300,000 units.
The Digital Monster is a digital pet created by WiZ and Bandai released on June 26, 1997, in Japan and on December 5, 1997 in North America. This pet was a masculine counterpart to the Tamagotchi, which was deemed more appropriate for girls. It was similar to the gameplay of Tamagotchi, with the distinction of being a fighting pet that could connect with others like it.
The original Digital Monster model that was released in 1997 sold 14 million units worldwide. As of 2005, more than 24 million Digital Monster units had been sold worldwide.
There are many other Tamagotchi clones including the Gigapet, Pingu, and Neopets.
The Digital Monster franchise would later evolve into the Digimon franchise, one of the few monster series able to rival Pokemon.
Pokémon Pikachu (Pocket Pikachu in Japan) It debuted on March 27, 1998, in Japan, on November 2, 1998 in North America, and in December 1998 in Europe.
Similar to other Tamagotchi virtual pets it featured a Pikachu that you could do various activities. Gameplay differs slightly from other portable virtual pets in that Pikachu does not need to be fed, watered, or cleaned up after.
Instead, the Pokémon Pikachu unit can be strapped to a belt and used as a pedometer. With every twenty steps it counts, the Pokémon Pikachu credits its user with one watt, a virtual currency used to buy Pikachu presents.
Additional activities become available as the player spends more time with their virtual Pikachu. If neglected, Pikachu will express anger and eventually refuse to recognize the player.
Nintendo finally released a follow up to its hyper-successful Game Boy in October of 1998 in Japan (November elsewhere) after they learned of plans by Bandai to create a new system with the help of several former Nintendo employees, including the legendary Gunpei Yokoi.
The Game Boy Color, featured full backwards compatibility with all previously released Game Boy games as well as being able to enhance some of them by adding color, most notably the Pokemon games. Though it is only considered a version of the OG Game Boy by many, it featured nearly double the power of the original.
Over 900 Game Boy Color games were created with notable titles such as: Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal, The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening DX, Dragon Warrior 1&2, Hello Kitty's Cube Frenzy, and many, many more...
Introduced at the price of $80, it sold over 53 million units.
It could run for up to 10 hours on two AA batteries.
Released just 7 days later in Japan on October 28th was the Neo Geo Pocket by SNK. It was primarily sold in Japan and Hong Kong. The system and all five English games saw limited distribution in the west, where it could be ordered directly from SNK USA.
9 games were released for the system before it was discontinued in 1999 in favor of the Neo Geo Pocket Color.
It could run for up to 40 hours on 2 AAA batteries.
The WonderSwan was the final piece of hardware developed by Gunpei Yokoi before he passed away in 1997. His swansong was developed in tandem with Bandai and was unfortunately never released outside of Japan. Yokoi designed the system around being able to play games in different orientations, some games you would hold the system vertically and others horizontally. This allowed games like space shooters more vertical display space and others such as fighting games or platformers to have more horizontal space.
It released for a the price of ¥4,800 (about $50). Despite the launch of Game Boy Color 5 months prior, Bandai was confident that the WonderSwan and its monochrome screen would perform well because the original Game Boy had previously been more successful than its color-screen competitors.
It boasted a 40 hour battery life on 1 AA battery and over 100 games.
In 2000, Bandai signed an agreement with Mattel to bring the handheld to the US, but ultimately decided against it. The exact reason for this is unknown.
It sold over 1.1 million units.
Part 1: https://cohost.org/AgentOtter/post/5565885-a-brief-history-of-v