Nintendo's Game Boy is the most successful handheld videogame system to have ever been created. Released in 1989, the idea was to combine the portability of the Game & Watch with the cart games of the NES. The Game Boy could only manage four shades of green, and had a blurry screen, but it was utterly groundbreaking at the time.
Nintendo followed the Game Boy with a number of improvements. The Game Boy Pocket was a smaller system with a longer battery life, and the Super Game Boy was a Super Famicom cart that allowed you to play Game Boy games on a TV - games made specifically compatible with the Super Game Boy came with exclusive borders, colour schemes and sound.
Finally, the release of the Game Boy Color heralded the next evolution. The system (supported by the massive Pokémon phenomenon) allowed graphics comparible to those of the NES, as well as a higher level of screen clarity. Around a decade after the release of the Game Boy, Nintendo had a 95% share of the handheld market with no lack of classic titles to keep them there. This continued on into the next Game Boy evolution - the Game Boy Advance.
