GB Tech Specs and Hardware

Birth: '89 (Japan), '91 (USA)

Short Tech Specs	Game Boy	Game Boy Pocket	Game Boy Color
Dimensions:	148 x 89 x 32 mm	124 x 76 x 23 mm	135.5 x 78 x 27.4 mm
Weight (with batteries)	394 g (batteries included)	148 g (batteries included)	138g (batteriesNOT included)
Screen Size:	2.5 Inches	2.5 Inches
Power supply:	6 V (4 AA-batteries)	3 V (2 AAA-batteries)	(2 AA-batteries)
CPU type:	Z80 8-bit CMOS		8-bit CPU
CPU speed:	4.19 Mhz		approximately 8 Mhz
RAM memory:	64 Kbit (8 Kbyte)		256 Kbit (32 Kbyte)
Max resolution:	160 x 144 pixels
Colors Available:	4 colors (greyscale)		32,000 colors
Max colors at once:	4 colors		32 (Game Boy/ Game Boy Color Hybrid carts) 56 (Game Boy Color carts) several thousand (Hi color mode)
Max sprite size:	8 x 16 pixel or 8 x 8 pixels (switchable)		8x16 and 8x8
Max sprites:	40 sprites		40 sprites
Min/Max Cart Size:	256 Kbit - 16 Mbit		64Mit ROM
Sound:	4 Channel		4 Channel FM Stereo
SerialPort(IR)Speed:	-		SerialPort(IR)Speed: 512Kbps
Tiles:	?		512 on screen

 
Special thanks to J. Kennedy for the Game Boy Color techspecs.

    The Game Boy, invented by Gumpei Yokoi in 1989, is the most sold handheld machine ever, and has sold in over 55 million copies! In 1996 Nintendo released a newer, smaller, and better Game Boy: the Game Boy Pocket. It is smaller, has a better LCD screen and comes in Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Gold, Classic, Black, Hot Pink and Transparent, and one with a light for playing in the dark! The megahit in Japan for the moment, Pocket Monsters, helped the GB to sell in 10 million copies last year ('97) outselling the Nintendo 64!! That shows that the GB is still a console to count on 9 years after it's release! Now the Game Boy Color is released, with 32,000 colors to choose from and 56 colors at once on the screen.

If you want further information about the Game Boy Color follow this link.

The Game Boy Monitor
    The monitor used by the Game Boy is a simple LCD type screen (Liquid Crystal Display) which can only show 4 different colors or grayscales. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage for the Game Boy. The good thing is that it doesn't consume half as much batteries as other color handheld systems like the Atari LYNX or SEGA Game Gear. the other great things that have been further improved with the GB Pocket is it´s size. you can actually put it in your pocket! Try putting a Game Gear in you pocket if you can! The two drawbacks of the LCD screen is that it looks a little bit dull in only 4 different shades of grey and it can also be tricky go get a good projection on the screen. You have to have a pretty strong light source nearby.  This has been improved with the new GB Pocket, so that's not really a problem anymore.