Want To Feel Old? Watch Kids React To A Game Boy, And Weep For Your Lost Childhood
Twenty-five years ago, the Nintendo Game Boy debuted as the Best Thing in the World Now and Forever, but apparently no one told these kids about the “Forever” part because they’re decidedly underwhelmed by the classic piece of gaming technology.
The “Kids React To” series has been going for a while now, pairing adorable little scamps with what used to be cutting edge technology and filming their fascination with and ineptitude in operating whatever happens to be the device of the week. This week, it’s the Game Boy, which turned 25 back in April.
The kids approach the Game Boy with a combination of wonderment and shock. Wonderment at the fact that previous generations were able to entertain themselves with the Game Boy, that is, and shock that we even called this gaming.
The Game Boy, of course, hails from an earlier Golden Age for Nintendo, back when the Japanese gaming giant could do no wrong. Nintendo hit another boom period last decade with the launch of the Wii, but the follow-up Wii U has struggled since its launch. Nintendo may be on the verge of turning that around with the top-selling Mario Kart 8, but it may still be a steep climb thereafter.
One area where Nintendo has almost never lagged has been in the portable gaming segment. The Game Boy didn’t invent portable gaming, but it did basically perfect it. At the time of its release, the Game Boy struck a number of solid compromises between gaming power, portability, and battery life, ensuring its status as the go-to distraction device for many a road trip or plane ride. Sure, your friend might have whipped out a shiny Sega Game Gear to show off, but that smirk left his face once the Game Gear ran out of batteries after two levels of Sonic.
Nintendo, of course, followed the Game Boy with the Game Boy Color, as well as a seemingly endless string of iterations on the Game Boy Advance. The launch of the Nintendo DS heralded an even Golden-er Age for portable Nintendo gaming as that system became one of the highest selling devices in gaming history. The 3DS, which followed the DS, struggled initially, but it has since taken off, proving a the lone bright spot for Nintendo for some time until the launch of Mario Kart 8.
Of course, none of this matters to these darn kids, who are obviously too spoiled with their iPhones and hippity-hop music to appreciate the beauty that was the Game Boy. What do you know about Jordan Vs. Bird, I ask you? No, not Flappy Bird, kid. You know what? Get off my lawn. Just go on. Go download some mp3s or something. Darn kids.
