The History of Handheld Games

1970s

• In the 1970's several companies were working hard to capitalize on the cheap components and almost infinite possibilities of the microprocessor chip. In 1977, Mattel debuted a series of sports-based handheld games that used a series of red light LEDS and simple programming to allow kids (mostly boys) to play football or baseball while riding in the car to Grandma's house.
  Tomy followed Mattel's lead by producing the "Blip," a hand-held version of the super-popular "Pong" game. Unlike Mattel's game, two players could play "Blip" at the same time, making driving trips with more than one child a little quieter for the parents.

1980'

• By the 1980's even relatively unknown Japanese electronic companies were trying to horn in on Mattel and Tomy's territory. Nintendo's popular Game and Watch"series of hand held games offered a more varied style of play; players could "move" their icon or character left, right, up and down but only in pre-programmed areas. Still the increased variety of games--most of which were non-sports related--and the smaller package made for a perennial hit.
  By 1989, Nintendo had moved on to small, flexible gaming devices it calledGame Boys. Unlike earlier game systems, Game Boys allowed Nintendo to maximize profits by selling the games separately. Even better, the technology was durable and the platform was flexible.

1990s

• Perhaps recognizing that Nintendo had a hit on its hands, several game manufacturers tried their hands at making a competitor to the Game Boy. Atari's Lynx, Sega's Game Gear and Sega's Nomad were proffered as rivals to the Game Boy. While none of these prospered for more than a few years, they did prompt Nintendo to offer a new, color screened version of the Game Boy, Game Boy Color.
  Game Boy Color had another advantage over its competitors; it could run older Game Boy games, thus allowing fans of the handheld game to keep their original library and expand it with color titles.

2000's

• After having skated through the 1990's on the power of the the original Game Boy, only to be jarred into innovation at the end of the decade, Nintendo decided to remain ahead of the curve with its Game Boy line. In 2001, Game Boy Advance boasted a more ergonomic shape, better games and stronger graphics. Again in 2003, Nintendo introduced the flip-phone inspired Game Boy Advance SP with a better screen and stronger processing power. A year later, it introduced the Nintendo DS. Although the DS (which stands for Dual Screen) still could play older Game Boy titles, its innovative use of a touch screen, wireless connectivity and new gaming format was a departure from the older Game Boy model.
  Some competition, in the form of Sony's PSP (Play Station Portable) arrived in 2004 and began to eat away at Nintendo's dominance in the handheld gaming market. In addition to games and wireless connectivity, the PSP offered movies, music and other capabilities the DS could not copy.

Cell Phones and PDAs

• Nokia is credited with beginning the cellphone gaming trend by introducing Snake in its 1997 model phones. By the turn of the century, Nokia and its competitors had installed literally millions of Snake and Snake-clones onto cellphones and even began offering color screens for playing games on. With the advent of Java Micro Edition and other software, cellphones--and Personal Data Assistants or "PDA"s--began running off-brand versions of popular games.
  By 2005, handheld gaming had moved onto cell phones and PDA platforms with astounding aggression. In 2005, the cell phone and PDA versions of games were worth around $80 million in revenue for one company, Jamdat, alone. Apple now allows amateur and professional designers the ability to design and sell their games through Apple's "App" store.