Happy Birthday to the Game Boy

I'll never forget when the Game Boy became a thing. In 1989, my family didn't have a lot of extra cash, so we never had the latest things. However, the better off kids would sneak things into school every now and then, and that is how I saw my first music CD. I remember saying, "Woah! So, it is a mini record with a shiny back. What's with the colors when it reflects light? So cooooooool!" I was in awe of the first Game Boy back then too. Seeing a Nintendo in your pocket was incredible. I know kids today may be turned off by the puke green screen, but I was used to that with the Apple IIe computers we had in my school. The sound chip was fantastic, and in a way, was just as good, if not better than the NES's chip. I can't remember what the first game I saw was, but it was one of three: Tetris, Mario Land, or Alleyway. A friend of mine had one, and I played the heck out of Alleyway. We couldn't afford one, and I stupidly would save up cash to get the Tiger Electric handhelds, since they were $20 or less each. That was a stupid plan, because in the end, I would have saved money if I saved up more to spend more, since the Tiger handhelds didn't retain value. Plus, the games SUCKED. (Although Simon's Quest was pretty cool.) Anyway, many years later, a rich kid in the neighborhood traded his Gameboy and 3 games to me and my brothers for "prospect" baseball cards. Those players never turned out to be great, so he lost out in the deal. (He knew he was taking a risk.) A year later, my Mom got us an Atari Lynx with 4 games as they were clearing out their supply, and we obviously didn't know that the Lynx was going to be discontinued. I loved the Lynx, but the Game Boy is where it all began for me. I know that Game Boy is around here somewhere, but my wife likes to move things...