The Game Boy is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same team that developed the Game & Watch series of handheld electronic games and several Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games: Satoru Okada, Gunpei Yokoi, and Nintendo Research & Development 1.
Nintendo Zone was a download service and an extension of the DS Download Station. Users could access content, third-party data, and other services from a hotspot or download station. The service had demos of upcoming and currently available games and may have location-specific content. When the service debuted, users could also connect to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and DSi Shop.
The Nintendo Zone Viewer application allows the Nintendo DSi and 3DS to detect and use the Nintendo Zone service. This application has been discontinued worldwide, but all other Nintendo Zone functionality remains.
The N-Gage is a smartphone combining features of a mobile phone and a handheld game system developed by Nokia, announced on 4 November 2002 and released on 7 October 2003. It runs the original Series 60 platform on Symbian OS v6.1.
N-Gage attempted to lure gamers away from the Game Boy Advance by including telephone functionality. This was unsuccessful, partly because the buttons, designed for a telephone, were not well-suited for gaming. The original N-Gage was described as resembling a taco, which led to its mocking nickname "taco phone".
The N-Gage QD is a handheld game console and smartphone by Nokia, and a redesign of the N-Gage. It was unveiled on April 14, 2004, and was released on May 26, 2004, running the same Symbian OS v6.1 with Series 60 1st Edition FP1.
It revised the original N-Gage's physical design, being smaller and rounder. It corrected the flaw of the original's cartridge slot placement with a more convenient one on the bottom of the device as opposed to behind the battery. This design also moved the earpiece to the face of the device, rather than on the side, as in the previous model.
The device retailed at a lower price compared to the original N-Gage device, aided by the fact that it was usually sold with service contracts and applicable subsidies. For instance, in the United States the N-Gage QD was available as a prepaid phone offered by Cingular at retail games stores such as Electronics Boutique and GameStop.
The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territories beginning on February 22, 2012. The console is the successor to the PlayStation Portable, and a part of the PlayStation brand of gaming devices; as part of the eighth generation of video game consoles, it primarily competed with the Nintendo 3DS.
The Neo Geo Pocket Color is a 16-bit color handheld game console manufactured by SNK. It is a successor to SNK's monochrome Neo Geo Pocket handheld which debuted in 1998 in Japan, with the Color being fully backward compatible. The Neo Geo Pocket Color was released on March 16, 1999 in Japan, August 6, 1999 in North America, and October 1, 1999 in Europe, entering markets all dominated by Nintendo, competing with Nintendo's Game Boy Color.
