When you think of portable gaming consoles, there have been some legendary additions to this category. But none have ever come close to the Nintendo GameBoy. The device has had 118 million copies sold worldwide, making it the third highest-selling console of all time currently. This is only behind the PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo DS. But how did Nintendo strike gold when it put the GameBoy to market and how has it revolutionised portable gaming that we have today? Well gamers, since today is the GameBoy's 33rd birthday of being available in Europe, I plan to tell you! But first a quick history lesson.

The Original Big 3 (1989-2004)

Time for some history lessons. Nowadays the big rivalry is between Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft for who's got the bragging rights for having the best consoles. Back in the 80s, Nintendo was fighting against two different rivals, Sega and Atari. Sega and Nintendo were constantly arm-wrestling with each other to be the best of the business and if that rivalry was now, I'd love to see Mario and Sonic fighting on the undercard of a YouTube celebrity boxing match but alas, it seems the two have been friends since the collaboration in 2007. Atari was always trying to keep up with both of these, but never really gathered the momentum to keep up. The 2600 was a fantastic console, and probably why gaming is so big today, but that's a story for another time.

1989 saw the release of the GameBoy with the Lynx following soon after and then a year later, the Sega Game Gear. Toy shops titled 1990 as "The Portable Wars" which when you compare the three, Nintendo won every battle comfortably. The GameBoy was originally retailed at $90, was easily portable, built to last and had a library that put simply was flawless. Tetris, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Pokemon and more, the list was endless and no one could compete. Though the Lynx was only slightly more expensive at $100, it was far inferior to the GameBoy. Its library was nowhere near as full as the GameBoy's, it looked hideous, was far less portable and had awful battery life. Atari's reputation wasn't great either, after the failures of the 5200 and the 7800, the Lynx was a last-ditch attempt to save them. It didn't.  The Game Gear, however, was on the same level of performance as the GameBoy, but was priced at over double the cost of a GameBoy at $190 and faced a huge backlash after most of its marketing went at criticizing Nintendo.

When you consider the final sales figures and when each console was discontinued, there's barely any competition at all. The Lynx unsurprisingly finished last in the race, sold less than a million copies and was discontinued six years after its release. Whilst the Game Gear in the early stages put up some of a fight, it only managed 10 million copies and production ended 7 years later. The GameBoy however was in production for twice the amount and sold over 10 times than what the Game Gear managed. Since the two departed from the three-horse race, Nintendo released the GameBoy Colour in 1998 and the GameBoy Advance in 2001 which still thrashed the sales of Sega's and Atari's. So when we look back at the console's legacy from the beginning, it's no wonder every gaming company wanted a taste of the GameBoy's success and why Nintendo is still to this day one of the dominant forces in portable gaming.

Viva La PSP & Nintendo's New Battle (2004-2017)

With Nintendo's focus moving on from the GameBoy, a long line of successors from Nintendo was on their way. First, the DS was born, which hadn't forgotten about the GameBoy entirely. The DS was made to be backwards compatible with the GameBoy, allowing for original GameBoy cartridges to be inserted into the device. This was a great move from Nintendo, meaning you could still play your beloved GameBoy games on the new system. Released in 2004, the Nintendo DS only had one rival and that was from a new competitor.

Enter Sony, which on the back of the success of the PlayStation 2 decided to enter the portable market with the PSP (PlayStation Portable). Now, these two devices were completely different in their own rights so a direct comparison wouldn't be fair. Instead of the original Big 3's battle to be the best, these two were marketed at different people and Sony and Nintendo respected that, sort of. The DS was a better portable system but the PSP was the all-around system that benefitted from the higher quality system.

While the PSP is somewhat of an icon of nostalgia, the DS sold almost twice as many. The next releases were the 3DS which again was a big success compared to Nintendo's launch of the Wii U and PlayStation's release of the Vita which both fell flat. This would result in the last time Sony ever released a portable console and it was also the end of the Wii. With this, no one would've expected Nintendo to release what could arguably be the best console released up to yet.

Portable Gaming Now (2017-Onwards)

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Though actual physical portable gaming consoles have practically disappeared, which is mainly down to the dominance of Nintendo and the arrival of Smartphone gaming, the industry of portable gaming is at its all-time highest. The Nintendo Switch is to thank for this, and we feel the reputation of the GameBoy, whilst not entirely the reason, is one of the key aspects as to why. Think about it, besides the Wii U, which was outcasted because of the DS series, The Switch has become not only one of Nintendo's but one of the world's most popular consoles with over 110 million sold, almost surpassing the PlayStation 4. Nintendo has one of the best exclusive games of all the large console manufacturers, making the Switch a fantastic investment to add to any collection. One of the best parts about the Switch is that it has a large variety of games for every kind of gamer out there. Multiplayer titles that are fun for both casual and hardcore Nintendo fans, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mario Strikers: Battle League, and Splatoon. The Switch also has some great relaxing titles for casual gamers, such as Spiritfarer, Tetris Effect: Connected, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

But whilst the Switch is the perfect blend of home and on-the-move gaming, a big market has now moved towards smartphones. Call of Duty's popular game mode Warzone was recently announced that it was coming to mobile, just like PUBG, and with more gamers now on mobile than ever before, with the likes of Xbox cloud software available, any form of a game can now be easily accessed on your phone. Heavily focused PC players now have the option of using the Steam Deck which whilst not popular with everyone, gives you your PC on the move.

So it begs the question, was all of this down to the first release of the GameBoy? It's difficult to imagine that this idea wouldn't have been brought into the world at some point but to be done so successfully and the fact that Nintendo to this day is the one who is still the most dominant says a lot! Let us know what you think below!