In last week’s Best-Selling Video Game Consoles: 1972 to 2002 post, it was clear that Sony had taken the stranglehold in the consoles market in the mid 90’s. The portable games market is a different beast. From the early days of crude portability with the tabletops, to Gunpei Yokoi’s wondrous Game & Watch series, the pedigree of portable gaming had been set quite early. Once the Game Boy burst onto the scene (another Gunpei Yokoi creation), Nintendo knew they had a winner. Which portable systems gave the Game Boy a run for its money ? Look below, there should not be too many surprises.
* = portable unit still in production as at press time
Nintendo have owned the portable market for over 30 years. There aren’t too many companies that can claim such dominance in a cut-throat segment. The Atari Lynx (5 mil) could have sold more units if the infighting had ceased at the time of its creation. The Lynx was ready for production more than two years prior to the Game Boy’s (118.69 mil) release, and yet, it ended up being released a few months after it. Even with more powerful systems (Lynx, Game Gear, PC-Engine GT/TurboExpress), the Game Boy enjoyed success due to its hip-pocket friendly price and many (enjoyable) games.
Nintendo managed their evolution of video gaming portable product lines almost god-like: from the Game Boy Advance (81.51mil), to the DS (152.50 mil) and to the current (as at press time), 3DS (22.19 mil). In comparison, the closest portable gaming system to give Nintendo a run for their market share is Sony’s PlayStation Portable (71.40 mil). The current Sony offering, the PS Vita (2.2 mil) is still languishing behind Nintendo’s 3DS (22.2 mil).
Will Nintendo keep on dominating this segment? Only time will tell. For now, Nintendo is the undisputed king of the portable video gaming systems.
NOTE: No validated sales figures could be obtained for the Wonderswan and its variants.
