When the Nintendo Game Boy was released in April/July, 1989 (Japan/North America), there was nothing like it on the market. The Game Boy was the first programmable handheld system with sufficient capabilities to play games that were similar to the home consoles of its day. The Game Boy was intended to be an inexpensive device, so it used a monochrome reflective green screen rather than a difficult-to-manufacture and power hungry backlit color screen like its main competitors, the Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear, NEC Turbo Express and later the Sega Nomad. Although the Game Boy definitively ruled over the color competing systems, dominating the market until its successor, the Game Boy Color, was released in October/November of 1998, that does not mean it was the only monochrome handheld game console on the market. Early in its lifetime it had competitors from Taiwan which tried to take away some of its market with little success. Later, more established companies tried to get on the monochrome bandwagon, only to find that lightning does not necessarily strike twice. Recently, as retro style gameplay experiences have found a market in the age of the Nintendo Switch, we have seen at least one or two companies try their hand at a monochrome handheld. In this article we will trace the evolution of the consoles that tried to compete with the Game Boy or invoke its success.
