Game Boy – a masterclass in design.

Circa 1985, home console gaming was becoming an increasingly mainstream alternative to playing games at an arcade. With the rise of the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), one of the first truly mainstream home video-game consoles, gamers were just coming to terms with the possibility that they could access their favourite games from the comfort of their own home.

Then in 1989, Nintendo took that idea further with the Game Boy – designed to take the concept of portable gaming to the next level (pun intended…).

The Game Boy and subsequent consoles became one of the most successful handheld gaming families in history with over 200 million Game Boy-family consoles, and over 878 million games sold worldwide.

The key to the Game Boy’s success? I’ll tell you what I think – simplicity.

Before the Game Boy – Game & Watch

Nintendo had already tried their hand at a portable gaming system, with the Game & Watch. Which was a simple portable, handheld gaming machine built around a clear segmented LCD display, and simple and straightforward controls. They were hugely successful, selling more than 40 million units worldwide.

However, it had one key hardware limitation; each device could only play one game.

This meant that users could never be truly invested in the hardware ecosystem, as they were required to purchase a new console every time they wanted to play something new.

Even so, from the success of the Game & Watch Nintendo knew there was a real market for handheld consoles. In developing the Game Boy, Nintendo then took the best parts of the Game & Watch – portability, simplicity and clear user interaction – whilst removing that big hardware limitation.

Simplicity in interaction

What I love about the Game Boy, is how obvious it is.

Nowadays, if I hand my gaming controller or laptop over to a parent, grandparent or even a friend, they give me a look of confusion and puzzlement – not knowing where to start, or what button to press.

This is where the Game Boy excels. You can hand it to anyone, and the controls naturally fall into their hands. Their thumbs casually resting on the very buttons they will be playing with. There is absolutely no visual clutter, and almost nothing needs explaining. The design of the console itself tells the user how it should be operated. It turns what could be a learning experience, into something that feels familiar.

Designing with limitations

Nintendo then, and even now, are aware that better on-paper specifications don’t necessarily create a better product.

The Game Boy used a monochrome screen (shown below), at a time where colour handheld technology was all the rage. Nintendo chose not to chase the newest tech, but to consolidate and perfect an experience that they knew they could deliver on. In doing so, they prioritised things like battery life, affordability and portability - physical metrics that truly mattered to the end user.

The same simplicity is extended into the software. The game ‘Tetris’ which was bundled with many Game Boys sold, could be understood by any user almost immediately. Square geometric blocks falling, into perfectly formed gaps. The objective immediately becomes clear in an elegant, non-patronising manner. Transcending age, language and gaming ability.

Two versions of the same ‘handheld’ concept, one much sleeker, clearer and better selling than the other.

The Lynx (on the right) had the latest in display technology, but look at the sacrifice they had to make to implement it - it’s massive! It made for a hardly portable console. This also had a huge effect on battery life, requiring 6xAA batteries that only lasted around 4 hours of playtime. Compared to the Game Boy’s 4xAA and up to 30 hours.

This side by side highlights how designing something to be technically ‘worse’ on-paper, to the user, might actually make it better.

Why it worked

To me, the Game Boy is a masterclass in elegant, simple, user-friendly design. It was a piece of design that didn’t need an instruction manual.

I personally love the concept that a product’s design can be so well refined and sleek, that it can hold its own - more than that, it sells itself.

I am going to approach my future projects with this concept in mind, and try to design products in a way that users can immediately understand its purpose, and how it works.

This concept will prove especially useful in my latest University Project - “Retail therapy”, where my goal is to design and sell at least 10 units of a “luxury” piece of giftware.

That’s the standard I want to take into the project: something whose value is so obvious, it sells itself.