I originally published on Yahoo Contributor Network under my pen name John Mario. The article was authored by my wife Joyce and is re-published here with her explicit permission.
I have owned a Nintendo hand held gaming console since the first Game Boy was introduced to the USA market sometime in the late 80s. It had a small black and grey screen with no backlight and could only be played under a good table light or really bright over head lights. It played games that were on 2 x3 inch cartridges and there were lots of them to play. I loved it.
My next upgrade was to trade in my black and grey screened Game Boy for the much improved Game Boy Color and the Colors were grand; but still no back light. The same restrictions existed on game play under a light or play in under bright over head lights. Lots of new games and backward compatibility to the old black and grey screen games made me love this one even more.
When the Game Boy Advance came out with new smaller game cartridges and still had backward compatibility to the Older Game Boy color games and the even older grey screen Game Boy games, I had to have one! I was nearly in heaven. Almost! It had no back light but it nearly did everything else. . They sold over the screen lights for all of the older Game Boys but they gave only a slight advantage since they glared on the screen and could very well give you a headache.
Not too long after the GBA came out rumors of a new Hand held console leaked out; a hand held with a back light and it would be a flip open and closed game system making it look a bit like a computer with the screen that stood up and the control pad in your hand: The Game Boy SP. I ran out and got my new GAMEBOY SP, hot off the shelf the day after it came out. It came with color, a back light and loads of games. It had back ward compatibility so all my old games worked and the backlight that made it possible to play even in a dimly lit car seat or anywhere else. OH JOY! I actually thought I had hit hand held gamming Nirvana. I played this system for literally years and loved every heart pounding, backlit game I could find. I thought it could not get better. I was of course wrong. When the Nintendo DS came out, I was at first flabbergasted! Could it actually be better than my beloved SP? It did still have some measure of backward compatibility because it could still play the GBA smaller cartridges (but not the still older larger GB or GBC cartridges.) I was a bit let down but then again I could always keep my beloved SP for those.
The DS was a wonder! It had backward compatibility and the great new DS games that came on little SD size chips. WOW! The new DS chips had even better graphics then the old GBA carts and were even easier to store. The back light was now on a larger better colored double gamming screen. Would there be no end to technical advancements? The double screen made hand held gaming something totally different than before. Was this the best there would ever be? No not quite!
Next came the DS lite a smaller console with an even larger screen. Would wonders never cease? NOPE!!!!!
Let me tell you when the DSI came out, I was floored. It had a camera. It could go online. It could do so much more than the DS lite. But I resisted because even the DS Lite still had backward compatibility to the older Game Boy advance cartridges. The DSI was a disappointment to me. I could not use my older cartridge games, only DS chips. Even though DSI screen was larger, I held out!
Finally Nintendo must have known I was holding out and added one I could not pass up. Even if it could not play my older games, the DSI XL now had absolutely 'huge' screens, two cameras and easy access to WIFI. That convinced me. I rebought a used SP for my older games. I put my 149.99 on the counter and purchased a DSI XL from my local game shop. I immediately started downloading games off the internet. I now own only one DS chip game: Animal Crossing Wild World. I eventually sold my newly acquired used SP and all my cartridge games. Can you believe that? Now I only download my games.
Yes after all that Nintendo cartridge madness I sold my beloved SP and all its games and nary shed a tear. How could that be? I had owned my newly acquired SP for less than 2 weeks after I got my XL. 'Why?' you ask. I wanted more download games from the DSI Shop online. Also, downloading games makes each game less than half the cost of chip games. A bargain I could not resist.
I am now hooked on downloads and playing my DSI XL online. Oh well, times change, but I still play Nintendo hand held games. And even at age 60 I am a video game fan. Guess I always will be!
Written and published by my wife Joyce Gentile.
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