The Nintendo Gameboy was released in 1989 with the pack-in game Tetris and 5 launch games, Super Mario Land, Alleyway, Baseball, and Tennis. Even with such a small launch, the Nintendo Gameboy became one of - if not the most - successful handheld video game system.
In 1994, Nintendo released the Super Gameboy, a devise that allowed you to play Gameboy Games through your Super Nintendo with limited color. Nintendo also redesigned the Nintendo Gameboy into the Gameboy pocket, making the system much more portable and introduced a number of different colored Gameboys.
While technology wise the Nintendo Gameboy was not too impressive, it was host to over 500 games by the end of its life span in 1998 including: Pokemon Red, Pokemon Blue, Castlevania, Final Fantasy Legends, Kirby, Mega Man. Super Mario Land and The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening. With an emphasis on game play, the Nintendo Gameboy was able to beat the technologically superior, and pricey, handheld systems such as the Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear and Sega Nomad, and NEC’s TurboGrafx Express.