10 Ways Nintendo Were Almost COMPLETELY Different

10. The Game Boy Color Was An Afterthought

The Game Boy was an instant success upon its release in 1989. Ten years after its debut, Nintendo revealed they were making a successor called the Game Boy Advance.

The GBA was supposed to be revealed sooner but it proved harder to develop than Nintendo anticipated. When the company realised they couldn't release the GBA until 2001, they devised the Game Boy Color in 1998 to fill up a gap in the market.

To the untrained eye, the GBC simply appears to be a regular Game Boy, but in colour. However, the console could process data more efficiently and had four times the memory, allowing for much larger games. On top of that, the GBC had wireless communication. When certain games were inserted into the GBC, it activates new options, weapons, or levels.

When the Game Boy Advance was finally released, it obliterated its competition, selling 81 million units. But because of the GBA's delay, the Game Boy had a resurgence of popularity, selling nearly 120 million units in total, making it the most successful Nintendo console ever apart from the DS. If the GBA wasn't delayed, Nintendo would've ironically made far less money.