20 Things Only 30-Something Gamers Will Understand

Nintendo launched the GameBoy in 1989 and although this wasn't the first piece of handheld gaming hardware (nod to the Milton Bradley Microvision ten years previous) it is one of the most well-loved.

Even though the screen was not colour and the processing power was weaker than Grandma’s tea fans overlooked these flaws for some quite remarkable battery life.

Powered by four AA cells, the GameBoy could last up to 10 hours and that was pretty awesome, more than a few of today’s so-called smartphones. In your face, iPhone.

The GameBoy aside, handheld gaming in the early 90s was a near-impossibility thanks to dreadful battery life, something developers didn’t seem too bothered about.

In late-1989 the Atari Lynx became the first handheld games console with a colour LCD screen. It even boasted an ambidextrous layout. Yippee. Its backlit screen was powered by a pocket money-bursting 6 AA batteries and could keep going for an ambitious 5 hours ( less if users opted for rubbish rechargeable batteries).

The Sega Game Gear, was rush-released in 1990 later and could go for 3-5 hours on 6 AAs. It was like a handheld Master System but having to anchor yourself to a wall with a mains charger to play on something almost the same size meant you should have stuck with that instead.

Laughable mention to the NEC TurboExpress. Hahahaha.