This amazing Japanese Game Boy book is the nuts! Game Boy at 35 in Japan
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Published 2024-06-01
A while back I said I wanted to lean into cool shit I wanted to talk about well that's what I'm doing here, talking about why the Game Boy has such a special place in my heart and how it relates to my life here in Japan in my own very niche and inimitable way!
When I was 7 years old in 1990, I have no recollection of ever recognizing a video game before that point, but that may be my memory playing tricks, but I can sure for sure the Game Boy was the first time I wanted to play video games and the first time I wanted such a device to do so on.
I talk about how the Game Boy first came into my life, how I made my own Game Boy when I was a kid, and more importantly how the Game Boy is so relevant to my life here in Japan.
But the most interesting bit is this awesome book that I recently picked up for the GameBoy here in Japan, a new edition of the Game Boy Perfect Catalog that has to be one of the most exhaustive guides to everything Game Boy and Game Boy Color.
I even play some Mahjong in this video, not many YouTube Game Boy videos venture into that territory.
If you enjoy what I do, why not join my Patreon from free, I release a bit of content now and then for free subscribers and for $2 subscribers you get early access, and above that, you even get artwork from Japan in the post, check it out here: www.patreon.com/pixel_vixen
Good Game Boy content:
Jeremy Parish's "Nan-to-ka Works" @JeremyParish
Brian J's "Game Boy Roulette" @TheBrianJ
Great Game Boy documentary by @LowSpecGamer • How the Game Boy ᵃˡᵐᵒˢᵗ ruined Nintendo
p.s. love you guys @MetalJesusRocks and @JohnRiggs - hope you take my humor as intended :) Just something about that term "hidden gem" grinds my gears! especially with such a mediocre Micronics developed shmup like Spriggan Powered. :)
Book link (non affiliate):
Game Boy Perfect Catalog Amazon JP: www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/前田-尋之/dp/486717680X
#gameboy #Japan #retrogaming
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All Comments (7)
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I love all the goodies on your desk! That looks so inviting. I love these story-based videos. And that book is stunning; I really need to get back to learning Japanese.
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Haven't been to your channel before, but this was a fantastic watch! Thanks for that.
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Thats funny as I remember our zx81 that we had in mid 80s. Was my brothers. I remember writing out the horse racing game that was in a book we had every time I used it. Was just letters moving from left to right or right to left. Don't know why I liked it. Back in those days, despite having a tape recorder that we used to load games, I didn't know you could save games back to tape.
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And my story of the Commodore 64 was our family friends, The Gilroys, had one, Martin did. This is my confession as I've never told them to this day (he probably knew). I'd go round almost every Saturday to see them and play on Martin's C64. Late 80s early 90s. Occasionally I'd buy a magazine to play games off that. One day he said he was going out but I could stay and carry on playing (Martin was older than me. It was his sister that was my age who I went to school with until High. School). That day he'd learnt how to do a POKE on a game to put cheats in. Was in a magazine. However you had to be careful otherwise you'd brick the machine. How? I didn't understand at the time. The POKE method in the magazine was, while the game was loading or once it had, to touch the connectors on the port on the back of the C64. It would interrupt the load so you could do a POKE of the game in memory. And that was it. So when he was out I tried it. The C64 turned off and wouldn't come back on again. I don't remember properly reading the instructions. I tried everything and the C64 wouldn't turn back on. Oh shit. I gave up, went to the backroom where his sister was and sat and watched TV. She asked why wasnt playing the C64. I said I'd gotten bored. Waited an hour then left for home. Later that evening got a call from Martin asking if the C64 was working when I left. I lied and said yes. Speaking a week or so later he said he had to send it off for repair. Its motherboard had blown. Turns out I'd shorted the board attempting to do the POKE. If I'd read the instructions properly and understood them, it turns out you had touch only specific connectors or you blew the board. Oops.
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I picked up my Commodore 64 in 1991. I think Currys must have been heavily advertising them at the time as I wasn’t actually looking for a computer but picked one up… must have been a bargain. I was even later to the Gameboy… 1995-6? I got one as I was spending lots of time in hotels on tour. I had the Color, Pocket and the Advance but I think my favourite was the Advance SP as it was handbag friendly.
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Again a wonderful video :) I remember getting my gameboy in late 1997, a second hand one from cash converters, for doing well in my school report. Came with tetris, mario land 2 and...of all things...blues brothers! Pretty garbage game but banging soubdtrack 😅
