Game Boy Super

In 1994, the Super Game Boy was released by the Nintendo Entertainment System Corporation. This portable handheld gaming system is capable of playing not only its own games, but those games that are designed for the original Nintendo Game Boy. This handheld unit was the successor to the Nintendo Game Boy, while at the same time it was the successor to the Nintendo Game Boy Player. This unit initially sold in the North American market for about $60.

Although this handheld is still a monochrome handheld gaming unit, it was still designed to be capable of playing the initial Game Boy cartridges, as well as the Game Boy Colour cartridges as well, although you could only play Game Boy Colour games in monochrome on the Super Game Boy.

The only major differences between the Nintendo Game Boy, and the Nintendo Super Game Boy, were that of a main coprocessor change. While inside, the two separate handhelds were basically the same makeup and board. The CPU processor had been changed to allow better graphics.

In applying the Game Boy Colour games to the monochrome screen, the math processor, would create shades of grey to mimic the colours used on the black Game Boy Colour cartridges. This is an important aspect of the cartridge itself as the black cartridges were unable to be played in the Super Game Boy handheld console. The reason for this is that the grade cartridges were designed specifically for the Game Boy Colour only, and therefore not only could the Super Game Boy not play them, but the Game Boy Player was unable to play these cartridges as well.