Introduction:
The Nintendo Gameboy Advance was the true successor to the original Gameboy and Gameboy Color, touting a top of the line screen, better internals, and a sleek ergonomic design. This first iteration was released in North America on June 11th of 2001 but there was one issue with the Gameboy Advance! This particular handheld still did not have a backlit screen, and while children today have the fortune of playing the Nintendo Switch, people that are in their 20s and 30s recall having to get the perfect lighting in order to play their Gameboy Advance games! And car rides at night?!! Unless you had some sort of external light, it was impossible to play games on the go.
However, Nintendo fixed this issue by releasing the Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP models 001 and 101, with the 001 model having a front lit screen and the 101 model having a backlit screen, which made the 101 by far the more popular choice to play Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Color, and original Gameboy games on.
However, three short years after the first iteration of the Gameboy Advance was released, at E3 of 2004 Nintendo revealed the Nintendo DS, their newest handheld, to the public. This brand new handheld was released on November 21st of 2004 and featured dual screen functionality, better internals, a stylus for the touch screen, and full backwards compatibility for the Gameboy Advance library. When the Nintendo DS was released, many thought that the Gameboy lineup was finally coming to an end, but Nintendo decided to pull a classic Nintendo move by releasing the Nintendo Gameboy Micro. This bit sized handheld is what I call a novelty item and quite honestly, the sheer fact that Nintendo had the audacity to make this piqued my curiosity when I first got into collecting video games and consoles. In an attempt to understand the methods to Nintendo's madness, we need to travel back to when the idea for the Gameboy Micro was first conceived.
Development History:
According to former Nintendo of America Vice President George Harrison, the idea surrounding a smaller version of the Gameboy was first discussed in 2004. This project was eventually named Oxy, and during this time they tried to find as many ways as possible to see how small they could make the Gameboy Advance while retaining its core functionality. Because of this, Nintendo opted to use a metallic casing that according to Nintendo's president at the time, was quite odd. Eventually the Gameboy Micro was revealed at E3 of 2005, showcasing its small and sleek design, as well as Reggie announcing that it would play every single Gameboy Advance game. Let's take a listen to see how fans reacted and well that was a disaster. Eventually, the Gameboy Micro was released to the public in September of 2005 for the price of $99.
Specifications for the Gameboy Micro:
When looking at this handheld, it's easy to see that Nintendo definitely achieved the compact form factor that they were going for with the Micro. It's extremely small, with its dimensions coming in at 2x4x0.7 inches and weighing just a whole 2.8 ounces, making it an ultra light version of the Gameboy Advance. On top of that, the Micro offered consumers the ability to swap faceplates with ease, something that was not available to the previous systems. When you put the Micro against the Gameboy Advance, the Micro is definitely a fraction of its size, but I will say that the Micro feels more sturdy due to its metallic casing. When compared to the Gameboy Advance SP, again, it's smaller and it's about the same size at the bottom portion of the SP.
After owning the Micro for around a year, I have to say, it's actually quite comfortable for a quick 30 minute gaming session. While incredibly small, the d-pad and buttons feel great and are really responsive to the slightest touch. But probably my favorite thing about it is that the L & R buttons are absolutely massive, making it easy to use them when needed. Also, another great feature that it comes with is a headphone jack, something that was taken from the Gameboy Advance SP and was rather replaced with an adapter that took up the charging port.
While the screen may be extremely small, playing games on the Micro isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but I can only play for so long before it starts to put strain on my eyes. One thing is for sure, I noticed how the Micro's screen is super sharp and offers such great visibility. This is due to the finer dot pitch, which means that the screen is more evenly lit when you are playing a game. I'll be honest, I was super impressed with the clarity of its screen, but since eye strain occurs quite often, games like Mario Tennis, Mario Kart Super Circuit, and Super Mario Advance 2 are my go to games because of how quickly I can beat a race, win a match, or clear a level.
With that being said, the Gameboy Micro did remove some functionality that you find in the other Gameboy Advance handhelds. In fact, the Micro lost backwards compatibility with original Gameboy and Gameboy Color games. On top of that, the Gameboy Micro does not work with a vast majority of Gameboy Advance accessories.
Now while I think the Gameboy Micro is a neat handheld, the functionality was definitely limited. With its inability to be used with Gameboy Advance accessories as well as losing backwards compatibility, it usually just sits on my shelf for viewing purposes.
This tiny handheld only sold 2.5 million units of hardware, which was far less than what Nintendo thought it would sell. Even worse, Gamepro even listed it as the 8th worst selling handheld of all time.
So why did the Gameboy Micro fail? Nintendo is so used to being at the top of the mountain when it comes to handheld products, but this particular revision fell flat on its face. Now to some, 2.5 millions units of hardware isn't necessarily terrible, but to a company like Nintendo, they expected this thing to flourish in a thriving gaming environment.
Why the Gameboy Micro Failed:
- First and foremost, this thing was doomed to fail from the get go because of Nintendo releasing it at the worst possible time. I just don't understand Nintendo's logic behind this one because when the Micro was announced, the Nintendo DS had already been out for 5 months. And then by the time the Micro was released to the public, the Nintendo DS had been on the market for 10 whole months. This put the Gameboy Micro at a huge disadvantage because everyone was wanting a Nintendo DS, not another revision of a Gameboy Advance system.
- Since the Micro released almost a year later after the Nintendo DS, the marketing for this handheld was pretty much non-existent. At the time, Nintendo was throwing all of their money and effort at promoting consumers to go out and buy a Nintendo DS. Even Iwata, Nintendo's former president, recognized Nintendo's mistakes in regards to the Gameboy Micro, and had this to say about the subject:
- In the end, we failed to explain to consumers its unique value and they concluded that the Micro is not worth the price they have to invest. Whichever hardware we talk about, platform business is the business of momentum. If we fail to build initial momentum, we will have hard times. Simultaneously, it was the time when Nintendo had to expand DS sales, so we had to put more effort on DS, which were not contributing to the sales of the Micro. We have to learn the lesson that we overestimated the success potential of the Micro. Also, we had to be more careful about who we should evaluate the impression of people who have actually touched and felt our products and who have watched some of the advertisements only.
- In essence, Nintendo just flat out failed to advertise to consumers why they should buy a Gameboy Micro. And even if Nintendo were to make the Micro more appealing, the Nintendo DS was better in every single way, making it the more appealing handheld on the market. Since the DS had full backwards compatibility with the Gameboy Advance library, it was the superior handheld to play Gameboy Advance games on, leaving the Micro in the dust.
- This one is pretty apparent, but the size of the Micro just isn't appealing to the majority of gamers. To someone who is an avid Nintendo fan, this little handheld fascinates me, but to the average consumer, they do not want to play something that is going to cause hand cramps after half an hour of gameplay. On top of that, eye strain is pretty common with the Micro when playing games on it for a prolonged length of time, and gamers just don't want to be uncomfortable.
While the Micro is a neat handheld, it was doomed to fail from the very beginning. Nintendo's lack of awareness of how consumers would react to the Micro being released 10 months after the Nintendo DS was completely their fault. And with the marketing being non-existent, it is no wonder that the Gameboy Micro would be what I like to call Nintendo's microscopic mistake.
Overall Thoughts:
Overall, while the Micro is deemed a failure in terms of its sales numbers, I really like having one in my collection. I treat it like a novelty item, one that I'll pick up from time to time just to play a quick game of Mario Tennis or Mario Kart Super Circuit, but nothing more than that. As a collector I honestly got it so I would have all the Gameboy Advance line up of handhelds, and since I have the 25th anniversary Famicom edition, it stands out a bit more than my other handhelds. I like the sharpness of the screen, but since the screen size and overall size of the handheld hinder my ability to play this thing for more than an hour, it's no wonder it did worse than Nintendo thought it would have. I think the Micro would have done better if it was released before the Nintendo DS, but I'm not sure how much better it would have done. In essence, the Gameboy Micro was a bite sized revision that ended up becoming one of Nintendo's biggest mistakes.
