Game Boy Color
Nintendo's leap to color: the Game Boy Color arrived in 1998 painting 56 colors on screen at once, with full backward compatibility with original Game Boy games. The screen upgrade alone made Pokémon finally pop in actual colors, and the GBC became essential playground hardware.
Released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and in North America on November 18, 1998, the Game Boy Color was Nintendo's answer to criticism that the original Game Boy's monochrome screen was ancient by handheld standards. The new system featured a color LCD capable of displaying 56 colors simultaneously from a palette of over 32,000—a dramatic jump from the original's four shades of gray.
The GBC maintained backward compatibility with the original Game Boy and Game Boy Pocket cartridges, a strategic move that preserved the massive library while tempting owners to upgrade. The timing coincided with Pokémon Red and Blue's North American release that September, and the two phenomena merged into an unstoppable force: suddenly, catching Pokémon in color made the experience feel brand new. The Game Boy family ultimately topped 118 million units sold worldwide, with the Color accounting for roughly 44 million of them before the Game Boy Advance took over in 2001.
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