The DS Life: The Game Boy lives on
The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handheld and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at gmail dot com.
Though the Game Boy brand's days are numbered, making way for Nintendo's dual-screened future and profit plans, at least one young gamer is doing his part to keep the old, gray brick's memory alive. Step past the post break for the full story and this week's edition of The DS Life.
Like every other four-year-old, Tyler Jenkins couldn't care less about what Nintendo has in store for the Game Boy line; he hardly even notices his inside-out race car pajamas!
Much like when we first ventured into the Mysterious Forest in Link's Awakening, or when we fought Mr. Lee at the end of Kett's Dungeon in Final Fantasy Adventure, this brick of a handheld has cast a spell on Tyler, keeping him rapt with its monochrome screen for the past month.
The Game Boy was originally his mother's, bought in 1992, only recently passed on to his capable hands. Will you be playing with your DS Lite fifteen years from now? Will your kids? That's even assuming the dainty portable will be able to match the durability of its tank-like ancestor. Owners of the DS's original hardware will fare much better.
Even his 61-year-old grandfather, the photographer behind this set of images, calls the system "ancient." Was it really that long ago when we yearningly watched commercials for F-1 Race between episodes of TaleSpin and Tiny Toon Adventures, wondering how on earth we'd ever find three other people to play this jawsome game against?
The game that Tyler is so transfixed with in these shots is Super Mario Land. According to his grandfather, he hasn't quite mastered its mechanics yet: "It is interesting to watch him play these games. He doesn't yet understand that the rules are very black and white. He's looking for a sense of fairness. If characters can catch him, he should be able to catch them. He's not quite clear on the idea that he has to stay out of their way."
