Is the Game Boy the Toughest Product Ever Made?

An anonymous reader writes "CNET is running an article about tough technology, which aptly includes the Nintendo Game Boy, a device so tough that mine still works after many years. 'There's no two ways about it: the original Game Boy is one of the hardest gadgets ever conceived. Rumor has it this beige behemoth isn't made of plastic, but from the skulls of fallen Gurkhas. If you ever saw one that was broken, it's because it lost a boxing match with a nuclear bomb — on points.' So do you agree that the Game Boy is the toughest consumer electronics device ever made?"

Pet Rock...

[rthille (8526)]

I still have my pet rock, 30+ years later...

Re:Pet Rock...

[show me altoids (1183399)]

Game Boy covers Pet Rock. You lose!

Re:Pet Rock...

[capnchicken (664317)]

I read somewhere that Chuck Norris jokes weren't funny anymore, except for these ones:

• Chuck Norris doesn't have a chin underneath his beard; just a giant pussy.
• Before the boogeyman goes to sleep, he checks his closet to make sure Chuck Norris folded all of the clothes correctly.
• Chuck Norris won't suck your dick for money; he will gladly do it for free.
• Chuck Norris doesn't doo push-ups; he's too old.
• Chuck Norris ruins every party he goes to because he is a born again christian fundie.
• When Chuck Norris endorses a presidential candidate, it's Mike Huckabee

I'll get Karma burn for not posting as AC, but I'd rather have that then someone calling me out for being afraid of Chuck Norris and posting as AC.

Not That Tough

[dshaw858 (828072)]

I was playing a frustrating game on my original Game Boy back in the day, got frustrated and hit it against my head--I broke the internal screen, and it couldn't display games correctly anymore. So it's not that tough...

Re:Not That Tough

[TyrainDreams (982007)]

That or your head is just that dense...i mean clearly you smashed things into your head...its probably pretty tough...

Re:Not That Tough

[Volante3192 (953645)]

The Gameboy's still showing games fine. You actually broke your eyesight, np.

Re:Not That Tough

[SnprBoB86 (576143)]

So you are a Gurkha who has not yet fallen?

Re:Not That Tough

[Spokehedz (599285)]

I bought the first Gameboy, and I still have it to this very day. I bought the external battery pack (filled with 4xC NiCad) and the carrying case that looked like a gigantic Gameboy.

It still works. All of it. I have had to replace the batteries in the external battery pack, but that is it. I mean, the damn thing is almost 20 years old. It still turns on just fine.

Also, the guys with the blowing in cartridges and stuff... Well, if you didin't carry the thing in your pocket like a goober then you woulden't have to do that. Mine works, and it has been sitting on my shelf for the last 10 years.

I just pulled it out of the plastic bag, put some batteries in it, and stuck in both Quarth and RC Pro Am into it. No corrupted graphics at all.

Sure they are toys. But they are also MY toys. I want them to work. I have all my consoles, and they all still work. Even the Virtualboy... Which was a good idea, but just failed in the execution.

Nintendo knows its market. They realized that kids are a lot harder on consoles than adults--and their market is kids. So, all of their stuff is remarkably hardy. Except for the Virtualboy. That thing broke if you dropped it hard enough. Well, it did have rotating mirrors... Lets not mention the VB again, shall we?

Re:Not That Tough

[Gilmoure (18428)]

Mine still works. I bought it in '90, just before heading over for Desert Shield/Storm. I was on the ground the whole time and it worked fine, even with all the dust and grit. I left some regular batteries in it, around '98 and had to clean up the mess a couple years ago but after that, is still working ok. Had to get it working so I could introduce my daughter to it. After 6 months, she was bugging me for a DS.

Re:Not That Tough

[by Anonymous Coward]

Colour? What is this colour you speak of? Original gameboys are monochromatic, with the dial only serving to shift you between darker and lighter shades of snot-green.

Re:Not That Tough

[Corwn of Amber (802933)]

Yeah, that "snot-green" colour. He meant "contrast", not "color".

(Informative)

YOU STUPID MORON! CAN'T YOU FUCKING PARSE WHAT PEOPLE MEAN?

(Troll, Flamebait)

Re:Not That Tough

[TheLink (130905)]

"my wife has a sewing machine where the computer control for advanced functions is a GBC"

That's cool! What happens if you press "Up Down Up Down Left Right Left Right AB AB" on the GBC (not your wife :) ).

Re:Pet Rock...

[Hoi Polloi (522990)]

I still have my pet dog after 30+ years too. He's right up there on the mantle.

Phones (back when the phone company owned them)

[myawn (562028)]

Back in the stone age when you didn't own your phone, but just leased it from the phone company, those things were darn near indestructible.

Re:Phones (back when the phone company owned them)

[jbeaupre (752124)]

And their armored cousin, the public pay phone, was no slouch either.

Re:Phones (back when the phone company owned them)

[HTH NE1 (675604)]

And their armored cousin, the public pay phone, was no slouch either.

Trust me, you don't want to lose one of those in the toilet.

Re:Phones (back when the phone company owned them)

[the eric conspiracy (20178)]

Nearly, but not quite. I had one damaged by a lightning stike. Interestingly you could still make calls on the phone, but the coil that motivated the ringer was shot so you could not hear incoming calls.

Re:Phones (back when the phone company owned them)

[i.r.id10t (595143)]

You make that sound like a bad thing...

Re:Phones (back when the phone company owned them)

[G-funk (22712)]

It wasn't broken at all, was it?

Re:Phones (back when the phone company owned them)

[TheThiefMaster (992038)]

I had a Sony Ericsson T610 mobile (on contract, though mobile contracts let you keep the phone after, so kind of owned kind of not) which was damn near invulnerable.

I made the mistake of mentioning this to a mate at work (which was McDonalds at the time, thankfully I'm in a slightly higher paying job now), who promptly threw it hard at the wall. The "in" side of an "outside" wall, i.e. thinly disguised brick.
The battery cover came off, but the clips weren't broken and the battery hadn't come loose (the phone was still on and working), so I just clipped the cover back on and put it in my pocket. Phone still worked perfectly well over a year later: I got a bluetooth headset (back when they were actually quite expensive) instead of a new phone on renewal of my contract because I didn't want a new phone.

My point is that modern phones (i.e mobiles) are "darn near indestructible" too, or at least the mobile phones which aren't swivel/twist/slide/clamshell jobs.

In fact most portable devices are designed to survive a drop from 2 meters onto concrete, so (back on topic) this story about the GameBoy being the "toughest product ever made" seems somewhat unlikely. *clicks link* wow it's not even really an article.

To be fair though, I only know of one dead GameBoy original, and that was fished out of a lake by my dad (slightly more modern version of "catching an old boot"?)

Nokia 5165

[theoriginalturtle (248717)]

I'd vote for this as one of the toughest ever made. One time I got home late at night and somehow left the phone on the roof of the car. Overnight, it snowed about five inches. I didn't feel like shoveling the driveway, so I just got in, gunned the engine and after a few back-and-forth runs, made it out onto the road. Got to work, couldn't find the phone. Finally, after I got home again, I took my cordless house phone outside and dialed the Nokia. Underneath the packed snow, under the car, there was a green glow and a faint ring. I dug the Nokia out, wiped it off, and it still worked. Sure, the stubby antenna had broken (easily replaced) but the screen wasn't cracked and it could still make calls. I still have that phone in a drawer somewhere and in the battery on the back there are still deep grooves from the grit on the tires rubbing through the plastic.

What really got me was that I figured I had driven over the thing about eight times.

Blah

[by Anonymous Coward]

http://www.aqualion.com/blog/uploaded_images/football-777893.jpg [aqualion.com]

I've had this for over 25 years. Still works.

The more important question is...

[lanthar (962279)]

Will it blend?

Re:The more important question is...

[HomerJ (11142)]

Dodongos dislike smoke

Hmm

[Captain Splendid (673276)]

I dunno. Every single Zippo I've ever owned has been pretty robust. Those Ironman watches popular back in the 80's were fairly hardy, too.

My wife's 2nd gen iPod has seen constant and rugged use since it was bought and it still works great.

While I'm here, I'd like to also give a shoutout to my ancient HP Vectra VE, which until recently was my file/dyndns/hotline server . They don't make PCs like they used to, that's for sure.

Spent a week in the lake

[NickisGod.com (453769)]

I remember my brother dropped his Gameboy in a lake accidentally when he was younger. It was under water for a week until friends of ours with scuba gear found it.

That damn thing worked after we dried it out for a couple days and popped fresh batteries in it. It was missing a couple lines on the display, but it worked.

Granted, it was fresh water, but still.

Re:Spent a week in the lake

[Kazoo the Clown (644526)]

Actually, water isn't all that harmful to electronics (at least, when powered off) if a little care is taken.

Eons ago I was a repair tech fixing oscilloscopes for Tektronix. Standard procedure for ANY piece of gear coming in the office was it went into the "wash rack." We took off all the side panels, hosed it down using essentially the same equipment you use in a self-serv car wash (w/soap & water), rinsed it, then it went into the dryers (I forget the exact temp, but as I recall it was relatively low, less than 150F I think). The only important thing we needed to remember is to put it in the dryers such that certain power transformer cans had their opening facing down (otherwise they could fill with water and three days then wasn't enough to dry it out). After that, we plugged it in and fired it up. This included both the ancient vacuum tube equipment and modern IC circuit-board equipment, including CRTs and the like. I suppose current gear with LCDs may get waterspots on the panels, and certain components might be uniquely sensitive. Mechanical devices such as VCRs might have grease on some moving parts that could be an issue but nothing Tek made at the time had that problem, and if they did the solution would likely be to re-lube the device.

The important thing if you drop your ipod or whatever into the toilet, is to take out the batteries as soon as possible and open it up to the extent possible and leave it out to dry for a week or so. Movies & television shows that show dropping something electrical into water causing lots of sparks is mostly special-effect pyrotechnics and not reality. If it's plugged into AC though, unplug it from the wall first before you reach into the water, or you may get zapped...


Tap water does conduct electricity so if it gets wet when it's powered on it could cause shorts that may damage things, but probably only with sensitive circuitry, as water looks like a resistor not a dead short so many circuits could survive it without damage. Battery powered units should be powered off ASAP though, as it could cause things to heat up. Yank out the batteries completely right away as well to minimize such adverse effects...

Um, what?

[molo (94384)]

My gameboy was next to useless after a year or so of use. There were many verical columns on the LCD that stopped displaying. Cleaning the cartridge connection didn't seem to help either. Yeah, you could drop it and it would still function, but that display would give out eventually.

-molo

Re:Um, what?

[Captain Original (922169)]

If you take out Tetris, it will work fine!

!DIAF

[Oxy the moron (770724)]

I remember reading a blurb in an issue of Nintendo Power (I want to say sometime in the early 90's) that featured a picture of a Game Boy that had supposedly been in a house fire. They were able to fit the Tetris cartridge back into the slot, turn the game on, and actually play it (albeit, with some loss in the pixels) even though the shell of the system was almost completely charred.

I think that's pretty hardcore.

Re:!DIAF

[k_187 (61692)]

If that's what I'm thinking of it was actually a tent fire during the first Iraq war. THe front was charred, but you could pop games in and barely see/play them. Not bad. Nintendo even sent them a new one to replace it.

Re:!DIAF

[poot_rootbeer (188613)]

That GameBoy still operates (after a fashion) today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBeTXPaewMo [youtube.com]

Bad LCDs

[gEvil (beta) (945888)]

I went through three original Game Boys back in the day because the LCD screens kept on losing vertical lines. These were generally near the edges of the screen, but one got so bad that nearly half the screen didn't work. I'm sure they probably still power up just fine, but if you can't see what's on the screen it doesn't really matter.

This one survived the first Gulf War

[simdan (207210)]

A bit lightly toasted [wikipedia.org]. The page has a link to a YouTube video on it as well.

Nope, look at the iPhone...get flattened by a semi

[strredwolf (532)]

Engadget report here: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/02/iphone-takes-on-semi-lives-to-tell-the-tale/ [engadget.com]

One iPhone, gets left out... and flattened by a Semi tractor trailer. Took a lickin', kept on tickin'.

Creative Media

[techpawn (969834)]

Zen Jukebox:

1. Dropped in bucket of paint from hip height: still worked
2. Dropped in bucket of paint thinner from chest height: Removed paint from earlier drop, still worked
3. No vista support... Coaxed drivers on vista anyway... STILL WORKS BABY!

Nintendo Wii Controller

[pembo13 (770295)]

Apparently, more weapon than controller it is capable of withstanding high speed impact with stationary objects, LCD/plasma TVs, dry wall, idiots, etc.

I dunno about that

[MyDixieWrecked (548719)]

I got my first gameboy when I was about 8 years old when I was going on a flight by myself to see my mom in FL. That one lasted me probably about 8 months. I remember the first time I broke it, I dropped it down the front steps at my gramma's house. The device stayed intact, but the screen wouldn't display anything except for a couple of horizontal black lines.

I got a new unit a couple months later from my dad which lasted me close to a year before it finally wouldn't turn on one day. We tried replacing the batteries, but nothing would fix it. I remember seeing my dad with it open on his desk doing some kind of surgery to it. He wound up taking the screen out of that one and transplanting it into my first one, thereby fixing it (I had to do a similar thing with my PSP, but that's another story). That gameboy still works to this day, although I made the mistake of putting the majority of my gameboy and gamegear games into the same drawer as this 8" speaker magnet that I had and none of them work anymore.

I've got really bad luck with electronics... Not including the normal upgrade process, only replacements for faulty units, I've had about 6 ipods, more than 10 cell phones, 3 palm pilots, 2 PSPs, 3 xbox360s, 2 Wiis, about 6 Laptops, a dozen monitors (CRT), countless harddrives (well over 20), and several new headphones, keyboards, mice, digital cameras, drive enclosures and powerbricks. Many were replaced under warranty, but still.

Re:I dunno about that

[EveryNickIsTaken (1054794)]

I've got really bad luck with electronics... Not including the normal upgrade process, only replacements for faulty units, I've had about 6 ipods, more than 10 cell phones, 3 palm pilots, 2 PSPs, 3 xbox360s, 2 Wiis, about 6 Laptops, a dozen monitors (CRT), countless harddrives (well over 20), and several new headphones, keyboards, mice, digital cameras, drive enclosures and powerbricks. Many were replaced under warranty, but still.

Hmm. Sounds like a user issue to me.

Re:I dunno about that

[jollyreaper (513215)]

I've got really bad luck with electronics... Not including the normal upgrade process, only replacements for faulty units, I've had about 6 ipods, more than 10 cell phones, 3 palm pilots, 2 PSPs, 3 xbox360s, 2 Wiis, about 6 Laptops, a dozen monitors (CRT), countless harddrives (well over 20), and several new headphones, keyboards, mice, digital cameras, drive enclosures and powerbricks. Many were replaced under warranty, but still.

Wow, you're where electronics go to die. Do you have the black cloak and a scythe or just a big magnet on a stick?

Toughest device?

[Punk CPA (1075871)]

I would have to nominate my flash drive. I left it in my pants one time, and it survived a trip through the washer and dryer. I should really have hand-washed it, though: it shrank from 1 gb to 512 mb.

Xbox 360

[kellyb9 (954229)]

Man, I wish 360's were that durable. Mine just about red rings every time I use my microwave, and dammit, i love my ramen noodles!

Not so much

[boowax (229348)]

My brother's forehead Christmas Day 1990 1
Gameboy 0

Nintendo Gamecube it's pretty tough too

[dalmiroy2k (768278)]

Remember the Gamecube car test we posted a few years ago?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEvlWQ5ULCg [youtube.com]

Same with original Nintendo DS, when closed mode it will withstand most drops.

What, no IBM keyboards?!

[Rearden82 (923468)]

I nominate the IBM Model M keyboard [wikipedia.org] and its brethren as being among the most bulletproof gadgets ever made. They weigh 5 pounds, mostly because the keys are mounted on a solid steel plate. And not only are they indestructible, but they're delightful to type on.

preach it, brother!

[mikeee (137160)]

It's not a real keyboard if you can't beat a man to death with it.

Um, hypothetically, I mean.

One thing Bill Gates did right...

[The Breeze (140484)]

What's the last Microsoft project that Bill Gates spent considerable time writing code for before his managerial duties took away his time for coding?

The portable, handheld battery-operated TRS-80.

Solid as a rock. There are tales of people skipping them across concrete and they still work.

And as far as the code? Bill must have done something right, because as of a few years ago (I last heard this in 2005 or 2004) there are still some of these beasts in use. Not much computing power, but they have an RS-232 port. The O/S is flexible enough that there are corporations using the device still. Apparently, the thing is so tough that there are off-shore oil platforms running some ancient equipment that dumps data through an RS-232 port, and the crews that have to service them use the portable TRS-80's to grab the data and take it back to their offices where they upload it to their PC's. More modern equipment apparently chokes after constant exposure to salt air, constant shock, and, well, oil workers. They're tough guys, you know. :)

Original Blackberries

[phonicsmonkey (984955)]

The original Blackberries, the Mobitex 850s, were bricks. Back at RIM we used to drop-kick them across the office for testing.

Re:You never owned a Game Boy

[GoodbyeBlueSky1 (176887)]

Anyone who did knows that they're not beige ;)

Anyone who played one for a while knows the color of the case changed over time from white to beige to yellow to brown to ewwimnottouchingthatanymore.

Re:You never owned a Game Boy

[ProppaT (557551)]

And anyone with the common sense to wash their hands after eating Cheetos never had this issue...