Like a lot of you, the Nintendo Gameboy was my first portable gaming system. I remember it like yesterday, my grandma taking me to the store and letting me pick out a Gameboy and one game pak. There were not a lot of choices in the K-mart where I bought mine, but I remember being so excited that Tetris was included by default, already one of my favorite games on NES. I probably used that same Gameboy all the way up until 1996, when I finally upgraded to a Color.
Over those years, I remember seeing the original Gameboy being sold / advertised in stores, and never really noticed that there were changes at all to the box. Now, fast forward almost 3 decades and I’m now a zany variant hunter. I had bought a couple sealed Gameboys in a row and noticed that they were slightly different. This led me down the path of 3 years of research and buying way more CIB Gameboys than anyone should have. All of this research finally revealed to me that there were a total of seven separate Game Boy variants for the DMG-01 with game pak.
The first print is pretty well-known from the others. As a matter fact, most people know this variant, and think that the next five are essentially the “same”, when this definitely isn’t true.
The major distinction between the first print, and all the other prints was that the gameplay screen was depicted as a pretty accurate, green color. Every other print, except for the seventh, the gameplay screen was depicted as more of a yellow screen. The other changes between the variants are sometimes subtle, and sometimes pretty obvious. The main identifiers are really tied to the gameplay screens, the kid’s shirts on the back, the accessories on the left side and the warranty/for sale blurb on the left side of every box. Below, I outline all of the different prints and their changes.
DMG-01 with Game Pak Variants
First print
FRONT: Hue of screen is accurately depicted as green. Tetris game screen has the “S” Piece in focus and there is a mix of pieces on the bottom half of the screen.
BACK: NO UPC, Both shirts of children are blue, 1989 Copyright, Oval SOQ. Screen accurately depicted as green.
LEFT SIDE: Image of Compact Carrying Case on top, First image of Rechargeable Battery Pack / AC Adapter on lower half. UPC on side. Warranty mentions 90 days and blurb mentioned “For sale and use in USA and Canada only”. Warranty and blurb are center justified.
RIGHT SIDE: Games featured are Super Mario Land, Baseball and Tennis. Screen accurately depicted as green.
TRAY: Styrofoam
Second Print
FRONT: Hue of screen is changed to be depicted as yellow. Tetris game screen changes to have the “I” Piece in focus and there is a mix of pieces on the bottom half of the screen which would make the next move be a “Tetris”.
BACK: UPC Moved to back, Both shirts of children are blue, 1989 Copyright, Oval SOQ. Gameplay on back changed to reflect an “L” piece in play with a different array of pieces on screen. Screen changed to be depicted as yellow.
LEFT SIDE: Image of Compact Carrying Case on top, First image of Rechargeable Battery Pack / AC Adapter on lower half. Warranty mentions 90 days and blurb mentioned “For sale and use in USA and Canada only”. Warranty and blurb are center justified.
RIGHT SIDE: Games featured are Super Mario Land, Baseball and Tennis. NEW* Screen now depicted as Yellow.
TRAY: Styrofoam
Third Print
FRONT: Hue of screen is yellow. Tetris game screen has the “I” Piece in focus and there is a mix of pieces on the bottom half of the screen which would make the next move be a “Tetris”.
BACK: UPC on back, Both shirts of children are blue, 1989 Copyright, Oval SOQ. Gameplay unchanged from previous print.
LEFT SIDE: Image of Compact Carrying Case on top, Second / New* image of Rechargeable Battery Pack / AC Adapter on lower half. Warranty mentions 90 days and blurb mentioned “For sale and use in USA, Canada and Mexico only” (addition of Mexico). Warranty and blurb are center justified.
RIGHT SIDE: Games featured are Super Mario Land, Baseball and Tennis. Screen depicted as Yellow.
TRAY: Styrofoam
Fourth Print
FRONT: Hue of screen is yellow. Tetris game screen has the “I” Piece in focus and there is a mix of pieces on the bottom half of the screen which would make the next move be a “Tetris”.
BACK: UPC on back, NEW* one child’s shirt is changed to red, second is still blue (it is a new overall pic), 1989 Copyright, Oval SOQ. Gameplay unchanged from previous print.
LEFT SIDE: NEW* Image of Hip Pouch Carrying Case on top, 3rd / New* image of Rechargeable Battery Pack / AC Adapter on lower half. Warranty mentions 90 days and blurb mentioned “For sale and use in USA, Canada and Mexico only”. NEW* Warranty and blurb are now Left justified.
RIGHT SIDE: Games featured are Super Mario Land, Baseball and Tennis. Screen depicted as Yellow.
TRAY: Styrofoam
Fifth Print
FRONT: Hue of screen is yellow. Tetris game screen has the “I” Piece in focus and there is a mix of pieces on the bottom half of the screen which would make the next move be a “Tetris”.
BACK: UPC on back, one child’s shirt is red, second is blue . 1989 Copyright, Oval SOQ. Gameplay unchanged from previous print.
LEFT SIDE: Image of Hip Pouch Carrying Case on top, 4th / New* image of Rechargeable Battery Pack / AC Adapter on lower half. Warranty mentions 90 days and blurb mentioned “For sale and use in USA, Canada and Mexico only”. Warranty and blurb remain Left justified.
RIGHT SIDE: Games featured are Super Mario Land, Baseball and Tennis. Screen depicted as Yellow.
TRAY: Styrofoam -or- NEW* Cardboard
Sixth Print
FRONT: Hue of screen is yellow. Tetris game screen has the “I” Piece in focus and there is a mix of pieces on the bottom half of the screen which would make the next move be a “Tetris”.
BACK: UPC on back, one child’s shirt is red, second is blue . 1989 Copyright, Oval SOQ. Gameplay unchanged from previous print.
LEFT SIDE: Image of Hip Pouch Carrying Case on top, 4th / New* image of Rechargeable Battery Pack / AC Adapter on lower half. NEW* Warranty information now printed in a red box. Warranty verbiage changed to “Valuable Limited Warranty Purchase Receipt Required” and phone number added. Blurb still mentions “For sale and use in USA, Canada and Mexico only”. Warranty box and blurb remain left justified.
RIGHT SIDE: Games featured are Super Mario Land, Baseball and Tennis. Screen depicted as Yellow.
TRAY: Styrofoam – or- Cardboard
Seventh Print
FRONT: NEW* Screen now depicted as a black box, no gameplay shown.
BACK: NEW* Totally new design to back. NEW* UPC number changed on back. NEW* There are no longer children or a gameboy shown on the back of the box. Now 10 games shown on the back. New Completely new Copyright blurb and copyright date includes 1995 as the latest copyright. NEW* All games on the rear have their own Copyright blurb.
LEFT SIDE: NEW* Image Game Link cable on top, 4th image of Rechargeable Battery Pack / AC Adapter on lower half. Warranty information unchanged from previous print. NEW* Blurb mentions “For sale, RENTAL and use ONLY in USA, Canada, Mexico and LATIN AMERICA” (Rental and Latin America Added, changed word placement of ‘only’). Warranty box and blurb remain left justified.
RIGHT SIDE: NEW* Totally new design for the right side. Ad for ‘Super Gameboy Accessory’ added. Games are depicted with their new Super Gameboy colored examples.
TRAY: Cardboard
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