Game Boy Micro

The Game Boy Micro was Nintendo indulging in a bit of beautiful, slightly pointless craftsmanship, and the result was one of the most charming pieces of hardware the company ever made. Released in 2005, it was a radically miniaturized Game Boy Advance, so small it could be lost in a pocket, with a stunning, sharp backlit screen that was arguably the best display any Game Boy Advance model ever received. Where earlier revisions had struggled with dim or reflective screens, the Micro was crisp and brilliant.

Everything about it spoke of jewelry rather than toy. It was built from metal and glass, felt dense and premium in the hand, and shipped with interchangeable faceplates that let owners customize its look, a nod to the fashion-accessory ambitions of the era. It was, quite simply, adorable, and it remains a favorite object of hardware enthusiasts for its sheer tactile quality.

But it carried real compromises born of its size. The screen, gorgeous as it was, was tiny, straining the eyes over long sessions. More significantly, in shrinking the machine Nintendo removed backward compatibility, so unlike every other Game Boy Advance model, the Micro could not play the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges, cutting it off from decades of library heritage. It played only Game Boy Advance games.

Its timing was the deeper problem. The Micro arrived in the same window as the Nintendo DS, which was already a runaway phenomenon commanding all of Nintendo's attention and consumers' money. A pricey, feature-reduced take on the previous generation had little reason to exist in a DS world, and the market responded accordingly. The Micro sold only around two and a half million units, a minnow next to the Game Boy Advance's tens of millions, and it was quietly discontinued within a few years.

The Game Boy Micro's legacy is that of a lovely, luxurious curiosity, the final entry in the classic Game Boy line and a designer's flourish rather than a mass-market hit. Collectors treasure it precisely for its rarity and its exquisite build, a tiny, gleaming full stop at the end of a legendary lineage.