???? – 2002retired
Captain (videotex)
“Sent kanji as pictures when keyboards could not, and never quite found its audience.”
“Online gaming's awkward first draft, three years before anyone was ready.”
The Mobile Adapter GB let a Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance plug into a mobile phone and borrow its cellular network, connecting players through KDDI's Mobile System GB. Launched in Japan on 27 January 2001 after delays, it brought online play to roughly 20 games, including Pokémon Crystal and Mobile Golf. Nintendo even formed a joint venture with Konami, Mobile21, to build games for the service.
But high costs and a short compatibility list kept sales slow, with just 80,000 units sold in its first year, and Nintendo never released it outside Japan, citing wireless incompatibilities abroad. The service was discontinued on 18 December 2002, after less than two years. Its ideas lived on, though, in Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo Network and Nintendo Switch Online.
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“Sent kanji as pictures when keyboards could not, and never quite found its audience.”
“It taught the world to point and click, then stepped aside with its trash can emptied.”
“No seller fees, no fuss, no survivors outside Taiwan and Japan. Rest easy, old rival of eBay.”