Game Boy logo, console and packaging
If the Nintendo Entertainment System is the cultural icon for 1980s video games, then the Game Boy and its bold, direct logo does the same for the 1990s.
From Wikipedia:
The Game Boy is an 8-bit, fourth generation, handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America and Europe later that year. Designed by the team behind the Game & Watch handhelds and NES games (Satoru Okada, Gunpei Yokoi, and R&D1), it was Nintendo’s first portable console, combining features from both.
The Game Boy logo uses Gill Sans, set in all caps and italics and utilizing tight kerning. Gill Sans was designed by Eric Gill and first released in 1928 by Monotype. Two logo variants exist; a primary logo set in Gill Sans Italic, and a secondary logo using bolder letterforms. These are not from Gill Sans Bold Italic, but were rather emboldened artifically. Box art for Game Boy games uses the secondary logo, rotated vertically and set along the left side of the cover (see also: Pokémon – “Gotta catch ’em all!”). Print advertisements for the Game Boy console and games use both logo variants. In television advertisements, the bolder logo variant is printed large on the front of the console and the Nintendo logo is omitted. In commercial units, the lighter logo variant is used, printed smaller and with the Nintendo logo set to the left of the logo.
Labels on the Game Boy (excluding the face buttons) use Futura. Futura was designed by Paul Renner and first released in 1927. The face button labels use Corporate [edit: or rather its close copy, Limited, see comments], in all caps, mirroring the typeface’s usage on the Nintendo Entertainment System (see also: Nintendo Entertainment System console and components). Corporate was created by Roc Mitchell and released in 1971 by Alphabet Innovations. The face button labels are set on an angle, mirroring the alignment of the buttons.
![Japanese box design for the Game Boy with the lighter logo variant using unmodified Gill Italic. “Handy game machine” uses italic caps from a yet unidentified typeface similar to . [edit: it could be , see comments.]](https://fiu-original.b-cdn.net/fontsinuse.com/use-images/N225/225192/225192.jpeg?filename=19608150391_947640889f_o_d.jpg)
International (or American) box design for the Game Boy. The logo uses much bolder letterforms than on the Japanese box and the Game Boy itself. “Compact video game system” is in italic caps from Gill Sans as well. The list of items is set in Futura Extra Bold Condensed, again in italic caps.
Cover of the instruction booklet for the original Game Boy. The white line at the bottom is Futura in bold italic caps.
10 Comments on “Game Boy logo, console and packaging”
The “Handy Game Machine” text appears to be set in either Gona (Shaken) or one of its popular digitizations, New Rodin (Fontworks) and Shin Go (Morisawa).
Thank you, Almahbuby! I have added Gona.
I’d be willing to bet that it’s New Rodin – Nintendo has a pretty extensive history with Fontworks.
I’ve asked Akira Yoshino of TypeCache. Assuming the box in question is from 1989, he argues it’s not New Rodin. Akira writes:
In addition, Akira kindly provided more info and pointers about Gona (or Go-na). I have updated the typeface page, including design credits and links to a more detailed history by Ryogetsu Katsurai* and a recording of Ryota Doi’s talk about Go-na (1975) and another groundbreaking typeface also designed by Yukihiro Nakamura, the rounded sans serif Na-ru (1973), held at ATypI 2019 Tokyo.
*) According to Katsurai, Rodin is from 1990, and New Rodin from 2002.
Just a minor addition, of which I’m sure you’re aware. I think all the Nintendo products are using Limited rather than Corporate. You can tell from the A and B, or even the E, which is which. More extensive comparison here. It’s rather strange that these various small changes were made. Are they the result of buying into the “change 10 percent” myth? A lot of the competing type vendors actually ended up supplying Limited rather than true Corporate. There may even be more typeset in Limited during the phototype era than its original.
Thanks for the addition and the convincing visualization, Patrick! Looks like the same applies to the other Nintendo uses, as well as to the ColecoVision, no? Would you argue in favor of giving Limited a separate typeface page? I’m wary that we won’t always have text that includes the tell-tale glyphs. But I can be convinced (as long as you promise to help with determining the ID).
Thank you so much for the help everyone!
Florian, I think it’s okay to keep them all grouped under Corporate. It’s not that big a deal as the differences are minor. Corporate appears to be the source from which Limited sprang. Earliest Limited listing I’ve seen is by Quad Typographers in 1974, which might be when it first appeared after Corporate. I don’t know enough about whether Roc Mitchell maybe also licensed Corporate under the Limited name or other aliases to type vendors after Alphabet Innovations. Or whether he also made these small revisions at a later date. I’ve seen some 1980s listings for Corporate that are actually showing the Limited glyphset. And a Monsen catalog from 1979 also lists the very similar New Idea with the E from Corporate, which one assumes makes it a more direct alias/copy of it. Same catalog also lists Corporate and Corporate Image, yet the latter appears to have the E from Limited. So, it would appear that Monsen copied Limited and called it Corporate, yet also copied Corporate and called it New Idea. It’s all very muddled. But AI’s Corporate is still the earliest listing. Unless that fact changes, I think it is fair for Corporate to be the “in use” name under which all its other aliases fall. I merely point out the distinction for the Nintendo use as it is the most famous.
The international Game Boy logo and box were designed by Ted Girvin Design (now simply Girvin) in 1989. His firm had a prolific working relationship with Nintendo, designing logos and packaging from the Game Boy era to the Virtual Boy era.
Thanks, Ryan! Much appreciated. Here’s Girvin’s portfolio page with designs made for Nintendo. I’ve added Tim Girvin (not Ted) to the credits of this Use as well as to the one about the NES packaging.