Mike FANOUS/Gamma-Rapho/Getty ImagesLong before the handheld market was saturated with options, Nintendo ruled the scene. From 1989 to 2004, the words “Game Boy” were synonymous with gaming on the go. And while competitors tried to dethrone the Game Boy with flashy features like backlit color displays and higher fidelity graphics, Nintendo’s decision to prioritize battery life and portability won them the entire market.By 2005, though, things began to shift. Sony released the multimedia powerhouse that was the PlayStation Portable. Apple’s iPods were quickly becoming both the de facto media player and a stylish 2000s-era accessory. Then Nintendo, in its biggest risk yet, released its first non-Game Boy handheld in nearly two decades. Despite the stiff competition, Nintendo wasn’t ready to just let the Game Boy go. It instead combined the growing trend of sleek and voguish pocket computers with its oldest brand in hopes of capturing a new market. The result was the Game Boy Micro, an adorably tiny but ultimately pointless handheld that closed out the Game Boy’s unprecedented tenure at the top of the mountain.The Game Boy Micro was the third and final iteration of the then four-year-old Game Boy Advance. While the original GBA was a significant hardware bump over the Game Boy Color, and the Gameboy Advance Special (or the GBA SP for short) perfected the form factor with a clamshell design and a backlit screen that didn’t drain battery, the Micro’s improvements were all fairly superfluous. The Game Boy Micro was as small as handheld game devices got in 2005. | NintendoAs the name implied, it was the smallest Game Boy ever. At 80 grams and barely 4 inches across, this was something you could fit in any pocket and barely remember it was there. The Micro also featured Nintendo’s brightest display ever. The big defining feature that Nintendo bet on for the Micro was its customizable appearance. The unassuming silver front faceplate could be replaced with different styles purchasable in stores. This added a bit of personalization to the Game Boy line that the previous editions never had.These were a decent set of features for a redesigned version of the Game Boy in its fourth year. And had it existed in a vacuum away from the changing landscape of portable devices, it may have made a bigger dent in the collective consciousness of gamers. However, a few boneheaded decisions regarding the hardware prevented it from being anything more than a cute novelty.For one, the Game Boy Micro was missing some key features. Up until the Micro, all Game Boy games, going back to the 1989 original, were forward compatible with new devices. That ended with the Micro, as it only played Game Boy Advance games. Cutting this critical feature was likely how Nintendo managed to make the console as tiny as it was. But ultimately, it didn’t seem like a worthwhile trade-off. The console also had a shorter battery life, the result of the console’s smaller frame.Faceplates could be swapped out to provide a bit of personalization. | David McNew/Getty ImagesWhat made matters worse was Nintendo’s unwillingness to go all in with the Nintendo DS. All DSs had a cartridge slot that played all generations of Game Boy Advance games on the new handheld. This was likely an attempt to mitigate the chance of the DS being a total waste in the face of failure. If touch screen, next-gen gaming didn’t take off as they hoped, at the very least it functioned as a souped-up version of the already successful system that came before it. In creating this admittedly customer-friendly insurance policy, however, the Game Boy Micro became a terrible investment. And that comes down to price. The Micro launched at an exorbitant $99. At that price, it was the odd one out in Nintendo’s line-up of handhelds. By the end of summer 2004, the GBA SP was just $80. Saving $20 over the Micro meant having a larger screen, the clamshell design most players wanted, better battery, and the ability to play hundreds more games. On the other end of the spectrum was the DS, which launched at $150. Spending the extra cash let you play all the Game Boy games the Micro couldn’t, as well as all the upcoming Nintendo games that used new features like the microphone, the touch screen, and internet connectivity.The ability to play all Game Boy games on the DS sealed the fate of the Micro. | John Keeble/Getty ImagesWhen presented with just these three options, there was little reason to want a Game Boy Micro. And when you consider the popularity of more premium tech like the iPod video and PSP, the Micro was a device for seemingly no one.The Micro managed to sell 2.5 million units before it was discontinued in 2007. While that’s pretty solid on its own, it paled in comparison to the 43.5 million that the GBA SP sold, and the 154 million units that the DS sold.The Game Boy Micro was a device out of time. It properly identified a trend and created a solid piece of hardware to meet the occasion. But it was a little too late for the occasion. And while its tiny size makes it an awesome keychain accessory 20 years later, it’s more often remembered as the final whimper for gaming’s most important handheld console.