Nintendo was known in its earlier years of video game development for its durable and long-lasting hardware, but one system that trumped all was the legendary Game Boy. In fact, there’s one famous Game Boy as you might recall that was damaged in a bombing during the Gulf War and still works!
In an update, the Game Boy has apparently been retired from active duty. ‘VGArtandTidbits’ on Twitter asked one of the Nintendo New York Store employees about it “after not seeing it on display for a while” and was informed the famous handheld had been returned to Nintendo’s headquarters in Redmond Washington.
Here’s Nintendo’s simple history of the system. You could still see the original Game Boy Tetris game running on the screen.
“This Game Boy was damaged when barracks were bombed during the 1990 – 1991 Gulf War. It still works.”
Siliconera has also shared a little bit more information about this Game Boy’s backstory:
“The console originally belonged to Dr. Stephan Scoggins, a medic that was deployed during Operation Desert Storm in 1990–1991. While the front of the Game Boy was completely burnt during the Gulf War, it could still turn on. After returning from the war, the Game Boy unit was displayed at the Nintendo NYC store as a testament of the system’s durability. Nintendo gave Dr. Scoggins a replacement Game Boy “as a special ‘Desert Storm’ courtesy.””