MY HERO - GUMPEI YOKOI

Gunpei Yokoi 1941-1997

A Different Kind of Hero

GUMPEI YOKOI - INVENTOR OF GAMEBOY

My hero is Gumpei Yokoi (1941-1997) who invented GameBoy in 1989. Gumpei Yokoi grew up in Kyoto, Japan. He got an Electrical Engineering College Degree and got a job with Nintendo. With his hard work and creativity, Gumpei became more and more important for his company. He is famous for inventing the Game Boy and Nintendo Entertainment System. His easy-to-play toys, his success and intelligence in developing these toys made him one of the greatest.

Gumpei realized that kids did not want big, expensive, complex toys that drained the batteries three hours after opening the gifts on Christmas morning. His formula for success was:

Small Size + Low cost + Long Battery Life + Ease of Use + Games that are difficult to stay away from = Mega $$$$$$

The GameBoy has 100 million units sold and is the world’s best-selling video game system. It is the oldest still being used game system (fifteen years).

What is a GameBoy? A GameBoy is a thing that you can carry everywhere. The GameBoy has many different games. These are removable GameBoy cartridges. My favorites are Pokemon and Super Mario Brothers 3.

I play with the GameBoy Advance SP. Every game has many levels and I have lots of fun in beating the levels. GameBoy is my single most favorite toy. I enjoy helping others in beating levels also. When I play the games, I concentrate and sometimes feel that I am inside the game. I feel very happy when I beat the level and my heart starts beating rapidly sometimes. My GameBoy helps me make friends with other GameBoy playing kids, especially at sleepovers. At sleepovers it is a lot of fun because we play with our GameBoys all night long. Sometimes when I get up at 2AM, I feel like playing GameBoy instead of going back to sleep, and going further to the next level in the game.

The GameBoy has given me lots of thrilling moments. The next invention could be a GameBoy with an umbrella to help you play in the rain. When I grow up, I want to invent a toy for kids that will bring fun to millions of kids worldwide. I want to invent the Game Pyramid, which is basically a projection headset. You put on the headsets and a pyramid will get projected in front of you, and you can use your fingers to play.

I am sure many 3^rd grader kids around the world will thank Gumpei Yokoi for inventing such a fantastic toy for us. He has done a lot to make kids like me happy. He is definitely my special hero!