Is Nintendo Cracking Up?

Nintendo might well appear to be going mad, especially if you’ve been following the news of late. On the back of the Donkey Konga drum and Iwata’s assertions that a new ‘thing’ is in development that somehow sits in the void between hardware and software comes this: an explanation of exactly how to refer to the Game Boy Advance.

Read and enjoy.

Game Boy® Trademark Initiative, January 6, 2004

Did you know that there are ways to actually misuse a Game Boy? We just did it in the last sentence. Our famous Game Boy® trademark is sometimes misused. When a trademark is repeatedly misused it risks becoming a generic word that does not indicate the source or quality of the product.

You are probably one of more than 160 million people who love their Game Boy video game systems. But no matter how you use it (Gameboy, GameBoy, game boy, gameboy), real portable fun is actually spelled:

Game Boy® system
Game Boy® Advance hardware
Game Boy® Advance SP hardware

(Game Boy® can be used as an adjective to modify many generic nouns like system, video game system, hardware, game, software, accessory and so on.)

Now for some plural fun:

When there's more than one Game Boy®, Game Boy® Advance or Game Boy® Advance SP system, trademarks should never be used in plural format.

Here are some examples.

Incorrect usage:
Game Boys
Game Boy Advance SPs

Correct usage:
Game Boy systems
Game Boy Advance SP hardware

Of course, our trademark Game Boy® should never be used to refer to a non-Nintendo video game system. Our competitors have to earn their own reputations. Please don't give them a free ride on ours.

So there you have it. You never need to misrepresent any Gameboy Advances ever again.