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Review: Game Park GP32 Gamepad

by Jo Shields on 5 April 2003, 00:00 4.0

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Introduction



Once upon a time, people went outside and played sports. The world was good and healthy, if somewhat dull. Then, as if they heard the world calling, Nintendo launched the Game Boy Dot Matrix Game in 1989, alongside Aleski Pajinov's Tetris - the game which more or less single-handedly made the format a success, and resulted in 100 million sales worldwide. 8 years later the first hardware update was made and the Game Boy Color was born - then another four years passed before the Game Boy Advance hit the shelves.

The Game Boy's path to glory wasn't entirely without challengers - the Sega Game Gear, Sega Nomad, Atari Lynx, SNK NeoGeo Pocket series, quickshot supervision, Bandai WonderSwan series and NEC PC Engine LT all tried and failed to gain the same level of market acceptance as Nintendo's offering. Even Nintendo's own Virtual Boy died a death. As anyone who's dealt with Microsoft will tell you, it's not easy going against the unstoppable.

Now change the scene to South Korea. The world's most wired country, home to gamers dedicated enough to die after 72-hour non-stop stints. A land that is almost entirely devoid of games consoles of any description. An odd place to find the next challenger to Nintendo's mighty throne in the handheld world.

Ladies and gents, say hello to GamePark Inc's GP32 console.