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Description
Long before the Game Boy, there was the weak Milton-Bradley's Microvision.

It was made Milton-Bradley, a company responsible for the creation of many popular american board games. (such as Battleship, Connect Four, The Game of Life, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Scrabble, Simon, Twister and Yathzee)
It is the first handheld game console that used interchangeable cartridges (which were overlays with buttons) and in that sense is reprogrammable.

It was released by the Milton Bradley Company in November 1979 for a retail price of $49.99.
The Microvision was designed by Jay Smith, the engineer who would later design the Vectrex.
The Microvision's combination of portability and a cartridge-based system led to moderate success, with Smith Engineering grossing $15 million in the first year of the system's release. However, very few cartridges, a small screen, and a lack of support from established home video game companies led to its demise in 1981. According to Satoru Okada, the former head of Nintendo's R&D1 Department, the Microvision gave birth to Game Boy, the follow up to Game & Watch, after Nintendo designed around Microvision's limitations.

Unlike most later consoles, the Microvision did not contain an onboard processor (CPU). Instead, each game included its own processor contained within the removable cartridge. This meant that the console itself effectively consisted of the controls, LCD panel and LCD controller.

The processors for the first Microvision cartridges were made with both Intel 8021 (cross licensed by Signetics) and Texas Instruments TMS1100 processors. Due to purchasing issues, Milton Bradley switched to using TMS1100 processors exclusively including reprogramming the games that were originally programmed for the 8021 processor.
Microvision units and cartridges are now somewhat rare.[11][12] Those that are still in existence are susceptible to three main problems: "screen rot," ESD damage, and keypad destruction.

2/10 - innovation requires taking risks.

Description
Long before the Game Boy, there was the weak Milton-Bradley's Microvision.

It was made Milton-Bradley, a company responsible for the creation of many popular american board games. (such as Battleship, Connect Four, The Game of Life, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Scrabble, Simon, Twister and Yathzee)
It is the first handheld game console that used interchangeable cartridges (which were overlays with buttons) and in that sense is reprogrammable.

It was released by the Milton Bradley Company in November 1979 for a retail price of $49.99.
The Microvision was designed by Jay Smith, the engineer who would later design the Vectrex.
The Microvision's combination of portability and a cartridge-based system led to moderate success, with Smith Engineering grossing $15 million in the first year of the system's release. However, very few cartridges, a small screen, and a lack of support from established home video game companies led to its demise in 1981. According to Satoru Okada, the former head of Nintendo's R&D1 Department, the Microvision gave birth to Game Boy, the follow up to Game & Watch, after Nintendo designed around Microvision's limitations.

Unlike most later consoles, the Microvision did not contain an onboard processor (CPU). Instead, each game included its own processor contained within the removable cartridge. This meant that the console itself effectively consisted of the controls, LCD panel and LCD controller.

The processors for the first Microvision cartridges were made with both Intel 8021 (cross licensed by Signetics) and Texas Instruments TMS1100 processors. Due to purchasing issues, Milton Bradley switched to using TMS1100 processors exclusively including reprogramming the games that were originally programmed for the 8021 processor.
Microvision units and cartridges are now somewhat rare.[11][12] Those that are still in existence are susceptible to three main problems: "screen rot," ESD damage, and keypad destruction.

2/10 - innovation requires taking risks.