Milton Bradley Microvision (1979-1981)

✅ Microvision

🥇First Commercially-Released Handheld Video Game System to Use Interchangeable ROM Cartridges

The Milton Bradley Microvision, launched in 1979, was a piece of engineering wizardry that effectively invented the handheld console category a full decade before the Game Boy. Designed by Jay Smith, it was the first portable system to feature interchangeable cartridges, though with a bizarre architectural twist: the console itself was a "dumb" shell containing only the LCD screen and controls, while the computer brain was actually housed inside each individual cartridge. This allowed each game to use a different processor, but it also made the cartridges highly vulnerable to static electricity—a single "zap" from a user’s finger could instantly fry a game's brains. Despite its tiny 16x16 pixel screen and a voracious appetite for 9-volt batteries, the Microvision was a massive initial success, grossing $15 million in its first year and paving the way for the future of mobile gaming.

Source: eBay Auction