I just saw Dolphin Tale for the first time. This movie was released in September 2011, three years after the indefinite discontinuation of the GameBoy line. I think we can all agree that by that time the GameBoy had well and truly been replaced by the DS and its remodels.

Early in the film, the main character (a young boy) is seen playing Mario Kart DS on a DSi (editor's note: the real-life events this film are based on took place in December 2005, after the release of Mario Kart DS but long before the launch of the DSi. The film clearly takes place during the summer, anyway, so I guess they didn't care about getting the timing right. But this kind of stuff bothers me). However, later in the film the boy's mother says something to the extent of, "For once he's excited about something other than his GameBoy."

I thought that line was interesting. After the global phenomenon of the DS, I would expect most audiences to be able to recognize it. But the writers either thought that audiences would more easily identify with the term "GameBoy" or they thought that this character would be more familiar with that brand than with the DS. Either way, it's a curious choice.

I guess I was just a little surprised that GameBoys are still considered a viable reference in this decade, especially for a movie that seemed to be aimed at a younger audience, many of whom would be DS owners but might never have seen an actual GameBoy before. Apparently that generation is expected to recognize the term, anyway.

i would love for nintendo to make a new game boy

It's very believable for older people to call a portable console a Gameboy. I remember when I was in highschool my Dad would call my PSP a Gameboy. Aside from that, I was talking about the 3DS to my Mom the other day and told her Nintendo made it and she thought it was called the Gameboy 3DS. People over 40 will forever associate hand held console gaming with the Gameboy, but that does speak to the untapped marketing potential that name still has.

Do you think the older generation that adopted the DS identified it as a GameBoy? Or only parents who never owned one?

Little Johnny is playing his Game Boy = a term used by old ass parents/grandparents.

That depends on what you mean by 'the older generation that adopted the DS'. If you are refering to before they bought the handheld, then yes, of course they did. Hell I even thought the DS was a 'Gameboy' when it came out because it was a handheld console from Nintendo. If you're refering to now, years after they owned a DS or had children that owned one... then still partially yes. When people, in general(myself included and I'm 26), think of a handheld gaming console they're going to think of the name Gameboy. Gameboy is used as a term that refers to handheld consoles, not really a line of products, by the general population. 

But the DS was also popular among "old ass parents/grandparents." Did they identify the product they bought, owned, and used as a GameBoy? Or would they recognize it as a DS, as something distinct from a GameBoy?

In Croatia, almost everybody refers to any sort of a handheld gaming device as Gameboy. It's a brand name that stuck...
But also, every home console is a PlayStation.

Yea, its pretty cool how that is! Heck, I have seen some animes these days where they still play with the Gameboy

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they did identify it as a GameBoy. Lets be honest, what really is the difference between a traditional GameBoy and a DS? Two screens? Touch screen features? A camera? Sure it has those things, but does that make it not a GameBoy? I'd say no, not really. The extra features are nice, no doubt, but at the end of the day it's still a handheld gaming console. I'd even go as far as to say that really, the PSP is just Sony's GameBoy, the GameGear is SEGA's, and the Lynx is Atari's. GameBoy is just a term now that refers to handheld consoles. IMO anyway.