The Game Boy Color, (abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console manufactured by Nintendo, which was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan and was released in November of the same year in international markets. It is the successor of the Game Boy. The Game Boy Color, as suggested by the name, features a color screen, but no backlight. It is slightly thicker and taller than the Game Boy Pocket, which is a redesigned Game Boy released in 1996. As with the original Game Boy, it has a custom 8-bit processor somewhat related to a Zilog Z80 central processing unit (CPU). The original name – with its American English spelling of “color” – remained unchanged even in markets where “colour” was the accepted English spelling. The Game Boy Color’s primary competitors were the much more advanced Neo Geo Pocket by SNK and the WonderSwan by Bandai (both released in Japan only), though the Game Boy Color outsold these by a wide margin. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color combined have sold 118.69 million units worldwide. It was discontinued in 2003, shortly after the release of the Game Boy Advance SP.