Game Boy appreciation thread

[Kogen]

While I do enjoy games like Wario Land and Kirby, I do not think the system is very good at all. The black and white was really pushing into "what the shite is this?" questioning. My Atari 2600 has colour.

I only really started to enjoy portables a lot with NGPC/GBA, but never got to the point of buying one until DS (PSP seems redundant with a PS2).

[Mr. Ksoft]

I got a Game Boy Pocket around when I was 5 and a half, I think. It was my first dedicated game system (only other things I'd used before then were a Macintosh computer and a MS-DOS PC)

It lasted me several years on just Super Mario Land and Tetris Plus. I love both those games.

I got an original Game Boy at a garage sale over the summer and wow the screen is awful. Can't figure out how the Game Boy survived with that. The Pocket was at least usable during fast movement, but the original is pretty useless except for RPGs. I can play Pokemon Yellow comfortably on it, but not much else. I guess Tetris was just that important.

I just wish I had a really good way to play Game Boy games on the TV. The Super Game Boy works pretty well, but it plays the sound about a quarter-step too high and that bugs me because every song I remember sounds wrong. Plus it has no Game Boy Color support. And I have a Game Boy Player, but the Gamecube controller is awful for playing things. I wonder if it's possible to mod a Game Boy Color (I have one with a dead speaker but working headphone port that I'd be ok with taking apart) to give it TV outputs.

[MrMatthews]

Although I had zero complaints when I originally had the Gameboy, when I recently picked one up and tried to play it I couldn't fathom how I managed back in the day. Fortunately, my GBA SP plays all those original GB games perfectly.

[johnnyb]

... so no pokemon then aye?

[MrMatthews]

... so no pokemon then aye?

I'm not going to lie . . . so I'm not going to answer that.

Just kidding. I bought a used copy of Pokemon Blue right around the time they were releasing the versions on the GBA. I was surprised at how fun and addictive it was, but after I beat it I never played through any of the others (nor had much interest to, for some reason).

[InternalPrimate]

I owned one of the old "paperback book" Game Boys back in the day, lost it, and then bought a blue Game Boy pocket a couple years later. I got into a fight with my brother that year, and actually threw my Game Boy at him. The screen broke on his knee. I'm not ashamed to say that I cried for days.

I didn't get a new Game Boy until the Advance launched, never got the Game Boy color craze. I'm more of an SP and DS Lite fan now.

[johnnyb]

I'm not going to lie . . . so I'm not going to answer that.

Just kidding. I bought a used copy of Pokemon Blue right around the time they were releasing the versions on the GBA. I was surprised at how fun and addictive it was, but after I beat it I never played through any of the others (nor had much interest to, for some reason).

That`s the only experience I have had with a gameboy, and yea it was extremely addictive!

[MrMatthews]

My last act in the game after beating it was to trade one of my rock guys so it would evolve into a really big rock guy. After that, I never picked it up again.

I tried again with Pokemon Silver and got about halfway through. It was as addictive as I remembered, but I saw that it was pretty much just more of the same, and I didn't want to go through it all again.

[Phantar]

I agree with those who say that Tetris was the breakthrough moment for handhelds in General and the Game Boy in particular. Heck, we were regularly FORCED to buy a second Game Boy because my parents kept hogging the handheld playing Tetris although they had originally bought it for us kids! (And later, we needed to buy a third one because the down-direction on the d-pad had worn out! )

Personally I think that the Game Boy saw the best Mega Man Games ever, particularly MM IV and V!

[Alianger]

I love the Game Boy, still is one of my favs and one of the consoles I've the most nostalgia for. A big reason is of course the portability.. Wherever the family went on holidays it went too, so it got a lot of playtime. And a lot of wear and tear, my original console is barely functional today.

But of course it wouldn't have if not for some quality games. The best ones are to me comparable or even better than the top games for either the nes or the master system.

Top 10:
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - I still think it's the best 2D Zelda.
Donkey Kong '94 - Excellent update to the original.
Wario Land 1 - I thought more people would mention this, it had a faster pace than Mario Land 2 and the treasure hunting gave it some good replay value. Also loved the soundtrack, but I guess it's an acquired taste.
Castlevania II - Big improvement on the first game.
Bionic Commando - A more polished version of the original with excellent music.
Mega Man V - They finally made a unique game instead of harder versions of the nes games.. almost on par with MM3.
Kwirk - Challenging puzzler, and one of the first games I got for the console.
Gargoyle's Quest - I'd say it's a bit better than the sequel. It had less slowdown, bigger bosses and better music. Demon's Crest might be a better game in many ways, but it has a different feel to it.
The sequel was actually released for the GB but only in Japan, not sure if it plays better or not.
Mole Mania - Pretty innovative and long puzzle game with some great music.
Pinball: Revenge of the Gator - I usually don't like pinball games but they managed to make this fun by incorporating some video game aspects like boss fights, and the table is quite big.

[The Jackal]

Gragoyle's Quest, Pokemon Gold/Silver, Pokemon Red/Blue, Tetris, Link's Awakening and R-Type DX are the only games worth getting for the GB.

[MrMatthews]

I'm glad I bumped this thread.

Even though it became much more streamlined with the Gameboy Pocket and Gameboy Color, I think there's still a lot of charm in the original grey brick model. I'd probably never play it because the screen is so crappy (by today's standards, I mean), but I wish I still had one.

Speaking of the GBC, I think the best game to come out for it is Super Mario Deluxe.

[InternalPrimate]

Speaking of the GBC, I think the best game to come out for it is Super Mario Deluxe.

My little brother owned a Game Boy Color (we live on opposite ends of California), and I remember playing the HELL out of Super Mario Delux. Amazing that such an old game could be so relevant. I think I recall racing a ghost mario and trying to get high scores. It was an altogether different take on the the game that started it all. I loved it.

[tomaitheous]

I loved that little green and white pixeled of a mini screen bastard! Lots of good memories. The music was awesome too. Much better than the GG's music <_<;

I don't know what you guys are on about with the GG screen. I have two GG's and the screens suck ass. Too washed out, more touchy on the angle than the GB, and still has blurry issues for movement.

[zetastrike]

To me, the Game Boy Pocket was the best handheld ever. It took the b/w GB and really improved the display so it was really b/w and not green. It blurred less, too. I still use mine a lot.

Top 5:
1) Donkey Kong Land
2) Mario Land 1
3) Tetris
4) Castlevania 2
5) Donkey Kong Land 3