"Playing Gameboy while on the can = euphoria"

Where oh where would we be without Gameboy? You know, that device that plays video games and jams up flight equipment. That system that brought you three SaGa games in the form of three Final Fantasy games here in the US. That wonderful little handheld work of art that would (though not being the first true portable) pave the way for such systems as game.com, Lynx, Wonderswan, and Game Gear (many other included as well). It and all of its descendants (Pocket, Color, Advance, Advance SP, etc.) would dominate the portable industry for years. However, is this a result of fine craftsmanship on Nintendo's part, dumb luck, or just good marketing? While many claim the Gameboy family as being spectacular systems, many may also fail to see how Gameboy eventually turned into a license title dumping ground, only to revive like a phoenix with its Advance counterpart (and still get a fair amount of license title crap). If you ask me, Gameboy has survived as a result of good marketing and Pokémon. The games are affordable, some of the names are recognizable and memorable, and Pokémon games pop up all over the place.

Graphical Capability
In terms of graphics, this isn't the portables strong point. Not so much in terms of graphical design, which you really can see some great graphical design in some Gameboy games (Pokémon Red and Blue). What Gameboy truly lacked in the graphical department was color. It may not be fair to pick on color with Gameboy, but not having color hindered so many games. What's worse is that a fully colorized Gameboy that was announced some time after regular Gameboy's initial release didn't see shelf dates until way late in the regular Gameboy's life, when it was on life support. Instead of colors, Gameboy had to rely on shading, which it did very well (Adventures of Star Saver; Super Mario Land 2; Metroid 2). The only colors you ever really saw on the screen were black and green. However, different shades of black were applied to give a better sense of design to not only environments, but enemies and all around character design. This did not make up for the lack of color, however, it did help quite a bit.

Sounds
Sound was something I misjudged earlier. Gameboy's sound capabilities were not exactly advanced when it came out. Even Gameboy Advance does not have top notch sound quality. However, given what is available exclusively in the portable industry, the first Gameboy carried wonderful sound for its time. Some musical themes added life to games. A grand example would be Kirby's Dreamland. Through most of the levels, you can gain a sense of peace and serenity in the natural surroundings, or a sense of engulfing mystery in King Lololo's castle. My favorite was always the final boss theme, which embodied angst against Dedede and sheer desperation in the face of what appeared to be an unstoppable enemy. There were many other games that carried great tunes and sound effects, such as Sword of Hope, Final Fantasy Legend 3 (aka SaGa 3), Seiken Densetsu, and even the simplistic Kwirk.

Control Setup
The control setup is marvelous! It's just like the NES, which is definitely a perk. Such a set up is very easy to master. Most of the time, you only work with the directional pad and two buttons. For the most part, the control sensitivity seems to work quite nicely. Seldom do you have a very stiff game to work with. Many may not realize it, but controls can sometimes make or break a game. Just to throw and example out on a different system, look at the first two Ikari Warriors games. Both of them were incredibly horrid games, but could have been made much better if only for better controls. I may not speak for all Gameboy games when I say that the control set up works wonderfully, but I do speak for the many that I've played.

Game Library
The games also vary. There were a lot of good games for it, and a lot of sorry ones, too. Here's just a breakdown on my opinions on some of the GB games:

Liked: Final Fantasy Legend 3, Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Metroid 2, Super Mario Land, Super Mario Land 2, Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, Donkey Kong, Tetris, Mega Man 2, Sword of Hope, Battletoads.

Disliked: Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly, Denis the Menace, Home Alone 2, NFL Football, Final Fantasy Legend 2.

Unique and Interesting: Dr. Mario, Adventures of Star Saver, The Simpsons: Bart vs. The Juggernauts, Gear Works, Quarth, Qix, Kirby's Dreamland, Heiyankyo Alien.

Closing
Gameboy has withstood the trials of time. Ever since its release around 1989-1990, it's been a widely popular selection for gamers young and old. I cannot tell you how many kids I've seen with Gameboys and how many countless appearances they've made in common commercials (ones for cereal and even insurance). The fact that it outlasted so many systems and not having so many perfect 10 titles astounds even me. Gameboy will always survive, in whatever form it's in throughout time.

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphical Capabilities: They were top notch portable graphics before GameGear. Nothing extremely special, but still not too bad 8/10
Sounds: Definitely a plus 8/10
Control Design: Much like the NES, which is good 9/10
Games: A lot of good games, but also a lot of terrible games. This system almost seemed to be a ''dumping ground'' for games they thought would not sell on any other system. That's not to say all the games are bad; There are some really good ones 7/10
Worth: It's a great handheld system 9/10
All Together: 8/10

Recommendations
How can I recommend this to anyone when GameBoy Color is on the market? Honestly, I say get this if you're a collector. But still, there are some good games for this system that shouldn't be passed by.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/26/01, Updated 06/15/03