"A good system in it's time."

Introduction
The GameBoy was the first handheld I ever bought. It was a very good little system when it came out but doesn't stand up to time that well. You can find better now.

Look
Well the GameBoy was small when it was released but it looks big and bulky by today's standards. It also came in one color. Gray. Pretty isn't it, no.

Graphics
Well they were okay in 1989 but are terrible today. The GameBoy could only use shades of gray for it's colors. Not much is it? The GameBoy looked really bad. It can't have many sprites on the screen either. Nintendo could of done better. 5/10

Audio
Gross. Awful. The sound is not good at all. It has to be some of the worst stuff ever, music and sound effects. There are some games that have good music (The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening) but for the most part it's utter crap. 4/10

Game Variety/Quality
Here it's were it gets good. There isn't a HUGE variety but it's pretty decent. You should be able to find at least a couple good games in most genres, except fighting. I can only think of a few fighting games for GameBoy and they are all bad. Some of my favorite games include the FF games, Zelda, Tetris, Pokemon and Battletoads. But there is also a lot of bad games, which is like all systems. 9/10

Control layout
Only two face buttons! Strangely enough it works out great in most games. You have your A and B buttons which are usually for actions, start which usually pauses the game, the control pad which usually is used for controlling your character and select, which does crap all in most games. The GameBoy is taller than it is wide so the screen is also. This makes conversions of home consoles strange looking. Overall it works pretty well. 8/10

Overall
Graphics 5/10: Pretty ugly, but decent for the time.
Audio 4/10: Ew, gross, get it away! Very bad all around. Bad job Nintendo.
Game Variety 9/10: Very good. Has a lot of different genres, though it seems like action is the most popular. GameBoy also has probably the most addictive game ever, Tetris.
Control Layout 8/10: Simple yet it works out great.

In Closing
A great handheld for the time, but get a GameBoy Color or Advanced instead. They beat it in graphics and sound and you can play all your old GameBoy games. But if this is all you can find it gets thefullhomey's seal of approval.

6.5/10 rounded to 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/20/01, Updated 08/20/01