"It was some of the games, not this machine."

I gave this machine a 2 because, quite frankly it wasn't that great at all. Now before you all jump on me, let me explain. It was the GAMES that made this thing. There where some good games and it sold over it's competitors. I mean, come on, it was a little black and white, 8-bit machine with a blurry screen! It was the inventiveness of programmers and designers that made this thing what it is. In fact, the original Gameboy is the most solid proof in history that games make or break a console. Period. Now on with the review for this lackluster machine.

Graphics:

Believe it or not, the Gameboy has a better graphics processor than the NES. It's the Z80 and it is capable of more than what the NES could handle. Trouble is, with the lack of color, this really wasn't noticeable in most cases. As time moved on, games looked better and better but the lack of color, coupled with a blurry, low-res screen kept them from achieving what they could have.

The Gameboy's display was terrible. It was small, green, and dot matrix. Like the NES, Nintendo made this thing as cheap as they possibly could to keep the cost down, but this limited it severely. The advantage? It hardly used any battery power at all.

Sound:

Well, in some cases the Gameboy can put out better sound than the NES, and in stereo. It's samples seem more varied and it's PCM use is somewhat better. The downside is that it sounds lower quality than the NES. Sometimes music is fuzzy and the early games didn't even sound as good as early NES games. There are a few games that really stand out though. MegaMan 3, The Final Fantasy Legend series, and Final Fantasy Adventure are the most notable ones. What's weird is the unit's speaker. It's louder than any of the new Gameboys but some games, most notably Nintendo-made ones, where very quiet for some reason. Super Mario Land 2 is very hard to hear without headphones and Zelda is almost the same.

Processing:

It's the same speed as the NES. Not a good thing because the Z80 needs more than that to work properly. Some games slow down and then some games are just slow period. When MegaMan fires his gun you can actually, no lie, watch the bullet as it flies across the screen. This limit kept more in depth ideas from being used until the Gameboy color showed up.

Control:

It's made up with keys that are the same size as the NES pad. Easy to handle if the unit is just slightly bulky. In the end the response depends on the game.

Durability:

My old Gameboy got dropped several times and it never stopped working. It's pretty durable but there are cases of bad luck. If you drop it you might burn out the screen or just make the whole thing stop working but I think it has to hit pretty hard for that to happen. Overall it's a tough little machine, unlike the NES which just doesn't last long.

Game Library:

Tons. And there is a lot of crap too. Fortunately there are quite a few quality games out there and that's why this thing kept afloat. Just stick to the well known ones because the rest is quite a gamble.

Overall:

This machine has lasted longer than any console ever. The portability makes it attractive and there are some good games for it. You can find it now for very, very cheap but why bother? Pick up the Gameboy Advance as it can play all the games this thing can and the new 32-bit ones. If you must, it's a good collector's item, in the box, but out of it, you are just like millions of others who have this thing. You could buy it for memories of the old days but then you'll get the headaches from the old days that are induced from all the blurring. Just keep the memory that this was quite a groundbreaking machine in the fact that it was portable, super weak, but proved that games make the console. Quite an achievement if you ask me and the Gameboy deserves this honor over any system.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 09/12/01, Updated 04/07/02