"Gameboy + Flashlight = Great Gaming at 3AM After Your Parents Told You To Go To Bed!"

1989.

The earthquake that stopped the World Series, and the release of the Gameboy, well, those are the 2 most memorable moments of 1989 for me anyway.

[Basic Layout of The System]

Get a decent sized paperback book, cut it down to about 200 pages and there is the size of the Gameboy. Simple D-pad on the left, start and select buttons on the lower portion on the front of the system, A and B buttons on the right, power on the top, volume on the left. Pretty standard, and simple layout.

[System Itself]

D-pad, A and B buttons, start, select, power and volume, all the buttons you will need. A decent sized screen (give or take about 2.5 inches), not backlit though, the only draw back of the system, it's a simple green backed LCD screen with the ability to show multiple shades of Gray and Black, which actually can show some detailed and crisp graphics at times. The non-backlit screen doesn't bother me, infact it's a plus, can you imagine how many batteries you would run through if the system was sucking up enough power to light up the screen? Also take note of this, GameGear and the Nomad were backlit, ran through batteries like there was no tomorrow, and they didn't last long, did they? I also particularly enjoyed the size of the system, a little big to really put in your pocket, but the larger size made it much more comfortable in the hands of someone who has larger hands such as myself.

[Sound]

Surprisingly some good sound and music throughout the games. I can say the system has the potential for some great clear music and sounds, but it goes by the game by game basis, obviously some games music and sound will be crap, and others will be simple stunning and amazing considering it's come from just a portable game system!

[Graphics]

Sharp, crisp, clear, 3 adjectives that come to mind when I think back to the graphics of the games on my Gameboy. It being essentially a 2 tone [Black on Green screen] allowed to have some crisp graphics, quite nice actually.

[Games]

Nintendo on their portable systems will stand above and beyond any other gaming platform, regardless whether you compare it to another portable system, or an at home connect to the TV system. There are hundreds, if not approaching literally over one thousand games for this system, Sports Games, RPGs, Action Games, Adventure Games, Platformers, you name it, and it exists, and you know the best part? It's regionless. For those of you who don't bother with importing games you don't realize how special some of us consider this.

The fact that on each Gameboy system, on each game, there is no region lockout, which means I could buy a Gameboy from the UK, and play a Japanese game on it, without ANY problems, or I could buy a Gameboy from the U.S and play a Japanese game on it, any combination, it doesn't matter, you have the hundreds upon hundreds of the excellent games in America to choose from, then the option of exposing yourself to the hundreds up hundreds of games from other countries, without having to deal with the trouble of other systems to play imported games, such as the case with the Sony Playstation.

[Closure]

This tiny, yet large system will hold a place in my heart, to be honest, I remember playing this in my room longer after my parents told me to go to sleep, playing while on the can, playing on long car trip, at family get together's when I locked myself away in another room, this system, you should get not only for nostalgia purposes for a little piece of history in gaming, but for yourself today! You can still enjoy this little system, yes the new Gameboy Advance can play the original Gameboy titles, but just think, you are playing the games the way they were meant to be played, you're holding on to a piece of gaming history that help revolutionize the portable gaming industry, and at the cheap price you'll find one of these, what reason do you have NOT to buy one?

Recommended Games: Pokemon Red/Blue, Metroid II, Super Mario Land, Tetris, and so many more.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/18/03