"A nice handheld..."

Nintendo has created quite an image for itself in the video game industry. Why let that image stop at consoles? Here we have the Nintendo Gameboy, Nintendo's entry into portable gaming.

Graphics
For its reign of the era, the Gameboy hosted decent graphics, if used to the correct extent. The Gameboy did not offer color graphics. That would be saved for the Gameboy Color. Instead, the Gameboy offered shades of black upon a greenish-tinted screen. This combination appealed to the eyes, but gamers were often heard wishing for more. For this, it truly depends on the developer to how well the graphics of the games are presented. Many games' graphics were in the middle of superb and lackluster. Although, you did have a few games of those two calibers. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening used the graphical capability of the Gameboy superbly, while, say...Robocop 2 did not. Overall, the Gameboy's graphics were impressive for the time.

Sounds
The Gameboy had many a game with many a great sound. The Gameboy was capable of giving the old, classic sounds, and also new, unique sounds. The music of the games it had available were of nice quality. Though, as with graphics, you had games with great sounds and music, and others with annoying, horrible sounds and music. Tetris is an example of a great combination of sound and music. The sounds of the blocks landing are not annoying, and the repeating background music are likable. Fortunately, in the case of a game to the contrary, the Gameboy featured volume control, so you could turn the sound and music off, if you so wished. All in all, the Gameboy had favorable sound and music capability.

Controls
The Gameboy had a simple, but favorable control interface. It featured Start, Select, A, and B buttons, and a directional pad. These were spaced just enough to accommodate for small and large hands alike, and gave the Gameboy a neat look. The Start button usually paused the game, while the A and B buttons provided actions. The directional pad was most commonly used to move, and the Select button was given any other thing the game makers seemed fit. This interface allowed for a wide variety of games, and allowed each to use a unique control scheme if they so desired.

Game Library
The games the Gameboy hosted were of a large quantity, mostly due to the fact that the Gameboy was one of the only portable gaming units in the industry. For this, the Gameboy had many genres, and appealed to many gamers. Great games include Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Land (1, 2, 3), Dr. Mario, Kirby's Dream Land (1, 2), The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Pokemon (Blue, Red, Yellow) Super Mario Land (1,2,3), Tetris (1,2), and many others. Though, there are many mediocre, and waste-of-time games, but there are those with any system.

Closure
The Gameboy was the prime of the time in portable gaming. The offerings and deliveries were of top quality most of the time, and the Gameboy became a household name.

Judgement
Graphics: For its time, they were great. Although in many a game, it was a little difficult to see the whole picture. [9/10]
Sounds: The Gameboy offered great sound and music, with most games featuring excellent examples of both. Although, there games that were annoying examples of both also. [9/10]
Controls: The controls were very easy to get used to, were nice ont he hands. The interface was simple, to-the-point. [10/10]
Game Library: The Gameboy had many great games, and a lot of games in the middle, but suffered from an overdose of lackluster games that would not be found elsewhere. [9/10]
Overall: It was the best of its time, and is still better than some handhelds today. [10/10]

Final Recommendation
With this being an old system today, and with the Gameboy series growing every few years, I would only recommend this to collector's, as there is a far better model of the Gameboy available today.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/22/04