Game Boy Color

"A great system? No. A bad system? No. An average system? Yes."

The second stage of the GameBoy evolution is called GameBoy Color and today I am giving it a review.

HISTORY OF GAMEBOY COLOR:
The GameBoy Color (GBC for short) was originally released in late 1998. It is an 8 bit portable system that is basically an updated version of Nintendo's original GameBoy from the late 1980's. While it retains a similar look and feel as the first GameBoy it is more powerful and it is smaller and more compact like the GameBoy Pocket (the second sleeker model of the original GameBoy which was released in 1995). It runs on two double A batteries and has a screen that is the same size as the GameBoy or fifty percent smaller than the GameBoy Advance. At the time of it's release Nintendo was having problems keeping their monopoly on the portable game market strong. Tiger Electronic's Game.Com, SNK's Neo Geo Pocket, and Sega's Nomad were threatening to topple the then weak and outdated GameBoy. With Sony leading in the 32/64 bit console wars, Nintendo had to ensure that they could still defend their hold on the portable market. Nintendo's savior was the GameBoy Color. At launch the system sold extremely well (largely in part to the heated Pokemon craze that Nintendo had generated just prior to launch) and brought renewed interest to hand held gaming. Nintendo crushed their competitors and made huge profits off the GameBoy Color. For nearly three years the GameBoy Color was the king of portables and it was not until Nintendo launched the GameBoy Advance that it finally slowed down.

GRAPHICS:
The graphics are a definite step up from the GameBoy. For starters the GameBoy Color can show a wide variety of colors (hence the name) from a large pallet as opposed to the black and white only GameBoy. The quality of the sprites, back grounds, and other graphics are much better than the original GameBoy. While the first GameBoy had weaker 8 bit graphics than the original Nintendo Entertainment System, the GameBoy Color has great 8 bit graphics like the Sega Master System had. This may sound good but it's not good enough if you ask me personally. The graphics are Ok but they could have been much better. The Game Gear which is a much older system than the GameBoy Color has much better graphics and colors. The 8 bit engine is not enough power for the system's graphics. The GameBoy Color should have been at least 16 bit.

SOUND:
The GameBoy and pretty much every other hand held before it had terrible sound quality and the GameBoy Color unfortunately carries on this tradition. With the small speakers and limited space in the game cartridges it is understandable that the sound would be fairly poor though. However the sound is a little bit better than the original GameBoy's.

CONTROLS:
The GameBoy Color has exactly the same button layout as the original GameBoy had (a directional pad, start and select buttons, and two action buttons labelled A and B). It may not be very original but the layout definitely works. The buttons are easy to reach and the GameBoy Color is comfortable to hold.

GAMES:
Here is the main problem with GameBoy Color there are not that many games that are truly worth playing. The GameBoy Color had good games at launch but fell victim to hype. The Pokemon craze is partially to blame for this. Because of the success of Pokemon many other companies tried releasing games for GameBoy Color. The problem was most of these companies were smaller companies with smaller budgets and as a result most of the GameBoy Color games they released were either cheesy movie or T.V show based games or bad ports of PlayStation and Nintendo 64 games. However Nintendo and several other developers did take advantage of the GameBoy Color's good 8 bit graphical capabilities and re-released improved versions of many of the best old NES and original GameBoy games for GameBoy Color such as Tetris DX, Super Mario Bros. DX, The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, Dragon Warrior 1 & 2, Dragon Warrior 3, R-Type DX, Bionic Commando, Game and Watch Gallery 2 and 3, Ms. Pac-Man, and Crystalis. Some more original GameBoy Color titles that are worth mentioning include The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, Dragon Warrior Monsters 1 and 2, Bomberman Max, Harvest Moon GBC 1 and 2, Wario Land II and III, Metal Gear Solid, Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal, Survival Kids, Top Gear Pocket 1 and 2, and Bust-A-Move Millennium.

SYSTEM DESIGN:
The GameBoy uses fewer batteries and still lasts just as long as the original GameBoy and of course it fits in your pocket. You can also get this system in a variety of different colors. All in all a good design.

FEATURES:
You still have the ability to link your GameBoy up to another person's and play games with multiple players using a link cable accessory. A new feature that is very cool is an inferred port on the top of the system that you can use to zap game information between your GameBoy and someone else's. The GameBoy Color is also backwards compatible with the original GameBoy and can play all of it's games.

SYSTEM EVALUATION:
(as it would have been at the time of it's initial release)

GRAPHICS: 8/10
SOUND: 6/10
CONTROLS: 8.5/10
GAMES: 6/10
SYSTEM DESIGN: 8.5/10

Overall 7.4/10
Rounded to 7/10 for GameFaqs

Many people like the GameBoy Color and I'll admit I had a lot of fun playing certain games but this system failed to have the same impact that the original GameBoy had. The GameBoy Color does own some excellent games but if you are thinking of buying one you may want to consider spending a little extra on a GameBoy Advance instead since it can play all the old GameBoy and GameBoy Color games and is getting lots of new games that can only be played on it and not on GameBoy Color.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/02/01, Updated 09/02/01