Game Boy Color

"The Gameboy Advance is to SNES, as The Gameboy Color is to..."

The NES.

After all the commotion that was started after Nintendo released the Gameboy Pocket, which turned out to be just a smaller Gameboy not the next Gameboy system, you'd expect something that should blow you away, and think, damn right Nintendo released a kick-ass system.

Well, gladly, they didn't fail.

[Basic Layout of The System]

Alright let's break it down.

Think original Gameboy, but smaller. Same basic layout, D-pad, start and select, A and B, volume and power, now with infer-red exchange thing-a-ma-jig port (which is used to exchange information in certain games). Once again as with the previous Gameboy system, those are all the buttons you would need!

[System Itself]

Think smaller, and purple. The original Gameboy, simple Gray case, black on green graphics. The Gameboy color? Little more eye catching, purple, or see-though to the insides of the system purple. Kind of interesting, but you got it or are getting it not to look at a little computer board chip, but to play games, right? Also, the previous Gameboy took 4 ''AA'' batteries, this one only takes 2 ''AA'' batteries, and still lasts a long while. And this one, it can ACTUALLY fit in your pocket, but this is a drawback for those of us, such as myself, with larger hands who enjoyed the size of the original Gameboy, as it felt more comfortable in my hands.

[Sound]

Actually pretty decent, and I mean decent as in decent, not just decent or alright for a portable game system. But like the previous Gameboy system, it has the potential to have excellent music and sound, but once again obviously it comes down to the games themselves, some games have wonderful music and sound, others do not, but for the most part, on a lot of the games, the music and sound is pretty decent.

[Graphics]

Alright, call me crazy, but with the addition of colors, I swear the graphics aren't as sharp as the original Gameboy's. But then again, it's not horrible, just a minor thing, but with the addition of ACTUAL COLORS, it's well worth it to lose a tiny bit of crispness that probably 99% of you won't even notice. Also add to the fact, that with this system, you can make the previous Gameboy games, which were originally Green, Black and Gray, now with COLOR. Think Super Gameboy but better.

[Games]

Jaw-dropping. Eye-opening. Wallet-opening so you can run out to buy the latest Japanese Game. Oh wait, that's right, did you know that the games, first, not only being some NES ports (such as Super Mario Bros. DX), not only having amazing graphics and sound, are also regionless? AS WELL as the system itself? So you can buy the system from Japan, buy the games from the UK and have no problem playing them? Or buying the system from the U.S and getting the games from Japan and still have no problem playing them!

Alright now think about this, you have the hundreds upon hundreds of original Gameboy games (which you can now add color with, with this system) and hundreds upon hundreds of the new Gameboy Color games, JUST in AMERICA, so when you get bored and figure, well, oh what the hell, I'll get the latest JAPANESE game, there's no problem, no special requirements or additions or changes you need to make to your system to play imports, nothing like in the case of the Sony Playstation.

[Closure]

I remember the night my parents brought me this little wonderful system, putting it in my hands, and I haven't let go since. I thought I'd never put down my original Gameboy system, but I was wrong, with this, it became the system I played long after my parents told me to go to sleep, when I was sitting on the can, when I was stuck on an 8 hour car trip to some family vacation, or stuck at a relatives house for some family get together. The system really is a portable NES in some respects, and to this day, even with the Gameboy Advance out, still worth buying, because it too it a piece in gaming history, and years from now when they have fully virtual 3-D gaming ROOMS, you can show your great grandchildren, that THIS is where it all started at.

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