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Game Boy Turns 20

bengraven said:
Link's Awakening - goes without saying, though I was stuck in the second dungeon for over a year - "what's a Pol's voice?". It took Gamefaqs to come out a few years later and help me through another dungeon before I could beat it since I didn't have the resources or any Zelda fans around me to help.

I was stuck on the second dungeon for months! I should go back and revisit that game, I feel like it did a lot of things differently. Anyway, I was stuck in a room where you had to kill all the monsters in a certain order, but there was NO PROMPT whatsoever that said you had to this. It was just a room with monsters. How was I supposed to know? Grrrr...
 

EvilMario

Will QA for food.
Greatest system ever is great.

We own more original titles for the original Gameboy than any other system. And I'll even buy them again if Nintendo has Virtual Console for DSi. :D
 

Slavik81

Member
Nobody seems to remember that there was a GameBoy version of the original Bubble Bobble. And it was awesome.

When I found the NES (Virtual Console) version of the game, it just didn't feel right. Maybe it was the switch from the simple colour scheme of the GameBoy version to the bright colours of the NES.
 
SovanJedi said:
Pretty much everyone mentioned the games I loved, EXCEPT FOR THIS ONE:

46-1.jpg


And if the image stops working due to hotlinking then tough; you should all have named this game earlier. Nyah nyaaahh!
Awesome graphics! Awesome musics! Awesome game! After all these years I still remember my password to reach last level with full vials... Gargoyle's Quest is my n°1 game on this system and the only GB cartridge I kept (still have it), n°2 is Link's awakening and n°3 is Super Mario Land.
 

ggnoobIGN

Banned
So is this Nintendo's 120th birthday?

On Cash Cab yesterday, they were the answer to what company released the Gameboy system on it's 100th anniversary. Didn't sound right.
 
My GameBoy is still alive and kicking. I still have the AC dapter, cleaner, and Light Boy that snapped on the top with the magnifying glass on it with 2 lights. Bolded are the ones I think I spent the most time with.

Baseball
Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle
Cat Trap
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Land
Frank Thomas: Big Hurt Baseball
Kwirk
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Pinball: Revenge of the Gator
Pipe Dream
Serpent
Super Mario Land
Tetris
Tetris 2
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
 

SovanJedi

provides useful feedback
myDingling said:
I was stuck on the second dungeon for months! I should go back and revisit that game, I feel like it did a lot of things differently. Anyway, I was stuck in a room where you had to kill all the monsters in a certain order, but there was NO PROMPT whatsoever that said you had to this. It was just a room with monsters. How was I supposed to know? Grrrr...

Actually one of the hint stones did tell you which order to beat them in, although I guess calling the monsters by their "Zeldaish" names didn't help (Stalfos = skeleton, Pols Voice = rabbit thing)
 

Masked Man

I said wow
I'm turning 20 this year, too. D:

Happy birthday to us, Game Boy! :D Many fun years with you, and I look forward to much more fun in the years to come with your brethren (offspring?).
 

Azure J

Member
Masked Man said:
I'm turning 20 this year, too. D:

Happy birthday to us, Game Boy! :D Many fun years with you, and I look forward to much more fun in the years to come with your brethren (offspring?).

You too? High five! :lol

September guy here.
 

Odrion

Banned
I wish they would release some incredibly limited edition GBC with a new bright screen and a modern matte look.
 
JWitham said:
It was 20 years ago this month that Nintendo released the brainchild of Gunpei Yokoi, the Game Boy. No one can deny the clunky, pea-soup charm of the single most successful portable gaming device to date.
Ehhh. It's ahead of DS when you add in GB Color, but at that point it's hard to call it a single device.


Long-time GB fan here, though it definitely took a far back seat to home consoles since it took about a decade for lighting technology to reach something I really considered decent. Though I'm sure I'm not the only one who had one of those goofy-ass magnifier/lighting devices that stuck out several inches from the screen?
 

SovanJedi

provides useful feedback
JoshuaJSlone said:
Ehhh. It's ahead of DS when you add in GB Color, but at that point it's hard to call it a single device.


Long-time GB fan here, though it definitely took a far back seat to home consoles since it took about a decade for lighting technology to reach something I really considered decent. Though I'm sure I'm not the only one who had one of those goofy-ass magnifier/lighting devices that stuck out several inches from the screen?

Ah gee, I had this even larger one, it was huge, you could fit right inbetween it and the Game Boy and the light only worked half the time. I think it was called a "window" or something like that...
 

ToastyFrog

Inexplicable Treasure Hate
TheGrayGhost said:
Yokoi's "The Lateral Thinking of Withered Technology" is the secret of what makes Nintendo a lasting leader.
I didn't realize he had actually named and articulated this philosophy. That's fantastic, although now I feel dumb for thinking I had stumbled on some sort of revelation when I wrote that column. GAF, today you have proven your value.
 
I really liked the first Spider-man game a lot, even though I know it's horrible. I got a Game Boy when it was new and played SML, Alleyway, Spider-Man, TMNT, Gargoyles Quest, Qix, a ton of other stuff I can't remember.

Ten years later, in 1999 it was still great. The Bionic Commando games, Final Fantasy... and I used to play Link's Awakening every year around Christmas. I should get back into that habit.

Oh, and another good GB memory: I had a friend who, like me had Fist of the North Star. With the link cable, we played it on a long car trip our families went on together (along with Tetris, F-1 Racer, Play Action Football and some others). We're adults now, with families of our own, but we were just playing RE5 last night.
 

Azure J

Member
painey said:
everyone knows pokemon blue was better than pokemon red

Pokemon Blue was Pokemon Red for pussies. The difficulty was really changed in both games surprisingly enough. Besides, Red had Growlithe and by extension, Arcanine. Discussion over. :lol
 

gimmmick

Member
Pokemon%20Blue.jpg


The game that made me buy a gameboy. My brother always had a gameboy when we were kids. (I had a gamegear, so we would switch off whenever either one of us wanted to play at the time).
 

Shiggie

Member
AzureJericho said:
Pokemon Blue was Pokemon Red for pussies. The difficulty was really changed in both games surprisingly enough. Besides, Red had Growlithe and by extension, Arcanine. Discussion over. :lol
Pikachu in Viridian forest FTW!
Fuck Red.
 

Retro

Member
Man, I'm only 7 years and a day older than the Gameboy, arguably one of the most successful videogame platforms of all time. The Gameboy ruled the handheld market unchallenged for years, and it's descendants still rule the roost. And let's face it; before the Wii made it cool for Grandma to go bowling, mom and dad were waiting for you to fall asleep so they could get in a few rounds of Tetris.

I feel old, but blessed to have played the original grey brick for hours on end. Wish mine was still in working order (I let my mom have it after I upgraded to a GBC and she did something that ruined the screen).
 
Got my Gameboy Christmas 1989 when I was four years old and played the thing all the way until I was a Sophomore in High School. The same system, it never broke, and if I could find it I'm sure it would work perfectly today. It's really crazy thinking how long I played that thing.

Forkball said:
The original Game Boy was awesome. It even had it's own Super Mario Galaxy!
smgmarioland.jpg

SML 2 is so underrated.
My favorite game on the system, it was a huge step up from the original SML as well.
 
ToastyFrog said:
I didn't realize he had actually named and articulated this philosophy. That's fantastic, although now I feel dumb for thinking I had stumbled on some sort of revelation when I wrote that column. GAF, today you have proven your value.

You wrote the piece linked to in the OP?

It's interesting that Yokoi's philosophy is, basically, a slightly different articulation of Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation. DS and Wii are the new GB and NES, which is why I always find the hostility towards Nintendo's direction amusing; this is Nintendo as they always were, as they were doing their prime. We're in a new era of disruption. *breathes it in*
 

1up

Member
I remember asking my parents over and over for this for Christmas in 1989. I was 7 years old and I had to have it. My parents said over and over again that santa didn't have the money to get me a 200 dollar system. When I got it on christmas day I flipped the fuck out. Probably worse than N64 kid.

Kid Icarus II : Of Myths and Monsters
Legend of Zelda : Link's Awakening
Super Mario Land 2
Tetris
Pokémon Red
Super Mario Land

Wish I still had my original GB. Poor thing's screen got cracked. :(

Also, R.I.P. Gunpei.
 

yodandy

Member
HoTHiTTeR said:

I dont care how nerdy it makes me feel now that I'm 22, but this game owned my life when I was a kid, my brother had blue version, and holy shit at the hours and hours we spent with our backs hunched under a lamp in the living room upgrading our pokemans...ah memories.
 

painey

Member
I remember my dad taking me all the way to london for my birthday looking for pokemon in an import shop but it was sold out. We ending up mail-ordering it, and it arrived about 2 months later and I literally played it so much that once I stopped I could still hear the music in my ears and I thought my gameboy was still on but it wasnt. I genuinely thought at about age 13 I was mentally ill.

ps blue was way better and more popular in my school.
 
SovanJedi said:
Pretty much everyone mentioned the games I loved, EXCEPT FOR THIS ONE:

46-1.jpg


And if the image stops working due to hotlinking then tough; you should all have named this game earlier. Nyah nyaaahh!

Hey, I mentioned it. And yeah, it's a great game. It shows the "make the graphics really nice and characters huge" style of Game Boy platformer, like with the GB Mega Man games, or Wario Land. Some others, like the first Super Mario Land (or Donkey Kong '94), instead do "make everything really small, to fit more on screen"... both types work. My favorite GB platformer may be Wario Land 3, a game with huge characters, and my second is Kirby 2, with a medium-sized sprite I'd say, but DK'94 would be third (if you count it as a platformer, it is... it's as much puzzle game as platformer), and I do also love the original Super Mario Land. Everything may be really small, but being able to fit so much more on the screen than you can in a Wario Land is pretty nice... overall both styles work. With a screen resolution like that, and the square size, having smaller, less detailed characters can be a good design decision. :)

Oh yeah, and the gargoyle on that US cover art looks absolutely nothing like Firebrand, or the Japanese cover art... they cutified the cover art to make it more attractive to children, I imagine. Oh well... at least they didn't change the game itself.
 
AniHawk said:
1. Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
2. Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins
3. Warioland 2
4. Tetris
5. Pokemon Red
6. Kirby's Dream Land 2
7. Super RC Pro-Am
8. Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land
9. Kirby's Pinball Land
10. Return of the Jedi

Pokemon at 5? And no Donkey Kong '94?
 
cartman414 said:
Pokemon at 5? And no Donkey Kong '94?

And Super Return of the Jedi for GB was fun, I got it at the time and still have it, but I wouldn't put it in my top 10... it's good for a third-party licensed game, but doesn't match up to, say, the Mario, Wario, or Kirby games...

But if you want a Super Star Wars game that can actually be beaten, it's a fine choice; unlike the SNES games, GB Super Return of the Jedi isn't nearly as ridiculously hard. :) I mean, there are some tough levels... but it never approaches the insane difficulty of parts of the SNES games. The last two stages, in the Death Star II, were pretty cool too... kind of easy, but very cool. The top-down multi-level approach works well, if only there was more of it...

So yes, I liked it and actually considered putting it in the 'honorable mentions' section of my list. But yeah, it's definitely not as good as, say, DK'94, which I agree should be there.

Oh, the game's Super Game Boy "features" were quite dissappointing -- it's ONLY a border. Most SGB games have at least a border and preset color palettes, but this one's just a border, nothing else... it'd have been nice to see what color-sets they'd have chosen for the different areas. It's too bad they didn't try.

Of course, that's better than the few games that say "SGB" on the box and cart but don't have any SGB features at all, like The Lion King...
 

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
ggnoobIGN said:
So is this Nintendo's 120th birthday?

On Cash Cab yesterday, they were the answer to what company released the Gameboy system on it's 100th anniversary. Didn't sound right.
Nintendo turns 120 in September.
 
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