The Game Boy memories thread

[Andrew NDB]

Getting a Gameboy wasn't transformative or anything... but I do remember getting the "light" setup for it that slipped over it with the magnifier and all, staying up late playing "CastleVania Adventure" in the dark. Later on, Zelda: Link's Awakening. I don't think I ever played any other games on it beyond CastleVania Adventure II and a little Metroid II before giving up.

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by Galactus

The Super Game Boy was cool, got a lot of play out of a Donkey Kong which also strangely influenced Mario 64. I remember being slightly disappointed with the
Game Colour and thinking this ain't really what I thought until I started getting the exclusive games for it. I loved the original Wario Land so it's sequels were a must buy and I'd still take another Wario game in the same vein. I'm not hugely into Pokemon but I enjoy the first two eras a lot.

I was so sure that I'd be getting the Super Game Boy, but then I decided not to. With those so-called Super Game Boy-enhanced games, the only thing about them that seemed to be in full color were the title screens. The Game Boy Player was worth the wait though.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Getting a Gameboy wasn't transformative or anything... but I do remember getting the "light" setup for it that slipped over it with the magnifier and all, staying up late playing "CastleVania Adventure" in the dark. Later on, Zelda: Link's Awakening. I don't think I ever played any other games on it beyond CastleVania Adventure II and a little Metroid II before giving up.

To me it was. Being able to play games on the go was cutting edge experience for me back in the 90s. Compared to the Game Gear and Tiger Electronic games, the Game Boy was God.

The only reason why I didn't make more of a use of the Game Boy's portability was because I wasn't allowed to bring it to school. Understandable. My parents and my brother didn't want me to damage it, lose it or get it stolen. That being said, I was able to take it on trips abroad with my family.

Nowadays with smartphones, tablets, the 3DS, the Vita, the Switch, etc. ofc a Game Boy is gonna look extremely obsolete, but back then there really wasn't anything better than it. Every other company that tried to compete with Nintendo in the handheld department failed miserably. The only company not named Nintendo that has been able to make a successful portable was Sony. The PSP sold pretty respectable numbers, even if the original DS sold way better than it.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Prowler

To me it was. Being able to play games on the go was cutting edge experience for me back in the 90s. Compared to the Game Gear and Tiger Electronic games, the Game Boy was God.

The only reason why I didn't make more of a use of the Game Boy's portability was because I wasn't allowed to bring it to school. Understandable. My parents and my brother didn't want me to damage it, lose it or get it stolen. That being said, I was able to take it on trips abroad with my family.

Nowadays with smartphones, tablets, the 3DS, the Vita, the Switch, etc. ofc a Game Boy is gonna look extremely obsolete, but back then there really wasn't anything better than it. Every other company that tried to compete with Nintendo in the handheld department failed miserably. The only company not named Nintendo that has been able to make a successful portable was Sony. The PSP sold pretty respectable numbers, even if the original DS sold way better than it.

Sega Game Gear hung in there for years, didn't it?

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by Prowler

To me it was. Being able to play games on the go was cutting edge experience for me back in the 90s. Compared to the Game Gear and Tiger Electronic games, the Game Boy was God.

The only reason why I didn't make more of a use of the Game Boy's portability was because I wasn't allowed to bring it to school. Understandable. My parents and my brother didn't want me to damage it, lose it or get it stolen. That being said, I was able to take it on trips abroad with my family.

I've brought my Game Boy to school when I was in sixth grade. Fortunately, it never got stolen. I actually lent it to this girl in my class for the weekend, and my mother wasn't happy when she found out. I got it back, but with a new set of batteries. The girl told me that her mother was playing Tetris on it for hours, but that was the only game I had at the time anyway.

When I was still in sixth grade, I was on the train going to school one day, and a group of teenage girls got on at a stop. One of them pulled her Game Boy out of her backpack later. One of the girls laughed at her for doing that, but the one with the Game Boy said "don't leave home without it". She had a point, which I would learn in all of the years that followed. It has come in handy on flights, waiting on certain lines, visits at the doctor's office, and even waiting to be selected as a potential juror.

[Voltron]

We had a Poke'mon club after school in middle school. We'd all get together in the science teacher's room to battle and trade. It lasted until someone's game boy was lost or stolen. Then all game boy activity was banned and we could only play card and board games. Lame.

After that, I ended up playing a lot of the old JRPGs that came out. I went through a lot of the Final Fantasy series. Good times.

[Icebot]

I had a game boy in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Sadly I lost most of the games I had forever. The only ones I still have are Tetris and Donkey Kong 94.

I used to have Ninja Gaiden, Paperboy and Revenge of the Gator but my cousin borrowed them once and they got lost somehow.

I also had Super Mario Land, Mega Man 1, Mega Man 2 and Ninja Turtles Fall of the Foot Clan. I let my sister borrow all those games but they also got lost.

I’m thankful for the eshop because I was able to buy the 2 Mega man games and Super Mario Land. But I didn’t find the other games that got lost (unless anyone knows if they’re available at eshop or not?)

I also have a game boy advance and I can play the old game boy games on it.

[turtle1237]

Yeah the first Gameboy game I own is the legend of Zelda Link's awakening. And it is the best Game Boy game, even over some classics like Pokémon. I played that game like everyday. I was stuck for a whole week trying to get into the woods to find a key to the first dungeon, until a friend told me to sprinkle magic powder on the Raccoon. After that, the rest of the game was pretty much a breeze.

I still have the game lol. Right now I am working my way though Zelda Oracle of Seasons. Yeah the 3 Zelda games for the Gameboy and Gameboy color are my favorite for the system lol. It also got me hook on the series, so of course I had to play the first game, 2nd game(Never beat it though) and perhaps the best Zelda game of all a Link to the Past.

[Storm Eagle]

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the original Game Boy. I didn't even know it was a thing until maybe September 1989, and saw my first commercial for it. I didn't even have an NES yet, and wasn't subscribing to Nintendo Power. Anyway, there's now a Nintendo Power podcast discussing the Game Boy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSTwwGEvk3s

[turtle1237]

Originally Posted by Prowler

ORAS is a pretty good game. Never played DPP or BW. Why haven't they gotten remakes yet? I expected Diamond/Pearl to get a 3DS remake at some point...

Gen 6 as a whole was a fun time, I love ORAS. There my 2nd favorite after Emerald. BUT I also had a blast playing X and Y and seeing the "French" sights. X and Y were a great set of games. If Gen 6 had a flaw, and its a big one, there was no 3rd game for X and Y. It left a lot of plot that did not tie things up like Emerald did for Ruby/Sapphire, or Platinum did for Diamond/Pearl, Hell even what Black and White 2 did for Black and White 1.


I may be on the other side here and I add this as one of my options against the flow, but gen 5 was GREAT. Unova were great, the Pokémon were great(Every gen has a dud here or there, and they only mention 2 Pokémon against Unova) Hell N rock it out of the park, I loved your rivals and they played off of each other pretty well. The evil team were great. Ghestis was a great villain. I really don't see the hate it gets.

[sdp]

After a while I stopped playing the Game Boy and it felt like a really old system I didn't want to touch after the Super Nintendo was out for a while. My interest did pique when the Super Game Boy was released and I wanted to play my Game Boy games there but not enough that I never chose it as a present. That changed when the Game Boy Pocket came out.

I still remember reading Club Nintendo magazine and seeing a picture of what was E3 or EGS and Nintendo showing off the Gameboy Pocket, it was silver, sleek and most importantly small. I could not believe how small it was compared to the original and i wanted it since I could literally take it anywhere since it would fit in my pocket. The silver color just made it stand out and feel elegant which only made the original look even more outdated. Hell, even the box where it launched looked classy and adult.

To me it just seemed way too expensive so I never bothered to ask for it and went on with my life. Eventually other colors where released for the system and one summer day for whatever reason my mother asked me if I wanted one and I of course accepted and chose the see through Game Boy Pocket. Along with it I also got to bring home the Million Seller version of Kirby's Dreamland. This revived my love for the game boy that the SNES' Super Gameboy nearly got to do but didn't quite get to.

The GBP just felt so much more modern than the original, instead of having this yellow green looking screen we actually had a grey display. Contrast really wasn't needed and the games were far less blurry than before so even older gameboy games just played better. At this time I got to play a lot classics that were released over the years and I never bothered to play. Donkey Kong 1994, Kirby, The Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening among others. It really was a renaissance of playing older and even some more recent games.

By this point the games had evolved quite a bit and instead of playing like inferior NES games they actually seemed to play like inferior SNES games. Donkey Kong Country was made portable with Donkey Kong Land and it pretty much played like the original. Even fighting game ports like Mortal Kombat II and Killer Instinct felt impressive to have those games in portable form despite their flaws. Sprites in general looked better as well and felt like good recreations of their 16 bit selves instead of the ones we saw in earlier game boy games.

The game boy camera and printer was another cool thing Nintendo did with the Gameboy but that's another article but because of that I ended up with a second GB Pocket this time blue since it was part of a bundle with some nice cases better than the ones I had. Cool colors like the Ice Blue were just cool and Nintendo just new how to market it. My only regret is I never got to play Pokemon Red / Blue on the original black and white game boy since I just used the Game Boy Color. The Game Boy Pocket was more than just a revision, it revived the game boy.

Next I'll share my memories of the game boy color and later the game boy advance and all of its revisions.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by turtle1237

Gen 6 as a whole was a fun time, I love ORAS. There my 2nd favorite after Emerald. BUT I also had a blast playing X and Y and seeing the "French" sights. X and Y were a great set of games. If Gen 6 had a flaw, and its a big one, there was no 3rd game for X and Y. It left a lot of plot that did not tie things up like Emerald did for Ruby/Sapphire, or Platinum did for Diamond/Pearl, Hell even what Black and White 2 did for Black and White 1.


I may be on the other side here and I add this as one of my options against the flow, but gen 5 was GREAT. Unova were great, the Pokémon were great(Every gen has a dud here or there, and they only mention 2 Pokémon against Unova) Hell N rock it out of the park, I loved your rivals and they played off of each other pretty well. The evil team were great. Ghestis was a great villain. I really don't see the hate it gets.

Actually, I've seen A LOT of people online praising Black & White. I don't think it's an unpopular opinion.