Reasons why you should have owned/should own: The Nintendo Game Boy

cherryghost

Ohboyohboyohboy! The Nintendo Gameboy, yay!

The Game Boy (ゲームボーイ, Gēmu Bōi?), is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on April 21, 1989 (1989-04-21), in North America in August 1989 (1989-08), and in Europe on September 28, 1990 (1990-09-28). It is the first handheld console in the Game Boy line, and was created by Gunpei Yokoi and Nintendo Research & Development 1—the same staff who had designed the Game & Watch series as well as several popular games for the Nintendo Entertainment System
The Game Boy is Nintendo's second handheld system following the Game & Watch series introduced in 1980, and it combined features from both the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game & Watch. It was originally bundled with the puzzle game Tetris.
Despite many other, technologically superior handheld consoles introduced during its lifetime, the Game Boy was a tremendous success. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color combined have sold 118.69 million units worldwide. Upon its release in the United States, it sold its entire shipment of one million units within weeks.

I have two of these babies! One when I was in hospital, mum got it for me back in '90 along with Tetris and Super Mario Land (I was in hospital for my birthday and by chance the game came out on that day.

After that I remember playing through Link's Awakening. Awesome game

And not to mention the Metal Gear game, Metroid, Pokémon Blue/Red.

Anyone who hasn't at least PLAYED the Game Boy has a hole in their gaming curriculum vitae


EDIT: Oh, and the Game Boy Camera and printer. I had a lot of lulz with that!

Tallon

I have loads of them, and the camera, and the printer, and my personal favourite... the Pikachu edition :pac:

I really really want the modded chiptunes version though

Retr0gamer

Fantastic handheld. For such simple technology it really had some amazing games. The most impressive is X which was made by the same british team that made Starfox. Nintendo were so impressed that Argonaut managed to get a true 3D flight sim working on the GB that they hired them to create the super FX chip and to design Starfox.

Other greats games include Mole Mania, Castlevania 2, The GB Megaman games inparticular number 5, Kirbys Dreamland, the perennial Tetris, the Marioland and Warioland games.

One game that doesn't get the love it deserves is Donkey Kong which is amazing on the GB. It starts with the original levels but quickly morphs into a puzzle game with dozens of fiendish puzzle levels.

Then there's Pokemon. Still brilliant and one of the most indepth RPGs ever made.

o1s1n

LSDJ!

Mr E

Mole Mania was an absolutely superb puzzle game.

smokingman

Metroid 2 - ah what an awesome game...had two of these back in the day and lost both

krudler

Links Awakening, what a game.

I still have my original gameboy someplace. I got it in 1989 on holiday in the States, made me quite the popular kid the day I brought it into school months before it came out over here

Duggy747

:eek: Good grief, the memories!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LXN_bYg36o

Brother won a load of these throughout the 90's in Nintendo competitions and flogged them all off bar the 1st one we got.

Still sits at home with all the other consoles and still works, compared to my piece of shìt 360 which bottomed out after a few months.

Last game I ever got for it was Turok. Jesus, that was a tough game.

Heh, I remember robbing AA batteries from anywhere I could find them to power the thing

ghostchant

Did someone say chiptunes?? Have another one on the way too! Also have a load of stock GB/GBPs and games, but they're nowhere near as shiny.

Tallon

Please be my friend

o1s1n

ghostchant wrote: »

Did someone say chiptunes?? Have another one on the way too! Also have a load of stock GB/GBPs and games, but they're nowhere near as shiny.

Lovely! That purple backlight looks great!

I made the stupid mistake of putting my chiptune modded GB in the attic while storing away loads of stuff. The moment it went up I wanted to play the thing. God damn! No way of finding it now until I take the whole lot down again.

zero19

Got a nice little yellow one here got it off ebay last year, the original white one i had is loooooong gone sadly.

Xinkai

Warioland!!! What a game! Also the Megaman 2 port was great on the go too!

turnfan

+1 for Metroid 2. Best Game Ever. That end boss took 250 missiles IRRC!

Retr0gamer

I recently acquired Metroid 2 complete in box but I've no gameboy.Mine was stolen on my during a visit to the gaeltacht

Harps

My best mate had one since back in the early 90's, wasnt really taken care of at all yet it still works perfectly as far as I know. Probably the first console I really played come to think of it, great memories. Pokemon has to be my favourite game, spent hundreds of hours on it

Overheal

when they came out with the gameboy pocket I was like :eek:


The best though was being so hungry for a gameboy fix when I was short on batteries, I'd swap out the dead ones with pieces of tinfoil and put in the only 1 or 2 fresh ones I had left.

NTMK

my first games console got it when i was 3 for christmas most durable thing ever. mine was dropped down stairs, left outside in rain and accidentally set on fire:o and its still working 18 years later even though it smells like diesel:pac:

Kirbys dreamland! looking at the cartridge now, no colour on the sticker anymore but still works.

TanG411

I have mine sitting in a box under my bed, protected in a grey cover for it.

NotorietyH

NTMK wrote: »

my first games console got it when i was 3 for christmas most durable thing ever. mine was dropped down stairs, left outside in rain and accidentally set on fire:o and its still working 18 years later even though it smells like diesel:pac:

This isn't it by any chance is it? :P

ghostchant

NotorietyH wrote: »

This isn't it by any chance is it? :P

Went to New York last year and of all the things to see and do, seeing this in the Nintendo Store was what I was most looking forward to (ok so Ellis Island was pretty cool too)

NTMK

NotorietyH wrote: »

This isn't it by any chance is it? :P

:eek: look that up there that survived a war most consoles now would break if you sneezed on them

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i dunno if a gameboy could run la noire or oblivion though, so it's probably a trade off most people would be willing to make.

Retr0gamer

I'd rather play tetris, kirbys dreamland or mario land 2 than those two games.

ghostchant

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd rather laye tetris, kirbys dreamland or mario land 2 than those two games.

What he said. I'll still playing the GB long after my xbox/ps3 consoles have bitten the dust.

pdbhp

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd rather laye tetris, kirbys dreamland or mario land 2 than those two games.

ghostchant wrote: »

What he said. I'll still playing the GB long after my xbox/ps3 consoles have bitten the dust.

What they said!! GB is awesome.

sonic85

i was addicted to world cup soccer for the gameboy - god it was class!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_World_Cup

Harps

Haha that brings back memories! Stupidly easy but loved the fact you could basically kill the opposition players when you fouled them!

deathrider

Reasons to own a Gameboy? I honestly can't think of any reason why you would not want to own a Gameboy. That little grey box started me off on the rocky road of video games. I got it for xmas when I was about eight years old with Tetris and Fortress Of Fear. The rest, as they say, is history.

And just for fun, here's a nice tune about the Gameboy:
http://youtu.be/iTBY2GFYyws

mawk

oh man.. where to begin?

links awakening?
marioland 2:six golden coins?
mystic quest?
pokemon blue but not red cause blue was way more awesome:cool:?
kirby's dreamland?
battletoads?
double dragon 2?


jeebus I better stop there

allanb49

must dig up my old one, if i can't find it going to go and buy one off ebay, 6 golden coins was my baby, had pokemon blue as well and one of those 50 in 1 (that had about 4 games that worked) that my nan brought back from spain

Had bomberman on it though

Mr.Saturn

allanb49 wrote: »

one of those 50 in 1 (that had about 4 games that worked) that my nan brought back from spain

I used to collect those things. Best were the hacks, generally replacing original games with Pokemon characters. I played the hell out of Super Pikachu Land. I've recently been emulating my old GB library on the DS, still finding gems in the library all this time later. This guy actually does
a blog which was once mostly about the Gameboy and its gems, he'll steer you in the right direction:

http://www.rfgeneration.com/blogs/noiseredux/

nyarlothothep

I was given one with Super Mario, 6 Golden Coins during December 1995. I completed the game in 1995, 1996, 2001 and 2009.

allanb49

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I was given one with Super Mario, 6 Golden Coins during December 1995. I completed the game in 1995, 1996, 2001 and 2009.

what the hell happened to 97 98 99 and 00

pdbhp

deathrider wrote: »

I got it for xmas when I was about eight years old with Tetris and Fortress Of Fear.

Picked up Fortress of Fear a few weeks ago in Rage for €5, bought it because I thought the name was cool:D

Mensch Maschine

Ah man, I got a Game Boy in '91/'92 and my favourite game for it was Probably Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. So much inspired imagination put in to that game. Remember the ghosts you came across that creeped up on you when your back was turned but then froze still when you faced them. Brilliant. Also the swimming zone/mission were cool.

memories...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCoEDsv2KMo

I also had Track & Field and some others I can't remember. It's about 20 years ago now. I had a set of accessories for it too. Magnifying glass, light and attachable speaker.

deathrider

pdbhp wrote: »

Picked up Fortress of Fear a few weeks ago in Rage for €5, bought it because I thought the name was cool:D

I spent an unhealthy amount of time and battery power on that game. Great craic!

cian1500ww

My first games console was a Gameboy Pocket, came with a case and Super Mario: 6 Golden Coins IIRC. Spent an unhealthy amount of time on it, damn thing nearly bankrupted me with the cost of those bloody triple A batteries
The games that stick out in memory best for me would have to be the Pokemon range of games, I remember finding a bug in one of the games where you could duplicate the number of Pokemon by turning the Gameboy off at the right moment during a save. Made finishing the game much easier

Overheal

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I was given one with Super Mario, 6 Golden Coins during December 1995. I completed the game in 1995, 1996, 2001 and 2009.

until they released pokemon that was the only game worth playing

Retr0gamer

Overheal wrote: »

until they released pokemon that was the only game worth playing

Nothing is further from the truth.

citizen_p

Tetris

Pokemon

Mario

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8puIxXNsPQ

cian1500ww

Mensch Maschine wrote: »

Ah man, I got a Game Boy in '91/'92 and my favourite game for it was Probably Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. So much inspired imagination put in to that game. Remember the ghosts you came across that creeped up on you when your back was turned but then froze still when you faced them. Brilliant. Also the swimming zone/mission were cool.

memories...

That brings back so many memories!!

Carl Sagan

krudler wrote: »

Links Awakening, what a game.

I still have my original gameboy someplace. I got it in 1989 on holiday in the States, made me quite the popular kid the day I brought it into school months before it came out over here

Links Awakening was a great game!

I gave my Gameboy to some guy I didn't know very well. He's a bit of a junkie now, so I'll probably never get it back. Still have my Gameboy Colour though.

Gunsfortoys

Ah yes the old gameboy. I remember finding my Gameboy on Christmas eve in the presents hiding place.:D

It was the pack with tetris and Mario & yoshi. Ah memories.

My favourites were many but the ones that stand out are, Super Mario Land 2:six golden coins, Pokemon red, alien 3 and Killer instinct.

I downloaded the game boy app for the iPhone recently and it's great to play these again.

deathrider

Gunsfortoys wrote: »

Ah yes the old gameboy. I remember finding my Gameboy on Christmas eve in the presents hiding place.:D

It was the pack with tetris and Mario & yoshi. Ah memories.

My favourites were many but the ones that stand out are, Super Mario Land 2:six golden coins, Pokemon red, alien 3 and Killer instinct.

I downloaded the game boy app for the iPhone recently and it's great to play these again.

I actually spotted Killer Instinct in Rage in Dublin ther eon saturday. I was stunned that there was a Gameboy version of it.

pdbhp

deathrider wrote: »

I actually spotted Killer Instinct in Rage in Dublin ther eon saturday. I was stunned that there was a Gameboy version of it.

I have it on Gameboy, it's total garbage

ghostchant

I somehow ended up with two copies of it. Not great but wouldn't say it was total garbage, I had fun with it. There's so many better games to play on the GB though.

deathrider

pdbhp wrote: »

I have it on Gameboy, it's total garbage

Ah, but it was a blinder on the Snes! Besides, Gameboy was never really made to play fighters on.

pdbhp

ghostchant wrote: »

I somehow ended up with two copies of it. Not great but wouldn't say it was total garbage, I had fun with it. There's so many better games to play on the GB though.

Well it was more of a generalisation of all fighters on GB as it didn't have the horsepower to pull off games like that. That said GB is still my favourite console of all times.

deathrider wrote: »

Ah, but it was a blinder on the Snes! Besides, Gameboy was never really made to play fighters on.

True KI on SNES was great as was SFII and other fighters, the SNES came along at just the right time and with enough ooomph to play great games like that.

citizen_p

Gunsfortoys wrote: »

Ah yes the old gameboy. I remember finding my Gameboy on Christmas eve in the presents hiding place.:D

Same, I was playing mine for about a month before christmas anytime my mother left the house and then i'd throw it back in when she got back.