The Game Boy Line (1989-2005) - Scott The Woz Compilation

hey y'all Scott here I've decided to start playing game systems with names that perfectly describe me so I'm gonna start playing the micro Vision what shape like a breaking gives you hours of fun it's a close second the Nintendo Game Boy that's right it's a minor easily one of the most important systems in gaming history and for good reason there's some truth to why old people call anything that beeps a Game Boy they worry me but every time you see a portable video game device in a cartoon or something it's almost always modeled after the original game boy two buttons a d-pad Karcher slot this thing is so portable game system and even though I never officially owned one before my Virgin phase it doesn't feel like it the original Game Boy launched a line of systems that lasted over 20 years most models being compatible with the games from that first one I remember bringing my Game Boy Advance to kindergarten to which most 80 year olds would say that makes me feel old the other kids and I would swap games around and try them out on our own systems and I saw some of them having these weird gray cartridges I was only used to the Game Boy Color in advance ones then one of the kids whipped out their Game Boy it was the original and even back then I thought oh we gotta see what happens when we put a newer game in there this is amazing no matter what era of Game Boy you grew up with you still sort of feel that attachment towards the others it's all game boy at the end of the day ever since I've always had a huge interest in that first era of Game Boy I loved my Game Boy Color in advanced games but I wanted to see what it was like one generation earlier and now that I waste my time I can finally use the original Game Boy and see what it's like it stinks the Game Boy was created in response to the booming success of Nintendo's Home console the Nintendo Entertainment System and the limitations of their LCD Games The Game and Watch series Phineas gave you long lasting experiences each on their own cartridges some of which were high score based games straight out of the arcade but many were taking gaming to the next level Rich stories new worlds you want to explore definitive endings just like a divorce The Game and Watch games were a line of handhelds that contained one game on each using an LCD display like a calculator these pretty much had to be arcade style games to see how long you can last try to win like a divorce now handled game systems with cartridges weren't anything new but they weren't anything good mostly dumb simple high score base game a few of them were kind of fun but most of these they mainly just gave your thumbs a job so what if we took how rich and deep the games on NES can be and shrunk them down to fit in a mouse that was what gumpe yokoi was born to do the designer of numerous Nintendo toys The Game and Watch and cataracts went in and created a portable game system using interchangeable cartridges and a dot matrix screen that sounds more impressive than it is it's a manually operated fiber divider the project was codenamed after the screen.matrix game or DMG and didn't have a final name until shugasato itoi suggested The Name Game Boy this thing was developed with durability longevity and budgetary constraints in mind launching at only 89.99 on July 31st 1989 here in North America April 21st 1989 in Japan and September 28 1990 in Europe Nintendo has almost always been about fun on a budget and nowhere was that more obvious than with the Game Boy look at this box the future is here and it's called 1989. this looks incredible and then you play it really funny stand-up routine dog system even when Nintendo was being more realistic with their images like like on the back of the box here this screen still looks leaks better than what we actually get a dot matrix display what does that mean it means let's get the hell out of here well I guess if the gaming watch has a display like a basic calculator the Game Boy has it displayed like a more advanced calculator one that can display more than just variations of the letter O I mean it still displays any old spray you could ask for here definitely can be used to play video games from this era it just so happens to be ask green thank God I'm colorblind the screen here is the game boy's biggest flaw not only is it not lit in any way shape or form but it's not just black and white it's black and puke they used a green display with no colors because it helped the non-color visuals pop out the best at a low cost and they just thought it'd be funny this is easily one of the most notorious elements of the original model you can't use it we have a contrast dial which helps us see in numerous different lighting conditions but for playing it dark have an open mouth we got the volume slider headphone jack and speakers for stereo sound and extension port for accessories on an off switch a port for an AC adapter a battery compartment begging for four Double A's a days for just one one device and a full Suite of buttons the exact same buttons you'll find on an NES controller they were obviously cutting Corners a lot but Nintendo ensured you would get as close to a console experience as possible with this thing of course other companies responded and they responded big just bring the damn TV with you at this point competition towards the Game Boy quickly emerged systems by Atari and Sega had full color displays that were in fact lit up these systems were more powerful and I think people bought them out of fear of being crushed all signs pointed to these things wiping the floor with the Game Boy but Nintendo had a few aces up their sleeve the initial price point was significantly cheaper due to the game boy's cost efficiency and not using a color display will do that to you they're all about saving money I'm sure Nintendo employees eat cereal with water due to using cheaper technology the Game Boy was not only more portable than the competition its battery life was actually tolerable I can't remember the last time I put batteries in this thing it's just been run off the same ones for years it can withstand 15 hours of continuous play on four Double A's sega's game gear and atari's links contributed to the battery life movement we're dealing with today I think the game boy's design was far more appealing to everybody these things honestly both look the exact same the Game Boy was unique and it feels great to play it may be bulky by today's standards but you can still fit it in a pocket all the buttons the d-pad they feel fantastic like actual console controller buttons handouts usually have the audacity to include small clicky buttons to fit on a Slimmer tinier device compared to Home console controllers the Game Boy has these big meaty buns that just feel right they feel substantial and none of Nintendo's future Portables really replicated this feeling it's a little awkward obviously not the best it could possibly be but it's well designed for 1989 and at its price point it accomplishes what it's set out to do and while that definitely added to the reason the Game Boy absolutely drained the lynx's blood for fun the core reason it did so well was the games it's in the name the Game Boy launched with five games here in North America with one being notoriously bundled in not yakimon Tetris was already a well-known PC game at the time but the idea to bundle it in with the Game Boy Genius Nintendo was considering to put the game Super Mario Land in with the package but was told while that would help the Game Boy appeal to kids packing in Tetris would help the Game Boy appeal to everybody so in North America the Game Boy launched with a Tetris game cartridge not only helping the system but the tetris brand as a whole these two things go hand in hand neither one of them would be the great success they became if not for each other Tetris on the Game Boy continues to be one of the best versions of Tetris I know what you might be saying this guy Tetris is Tetris oh man grass was way better back then hear me out it's crazy but not every version of Tetris gets things right the controls feel off the court tetra's gameplay is altered ever so slightly but if you want the most pure and perfect version of Tetris it's on the Game Boy the iconic theme is here it all controls well it works perfectly within the game boys limitations like everything appears on screen just fine it doesn't mess around with modes that are kind of cute then you never play again it knows what you want you jump and play Tetris jump out it's basic but not to a fault and that's what I like about this version it's simple but it's perfectly simple this helped the Game Boy tremendously but that doesn't mean there weren't other games aiding to its success right alongside the system's launch came Super Mario Land I always found this cover to be so modern looking for a Mario game released in 1989. prior to this Mario our work was still in its Peach fuzzera this one feels right in line with official art for the series released today of course Super Mario Brothers help to catapult the NES into super stardom really picking a game everybody had to try for themselves truly a revolution so it's fair to expect Super Mario Land to be the same this game creeps me out I love Super Mario Land and I think most good people do but I think it's mostly because of how Charming the game is with how primitive and simple it can be it's a very basic and short Mario game though it has a few elements unique to it you don't get Fireballs you get super balls that bounce around Turtles explode on impact a few side-scrolling shooting stages and we have our first title with a question mark in the middle the physics are messed up here if you're running it doesn't really carry into your jump that well you fall like a rock precise jumps are hard to make but none of this really matters like I said the game is just so damn Charming it's not difficult it's super short you can beat in like 30 minutes so it's like why complain about it is being critical about Super Mario Land going to change the world why does it matter that it doesn't control perfectly I'm at the requirements of being Super Mario Brothers on a portable system and that was a big deal it still feels like Mario and you could take it wherever you wanted sure the screen of the game boy gets really blurry when there's a lot of movement it can be hard to see enemies coming at you when you're running but it's still playable it's Charming as all hell and I still love going back to it over and over again the game is simple yet still Mario the problems with the game are more so fun little quirks rather than deal breakers due to how short and easy the game is I adore this game critically you can tear it apart but I feel like most people can see right past the flaws and enjoy this game for what it was back in 1989. the other launch titles were more so just the bare minimum of what Nintendo thought a game console needed at the time baseball antenna is pretty much the same as the baseball and tennis games for the NES stay away and there is Alleyway just a basic breakout clone still fun and Charming though which is the opinion I have for most of these old game Game Boy games yes looking at them with a modern lens they're all simple but being portable games in the late 80s I find them to be more interesting than many Home console counterparts they had like I would so much rather play baseball or tennis on Game Boy than NES than that maybe because Nintendo's re-released their NES games far more often than their game boy ones but I find these more endearing the NES is more capable than this the Game Boy I'll take what I can get overall not a bad launch lineup due the most iconic games on the entire platform one of them packed in a fun Breakout game and two sports titles if you want to get laid the original Game Boy model wasn't the hottest looker though this thing looks like it would just taste awful So eventually six years later Nintendo released Atlanta game boys under the slogan play it Loud the deaf revolted these were the exact same systems from 89 but now there were so many different color options this is during Nintendo's rambunctious phase trying to be cool for all the 90s kids yeah sticking to the man buy a Yellow Game Boy these are pretty nice additions to the lineup but this was six years after the launch the Game Boy lasted so long and for a giant chunk of its lifespan it was still just that Old Brick the next year in 1996 Nintendo finally released a revision titled the Game Boy Pocket and the most tolerable handheld goes to this it is a fraction of the size comes in a variety of colors only cost 69.99 the screen is bigger clear doesn't get as blurry during motion sequences doesn't look disgusting only uses two AAA batteries instead of four Double A's this is a huge improvement though I do still think the original has more character just look at the fonts for the Buns this looks like a PowerPoint presentation plus I don't think it's as comfortable as the 89 model I don't like it when my hands on the back touch keep these things away from each other but the pocket helped rejuvenate the Game Boy giving it a much needed modern makeover it was still incredibly affordable and at this point had a treasure Trove of games in its catalog plus most of the problems with the original were made much better now but one thing still needed fixed two years later in 1998 only in Japan Nintendo released the final revision the Game Boy Light one of the biggest issues with the Game Boy line was the lack of any light on the screen you just straight up couldn't see it without some kind of light source the Game Boy Light however popped a backlight into the display which you can turn on and off without the light the this thing lasts 20 hours on two Double A's which is amazing and then with the light on it lasts for 12 hours which is still very respectable the handheld is very similar to the Game Boy Pocket in terms of design but a bit larger which makes it more comfortable the backlight is pretty much just here so you can play in the dark it doesn't make the screen more viewable in good lighting conditions in fact half the time I can't even tell it's on it makes the handheld playable at night that's pretty much all it does you know I was hoping it was going to give me advice the problem is this revision released a mere months before Nintendo released the full upgrade the Game Boy Color featuring a color screen and exclusive games it was pointless to buy this even if it had the backlight and the color didn't since these are released so close to each other it's understandable why this never left Japan also America hates Vision it didn't make sense to make consumers decide between a light and a color when it was obvious the color was one and dunno really wanted to sell here the original Game Boy wasn't discontinued until 2003 living an incredible 14 years and really lived on for far longer than that the Game Boy Color in advance were compatible with these old games with the advance being discontinued in 2010 the Game Boy line was so popular with the original first three model selling 64 million plus units before the colors release in 98 and all of that can be attributed to the great games release for this thing like mocking Chase and Mortal Kombat 2. I have a soft spot for the Game Boy library but even the best games are often gimped in some ways though every game boy game I've played I can always appreciate them far more than a lot of other games from this era it is so Charming to go back to when this was portable gaming it's fun to see where concessions were made and they aren't too egregious considering you're playing it on this okay what were you expecting these cartridges are adorable they're like NES cartridges you can choke on more easily and the NES the best console compared to the Game Boy as most of these titles feel like black and white NES games the Game Boy definitely isn't as capable as xenius in many ways so games sometimes don't run as smoothly as they do on there but again taking the era in which this was released into consideration you're getting a fairly comparable experience on the go the problem is the Super Nintendo was right around the corner and was the primary system during the game boy's life so while the Game Boy can do NES style games quite well bringing Super nintendo-like Games over cracks me up we can see that with the sequel to Super Mario Land released three years later Super Mario Land 2 6 golden coins you collect coins all the time who cares Fireland 1 was a solid portable take on the Mario formula though it was kind of in the camp of good enough that game on any hardware other than the Game Boy would be executed Mario Land 2 well that's actually just a flat out great game regardless of it being on the Game Boy or not definitely feels more like Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo For Better or For Worse the game does struggle with how Big And Chunky the Sprites are I mean the original Mario Land I was worried the Sprites were my spittle on the screen here everything is big and bold and I love it but we can a lot more slow down because of that Mario Land 2 does struggle a bit with being a full-size Mario game on the handheld but that doesn't stop it from being one of the best Game Boy games I'm not sure I'd consider it to be one of my favorite Mario games I kind of feel like it's made cooler just because it's a Game Boy game but it's a great title in its own right and deserves more recognition it was a debut of Wario I can't say that about myself but they ended up taking him from this game and making him the whole focus of the third Mario Land Wario Land Super Mario Land 3. can't wait for Max Payne's Super Mario Land 4. I always forget there were three Mario lands but it's completely Fair considering the third game is an inbred take on a third game Super Mario Land 3 is in a Mario Land game much like how Super Mario World 2 was in a Mario World game they both take characters from the previous entries and give them their own spin-off series they just had to give them a Mario subtitle to really sell it to you sure worryland is its own game starring Wario it launched an entire series of mostly handheld Platformers including wariland 2 on the original Game Boy as well what makes Wario Land work is how it really throws you a curveball you head into it expecting a Mario game but you get off-key music and mechanics and make these games truly their own thing I run a ton of Mario spin-offs on here NES games like Yoshi Yoshi's cookie and Dr Mario Got Game Boy versions Dr Mario's weird one considering it's all about matching colors who did they to make this work there was one Mario spin-off that was the Game Boy Zone though something fresh something new something definitively Mario Mario's pit cross because the Ted dance and deal fell through pick Russ is a puzzle game kind of like mixing crossword puzzles with Sudoku each row and com has a number and that denotes how many squares are shaded in so you compare each and figure out where exactly to chip away and we have art this game has almost nothing to do with Mario outside of the menus and a few puzzles but it doesn't stop me from loving this game to bits it's such a fun and addictive puzzle game and most critics say that too it's sold like ass at least we have Donkey Kong that's the name most people call it Donkey Kong 94 based on the year was released in a sentence it's great in a longer sentence it's really great I mean this is a Game Boy game a continuation of the arcade title we all asked what happens next another whole ass game a puzzle platformer made specifically for the Game Boy this isn't like Mario Land 2 where that's an amazing game that does sort of struggle with the limitations of the handheld this was made with everything in mind it is in my opinion The Perfect Game Boy game and they followed it up with a nightmare the Donkey Kong Land series three games all meant to be supplemental titles to the three Donkey Kong countries on Super Nintendo you have to admit these are impressive on the system and they are their own games they take heavily from their home console counterparts but these are unique level designs it's just my cat these don't work on this thing the Sprites are so detailed which is impressive but it makes the game nearly unintelligible that's a problem with many Game Boy titles they didn't take the screen's quality into consideration I will say it's not as bad bad as you think it'd be but you just can't make out what's on here sometimes man these are just the novelty to go back to today even back then they were like wow it's Donkey Kong Country on the go now it's like wow they sold this Donkey Kong 94 is definitely the one to go for these are neat from a historical point of view but just play the Super Nintendo games like Jesus that was the biggest issue with Game Boy games when they tried to be far more than what they could be like stop it man you're gonna hurt yourself if the Gameboy released a few years earlier we wouldn't have had this issue as much but because it was thriving during the reign of the Super Nintendo Nintendo wanted to put Super Nintendo quality games on here so we got games that tried to stand toe and toe with what was on consoles at the time case in point The Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening this is a full-blown Legend of Zelda game it's pretty much the same length as linked to the Past on Super Nintendo nothing's compromised if anything Link's Awakening takes the core of Link to the Past and makes it work on a Game Boy it's pretty crazy playing on an actual Game Boy model though this is rough I have no idea how anybody did this I mean at least with the pocket maybe but I can't imagine playing this compared to the re-release they did for the Game Boy Color like my God the game also feels very shoehorned onto the platform you have to switch between different items all all the time in this game like constantly which forces you to go into the menu swap out items go back swap them out again it feels like if they made this game from the ground up for the Game Boy and they'd take the lack of bonds into consideration and not design a game around using all these items and having to swap between them over and over again with that being said Link's Awakening is a lovely game it has so much charm being the first Mainline portable Zelda Adventure they did some weird things with this one including tons of cameos from other Nintendo properties this is obviously a stone cold classic the only problem is the system it was made for when it got a full remake in 2019 it showed how much of this game at its core was already perfect they only really changed things that were there due to the limitations of the Game Boy console like the whole item swapping debacle other than that it's the exact same game and that speaks volumes of the original Link's Awakenings quality this wasn't a completely watered-down portable throwaway game this was the real deal and Nintendo's had that mentality with all of their handheld systems which is why I think they've always succeeded whenever Sega or Sony would put out games on their Portables they were always lesser versions who cares about that Uncharted it's just a side story when Nintendo made a Zelda game for the Game Boy it was the next big Zelda game when Nintendo made a Metroid game for the Game Boy it was a mistake what am I doing Metroid 2 return of Samus a fair attempt at a Metroid game on the platform to be honest Metroid during this time period was a bit too cryptic and obtuse for my Donkey Kong 94 brain these games are so difficult to do anything in without a map you have to draw one out yourself in 1991 sure in 1994 go yourself well good Edgar's got a sequel on the Game Boy too Kid Icarus of myths and monsters you're really a game that never released in Japan and was the only other Kid Icarus game until 2012 with Kid Icarus Uprising this is basically more the same from the NES game but again that's impressive and exactly what customers want if you are buying kitty Chris on the Game Boy it was because you wanted Kid Icarus on the go not a card game spin-off Sony that doesn't mean other companies didn't put their beat teams on the Game Boy versions We got a whole heap of third-party Home console conversions like five Mega Man games some castlevanias contras a bunch of final fantasies that weren't actually Final Fantasy they were random RPGs Square brought over to North America and called them Final Fantasy these were all up in the air like sometimes they can be good and sometimes they're Castlevania the adventure I really have a love for the first game boy Mega Man game Mega Man and Dr Wily's Revenge the Mega Man Game Boy games are like remixed Abridged versions of the NES ones but sometimes they were just remixed to British versions they were bad even then I still look fondly upon all these games even if they weren't that great they give you fairly authentic portable takes on these franchises like Mega Man looks in place like Mega Man same with Castlevania Double Dragon the only exceptional make is this fighting game Street Fighter 2 Mortal Kombat Killer Instinct I feel really bad for the kids that said Mom that like just right over there the fighting games felt more like things for your thumbs to do rather than actual engrossing video games to play I mean this gave you a Street Fighter 2 like experience on the go but I just feel like you had way better options like as handhelds progress you can make an argument playing Super Street Fighter 4 on the 3DS helped you practice for playing the console version no there's not much to these versions they're the fighting games on the Game Boy a worthy attempt but they just aren't what the Game Boy is good at like puzzle games were the game boys Jam not only did we have Tetris but Tetris too this isn't Tetris Tetris blast who the are you Tetris attack I love you but stop lying Kix is great here one of my favorite arcade games the title classic published by Nintendo on the Game Boy the game boy can handle this all right no matter how poor the hardware is you're always gonna have somebody out there who wants to be a smart ass X was a japan-only game published by Nintendo that laid the groundwork for Star Fox 3D in black and white it's the future yesterday Baseball 2000 Day first person shooter yeah I mean it's the Game Boy you can do anything I think Game and Watch Gallery helps show with the Game Boy what's best at these are remakes and ports of Classic Game and Watch games and it's a treat to have this era of Nintendo represented on the Game Boy as it was its direct predecessor balloon kid a sequel to balloon fight perfect fit for this thing great for simple addictive gameplay Space Invaders yeah sure it's great the Game Boy may have had a lot of well-known franchises continue on it but it started a few key ones small Mania debuted on the Game Boy that's something you hear every day we get it this is an obscure Nintendo developed game it's produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and it's a fun puzzle game you go between the top layer bottom layer of each stage to get to the end it feels like something that should have seen more success but Nintendo realized kids hate moles you wave rate started on the game boy yeah wave Ray 64. that's a sequel to A Game Boy game just called Wave Race I never hear anybody talk about this and honestly for the longest time I just thought Wave Race 64 was the first Wave Race they just put 64 on the title because it's Nintendo they're crazy they made a game about moles okay but shockingly more important was the conception of a white guy Kirby's Dreamland debuted on this thing ushering in the Kirby series as a whole the box art illustrator didn't know he was supposed to be pink Welcome to Hell the original Kirby's Dreamland was designed around being a beginner's game it's stupid easy and short but that's what it was always meant to be could be supposed to be a shut your brain off kind of game and Dreamland is a fun one to blast through sometime times this has followed up with an NES sequel Kirby's Adventure but back on the game boy we got Dreamland 2 which was definitely a huge upgrade but even back then Nintendo milked the hell out of Kirby pinball land block ball star stacker Kirby got so many spin-offs on the Game Boy it's ridiculous it's probably because Kirby was the perfect choice for the face of that original brick all of his games were simple easy to pick up and worked on the system well putting him in a pinball game a breakout clone a puzzle game it all made sense Kirby fits everywhere put him in court I don't care well those are the most iconic titles on the Game Boy of course there were hundreds of garbage whatever games but even the worst games honestly I still have a weird appreciation for them on this thing bad games are way more tolerable on the Game Boy and I feel like it's because I look at everything here and appreciate it all due to the limitations rummaging through a crate full of old gray Game Boy cartridges there's something magical about it no matter how good or bad the game is I just find original Game Boy games to have this undeniable charm about them being in black and white and on a system you have to hold up to a light to be able to play it's weirdly endearing and just the fact Nintendo supported the system with so many accessories shows other people agree I mean come on the Game Boy camera that's so stupid I love it at one point this held the world record for smallest digital camera doesn't mean it's good you can't hold me accountable for saying that you can hook this up to the Game Boy printer to print off your pictures it works across a few other games and uses receipt paper that way it doesn't require ink cartridges just a specific roll of paper which is such a Nintendo decision to make the super Game Boy allows you to play these games on a Super Nintendo on a TV which made for the ability to actually enjoy some of these titles we got screen lights and magnifiers which just made things worse battery packs the Link cable connecting your Game Boy to another one for multiplayer action God damn it Pokemon is the biggest media franchise of all time starting on the original Game Boy it helped keep the handheld alive for so long releasing late in its life it's an RPG series about collecting and battling monsters called Pokemon and it spawned countless sequels spin-offs movies music merchandise it's hard to think where Nintendo would be in the portable market today without Pokemon okay I said it hey y'all Scott here I think I've reached a critical point in my life recently I feel like I have to actually get up and do something rather than just piss around talking about the Game Boy Color or whatever so this is it I need to decide do I get up and contribute to society or do I talk about the Game Boy Color yes finally I can experience the Game Boy in color the Game Boy line of systems honestly the brand most synonymous with portable on-the-go gaming oh man what am I going to do on this road trip throw a couple game boys in the back you'll be fine this is the original Game Boy released in 1989 it obviously released that year there was no way you could miss it obviously it was produced with performance and cost Effectiveness in mind and ask green screen with no color just varying shades of this is disgusting but it lasted forever on four double a batteries and was that a decent price point comparative to the other handheld competitors at the time the second game gear and Atari link said full color displays and they were lit up as well you could actually see them who could possibly fathom winning this in comparison to these well Nintendo had an ace up their sleeve you see the game boy had Tetris Mario Zelda Tetris Donkey Kong Tetris golf Tetris Ida Tetris basically you bought this to play video games you bought these if you had insecurities the original Game Boy completely solidified Nintendo's Reign on the handheld market and nobody could really top them they had a solid price point battery life and the best game Library you could ask for did you really want to to get caught playing sonic triple trouble while the Game Boy was a massive success it obviously warranted a successor or at the very least an upgrade you really think Nintendo looked at this and said yeah that's good they did it took them seven years to admit this may not stay in the test of time 1996 we gotta redesign the Game Boy Pocket more compact a much clearer screen but it still wasn't lit or anything you still need to bring a lighter if you wanted to play at night well two years later in 1998 Nintendo released another revision of the Game Boy The Game Boy Light like they started to give a sh the decade in the Game Boy Light was fundamentally the Game Boy Pocket but now with the screen you could actually use in the dark it was only released in Japan Nintendo knows what we like over here two Provisions still no true successor to the handheld all the Game Boy games coming out were still designed for the brick of 89 by 98 this thing was screaming I'm nine years old please let me die it's truly surprising Nintendo was able to make the Game Boy last that long with no true successor in sight I made sure they released the Virtual Boy in 1995. they sure did okay that was a concept for a product that never should have left the research and development department Nintendo delayed the Nintendo 64 and need to release something which oddly enough was the working title for this this wasn't a successor to the Game Boy and what Roman is a handheld but by 1998 things needed to change the fact was the Game Boy experienced the Resurgence in popularity due to the release of Pokemon game developers were getting antsy they wanted more power they didn't want to be restricted to Hardware from the 80s but for a true giant leap in technology and Nintendo needed to wait a few more years they were in fact working on a true successor to the Game Boy but it wouldn't be until 2001 for it to release to satiate everybody in the meantime the Game Boy Color came out the same year as the Game Boy Light what was the goal there this is the Game Boy Color it's the Nintendo console that won the attendance award in high school it happened it did well that's all there is to this one what was its core Innovation the fact it could display something handheld game systems were displaying for decades yeah big whoop holy that's purple the Game Boy Color is an odd duck so many considered to be a true successor to the original game boy I'm one of those swine but others considered to be an upgraded Game Boy and nothing more something along the lines of the PS4 Pro to the PS4 the DSi to the DS the new 3DS to the 3DS obviously these were Superior pieces of Hardware to their predecessors but they weren't generational leaps in quality they were fundamentally better running systems to play the same games on they may have had a handful of exclusive games but fundamentally they were still that same old system nobody wanted anymore I think Nintendo themselves have this mentality with the color because usually whenever they spoke about how many units the Game Boy or Game Boy colors sold in their lifetimes they would usually group them together here's my problem with that yes these console upgrades sometimes have their own exclusive games that can only play on them specifically but they're usually few and far between I can count on five body parts how many Nintendo DSi exclusive games were released to stores the Game Boy Color had hundreds of games that only worked on the Game Boy Color definitely more than a lot of other systems that were considered their own thing so I don't care the Game Boy Color to me will always be the first true successor to the original handheld it's its own system if I defend the game system this much do you think it will notice so what's the deal with this thing well the Game Boy Color is fundamentally a souped up Game Boy it was released in the latter half of 1998 worldwide because in the background Nintendo was working on a much more advanced handheld to be released later this was released to keep the Game Boy relevant and stop it from feeling too outdated and obsolete the design of this handheld is one of the most iconic relics from the 90s which is crazy considering it's so damn similar to previous models everything's laid out in the same way it's nearly identical to previous designs but I don't know how they did it they made the Game Boy Color have its own unique look and you can immediately look at this and tell it's a Game Boy Color and not an original Game Boy the shape is slightly tweaked proportions are a bit different it's the same general design but updated in great ways and not only make it a better system but add to its own character and charm it does feel a bit more Kitty now though is it the original game boy this looks like a tool this looks more like a toy especially with the logo well in terms of new features the color has no feature no more contrast dial oh my God that was my favorite part of the original Game Boy it gave all games hard mode this was always there because the screens were never gray and you'd have to adjust them based on your lighting editions here on the color they were so confident with the screen they removed it entirely and this is a much better screen but it's still not lit up strange considering the Game Boy Light released before this and the big fancy new one went back to a non-lit display Nintendo's fire code must have been strict now obviously it wasn't included to keep costs down but under normal lighting conditions it looks fine it's just not ideal we only need two Double A's To Power this bad boy or you can plug it into the wall with an AC adapter I've never seen somebody do this with an old school game boy there's an IR blaster on the top basically the same thing used on most TV remotes it's not used in a ton of games but when it was used it was mainly just a way to transfer stuff like high scores to other players thank God the screen wasn't lit for us to get this the puns all have a comfortable slightly rubbery feel to them and I like that they are all slightly smaller than I may prefer but hey at the time this was the definitive Game Boy if you hated seeing things so to quote any parent who picks this up what the is this the Game Boy Color works as a regular old Game Boy you can play all your old cartridges but some of them having added color to them most of the time the color added is literally just well now the game's not completely colorless there's faint color added here and there but it's not enough to really say oh wow all my Game Boy games are in color now they just use different color palettes in these games they never programmed Wheel of Fortune to have color so the Game Boy Color adds a faint dab of it here and there in very smart ways so it doesn't look out of place or anything it's still pretty much black and white but what once were varying Shades of Gray on the original model are now varying shades of certain other colors you can actually change the color palettes on the old Game Boy games with different color combinations on the startup screen like I said a nice little bonus though it's not full color and it's not like it changes any of these games but hey have you ever wondered what color the sky was in Mario Land God you need this thing right now speaking of Mario Land a few select original Game Boy games had specific colors programmed for them so if you'd play them on the super Game Boy adapter for the Super Nintendo or later on the Game Boy Color they'd be more colorized than other Game Boy games though not like that much more but that's just the original Game Boy games the Game Boy Color also plays special Game Boy games that take advantage of the new hardware the game Boy Color enhanced games are just standard Game Boy cartridges with a splash of color on them normally black these played perfectly fine on both systems but if you have a sense of self-worth you play them on the Game Boy Color to see everything in Crayola flavors basically these are Game Boy Color games that also run on the original game boy but then we have the games that are apparently too good to be seen on the original game boy models these have distinct Game Boy Color logos on the cartridges are translucent and have convex tops easiest way to put it the original Game Boy cartridges you could use as pill organizers Game Boy Color not so much and these games take advantage not only of the color but the upgraded Hardware as well but here's what I find really bizarre Nintendo went to all the trouble to ensure by looking at the game cartridges you could tell what played on the original game boy and what couldn't but the original cardboard boxes these games came in they only said Game Boy Color on the front even if it played on the original Game Boy you'd have to turn it around to see if it could play on the original now the exclusive exclusive games generally had only for Game Boy Color on the box but the fact that I just realized that like right now I am shocked there wasn't nearly as much confusion when these games came out I mean a lot of these Game Boy Color games that said Game Boy Color on the box played on the original Game Boy no problem now if you tried to play Game Boy Color only games on the original Game Boy you'd get unique screens telling you to piss out I always like that many of these games didn't just display generic error messages and just seeing a logo or special design is a cool little detail but whatever what matters is the games on the Game Boy Color and what released on it so what released on it well here in North America we got four titles that launched alongside the system and it was just a bunch of old Tetris DX so this is Tetris again we have full color and some very basic different modes to play in but it doesn't feel really all too distinct from the original Game Boy Tetris and it lacks the iconic Tetris theme alright this is going in the pile Game and Watch Gallery too so The Game and Watch Gallery games were compilations of the old school LCD Game and Watch units Nintendo would make they're all very simple games and gallery took those titles and remade them with Mario characters and some new twists while also incorporating the original versions as well I couldn't have thought of anything better to launch with this brand new high-tech Game Boy game and watch games centipede yeah that was a graphical showcase and pocket Bomberman which in all fairness is a cool Bomberman title it's actually more of a side-scrolling platformer compared to the traditional overhead Bomberman games yup can't think of better games to launch a system with these all worked on the original Game Boy The Game Boy library and I think the launch titles aren't indicative of that color games are just Game Boy games that display in color when you pop them in the system but there are still tons of games that were exclusive to the Game Boy Color that took advantage of the better Hardware but it just so happened around the time the color released Nintendo got really weird with what they considered publishing were they I would scream if they ever decided to publish a game called Little Mermaid 2 pinball frenzy Nintendo's output was incredibly strange on this thing if I had to guess why I'd say it's because they didn't want to fully fully commit to dropping the original game boy in favor of the Game Boy Color so they kept at it with these cross-compatible releases for a while and by the time they really started to put out color exclusive titles and The Game Boy Advance was right around the corner this thing was the new kid in town for only three years so Nintendo really didn't pour a ton of support into it because of this we got a lot of re-releases reimaginings and games that were companion titles to N64 games let this sink in one of the defining Game Boy Color games was a re-release of an original Game Boy game The Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening DX it was Link's Awakening in color yep I get a little miffed when they decide to re-release games on platforms that could already play those games you could already play Link's Awakening on the Game Boy Color with just the Game Boy cartridge oh why not remake Zelda one or two for the handheld to be fair they did add a few things like that brand new optional dungeon to explore that focused on color based puzzles and with DX actually getting the full color treatment it really made this the definitive version at the time this is a fantastic game it was just an old one of course this re-release worked on the original Game Boy as well good for it but what about something that could have only run on the Game Boy Color well lucky for us Nintendo put out the original Donkey Kong Country on the system holy this is raw and at the time this was a pretty faithful interpretation of the original SNES game it was always amazing seeing what once was a Home console game Run on a handheld and Donkey Kong Country on Game Boy Color it's obviously downgraded and not the ideal way to play but they did it all right I mean the original game boy had the Donkey Kong Land games and The Game Boy Color version of country was definitely a step up from those this is a neat little novelty but not much more than that nowadays what about Super Mario Brothers Deluxe this was the original NES game but with so many new features and bells and whistles you could go backwards in this one they added an Overworld map a save feature more modes like you versus boo where you race a boot to the end of the level and the original Super Mario Bros 2 can be unlocked we have a calendar this is an incredible version of Super Mario Brothers the one issue is that the screen is so zoomed in it can be a nightmare to play yeah because he has bike ratio of the Game Boy Color was so skinny and the screen itself was so tiny everything is crunched onto the screen and because of that it does require a bit of getting used to back in the day this was the best option to play Mario 1 on the go but now when I play this I just think my God it doesn't have to be this way Nintendo always does this thing where they make the definitive version of one of their games but it would have like one massive downside it happens every time Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D it includes brand new content and new difficulty mode it gets rid of the motion controls from the Wii version it doesn't look as nice it runs at half the frame rate come on Mario Dennis and Mario Golf released on the Nintendo 64 so in tandem with that they made some Game Boy Color versions these are are completely different while the Gonzo versions were basically Sports party games these are full-blown RPGs you play as children and your goal is to try to beat Mario at sports IGN gave golf a 10 out of 10. I'm definitely more of a golf guy but these are both still solid titles I'd say give them a shot purely based on the fact that they are exactly what you don't expect a Mario sports game to be like who are these people but what about the wacky or more experimental side of Nintendo well there was Kirby tilt in double a motion control game with a tumor accelerometer you Tilt The Game Boy around to move Kirby it was incredibly novel and still works best on the original Game Boy Color it was designed for this Hardware's specific build but you can play it on the Game Boy Player on the GameCube if you're a masochist Wario Land 2 and 3 were on here with two being released for the Game Boy and then being released for the Game Boy Color later the Game Boy Color released still worked on the original Game Boy why is this so confusing to me Mario Land 3 was a full-on Game Boy Color exclusive though I don't know much about the meat of Wario Land I'm more of a bread guy basically I've played one in four but Nintendo's crowning achievements on the Game Boy Color are obviously The Legend of Zelda Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages original Zelda titles these are very much Cut From the Same Cloth as Link's Awakening they look very similar but these were developed by cabcom and they went for the Pokemon approach of selling two games that were kind of sort of the same the Oracle games are more so two chapters of one story where you can play them in either order whatever one you finish you get a code to enter in the other game and you see how they connect it's a brilliant idea that was only done this one time for Zelda but of course if we're talking games that had a dual release that were kind of sort of the same but not really uh yeah sure Pokemon Pokemon Yellow was sort of kind of a Game Boy Color game it had some color enhancements thrown in there but the core of the game was still a classic Game Boy title Pokemon Gold and Silver were made from the ground up for the Game Boy Color they worked on the original game boy are you kidding me well the enhanced version of gold and silver Crystal released as a Game Boy Color exclusive look at that cartridge shape it can't be anything but a Game Boy Color exclusive where the was the only for Game Boy Color logo on the box nobody confused the Game Boy Color was definitely where more and more Pokemon spin-offs were starting to show their head the trading card game Pinball Puzzle Challenge they were definitely up to do weirder stuff back then speaking of which and Nintendo didn't do a ton of huge first party stuff on this machine but they published damn near anything they could of course for Camelot go for it Bugs Bunny's crazy castle three why not Beauty and the Beast a board game Adventure it Hamtaro ham Ham's unite I've heard worse Little Mermaid 2 pinball frenzy well maybe even weirder is Nintendo's internal American development Studio Nintendo software technology developed the game's Bionic Commando Elite forces and Crystalis with Nintendo as a whole publishing them these were Capcom and SNK properties that Nintendo just decided to develop and publish on the Game Boy Color like I said their output was weird on this thing not only that but we got games that nobody ever expected on this handheld Metal Gear Solid Resident Evil Gaiden Tomb Raider driver GTA 2 and many of these actually played fairly well there were tons of cool games developers tried to bring over to the Game Boy Color and shockingly many of them worked out fairly well not only that but series like Dragon Quest and Mega Man came over gracefully and new ones like tokitori and Shantae started out here it's still a weird handheld I may have been wrong about this thing this system isn't nearly as in-depth as I thought it was a lot of the games that were labeled as Game Boy Color titles were just Game Boy games with colors programmed into them even Nintendo support on this thing was really weird and lackluster we got a few original zeldas uh some ports and remakes Mario Sports titles and enhanced Pokemon that's basically it but still original zeldas and a Pokemon those are huge games for Nintendo to just put them on a simple upgraded Game Boy if it was only a simple upgraded Game Boy what the was this thing an excuse for me to wait 17 minutes hey y'all Scott here so I was just working on my definitive list of Nintendo consoles with microphones on them yeah the Game Boy Advance didn't make the list that's actually a good thing it's fairly annoying to have to blow into the microphone or something for a game but I actually found a low pull with some Nintendo systems where you don't actually have to blow into the mic so you have to do is grab your system grab an air horn bring it close your entire life you come to expect this but then Nintendo decides to throw this at you oh those letters are evolving this is the Game Boy Advance the last survivor of the Game Boy line starting with the Game Boy in 1989 upgrading to the Game Boy Color in 1998 and finally reaching the final evolution the GBA in 2001 and after everything was said and done I think it's fair to say they ended the line on a high note the Game Boy Advance was pretty much the Ultimate Game Boy most of the models played all previous Game Boy games the gba's own game library was seemingly endless and certain revisions introduced features that we may take for granted today but back then it was like whoa the gay boy Folds this was the first system I owned brand new that wasn't a hand-me-down and I hold it close to my heart and it all started back in the mid 90s the original game boy was starting to lose steam I mean blessed Nintendo's heart they were able to make this thing last over a decade but at some point you just gotta look at Game Boy Mortal Kombat and say it's time to move on this original black and white chunk of a portable was aging rapidly and Nintendo wanted to create a new handheld that was far more powerful enter project Atlantis this was an ambitious plan successor to the original game boy with 32-bit Hardware a larger screen battery life of up to 30 hours this was 1995 my 3DS doesn't even last 5 hours playing Wario's Woods rumors and reports consistently were floating around about Atlantis and Nintendo did confirm its existence back in the day and originally planned to release it in 1996 before delaying it Into Obscurity and then just simply shoving the idea Atlantis was simply far ahead of its time the system was proving to be too expensive to manufacture and too large for Nintendo's liking they opted to release revisions and upgrades to the original Game Boy instead to keep interest up we got the Game Boy Pocket in 1996 the Game Boy Light a Game Boy with a backlight in 1998 only in Japan and The Game Boy Color also in 1998. you will find me dead in the ground before I admit the Game Boy Color was simply an upgrade to the original model I've always considered the color to be its own system the first true successor to the Game Boy it just had so many exclusive games but it turns out Nintendo just looked at it as more of a souped-up Game Boy rather than a true successor I think the Nintendo DSi to the DS or the new 3DS to the 3DS because of that a true Next Generation Game Boy was still being thought of and while it didn't end up being project Atlantis a few of the core ideas that made up that project were incorporated into this new one code named Advanced Game Boy oh I wonder what the final name will be initially announced in September of 1999 and fully unveiled at Nintendo's space world event on August 24 2000 the Game Boy Advance was the most radically different looking Game Boy yet it's long oh and I can play Mario Kart this was the main game Nintendo was flaunting with the GBA during its unveil it was always really cool for me to see what used to be home console only series finally making the jump to Portable systems so to have a Mario Kart playable on the go was honestly amazing and easily showcase how powerful the system was at the time the rest of the GBA titles at space World during this unveil were just Silent Hill for Game Boy Advance was I the only one to not know they made a remake of Silent Hill 1 in the form of a visual novel for the Game Boy Advance as a launch title was I Konami was a big supporter for the system at the event showing up a new castlevanian Konami crazy racer sure I can deal with this existing Mega Man Battle Network Advanced Wars and Golden Sun were also shown off at space world with the gba's launch price announced to be 100 it launched in Japan on March 21st 2001 here in North America on June 11th and in Europe on June 22nd the purple Game Boy Advance was the one I owned and compared to previous game boys Nintendo definitely decided to widen things out with this model you know what compared to the regular format of Game Boy systems up to this point the original Game Boy Advance is really comfortable and being in this landscape form factor in my opinion balances this whole thing out a lot better than all Hamtaro player over there unlike the Game Boy and Game Boy Color the advance has two whole shoulder pawns that's it that's why they call it be Advanced yeah you'd think they would have given this thing four face buns as well but it's whatever I can take just the shoulder buns they're a fine Edition I like how fat and long the shoulder buttons are it makes them so much more comfortable than every other Nintendo handheld with shoulder buttons and I do like all the buttons here in general let me thing has a nice softer plastic feel while still feeling incredibly sturdy this still takes batteries two Double A's in the screen what the hell am I looking at this was the biggest drawback of the Game Boy Advance the screen didn't have a backlight front light nothing it was completely dependent on the lighting around you and even in the best possible conditions it was still hard to see the screen it was never a huge issue but it was always something that was less than desirable and something I can look back at now and say oh my God I put up with this that's when you have to break out the accessories I'm pretty sure some people built Empires out of the Game Boy Advance light business here we have worm light just gotta plug it into this port and blam I can finally see what I was playing oh my God like I said the screen was tolerable but the second game gear back in 1990 had a backlight the Atari Lynx had one in 1989. how Nintendo made the Game Boy Light a few years earlier with the entire selling point being the backlight so the fact that this Advanced Game Boy didn't have one it was kind of ridiculous let's be honest here Game cartridges were half the size of traditional Game Boy games yet they packed a way bigger punch you can still play Game Boy and Game Boy Color games here with the trusty shoulder buttons commanding the video to go widescreen or go back to the aspect show God intended now all this is great but still that screen man it honestly keeps the GB away from reaching pure greatness well only two years later in 2003 the Game Boy Advance SP released a full redesign with features that have become Nintendo's Staples ever since a lit screen a clamshell design to protect the screen and become even smaller and a rechargeable battery the SP stood for special and they weren't getting I'd consider this to be one of the most important console releases in Nintendo history this is honestly what I think of when I hear GPA it's so Compact and the screen actually being usable makes a huge difference who would have thought now this wasn't a big problem back in the day but I do find the smaller size of the SP to be less comfortable than the original these are Tic-Tac shoulder buttons Everything feels a bit better with the old one nothing's all right bad here but I do think the original had a perfect balance of being compact yet comfortable for big and small hands alike that's not to say the SB isn't comfortable to play but just in comparison to the original I think that one's better and while we're whining about the SP let me just get this one out of the way Where's the headphone jack just say space and money on this unit Nintendo didn't include a headphone jack you had to buy an adapter that goes into the charging port this was honestly never something I thought of as a kid but I can assure you would annoyed at least one person out there plus if you use the adapter you can't charge the Gameboy while using headphones this isn't a modern smartphone this is a Game Boy damn it other than those little complaints ESP is the definitive Game Boy I had the flame red color and I sunk so much time to this thing they could play Old Game Boy games new ones too finally with a screen you can actually see a rechargeable battery a stupidly compact design and Nintendo said it we made it better when you look into buying a Game Boy Advance SP nowadays you may see people specify what model number they have ags-001 or AGS 101 the main difference is the quality of the screen's light 101 has a full backlight and it is a huge upgrade this thing is leaves better the original SP did the job and is perfectly usable but this this is even more usable that's the only difference between these models the quality of the screen brightness you can definitely get by with an ags001 but if you don't want to be a loser then yeah the 101 is for you the Gameboy Advance the line up to this point was a tremendous success this was fundamentally a Nintendo made most of their money during the gamecubera they sold nearly 80 million units of these systems combined but when 2004 came around Nintendo released the Nintendo DS for some reason this was weird because they made it clear this was no replacement for the GBA rather it was another pillar for their handheld business was that some kind of joke It ultimately was the replacement for the GBA and they didn't want to say that because that would kill the gba's sales plus the DS was a risky move at the time so if it failed they could just keep supporting the advance I never really got the hole it's not a replacement shtick because they said the DS was backwards compatible with the GBA implying you know it was the successor but releasing the DS in 2004 that was odd the GPA was such a successful system and after only three years they released an new handheld games continue to come out for the Game Boy Advance after that point it didn't mark the end of the system but still after the DS release Nintendo wasn't finished with new gameplay models we got one final Game Boy Advance revision which was also the final game boy in general this was a giant failure the game boy micro released in 2005 to two and a half million lifetime sales and getting discontinued three years later this was in the era Nintendo was kind of trying to mimic Apple the DS and Wii's marketing always gave me iPod Vibes and the game boy micro sort of felt like their take on something like the iPod Nano a budget gaming device all about looks and being tiny the micro removed Game Boy and Game Boy Color support which makes it far less useful than the SP it doesn't work with certain accessories and its small size can definitely be annoying to some this is a tiny thing it almost needs to be seen to be believed I didn't realize how small the micro was until holding one for myself and I hate to admit but I fell in love with this thing the game boy micro is one of the most beautiful devices Nintendo's ever created the screen is absolutely gorgeous a bit better than the SP 101 actually it can only play Game Boy advanced games which is kind of a bummer but a library is so big that it doesn't matter that much this is definitely more of a novelty rather than a definitive way to play Game Boy games but if you can find it for a cheap price go for it this is the famicom special edition made in commemoration of the system's 20th anniversary but a key attribute of the micro was swappable faceplates to make your own special edition it had a lot of cool ideas but this was definitely not a necessary revision of the advance with a launch price of 100 bucks in 2005 it was simply too pricey it was a far less functional Game Boy Advance coming out after the DS release for 150 that could also play GBA games and you could find an SP for much cheaper which could play all the Game Boy games in the world so this was more of a device you buy to make some kind of a fashion statement rather than to just play some games it may have failed may be sort of worthless compared to the SP but I love this thing it's so cool I personally think each of the GBA models have strengths compared to each other the original is the most comfortable the SP gives you a lit screen clamshell design and rechargeable battery and the micro is the sleekest and coolest looking but I think it's pretty obvious if you had to get one it would have to be the SP 101 model while the micro has a slightly better screen this can play all Game Boy games the screen is already gray and is cheaper than the micro now why would you buy a Game Boy Advance today because this thing has an amazing library of games over 1500 titles 1400 of them being re-releases and that was definitely a trend with the Game Boy Advance old games thrown onto the system maybe with a few tweaks here and there some additions some alterations but hey back then this was awesome it was great to be able to play a lot of these legendary games portably but looking at the first party lineup now I have to admit it's a bit disappointing sure good games are still good games regardless of if they're ports albeit if they're good ports back in 2002 I had no idea Island on the GBA was an old game and I'm sure other people who grew up with a re-release of a game didn't think of it as an old game it was just a game and for the people who played these games on the original systems it was still pretty cool to be able to play these things portably for the first time ever however it does make the Game Boy Advance lack a bit of its own image now there were simply so many ports and remakes from Nintendo and other companies as well then now I kind of look at the system as just a portable Super Nintendo and not much else because that's where a lot of its most memorable games came from a good chunk of Nintendo's main series all got remakes reports plus one original title but weirdly enough the Mario series was an exception anybody else find it odd that there was not a single traditional original Mario game on the GBA there were a lot of Mario games no doubt but no traditional platformer instead we got the Super Mario Advance series these were four remakes of 2D Mario titles Super Mario Advance was a remake of Super Mario Brothers 2 USA followed up by Super Mario World Super Mario Advance 2 Yoshi's Island super Mario Advance 3 in Super Mario Advance 4 Super Mario Brothers 3. these names make me queasy and I also don't know why they felt the need to shuffle all the games out of chronological order like that these remakes were pretty solid though some of them took versions of these games from Super Mario All-Stars on the Super Nintendo and squished them onto a gba cartridge adding stuff like cut scenes and new sound effects while also changing a few things here and there Mario Advance 1 and 4 are easily the most unique a Mario World and Yoshi's Island are pretty similar to the original games I hear people cry about the Yoshi's Island Port all the time screaming it's just not the same I personally always felt like people were a bit too picky with that I like sure the SNES version is definitely the better version but the GPA release is perfectly fine like it's still Yoshi's Island it's just not as nice graphically advanced 4 was a remake of Mario 3 and it is easily the coolest one of the bunch added a ton of stuff and they changed loads of animations and Graphics amongst all the advanced games to make them less dated and weird like the scene in Mario 3 always made me fidget in my seat here in advance 4 it looks much more natural all the Mario Advance games came with a remake of the original Mario Brothers arcade game and I love this thing this is the best version of Mario Brothers in my opinion the physics are actually tolerable in this version main problem with remix on the GBA though screen crunch these games weren't made for a display this tiny so they had to zoom in the view a bit which ends up cutting some things off the screen and leads to you running into enemies you couldn't see or not being able to see as much ahead of you it is a bit annoying but it can be dealt with that sadly does make some of these remix not as good as the originals by default when if it wasn't for the screen crunch they'd potentially be the definitive versions while these remakes help supply enough Mario content for GBA players it was still odd to me that they didn't have an original Mario platformer instead we got a whole lot of side games Mario vs Donkey Kong was a puzzle platformer that was pretty much another Donkey Kong 94 from the original Game Boy the that game was amazing and this one is also pretty great you just control Mario going through all these puzzle rooms with loads of acrobatics and keys this was the introduction of the mini Mario toys where they then took over the Mario vs Donkey Kong series with the second game and we never got to see this style again man nothing screams weird kid on the bus playing Game Boy Advance more than Mario and Luigi's Superstar Saga the first in the Mario and Luigi series of RPGs and potentially the best one this was the main entry I got into and yeah it's definitely a fun one a wacky RPG where you control both Mario and Luigi and it also included the Mario Brothers arcade game well now I've gotta say this is the best game of all time not all the Mario Game Boy Advance games were winners though okay for some Mario pinball land this was weird they had to structurally reform Mario from the inside out to even get this concept to work it's okay I guess it's just kind of annoying to play for me these physics never felt like the most right thing in the world to me two series that finally made their way into portable systems with the GBA were Mario Kart and Mario Party Mario Kart super Circuit was an original Mario Kart but included the entirety of Super Mario Karts tracks as well which makes sense because super Circuit is the most similar to Super Mario Kart the characters kind of look like how they did in Mario Kart 64 but everything else is pretty Super Mario karty it's a decent enough portable Mario Kart for the time and just nothing really worth going back to now Mario Party advance I never played but can you really blame me hits Mario Party Advance Camelot made the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf games for the system as they usually do but they also worked on their own RPGs for the Game Boy Advance the Golden Sun games golden Sun's a pretty traditional RPG but with Graphics like these it really stood out on the system of course blown up on a big display they look kind of rough but on the original screen they looked Stellar yeah this was a solid game on the system and that's coming from your local RPG hate and fling smash owner Nintendo put out a lot of stuff on this thing we hadn't seen prior here in North America the GBA was the first time Fire Emblem and Advanced Wars left Japan that was huge these series have been going on since the famicom so to finally get them in the States was awesome sure we did get a fire emblem anime on VHS here in North America in 1997 but does that really count Metroid got two games Metroid Fusion in 2002 in a remake of Metroid 1 Metroid zero Mission in 2004 two fantastic Metroid experiences a new original game in the definitive way to play the first one Fusion is considered Metroid 4 and is just a good 2D Metroid game the last original 2D Metra game for like decades but hey at least we got zero Mission as well a very necessary update to Metroid one Zelda had a similar presence we got a portable linked to the Past featuring a new multiplayer side mode four Swords which later was expanded into its own game on the GameCube for Swords Adventures but the big one was the Minish Cap developed by Capcom this is such a great Zelda game it's just pure top-down Zelda fun you have a Talking Hat I made it clear that hey I love what I play of the Zelda games but I barely finish them I'm making an oath right now though that I will finish the Minish Cap Kirby's Nightmare in Dreamland was a great remake of Kirby's Adventure and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror was a neat little multiplayer focused Kirby game it's actually one of the most unique Mainline Kirby games out there Wario actually took over from Mario in terms of original Platformers we got Wario Land 4. the waryland series always weirded me out like it started with the third Mario Land game it became its own series and really plays nothing like a Mario game which I'm fine with it's just weird that it all started out with a game titled Mario Land 3 which is the same as the Yoshi series starting with a game called Mario World 2. the Sonic Advance series was one of the best things thq's ever published it was a fun modernization of 2D Sonic I still prefer the original classic style but this was great for the time and I'd love to see something like this return the Castlevania GBA games oh my God these were amazing handheld entries in the series following the success of Symphony of the Night I played the first one circle of the Moon and it is so good just exploring this giant map finding upgrades to lead to more areas it's what you'd want and expect out of a post Symphony of the Night Castlevania game Mega Man games were everywhere especially Battle Network this was a complete departure from standard Mega Man it's a side series Tactical RPGs they made six I've heard some of these games were quite good although they definitely made too many of them there were the Mega Man Zero games definitely more in line with what we'd expect from Mega Man and who could forget Mega Man and base a super famicom game that left Japan for the first time on the GBA it wasn't good but hey we actually gotta have zero games on this thing can you believe it Pokemon happened here of course we got a new generation with Ruby Sapphire and emerald alongside remakes of the first generation fire red and leaf green but you know me I'm not big into Pokemon I think I figured out why though you see I didn't grow up with it and I feel like Pokemon just isn't easy to get into if you didn't grow up with it but the GBA was how Millions experienced Pokemon for the first time and that can't be undervalued but of course like I said the Game Boy Advance was a re-release fiend the Donkey Kong Country series contra 3 Final Fantasy Street Fighter Fantasy Star Namco Museum Doom earthworm gym Mega Man and beso Jesus Sonic Genesis there was also the classic NES series a bunch of old NES games released as cartridges for 20 bucks a pop I love the packaging here and the cartridges are even colored to look more like NES games but some of these titles just were not worth that much money Japan got cooler boxes though with tiny replicas of famicom boxes and neat outer plastic shells like I said the amount of ports is a bit disappointing but they at least mean the GBA had a rock solid Library sure the DS and 3DS probably had more original new titles from Nintendo and major third parties but the GPS library at the time was phenomenal the fact you could play all these amazing games portably was mind-blowing and it had some great original new games on top of that like drill Dozer when game freak had some free time between making Pokemon games they pump this thing out you have a giant drill it's good it even had Rumble implanted into the cartridge they had a few of these tumor carts there was Yoshi topsy-turvy with a tilt sensor nobody needs this but why you were Twisted at a gyroscope this is still considered as one of the best warrior games to many and hey who are you where started on the GBA I adore WarioWare quick bite-sized micro games getting flung at yet lightning speed it's so great in the advance got two of them while its Library may have been a bit been there done that heavy there are still a little bit of something for everyone on GBA it was fairly powerful enough to do things that still impress me loads of games still look good to this day while it was obvious it primarily exceeded at 2D games seeing 3D stuff run in the system was pretty crazy back then and still impressive now and it could play episodes of Sonic X Game Boy Advance video cartridges that contained episodes of TV shows with a few movie releases I owned a few of these back then and it was pretty cool to watch Nickelodeon shows on my game boy I guess these were made to compete with the portable media craze with iPods portable DVD players and the video now I love this thing watching these cartridges now well it could be worse oh yeah it definitely could the e-reader this was an accessory all right Nintendo created this thing to scan cards that contain code swipe a card the e-reader would read the code and you would unlock certain things in games or swipe a bunch of these NES cards and play Old School NES games yes if you needed more of a reason to believe the classic NES series was overpriced here are some dirt cheap cards that play the same game it's a huge novelty it's kind of cool but there's not much of a reason to use this now or to ever use the e-reader even when it was new the neatest thing it did though was add new levels to Mario Advance 4. they designed dozens of brand new levels some that incorporated elements from games like Mario 2 or Mario World these are crazy now you could track down all those special level cards or you could just download Mario Advance 4 on the Wii U and blam all the e-reader levels are unlocked that's nice some GameCube game supported the e-reader which you'd use by linking up the Game Boy Advance with this cable you could actually link your GBA with a bunch of games to unlock things or play certain minigames and sometimes it was recommended like with four Swords Adventures or Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles the GameCube also had the game boy player which allowed to play all Game Boy games on the TV you see there was a God and it was Nintendo in 2003 when they released this thing but out of all Game Boy Advance accessories or models they all pale in comparison to the vistian dockable entertainment featuring Game Boy Advance an entertainment system for vehicles that could also play Game Boy Advance games with a wireless controller this is by far the most unique and mind-blowing Game Boy Advance model of all time that's sure to put anybody who comes in contact with it into a State of Shock and Awe oh it's a Game Boy [Music]

Channel: Scott's Snippets

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Id: ZJTw4kvoeiM

Length: 65min 5sec (3905 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 11 2023