Serious, black and white only?! Did Kid Icarus flop that badly?
Written: Jul 30 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Still a lot of cool games for it.
Cons: Even in 1989 this thing was outdated.
The Bottom Line: Get it only if you can find one so cheap that no one sees you take it.
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| StarSoldier1's Full Review: Nintendo GameBoy B&W |
Remember that big bulky white Gameboy with only 4 shades of black and white? Remember the even thinner Gameboy Pocket? How about the vastly improved Gameboy Color? Although Nintendo will no longer make these old Gameboys anymore, the Gameboy itself is easily the most successful system of all time with millions of zillions units sold world wide. With big hits like Tetris, Zelda, and of course Pokemon (we can't forgot all those kids out there no matter how hard we try) it's no wonder all the systems sold like crazy.
The original Game boy was the brain child of famous Metroid producer Gunpei Yokoi when he had the idea was to capitalize on the growing portable market. Although Nintendo was making a lot cash from their home consoles, they also noticed the strong sales of all these portable stand alone games from toy companies like Tiger. The problem with these portable games (besides being really crappy) is that didn't usually support interchangeable cartridges. With the ability to play games on the go now and with Nintendo's already known for their great games, it was the perfect combination. The Game boy was the swift kick in the teeth the portable industry needed.
The system was originally released in 1989 with the launch games Solar Striker, Tennis, Super Mario Land, Alley Way, Baseball, plus lucky gamers even got the highly addictive Tetris as the pack in game. You need 4 AA batteries for it to work on the go and they last about a good 10 to 15 hours before you need to change them which was far better then the 4 hours of battery life of the rival Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear.
Sadly the system also comes with one of the worst screens you could possibly imagine. Unless you get the perfect spot under the sun or under the right light you'll be seeing a ugly reflection of yourself instead (unless you ain't ugly though I don't know: all my readers are usually very good looking, eh?) of glorious game play. Since this is older unit there is no option for a backlit screen so can forget about playing this thing in the dark unlike the Nintendo DS.
To help keep the cost down on the GB only uses a basic 8-bit processor like the Nintendo Entertainment System, and it was only black and white (or black and green since the screen is green). This was real problem for Nintendo especially when the competition (Atari and Sega) had their portable systems in full colour instead. If it wasn't for a great list of strong games the Game boy would have been seen as a complete joke.
Although it wasn't the first ever popular gaming system with interchangeable carts (that honour goes to Jay Smith's Micro Vision), and it was the first really successful one with the original GB lasting nearly 8 long years. If you can one super cheap for 5 bucks or less then by all means pick one up because there is still a great list of games for it. However, the technology is just weak at best and you can easily play a lot of the titles of the newer models like the Gameboy Color or Gameboy Advance SP. You are better off getting the later upgrades if you can unless you like people pointing and making fun of you.
The original Gameboy overall rating: 31/100
-StarSoldier1 2007
(Ryan Genno)
Recommended:
No
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StarSoldier1
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Member: Ryan Genno
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