The GameBoy Legacy

[Ezlo's Apprentice]

GameBoy, GameBoy Pocket, GameBoy Light, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, GameBoy Advance SP, GameBoy Micro...

Good things come in sevens. Dwarves, Deadly Sins, Wonders of the World... The GameBoy family tree is no exception. On the 21st of April 1989, the ultimate video gaming legacy began in Japan with the launch of a chunky grey brick which (along with its colourful cousin) would go on to sell nearly 100million units over 10 years and give birth to some of the world's most popular titles.

Also the ultimate example of backwards compatibility, it was only the most recent edition the Micro which was not able to play my original copy of Tetris. Even better yet, I can still grab a set of AA's, stick 'em in the old girl and she works just as well as she did the first time. Nintendo don't have the Seal of Quality for nothing.

The GameBoy and its offspring have seen off competition from Sega, Atari, and most recently and impressively Sony. But now, it may well be the end of Nintendo's greatest chapter as the DS continues to go from strength to strength.

Share your memories of GameBoys past and your hopes or concerns for the future. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing.

[hupla]

I  my gameboy pocket that my older cousin gave to me when I was 4 many nights under the covers with the little guy.

Then my aunt got me the colour version from the airport los and found ( Its funny now that I look back on it).

And my D-pad on my advance doesnt work.

[zechs]

My gameboy has been so good to me ever since the pocket age I remember the first game I got was pokemon yellow. Ever since then the gameboy has been one of my favorite systems It's kind of sad to see it go.

[Hyruleansoldier]

Ooh nostalgia!  Sweet bliss, joy and happiness!  *snaps out of it*


Alright, so I woke up at the dawn of Nintendo's handheld release, finally claiming my GameBoy back in godknowswhatyear, which came with Tetris, THE main GB game.  Utterly enjoyed it, together with my first coupla games, being Super Mario Land, Mega Man 3, Wario Land, Bomberman, Mortal Kombat, and various other pieces o' joy.

I've quite a bunch of ol' GB games.  LA being the first-ever Zelda I played. The last ones must have been the first Pokémon games, which I (obviously) dearly love(d).

I actually bought me a (yellow/blue Pikachu/Pichu) GB Color especially for G/S, even though you could still play those games on the ol' GB.  But then of course came the Oracles, so it wasn't all that decadent a purchase after all.  The only other game I had for the Color specifically was Warioland 3.  Underrated game, that.

I bought my GBA pretty soon as well, what with a new Warioland, Mario Kart, Bomberman and the fabulous Golden Sun saga.

The GBA SP I only purchased when that magnificent golden Zelda Limited Edition came out packed with The Minish Cap, and that's the handheld I still play with (currently with the Pokémon games), as I don't have a DS Lite yet.

Aah, nostalgia.  Justice has been served.

[Sheldon Cooper PhD]

Ah....I got my first Game Boy at age 6 and it got me hooked on Nintendo, so thank You Pokemon and Zelda. Had it not been for those and for friends I still have I never would have started gaming.

Thnk you to my Grandma for getting it for me as well.

[Adam]

Oh man.  I first started playing video games on my original Gameboy, and I've still got it sitting on my dresser, just for old times sake.  Sure, there's a column or two of pixels that don't work on the left side of the screen, and the glue that holds the little grey plate around the screen has all but disintegrated, but I still pop in four AA's every now and again to beat that Donkey Kong game, because that game was really friggin' awesome.  And there was the first two Mario Land games, and Metroid 2, and years later, Pokemon Blue, which kept my entertained for far too many hours.

And somehow, the GBA was just never able to top that sort of goodness.

[JordAnime]

I got a GameBoy in lieu of a Game Gear, good thing I got the Game Boy, as I later got a Game Gear and didn't care much for it.  My first Game Boy game was Kirby's Dreamland, I loved it.  My favorite GameBoy game, bar none, is Link's Awakening, but I also loved Pokemon.  Yokoi was a genius, may he rest in piece. 

Sadly, I don't think the DS has quite captured the GameBoy magic, sure it's doing really well, but I'm not feeling it as much lately.  GameBoy was always going strong, that last six or so months with DS for me has not been so exciting--of course I think next-gen fever might have something to do with it. 

As for the future, well Nintendo's proven that it doesn't need the GameBoy name to have a successful handheld, but a lot of people just refer to handhelds as GameBoys, DS and PSP not withstanding.  For now Nintendo's riding the DS and letting GBA slip into a coma as it should.  I guess the question is what's next for Nintendo handhelds?  Will we see another GameBoy or will we see another DS or will we see something totally different?  I'd love to see another GameBoy come out, will it happen?  I don't know.  Sometimes it gets to the point where if your name is around too long, it becomes stale, like had the DS not been made, the original name for Nintendo's next handheld was "Nitro", so would that have been GameBoy Nitro?  Or Nintendo Nitro?  I dunno, it sounds like a gamer thing, DS on the other hand doesn't, likewise with GameBoy, it sounds like a gaming system for boys, or if the console is the man, this system is the boy. 

Still, if this is the end of the GameBoy line, it was a hell of a ride, here's to GameBoy!  May its legacy live on in all future handhelds.

[maddysageofhyrule]

ahh all the final fantasy remakes....... zelda remakes and of course Minish Cap! plus harvest moon 

[GAMEFREAK]

I can't even write all the good times I've had with my game boys.  Every one of them. 
I'm a handheld whore.  I got em all.
Damn I love Nintendo and their beautiful handhelds.

[Assault on Mind]

My GBC it was the first Hand held I had... I remember it now Lime green six years of continous play not a scratch on the screen. Then I got me a white GBA and I kept all my classics from the GBC LA, Poke Red, OoS, and Wario Land 3 (great game). Then I got a legendary game for the GBA Golden Sun... Man I sorta wish I still had it. I beat that game and thought "WHAT THERE'S A SEQUEL!" I didn't get lost age... I got Doome for it more good times and Wolfenstein 3D (A game I've been playing for who knows how long) and ALttP FS. On hind sight the GBA has been the best system I've ever had... Period. Good Times good times.

[Ezlo's Apprentice]

The GBA probably had the best line up of games. It could be viewed as a shame that the Mario games were simply ports, but being able to carry around my favourite SNES games and play them anywhen and anywhere was a joy. There was also Advance Wars, TMC, Pokemon RSE/FRLG, WarioLand 4...

As for the system itself, I think the first iteration of it was (on reflection) a little bit... crap. The lack of a backlight really didn't help it. Personally, the best GBA (and possibly best of all GameBoys) would be the Micro.

[Hyruleansoldier]

I've never seen or owned a 'Micro...  Did it have backlight(ing)?  'Cause that's what reeled me in for the SP... That, and the fact that you can "close" it, thus preserving its precious screens 'n butt'ns.

Also, weight.

Which made me wonder: which is actually the heaviest, the ol' GB, or the DS?  And what about the GBC VS the GBA SP?  Anyone any idea on how they're all positioned on the weight scale?  [/...]

[Hyruleansoldier]

DS: 285g
DS Lite: 218g
GB: 197g
GBA SP: 143g
GBA: 140g
GBC: 138g
The Micro: 85g

FLAWED!!!

Why?  Those weights are [: must be] without any batteries in...  The GB & GBA in effect way more...



What? ^^

[ZeldaMaster]

Can't even list all the good times I've had with my Gameboys. It all started with a pocket and Pokemon Red. Then it gradually evolved and...how I miss those innocent days fo the Gameboy. Thanks Nintendo for the good times.

[JordAnime]

Micro is backlit, the earlier SP's weren't, they had a frontlight, but it was still a major improvement over the original.  The Micro's screen is also a lot smaller than the SP, so don't play Golden Sun on it.

[Hyruleansoldier]

Micro is backlit, the earlier SP's weren't, they had a frontlight, but it was still a major improvement over the original.  The Micro's screen is also a lot smaller than the SP, so don't play Golden Sun on it.

If the screen would have been equally big, I would have gotten the Micro for sure...

And long live that frontlight.  Allows you to play perfectly under every condition.  Consumed slightly more battery power, but then since the SP no more batteries were required, and you could still play the thing while charging it, so what the hey!

[JordAnime]

What are you smoking?  Blacklight is much better, and it's even all throughout. 

[zechs]

What are you smoking? 

He's got the good stuff.

Anyone here ever own a super gameboy attatchment for the snes?

[Adam]

Anyone here ever own a super gameboy attatchment for the snes?

Hell yes.  That thing was all sorts of crazy good times.  Or at the very least, a fun distraction while you gave Super Mario Land the most confusing, psychedelic color scheme you could find.

[Hyruleansoldier]

What are you smoking?  Blacklight is much better, and it's even all throughout. 

I said nothing about the blacklight, only that I was perfectly happy with my frontlight...


And oh yes, I got myself that nice Super Gameboy thingie.  I found it actually made you play some games more you wouldn't otherwise care to hook up your ol' GB again for.

And before LA DX, Super Gameboy LA was the next best thing.....