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Discussion 35 years ago, the Game Boy released in Japan

Mekanos

Mekanos

おっす！
Pronouns
he/they


Happy birthday to the GOAT and probably one of the most revolutionary technological developments of the late 20th century. I still think it has one of the best libraries of any Nintendo game, some classic games that are both first and third party. Along with the SNES it was one of my very first consoles.

And let's not forget one of the primary reasons the Game Boy exists, Gunpei Yokoi, gone too soon:

Gunpei_Yokoi.jpg


Happy 35 years to the legendary brick.
 
I think I still have my brother's original Game Boy in a box somewhere. I have memories of trying to catch the light from street lamps at night while in the back seat of my parents' car trying to play Link's Awakening, and holding the Game Boy up to my ear just to listen to the Tal Tal Heights music.

Happy Anniversary, Game Boy.
 
I only had a GBC, but still an iconic handheld and started the Gameboy legacy

My favourite game:

Super_Mario_Land_2_box_art.jpg
 
RIP to the legend, Gunpei Yokoi.

This thread reminded me that I really should install the DMG mods I bought years ago. It was a lower priority, but I’m also lazy.

My first Game Boy was the Limited Edition Ice Blue Game Boy Pocket which was only for cool people like myself.

Shout out to my sister’s ex-boyfriend who gave me his pristine DMG Game Boy in 2010* plus all-time classics like:
  • Super Mario Land
  • Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
  • Tetris
  • Mortal Kombat
  • Quarth
  • MEGAGAMES: 53 IN 1 - 1994 NEW GAMES
Mild shout out. Sure, he eventually broke my sister’s heart, but more importantly, HE SAID HE WAS JUST GOING TO THROW AWAY A NEAR PERFECT GAME BOY IF I DIDN’T TAKE IT.
 
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WestEgg said:
I think I still have my brother's original Game Boy in a box somewhere. I have memories of trying to catch the light from street lamps at night while in the back seat of my parents' car trying to play Link's Awakening, and holding the Game Boy up to my ear just to listen to the Tal Tal Heights music.

Happy Anniversary, Game Boy.
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Playing GB by streetlights in the back of the car is a core memory for me. So is my GB gradually getting built up with the crazy amount of accessories- I had a combination light and magnifying screen that slotted onto it, that was my favourite as it meant I could play in bed with the lights off.

I loved my GB, as a kid it was my most precious, favourite possession. It lived in a box covered in stickers, with a stack of the games in those little square plastic cases. One Christmas my dad got me four rechargeable batteries and a charger for them, plus a mains adapter (probably to stop me asking for batteries) and I remember thinking that was magic too, that I no longer needed to ask for batteries.

Links Awakening was my favourite game. Probotector (Contra C), Bionic Commando, the Megaman and Gradius games too. I think I played more JRPGs on it than the SNES, as we got the FF Legend (Saga) games here as well as Mystic Quest, but very few home console ones. Weirdly I only got into Mystic Quest (the first Mana game) as it looked a bit like Link’s Awakening on the back of the box, and I didn’t make the connection between it and Secret of Mana until many years later, as it’s not like Dark Lords and Mana Trees are anything particularly unique in JRPGs.

I liked Super Mario Land 1/2, Tetris and DK ‘94 too, but at the time I remember being really a ‘Capcom and Konami action games’ kid, as I liked those on the NES and I couldn’t afford to make a bad purchase, so I stuck with the names I trusted on the box. The first Castlevania on GB just not being much fun was something I didn’t like at all, so I skipped the second one, which was funny as it turned out to be really good when I played it 20 years later!
 
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It's time for Nintendo to mark this milestone by releasing Mole Mania, Wario Land, Donkey Kong 94 and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters on NSO.
 
I’m so surprised we don’t have SML on NSO.

But yeah, Mr Spo’s list are all classics.
DK 94 feels like something they could have tied into the Mario vs DK Switch release.

Meanwhile, Wario Land and Kid Icarus are two of the stronger, first party GB platformers, so I’m surprised they are holding them back.
 
I wouldn’t mind a collection of the GB Megaman games at some point- I had them all on 3DS and enjoyed working through them. At least there’s a MM Zero collection.
 
PixelKnight said:
I wouldn’t mind a collection of the GB Megaman games at some point- I had them all on 3DS and enjoyed working through them. At least there’s a MM Zero collection.
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I'm bummed the planned Anniversary Collection for them was cancelled, they were even going to get color versions.

MMMania_screen1.jpg
 
PixelKnight said:
I wouldn’t mind a collection of the GB Megaman games at some point- I had them all on 3DS and enjoyed working through them. At least there’s a MM Zero collection.
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Megman V is legit one of the top-tier Megaman games and it's a near crime it's so overlooked
 
Chalphy said:
It's a great device, but it's long past time the community has recognized Satoru Okada as the creator of the Game Boy.
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You'll note at no point did I designate Yokoi as the creator of the Game Boy, simply a significant part of its creation. I don't think it's fair to call Okada the creator, either. Development is collaborative. I simply mentioned Yokoi because of his tragic passing in 1997. I'm not really looking to litigate any debate over who "owns" the Game Boy.
 
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I've grown to appreciate Game Boy so much more now that I'm making my own GB studio game. It's one of those "magic created by limitations" moments where some truly memorable experiences can come from the distinct aesthetic and artistic impression that only a 4-palette colour scheme and a bunch of bleep bloop music can create. One of the prime examples of this being Link's Awakening of course.
 
bixente said:
www.nintendolife.com

10 Game Boy Deep Cuts That Aren’t On Nintendo Switch Online

And should be
www.nintendolife.com www.nintendolife.com
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Thanks for linking that, I haven’t thought about Trax in 30 years but I loved it at the time. It’s such a tight, simple game that I’m surprised it wasn’t pushed further onto 16-bit. It’s a really precise little top-down shooter that uses the GB limitations really well. The tank is designed to be simple and symmetrical, and one button rotates the turret and the other shoots. The power ups are varied (although nothing really original for the genre) and the pixel art on the enemies really cute and fun, it reminded me of Parodius a lot. Also, the screen only scrolls when you move, so it removed a lot of urgency and prioritises precision, so it always felt a bit more like Contra and a bit less like Gradius etc- more control for the player in managing the pace of the game. Which unfortunately, in a game already this easy, (and with a large health bar for the player) makes the game pretty simple.

It was a pretty easy game by Hal, and you could run through it in half an hour easily (but then Kirby’s Dreamland was the same). However, the tight controls actually made GB multiplayer worth a go on this for something other than Tetris.

 
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I wasn't alive back then, but this is how this thread made me feel.

giphy.gif


Also, I'd like to take advantage of this occasion to, once more, give a shoutout to Wario Land. The best franchise to come out of Nintendo's obscenely fruitful handheld venture.
 
I have so many fond memories of the Gameboy. Looking back I probably only had like 8-10 games on it, but I would replay those same games over and over.

I had to have a bunch of surgeries as a kid, and the Gameboy was clutch for the long roadtrips we had to take to get to the hospital.
 
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Yeah. My first encounter with a Game Boy was going to my local barber for a haircut and the barber had one.
 
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I had the original brick GB, but I don’t have many fond memories of it, apart from Link’s Awakening and SML3: Wario Land (I played DK ‘94 on the SGB).

The GBA library (and hardware) was such a huge leap forward.
 
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Arguably the best gaming device Nintendo ever released after the NES itself. It was the original Nintendo Switch in more ways than one.
 
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One of the best system of all time.
Lots of great memories when i was a kid, SFII , tetris, SML2, Pokemon , Zelda .
It baffles me why Nintendo didn't even bother to at least remember its birthday 🤷‍♂️
 
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