45 replies to this topic

[b1ueskycomp1ex]

I might as well jump on board and make a best of Gameboy thread. Post up your favorite or recommended best games for the original Gameboy.

• Pokemon - One of the most popular games in the game boy's history. Pokemon was a cross between an RPG and a Tamagachi. You capture and raise pokemon, battle with other pokemon trainers, and so on. It's an addictive game, and possibly the best game on the gameboy.
• Wario Land - Wario is sort of Mario's deranged, money-hungry cousin. The game revolves around collecting as many coins as possible while traveling through multiple levels. It's similar to mario, and Wario has a safari hat that can be turned into a flamethrower or other interesting powerup.
• Kirby's Dream land - If you liked kirby on the NES, HERE HE IS AGAIN. Kirby in your pocket. A little pink ball of adorable bounciness that can fly and consume his enemies to gain their special skills.
• Tetris - This is the best selling game on the gameboy. Although, tetris is sort of like the Doom of puzzle games - it has to be ported or recreated on every console ever.
• Final Fantasy adventure - This game is actually the first game in the Mana series of games (secret of mana, seiken densetsu, etc.) and has similar gameplay to the legend of zelda.
• Zelda - link's awakening - a zelda game for the Gameboy, complete with dungeons, special items, and several other things. Gameplay-wise, the game is sort of between the first legend of zelda game, and A link to the past on the SNES. A color version of the game that adds an additional Color-centric dungeon exists on the Gameboy Color.
• The Final Fantasy Legend series - These games are actually the first 3 SaGa series games. The Final fantasy brand was used to promote them in the united states. The games are very similar in gameplay to the final fantasy series which facilitates this name switch. These were the first of the RPG games for the Game boy.

[Tickles]

Revenge Of The Gator
Pinball. Ok, so it only had one table (well, more like four in one, plus bonus stages) but I could, and did, spend hours playing this.

[fuji99]

Most of my favorites were already mentioned, but here are a couple more choices:

Kid Dracula: A fun side scroller, the hero is a vampire that can turn into a bat.
Kirby's Pinball Land: If you like Tickle's Revenge of the Gator, you'll really like this title.
Metroid 2: More classic Metroid action, possibly my favorite in the series. First introduced different variations of metroids.
Super Mario Land 1-2: More classic Mario action, I especially enjoyed #2.

[Christoph.Krn]

Mario's Picross
A puzzle game where you have to solve Nonograms. Ever since I've been playing this game for the first time I love Nonograms. Mario's Picross is an excellent implementation that will teach you how to solve Nonograms, in a fun way with a good learning curve (from what I can remember) and has plenty of clever puzzles to solve. I have been playing this game regularly for years. In some way, it is addicting like Tetris, just with much more strategy.

[Poem58]

Super Mario Land and Tetris, the first two games I owned for my gameboy and to this day I enjoy playing them both. No matter how many times I beat SML and hear the music at the end it makes me smile it was also the first Mario game I ever made it to the end on without cheating.

Gameboy Tetris is arguably the best version ever. At least of just the base game.

I also have to agree the Revenge of the Gator Pinball was awesome.

I also liked Nemesis and Nobunaga's Ambition although I found the latter quite difficult.

[Exophase]

Give me Tetris DX over Tetris. We're counting Gameboy Color, right?

[Tickles]

Give me Tetris DX over Tetris. We're counting Gameboy Color, right?

Better than the original? How? That's not possible, surely?

[Christoph.Krn]

Better than the original? How? That's not possible, surely?

[ ] You have ever played Tetris DX
[x] I agree with Exophase

Surely the original Tetris is a total classic and has kind of a pioneer status, but Tetris DX just has some more features that in the end make it the better of both to play today.


PS: Better yet, Tetris DX is a Gameboy Color game with a black cartridge (as opposed to Gameboy Color games with a transparent cartridge), which means it is backwards compatible. When played on a Gameboy Color it has full color, but it also works on the classic Gameboy and SNES Super Gameboy.

This is the difference between the black and clear Gameboy Color cartridges, the black ones are hybrid cartridges. With most hybrid games you get the same game on a classic Gameboy, just without any color (on a few hybrid games, some content is only available on a Gameboy Color). Just in case you ever wondered.

[Lanonov]

....
[*]Pokemon - One of the most popular games in the game boy's history. Pokemon was a cross between an RPG and a Tamagachi. You capture and raise pokemon, battle with other pokemon trainers, and so on. It's an addictive game, and possibly the best game on the gameboy.
....

2 days ago I started to play a new game of Pokemon Blue on a DSi, it's realy fun

[B-ZaR]

If we're counting GBC, I might as well add The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons / Time. Both very good zelda games rivalling Link's Awakening. Be sure to play both and use the in-game password system to get the entire ending . Also Wario land games are awesome.

[Exophase]

Better than the original? How? That's not possible, surely?

It's mainly the control scheme, mainly the so-called "DAS" (Delayed Auto Shift), the rate at how quickly the directions repeat when you hold them down. It also has wall kicks and lock delay and other things that would become pretty standard Tetris staples. In a way it makes the game more forgiving and easier to run up several hour games in, but IMO it's more enjoyable like this. The core idea is the same and it isn't bogged down with special blocks or bombs or that sort of crap, but your mileage may vary.

I'm all for nostalgia, I've played the original plenty after playing DX too, I guess in a way they're kind of very different games, despite on the surface looking like the exact same thing.

And the original has much better music, IMO.

Props to Christoph, I had forgotten it's a GB compatible cartridge. So indeed we can count it as a Gameboy game.

[Poem58]

Tetris DX is fine, I hadn't thought about the GB color version, seeing as how it apparently has differences, then yes, it just comes down to whether or not you want to play original or the more forgiving one. So I say it's possibly a tie between them? I always preferred the original despite always being able to play DX longer before I would top out.

I had recently read an article somewhere where they had mentioned that the original GB version was considered by most hard core Tetris players to have been the best. So I was just agreeing by personal taste when I said it was "arguably" the best version.

Just as I had more fun with Super Mario Land than I did with SML 2. I was never compelled to finish SML 2 as it's gameplay was just different, while SML was more like the original NES Mario. SML2 felt more like an NES Mario 3 update.

While the addition of color to the Gameboy was nice, I personally think what they were able to do with the grayscale of the original just gave the games a more interesting feel. I personally would have been just as happy if they would have managed a higher rez full grayscale version Gameboy to allow more complexity and depth. The color seemed too restrictive and felt cheap to me making games actually less appealing graphically. I know that sounds nuts. But it is after all just MY opinion.

Which is why I think I tend NOT to think of the GB color games when thinking in terms of the Gameboy overall. I would have loved a regular original sized Gameboy, designed like the Gameboy Pocket in feel with the better screen. A 240x160 to 320x240 resoulution display capable of 256 levels of gray or more. I would have been in Gameboy heaven. But alas, they thought color was more important and soon the Advance made that sensible. I still feel the color version was a bad stop gap measure. as I don't recall any game released for it that was just profoundly better than an original GB game.

But then again, I wish people still made vector graphics games more often in the style of old (Imagine a full color high rez vector Star wars game with more levels and missions combining Major Havoc style gameplay for non fighter elements.) Dreamcast's REZ was nice though the "effects" when shooting things made it feel not as much a true vector game.
I guess, at heart, deep down, I am stuck in the past. I have never even desired an Xbox 360, but would love an Atari 2600 Updated to support Halo 2600 style gaming but with the kind of Processing and graphical abilities to let that game had been as complex as the Author was probably imagining it before he had to make it down to what they system was capable of.

And WHY OF WHY are there no Paddle controllers anymore!!!?!?!??! Dpads, analog sticks etc. are nice, but try Kaboom! or Breakout...not so nice. It was fun to play games with paddles and no one has used them since the Atari!?

I still want to find a way to add paddle control for play on the Pandora. Obviously not portable but it seems the only thing other than a light gun missing from the retro games control. Even if they had found a way to include a Paddle control on the unit, it would have been too small for accurate control I'd imagine. Maybe a joystick to USB adapter will be found to work someday, then I will be happy.

[Yannick]

Choplifter 2

this has been my favorite gameboy cartridge for a while.

[Tickles]

It's mainly the control scheme, mainly the so-called "DAS" (Delayed Auto Shift), the rate at how quickly the directions repeat when you hold them down. It also has wall kicks and lock delay and other things that would become pretty standard Tetris staples. In a way it makes the game more forgiving and easier to run up several hour games in, but IMO it's more enjoyable like this. The core idea is the same and it isn't bogged down with special blocks or bombs or that sort of crap, but your mileage may vary.

I'm all for nostalgia, I've played the original plenty after playing DX too, I guess in a way they're kind of very different games, despite on the surface looking like the exact same thing.

And the original has much better music, IMO.

Props to Christoph, I had forgotten it's a GB compatible cartridge. So indeed we can count it as a Gameboy game.

Good to hear it doesn't have bombs or any of that nonsense, I might try and give it a fair trial then. I have owned a few different versions over the years but whenever I have the choice I pick the GB original every time. I think you may have hit the nail on the head when you mention the music, I suspect it's just not the same without that tune

@Poem58 I agree with you about the grayscale, I think it was part of the charm of the Gameboy. I skipped the GB Colour altogether, never even used one. By the way you just got me dreaming how cool it would be to have a Pandora light gun about the size of a spud gun, with a laser sight

[kuru]

I enjoyed Mystic Quest quite a lot. And Gargoyle's Quest! Good quests galore

There was a horizontally and vertically scrolling kind of puzzle shooter where you had to destroy blocks in your way with your fighter plane and using a certain weapon or power. I remember it being very addictive, but have no clue what it's called. I think it was on my neighbour's multi game cartidge

Edit: Ooh, almost forgot Spiderman!

[Exophase]

I bought a GB Color at launch, it was really disappointing. It felt like they were barely trying to improve the system and for 1998 it was pretty miserable. The Lynx in 1989 was more powerful..

The games also felt too little, too late for me. I love Link's Awakening but the DX version was a really cheap cash-in, only really adding that lame color dungeon.

[Tickles]

I enjoyed Mystic Quest quite a lot. And Gargoyle's Quest! Good quests galore

There was a horizontally and vertically scrolling kind of puzzle shooter where you had to destroy blocks in your way with your fighter plane and using a certain weapon or power. I remember it being very addictive, but have no clue what it's called. I think it was on my neighbour's multi game cartidge

Edit: Ooh, almost forgot Spiderman!

I mentioned in another thread here (I think) that I recently rediscovered Gargoyles quest. Don't know why I didn't think to add it to this one, but I back up your recommendation I also have fond memories of Spider Man, although I have a feeling that others may disagree.

With that in mind, here's some favourites from my childhood with a TV/Film theme:

Bart Simpson's Escape From Camp Deadly
Simpsons platformer. Simple but fun.



Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan
(or Hero Turtles if you're in the UK )
Platform beat 'em up. Pretty short and easy IIRC, but good fun.



Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Mostly shoot 'em up, but quite varied levels. Pretty tough as I think you only have one life, but decent enough that I played through it many times after I had completed it.



Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Platformer. I think this was really tough, but look! It's Gizmo hitting stuff with a pencil! How can you go wrong?

[Prometheus]

I think you all know at least one of the games I'm going to recommend here.

Mega Man V - Platform - The only Game Boy Mega Man title that doesn't feature re-used bosses from the NES games, Mega Man V is its own game, and introduces Mega Man's robotic cat, Tango, the Stardroids (a group of robots named after the planets - except for Earth who had his name changed to the much cooler Terra in the English release), and an ancient robot unearthed by Dr. Wily, who's known as Sunstar (or the more nifty Sun God, in the Japanese version of the game). You also get to re-fight the "Mega Man Killers" group, each of whom appeared one-by-one in the four other Game Boy Mega Man games - Enker, Quint, Punk, and Ballade. This game has a lot of bosses! Charging your shots in this one results in Mega Man's whole arm being fired off at opponents, which is a bit of a change from the usual charged shots. If you like this, you may also want to check out Mega Man - Dr. Wily's Revenge, Mega Man II, Mega Man III, and Mega Man IV.

Donkey Kong Land - Platform - A companion game to Donkey Kong Country on the SNES, and in my view the only one of the Donkey Kong Land games that's worth the time, because it's its own unique title and it isn't trying to be a miniaturised copy of the SNES games (which is what the other two Donkey Kong Land titles tried to do). It may not look like much nowadays, but its graphics and animation looked very fluid on the screen of a real Game Boy or Game Boy Pocket. Regardless of this aspect now showing its age, it's still a very solid platformer with a great soundtrack (most of which is all its own, though much of it came to later be reused in the terrible Game Boy Colour port of Donkey Kong Country), and some pretty cool bosses.

I would recommend Metroid II - Return of Samus as well, but I can't write a huge amount about it because I haven't had the time to play very much of it yet - it's one of those games I bought with the intent of playing it on my Pandora.

EDIT: @Tickles - Gremlins 2: The New Batch was fantastic! Great recommendation!

Edited by Prometheus, 02 September 2010 - 06:46 PM.

[A Deaf Bat]

[*]Zelda - link's awakening - a zelda game for the Gameboy, complete with dungeons, special items, and several other things. Gameplay-wise, the game is sort of between the first legend of zelda game, and A link to the past on the SNES. A color version of the game that adds an additional Color-centric dungeon exists on the Gameboy Color.

I'll go as far as to say that this is one of the greatest games ever made. I'm not really a zelda fan, but I love this game.

[gater]

Put me down as another vote for Revenge of the Gator - one of the best pinball games ever.

I used to love GB Tennis too.

Shantae is pretty impressive on the GBC!