Does anyone think the original Gameboy is a bit overrated?

Maybe it's just because the games haven't aged that well, but even when it came out, the only games worth playing were the Pokemon (R/B/Y) games and Zelda: Link's Awakening.

The GBC added some better games (newer Pokemons and Zelda), but honestly, I can only think of a few games worth playing.

GameGear was way better than Gameboy. But the thing was a black hole for batteries. Didn't own either myself when they first came out, but I got to play the ones my friends had. I would pick GameGear over Gameboy any day.

My initial reaction was: "really?". I sat down and thought about it though and it seems there may be some validity to that depending on what constitutes a legitimate Game Boy game in this case. A lot titles were simple portable adaptations of NES, SNES, or arcade games and there was the obligatory slew of solid Mario titles. If you discount titles based on that (despite many of them being built from the ground up and fresh experiences), the library shrinks significantly (though I'd wager there are still some greats like Wario Land and more obscure platformers).

I guess "worth playing" is always going to be arbitrary but I have numerous games on there that I enjoy and the console was the birthplace of a few popular IPs such as Kirby.

I dunno if I agree with that. I literally wore my original Game Boy out back in my youth - and those things were so well-built that that took some doing.

By modern standards the games don't amount to much, I agree, but for the time those games were incredible. They were portable and entertaining, and there was a massive range of them. I had something like 40 games that I slowly collected up as birthday and Christmas presents.

Games like Final Fantasy Legends, the Mario games, Tetris, even something like Space Invaders and Game & Watch gallery.

The Gameboy was like the Wii of the Handhelds to me - had a lot of crap, but also had some good games that ironically weren't even using the so called strengths of the console. Games like Dragon Quest weren't very portable, but at least they were fun to play all the same.

I think at the time, it was amazing. In retrospect, sure - it hasn't held up real well, but when you consider the alternative for gaming on the go back then were those 1 button, 3 animation Tiger handheld games... the Gameboy was pretty amazing at the time.

The Gameboy was like the Wii of the Handhelds to me - had a lot of crap, but also had some good games that ironically weren't even using the so called strengths of the console. Games like Dragon Quest weren't very portable, but at least they were fun to play all the same.

Are you thinking of the Game Boy Color port of Dragon Quest 1, 2 and 3? As far as I can remember there wasn't an actual Dragon Quest game on the original Game Boy.

That said I agree with what you're saying - for me it was the Final Fantasy Legends games I absolutely loved and I desperately hope Square Enix releases them on the Virtual Console for 3DS.

I think at the time, it was amazing. In retrospect, sure - it hasn't held up real well, but when you consider the alternative for gaming on the go back then were those 1 button, 3 animation Tiger handheld games... the Gameboy was pretty amazing at the time.

Haha, for me it was when I got my Game Boy for the very first time and part of the gift (it was a Christmas present) was Super Mario Land.

I HAD SUPER MARIO BROS ON A PORTABLE CONSOLE! What an amazing experience that was.

Of course history hasn't been kind to Super Mario Land but in terms of pure nostalgia value, that game is right up there.

MattS wrote:

The Gameboy was like the Wii of the Handhelds to me - had a lot of crap, but also had some good games that ironically weren't even using the so called strengths of the console. Games like Dragon Quest weren't very portable, but at least they were fun to play all the same.

Are you thinking of the Game Boy Color port of Dragon Quest 1, 2 and 3? As far as I can remember there wasn't an actual Dragon Quest game on the original Game Boy.

The monster games aren't Dragon Quest games now? I was more refering to those, though the remakes of DQ 1-3 were great, too (well, maybe not DQ2, but nothing in the world could ever elevate that game above "okay" at this point...).

CanisWolfred wrote:

MattS wrote:

The Gameboy was like the Wii of the Handhelds to me - had a lot of crap, but also had some good games that ironically weren't even using the so called strengths of the console. Games like Dragon Quest weren't very portable, but at least they were fun to play all the same.

Are you thinking of the Game Boy Color port of Dragon Quest 1, 2 and 3? As far as I can remember there wasn't an actual Dragon Quest game on the original Game Boy.

The monster games aren't Dragon Quest games now? I was more refering to those, though the remakes of DQ 1-3 were great, too (well, maybe not DQ2, but nothing in the world could ever elevate that game above "okay" at this point...).

Oh yeah, I had forgotten than DQM was Game Boy compatible.

Point taken.

I think its been under rated