A project to review and talk about the essential games you should play on Game Boy to understand its appeal and its success.
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 Japanese release in January 1994 North American release in March 1994 European release in May 1994 Brazilian release in 1994 Australian release in 1994 Asian release in 1994 North American release in May 1996 Player’s Choice Japanese release in March 2000 Nintendo Power European release in 2001 Game Boy Nintendo Classics Developed by Nintendo Garlic Lover A…
Metal Gear: Ghost Babel North American release in April 2000 Japanese release in April 2000 European release in May 2000 Brazilian release in 2000 Developed by TOSE Portable Espionage Action I’ve spent my whole formative years watching the disappointing sequels to ’80s movies without having seen the first one. I’ve seen Ghostbusters 2 before the first one. Alien 3 was my first Alien movie. Same…
ESPN National Hockey Night North American release in March 2001 Never released in Japan Never released in Europe Developed by Konami Best of the Worst I’m Québécois, so I have been surrounded by hockey during all my formative years. For all intent and purposes, I should be a hockey aficionado. Yet I have never played hockey, I have attended a game from start to finish only once, I barely know the…
Yoshi’s Cookie Japanese release in November 1992 North American release in April 1993 European release in 1993 Japanese release in March 2000 Nintendo Power Developed by TOSE Play Around With Your Cookies Yoshi’s Cookie is an unimpressive game with a beautiful premise. You start the game, you play one of its two simple modes and you realize it’s just a fine game about baking cookies. These days, a…
Tetris Blast Japanese release in March 1995 North American release in January 1996 European release in June 1996 Australian release in 1996 Developed by TOSE A Blast Without a Bang To get to 1995’s Tetris Blast , we need to go back half a decade. It is the summer of 1989, and the Soviet Union is clearly falling apart. Stretched to its limits by incessant military spending and its stagnant managed…
Game Boy Camera Japanese release in February 1998 Clear Purple Japanese release in February 1998 Green North American release in June 1998 European release in 1998 Developed by Nintendo A Camera in Your Pocket Where is the closest camera you own right now? In your pockets? If you’re reading this on your phone, you have a camera looking at you right now, and a whole family of high-quality sensors…
Kirby’s Dream Land Japanese release in April 1992 North American release in August 1992 European release in 1992 Australian release in 1992 Asian release in 1992 Brazilian release in 1993 North American release in May 1996 Player’s Choice Japanese release in March 2000 Nintendo Power Developed by HAL Labs A Little Piece of Perfection Close your eyes for just a moment. Imagine a quiet green plain…
Mole Mania Japanese release in July 1996 North American release in February 1997 European release in 1997 Japanese release in March 2000 Nintendo Power Developed by Pax Softonica Buried Treasure Gunpei Yokoi, the father of the Game Boy, was in a weird spot. He was the company’s oldest team leader at Nintendo but his reputation was shot. Inside the company he was seen as having lost his way, having…
Pokémon: Red Version, Green Version, and Blue Version Japanese release in February 1996 North American release in September 1998 Australian release in October 1998 Brazilian release in 1998 included w/ Game Boy Pocket European release in October 1999 North American release in 1999 Rerelease Australian release in February 2016 Nintendo 2DS Special Edition Bundle Developed by Game Freak A Game Boy…
Dragon Warrior III Japanese release in December 2000 North American release in July 2001 Never released in Europe Developed by TOSE The Classiest of the Classiest The video game discussed here was created in part by composer Sugiyama Koichi, who has publicly and financially supported historical negationism of Japanese war atrocities for decades. His vile activism should never be forgotten. I love…