Best Original GameBoy Games?

Recommended Videos

Blitzwarp

New member
Jan 11, 2011
462
0
0
Recently, I've gotten back into playing the hell out of my old black-and-white (...er, dark-blue-and-green?) brick GameBoy. However, when I was a kid I only ever shelled out for three original GameBoy games: Pokémon Blue, Mole Mania, and Super Mario Bros. 2. I've had a browse around Google for the essential GameBoy gaming experience, but no two sites seem to be able to agree on games you must play on the console before it dies.

So Escapist, what're the games you really enjoyed playing on the GameBoy back in the day?
 

TimeLord

For the Emperor!
Legacy
Aug 15, 2008
7,508
3
43
My first Original Gameboy game was Pokemon Yellow.

It was my only Original Gameboy game...
 

Erana

New member
Feb 28, 2008
8,010
0
0
Link's awakening is fun, albeit disappointing in the end...
Isn't one of those spin-off Final Fantasy games on the original game boy? That was pretty good. I wasn't good at it, though. :(

Um... Tetris?
 

Blitzwarp

New member
Jan 11, 2011
462
0
0
Erana said:
Link's awakening is fun, albeit disappointing in the end...
Isn't one of those spin-off Final Fantasy games on the original game boy? That was pretty good. I wasn't good at it, though. :(

Um... Tetris?
I have Tetris on its way from eBay :D What was so disappointing about Link's Awakening? I don't mind about spoilers and stuff, given the age of the game.
 

Erana

New member
Feb 28, 2008
8,010
0
0
Blitzwarp said:
Erana said:
Link's awakening is fun, albeit disappointing in the end...
Isn't one of those spin-off Final Fantasy games on the original game boy? That was pretty good. I wasn't good at it, though. :(

Um... Tetris?
I have Tetris on its way from eBay :D What was so disappointing about Link's Awakening? I don't mind about spoilers and stuff, given the age of the game.
Just... Play it. Its my favorite of the gameboy zelda games, but... The story is cringe-tastic.
Also, don't steal from the shopkeep.
 

Crimson King

New member
May 16, 2009
337
0
0
Definitely Pokemon Red/Blue.
Alot of people forget that these were originally Gameboy games and not Gameboy Colour games, since they were both released around the same time. They still had that weird inwards corner that was unique to the Gameboy's pointless little "tab-that-stops-the-games-from-popping-out-when-the-power's-on" so they were in fact Gameboy games, not Gameboy Colour games, although I can imagine that they'd look a lot less cool without colour.
 

MetalDooley

Cwipes!!!
Feb 9, 2010
2,054
0
1
Country
Ireland
Blitzwarp said:
I have Tetris on its way from eBay :D What was so disappointing about Link's Awakening? I don't mind about spoilers and stuff, given the age of the game.
Basically the whole experience turns out to be a dream which is frankly a lazy and shite ending
.Still a brilliant game though
 

Twaddlefish

New member
Nov 16, 2008
100
0
0
Mario Land 2, Warioland, Pokemon Red, and James Bond 007. I loved that last one so much I completed it dozens of times.
 

GonzoGamer

New member
Apr 9, 2008
7,063
0
0
Quirk the chilled Tomato. It's a puzzle game where a tomato pushes crates around a warehouse.

It does sound really stupid but it wasn't. It was my favorite GB game.
 

Plucky

Enthusiast Magician
Jan 16, 2011
448
0
0
My first batch of games was Mario, Mario Land 2 and Yoshi. later i got Pokemon Red....then like 10+ years later, i got Azure Dreams and Wario Land.

New games for the family was quite rare outside of Christmases and Birthdays in the 90's, nowour days, we have money to get games whenrever or the internet to look into aswell, theres probally a decent auction in the UK somewhere.

Dragon Warrior (aka Dragon Quest) Monsters 1 and 2 were pretty decent games, you get monsters and then raise them, but it's 3 on 3, you can also breed monsters together to get a stronger or different type.

Azure Dreams felt a bit frustraiting and extremely grindy, you're this kid who has to look for his father for some reason, so you storm the tower in the middle of the city, but it's swarming with monsters, you get one monster to start and you have to find eggs and hatch them, but even then, your party is only as large as the amount of collars you have. In that game, you can fuse monsters aswell though i think all it does is boost the stats or changes its alignment or somthing strange, it is a dungeon crawler with all the traditional things, such as traps that makes weapons and armor rusty, theres even an item that turns a monster into an egg....espcially useful for one monster that protects itself by turning thrown items into other items whilst expending mp, it's a real gamebreaker.

The Final Fantasy Legend trilogy is nice aswell, though the 1st one felt a bit archaic and the 2nd one a bit confusing, the 3rd one is considered as the best, the main gimmick is that consuming meat from monsters or parts from cyborgs/mechanical monsters would usually change your character's forms into other monsters from the game.

Final Fantasy Adventure is sort of a hack and slash game, it was a bit so-so, but it was alright, can't say if it was memorable to me or what. (it is really part of the Mana series, it was remade on the GBA as Sword of Mana).

Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons were awesome games, they were games outsourced to Capcom and they did a pretty good job of producing them, they felt like an improvement over Link's Awakening, some reason though i like Seasons more than Ages, and once you complete one you can either connect it to the other or copy down a password so you can get bonuses.

EDIT: Forgot to menction that Oracle of Ages and Seasons can only be played on a gameboy colour or better only.
 

Raven's Nest

Elite Member
Feb 19, 2009
2,955
0
41
Crimson King said:
Definitely Pokemon Red/Blue.
Alot of people forget that these were originally Gameboy games and not Gameboy Colour games, since they were both released around the same time. They still had that weird inwards corner that was unique to the Gameboy's pointless little "tab-that-stops-the-games-from-popping-out-when-the-power's-on" so they were in fact Gameboy games, not Gameboy Colour games, although I can imagine that they'd look a lot less cool without colour.
Agreed, and yeah they were orignal game boy games which is why the colours were very basic when played on a gameboy colour. Yellow was the first to be released as a gameboy colour game...

I'm still waiting for a current gen pokemon RPG on a proper console...
 

EHKOS

Madness to my Methods
Feb 28, 2010
4,815
0
0
I didn't have alot of games, Pokemon Blue is the only one I can recomend.
 

tahrey

New member
Sep 18, 2009
1,124
0
0
T.E.T.R.I.S .... what you never had it?

Link's Awakening ... never heard of those other two Zelda games (unless they were the ones specifically made for the GB COLOR?), but it's a damn good game by itself. For a GB timekiller anyway ;)

Wave Race is alright, though it's no Micro Machines.

And I've quite the soft spot for Bombjack, as it's a nice coffee-break arcade challenge with good music. Not sure how I'd feel if I'd paid full price rather than it being part of a cheap marketplace pirate cart bought on holiday, however.

Other than that ... hmm. It was a shared system so time for exclusive play was short. Brother who I shared it with seemed to play Pokemon and Mario exlusively, so that's not really much help is it :D

I'd shy away from the pirate carts unless they've got things on you really want and can't find elsewhere by the way. The sheer amount of crap packed in with one or two potentially-buggy main titles makes it not really worth it any more.
 

Canadamus Prime

Robot in Disguise
Jun 17, 2009
14,334
0
0
MetalDooley said:
Blitzwarp said:
I have Tetris on its way from eBay :D What was so disappointing about Link's Awakening? I don't mind about spoilers and stuff, given the age of the game.
Basically the whole experience turns out to be a dream which is frankly a lazy and shite ending
.Still a brilliant game though
Well the Wind Fish flying overhead kinda implies that it was more than just a dream
but yeah, it really was a shite ending.

OT:
Metroid II
and if you like puzzle games, Daedalian Opus
 

MetalDooley

Cwipes!!!
Feb 9, 2010
2,054
0
1
Country
Ireland
canadamus_prime said:
Well the Wind Fish flying overhead kinda implies that it was more than just a dream
but yeah, it really was a shite ending.
Well isn't it kinda implied throughout the game that the island is just a dream of the Wind Fish.As soon as you wake him/her/it up the island vanishes so it's still technically all a dream sequence.Just not Link's dream

Then again I could be remembering it wrong.It's been a long time since I played it
 

Dreiko_v1legacy

New member
Aug 28, 2008
4,696
0
0
Pokemon, no contest.

They had so much more content than other games...i spent hundreds of hours on them. How many hours do you tink one could spend on an average sidescroller.