Is the Game Boy Still Worth Playing 35 Years Later?
Not all nostalgia is created equal
On April 21st, 2024, the Game Boy turned 35 years old. 35 years of Tetris, the Super Mario Land trilogy, Link’s Awakening, Pokemon Red/Blue. Against all odds, the Game Boy captivated millions of people, many of whom hadn’t played a game since smoking was allowed in arcades. The bulky design fit comfortably in your hands, if not your back pocket. For years past its sell-by date, the Game Boy remained, steadfast and true, its unwavering four shades of gray and blurry screen a testament to working within strict limitations. “Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology,” as Game Boy designer, Gunpei Yokoi, would decree.
In the 90s, the Game Boy was the only gaming handheld that was a). affordable and b.) didn’t devour batteries. Up to 30 hours of gameplay on four AAs! Magnificent. The Game Gear, Lynx, and TurboExpress were all technically superior, but incredibly costly. Even if you were privileged enough to get one, you better have a stack of batteries ready to feed the beast, or you’re hosed.
Dr. Mario, Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, and F-1 Race (bust out the link cables!) were staples of long car rides to nowhere, those summer vacations when your dad wouldn’t ask for directions and got the whole family lost. Two extra hours of drive time, but that’s ok, the Game Boy could handle it, even if your eyes couldn’t. Play those games before the sun goes down or else you won’t be able to see the screen.
We didn’t have the greatest attention spans back then, but we also didn’t expect to beat our games. Most Game Boy games are short adventures, made for quick pick-up-and-play sessions on the bus or subway, nothing more. The original Super Mario Land could be conquered in thirty minutes, assuming you didn’t die repeatedly from slipping off a palm tree or something. I never beat it until I was in my twenties. Not sure why. It’s not the toughest game, but I just never wanted to beat it as a kid. Never thought about it. I preferred the mystery, the lack of knowing, in a subconscious kinda way.
Somewhere out among the Internet’s corrupt vistas, there exists a young man whose sole gaming experience growing up was the Game Boy. His parents either refused to buy him a home console or couldn’t afford it, so Game Boy it was. Under the covers, in the car, walking home from school. For this kid, the Game Boy was life, it was all he knew. A pure source of entertainment, strictly his. To him, Battletoads, Mortal Kombat II, and NBA Jam weren’t neutered, green-and-gray abominations, inferior to their console counterparts, despite what the other kids said. He defended the Game Boy. It was his companion, it brought him joy, and that’s all that mattered.
This young man could probably play the Game Boy well into his twilight years without much of a problem. The rest of us? That all depends.
Out of all Nintendo’s post-NES consoles/handhelds, the Game Boy remains one of the hardest to appreciate today, nostalgia notwithstanding. Most games suffer from jittery framerates and chunky hard-to-see visuals. Depending on the game, the sprites can be huge and detailed, but at the expense of knowing what pitfalls or enemies await you in your environment. The gray-and-green graphics on the dot matrix screen aren’t a real problem (unless you hate pea soup and pixels), but the lack of a backlit screen certainly is. Enough to make a grown man cry.
“We didn’t know any better in the 90s,” is what people often say, but they’re wrong. We knew plenty better. We wanted better, better already existed, we just couldn’t afford it, so we settled for what we had. That’s what kids do. Kids are resilient, always have been. Unless a situation is truly awful and traumatic, they’ll make the best of it. Even if Donkey Kong Land on the Game Boy looks like a pile of manure next to Sonic Triple Trouble on the Game Gear, we’ll play Donkey Kong Land because we actually own a Game Boy and it's something to play. Anything’s better than nothing.
Is the Game Boy still worth playing today, 35 years later, in 2024? For most people, no. Not everything was better in the past. I hate mobile games, hate what they stand for, their predatory practices, yet even the worst among them still offer better experiences than the bulk of the Game Boy catalog. That said, if you’re an explorer, an adventurer, one who can look an ancient video game square in the eye and not flinch (or go blind), by all means, descend into the Game Boy library’s depths. You might be surprised and find some gems. You might be horrified at what mankind wrought back in the so-called “halcyon days” of gaming. Either way, you’ll be a changed person. That oughta count for something.
*images and screenshots courtesy of Benj Edwards (Vintage Computing & Gaming), Wikipedia, FullyRetro, @NintendoMetro on X, RetroPlace, and Hardcore Gaming 101.
I was a Game Gear kid (despite otherwise being more of a Nintendo fan). But I was someone who never had rose-colored glasses for the GB screen. It looked as bad to me then as it looks to you now. I loved my Game Gear and couldn’t believe that a plate of creamed spinach crushed it in the marketplace.
It was all about the games, sure, but you didn’t really want a huge library of portable games. A few really good ones (Slider, Castle of Illusion, Shining Force) carried you through until next time.
The GG was a battery hog but I had the AC adapter and car adapter, for my family’s 8-hour road trips. I didn’t have a use case for the thing that wasn’t within reach of one of those two plugs. I guess that’s the difference from me and the GB fans.
I got the Game Boy in the middle of a cross country family road trip. It was bundled with Link’s Awakening and I also got Kirby’s Dreamland. The affordability of it can’t be understated! I don’t think I needed to change the batteries for the rest of the vacation.
I still play Game Boy games on occasion, but they can be tough to get into with the outdated tech. Been seeing videos on a new inexpensive GBC clone, very tempting!