Kieren Hawken - The A-Z of Nintendo Game Boy Games: Volume 1

The A-Z of Nintendo Game Boy Games

Volume 1

Kieren Hawken

Published in 2017 by

AG Books

www.agbooks.co.uk

Digital edition converted and distributed by

Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

Copyright 2017 Kieren Hawken

The right of Kieren Hawken to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.

The opinions expressed herein belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect those of AG Books or Andrews UK Limited.

Game screenshots are included in this publication legally under applicable fair use law which allows such material for the explicit purposes of commentary and criticism.

Introduction

The Nintendo Game Boy might not have been the very first handheld console, that achievement is awarded to the MB Microvision from 1979, but its certainly the most influential. This was the system that made handheld the hottest new thing and inspired lots of companies to come up with their own in competition. Yet despite the arrival of the 16-bit Atari Lynx and Segas portable version of their best selling Master System console, the Game Gear, the Game Boy managed to reign supreme selling close to 120 million units worldwide. The reason for this success was a combination of small form factor, long battery life and an outstanding games library containing many true classics. The machine continued to sell 1998 when it was finally replaced by the backwards compatible Game Boy Color. Some people wonder why it took Nintendo so long to replace it, but as the old saying goes if it aint broke dont fix it and you will rarely find a broken Game Boy!

In this book I take you through the life of the Nintendo Game Boy looking at a varied cross section of the many games available for the machine with a small review and screenshot of each one. This is not a list of the best games, a list of the worst or indeed a complete guide to whats available. The A-Z of Nintendo Game Boy Games: Volume 1 is just that, the first part of my look at a selection of games in alphabetical order for this hugely popular handheld. There are three games featured for each letter and these range from the earliest titles released in 1989, to the modern homebrews games of today and even some unlicensed bootlegs! Hopefully this book gives you some inspiration to try games youve never played before or bulk up your personal collection. You might even find it that brings back happy memories of unwrapping Christmas presents or hooking up with your friends after school for a two-player battle. But most of all I hope you enjoy reading it and remember what makes the Nintendo Game Boy such a superb handheld to own and collect for.

Kieren Hawken

Author

A

Alleyway

Nintendo - 1989

Alleyway was one of the launch games for the Game Boy way back in 1989 and is quite unusual for a Nintendo game in that its totally unoriginal, being nothing more than a clone of the classic Atari arcade game Breakout (that was famously designed by Apple founders Jobs and Wozniak). In fact the only real difference between this game and the Atari classic is that Alleyway features slightly more interesting wall designs, a bit more akin to Taitos take on the genre - Arkanoid . Although sadly it doesnt add any of the extra features found in Arkanoid like the power-ups, enemies and level warps. This makes Alleyway seem extremely dated, even for 1989, as by that time there were hundreds of superior bat and ball games on the market for other machines and indeed several better ones ended up being released on the Game Boy too (although it never got a port of Arkanoid itself sadly). About the most interesting thing about this game is the small cameo from Mario himself. Graphics and sound are nothing more than functional, even for an original Game Boy game, although Mario makes a cameo appearance as expected. Overall Alleyway is a bland, boring and very forgettable title with almost no redeeming features. It hasnt stood the test of time at all and is definitely a game that is best skipped over when browsing the vast library of Nintendos popular handheld.

4/10

Asteroids

Accolade - 1992

This is one of the most popular arcade games ever produced by Atari and also one of the most converted games ever too. The original 1979 coin-op was the first game to feature vector graphics and involved you shooting the big space rocks into oblivion. You could thrust your spacecraft around the screen and if it went off one side it came back on the other, this technique became known as wrap-around. You also had a hyperspace button where your ship would disappear and then re-appear in a random place on the screen, not always helpful! Each time you shot a rock it would split into smaller one which would move much faster, after enough shots they vanish completely, clear all the space boulders and its on to the next level. Simple but addictive and as the levels get faster you also encounter more rocks and those UFOs which can be shot for bonus points. This version, which was also included in a double pack with the classic Missile Command , doesnt try to replicate the originals vector graphics. Instead it has nicely shaded rocks and redrawn space ships. Game Boy Asteroids is good, but it could have been better by adding a bit more to it (like the rival Atari Lynx version) or by having a vector version included on the cart too. Still its an enjoyable game as it ever was and especially worth grabbing if you can find it in the double game bundle with Missile Command .

7/10

Adventure Island

Hudson Soft - 1992

Many of you might be looking at Adventure Island and thinking that looks just like Wonder Bo y, what a rip off! Well that is because it actually is Wonder Boy ! Hudson licensed the game from Westone, who created the game for Sega, and changed the main sprite. From this game both Wonder Boy and Adventure Island went on to form their own individual franchises. For those that dont know this is a platform game with a fantasy theme and a few unique features. Rather than jumping on the bad guys, in Adventure Island , you throw hammers at them instead. You also have a life bar, which drains as you move along, and you must collect the fruit littered around the levels to keep it topped up. If this energy bar runs down or you hit an enemy you die. Along the way you can collect some pretty smart power-ups. The most fun is the skateboard that lets you zip along the landscape much quicker but the most useful is the fairy that gives you limited invincibility. Most people know I am not a fan of platformers but the Wonder Boy series has always been one of the few I have liked and enjoyed. Adventure Island on the Game Boy has attractive graphics and great sound with both effects and cheerful music throughout the game. All in all this is probably one of my favourite platform games out there for the Game Boy and offers something a bit different to many of the others available.