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| I never got to see the box (I wish I had!) but this was the set my parents bought 'the family'. |
I don't recall when they actually purchased it (heck, it may have been around when it was first released in NA in 1989) but in 1993 for Christmas I got the 'family' gameboy as my own along with the modest game collection they had along with two new games! I was ecstatic, I played the family Game Boy more than anyone and couldn't wait for it to be all 'mine'.
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| 1. Tetris |
First up was of course Tetris, it came with the system when my parents originally bought it and it got the most use out of the system (until I got a hold of it of course, don't get me wrong I played Tetris a bunch but eventually Mario, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Pokemon, etc. would get more play time). I broke this out just yesterday (as part of planning to write this down) and the sites and sounds were like a tidal wave of nostalgia. I know I'm not nearly as good as I was back in the day but I played for a little while to try to see how long I could survive (only took a few minutes :) )
If somehow you've never played Tetris (or one of the many sequels) you are missing a simply great puzzle game - go play it now!
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| 2. Golf |
Next out of the games we had for the Game Boy was Golf (later games in the series were called Mario Golf, and its obviously Mario you're playing as, but it's just called Golf). This game too had a very distinctive sound when you hit the ball (the crescendo then fall of the music follows the ball, it's great).
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| 3. Jeopardy! |
The final game out of the original 3 was Jeopardy! I didn't play this very much if at all when I was younger. I like to catch a Jeopardy episode every now and again today but I was a little young to know the questions (or care really).
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| 4. Super Mario Land |
The first game I got new was Super Mario Land. I played this game through from start to finish (you have to, no save function) more times than I can count. I had played Super Mario Bros. 3 some on a friend's NES previous to this but ironically I had never played the original Super Mario Bros. when I first played.
A few cool things that set this game apart were the airplane/sub levels, where you piloted either an airplane (kinda looked like a blimp maybe) in the air or a submarine under the water (the levels played similarly) and could shoot enemies. Also in the normal levels the Fireball powerup allowed you to collect coins (something that doesn't occur on the contemporary NES titles of the time) which allowed some cool secret areas that you needed the Fire Flower to fully exploit.
Super Mario Land was likely the first full length game that I 'beat' all the way through. I loved the game, however it is a bit short.
The second game I got new that Christmas was Kirby's Dream Land. This game actually got more playtime than Mario, I loved the platforming with the ability to fly (kinda, 'Kirby' floating/flying) and eating enemies and spitting them back out. I had a lot of fun with this game. I recently pulled it back out and played through the first couple levels to much enjoyment.
Interestingly, this was the first game in the Kirby series and he was yet to be stylized as Pink nor did he have the ability to copy enemies (he could eat and spit them, but no copying). These series trademarks would come in Kirby's Adventure for the NES.
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Where to play them now:
You're best bet if you're looking to recreate the old Gameboy experience is to purchase the games off of Amazon or any number of retro gaming site (unlike other consoles of the time period like the NES, the original Game Boy games are pretty cheap). It can take some time to find a nice looking/working original gameboy (although not too expensive when you find one - much easier to get a Gameboy Color if you're in a hurry and it will play all the original's games). But the feel of a real gameboy and games is very hard to recreate.
There are also of course emulators, however without a physical copy the legality of these (Nintendo and many of the other companies still maintain copyrights on all of their IPs from the era, technically the Roms used in emulators are only usually legal if they are a back-up to a physical copy you own. Many people now emulate old Gameboy games on their PSP's and/or Smartphones - I won't explore this here as I don't support that but it is an option if you are okay with that.
Also many of these games are available on the 3DS Virtual Console, this allows you to be legal, and fairly well recreate the handheld experience - additionally the creators of the games (or at least IP holders) get some of the money from the purchase so more games can be made.
A few cool things that set this game apart were the airplane/sub levels, where you piloted either an airplane (kinda looked like a blimp maybe) in the air or a submarine under the water (the levels played similarly) and could shoot enemies. Also in the normal levels the Fireball powerup allowed you to collect coins (something that doesn't occur on the contemporary NES titles of the time) which allowed some cool secret areas that you needed the Fire Flower to fully exploit.
Super Mario Land was likely the first full length game that I 'beat' all the way through. I loved the game, however it is a bit short.
 |
| 5. Kirby's Dream Land |
The second game I got new that Christmas was Kirby's Dream Land. This game actually got more playtime than Mario, I loved the platforming with the ability to fly (kinda, 'Kirby' floating/flying) and eating enemies and spitting them back out. I had a lot of fun with this game. I recently pulled it back out and played through the first couple levels to much enjoyment.
Interestingly, this was the first game in the Kirby series and he was yet to be stylized as Pink nor did he have the ability to copy enemies (he could eat and spit them, but no copying). These series trademarks would come in Kirby's Adventure for the NES.
-----------
Where to play them now:
You're best bet if you're looking to recreate the old Gameboy experience is to purchase the games off of Amazon or any number of retro gaming site (unlike other consoles of the time period like the NES, the original Game Boy games are pretty cheap). It can take some time to find a nice looking/working original gameboy (although not too expensive when you find one - much easier to get a Gameboy Color if you're in a hurry and it will play all the original's games). But the feel of a real gameboy and games is very hard to recreate.
There are also of course emulators, however without a physical copy the legality of these (Nintendo and many of the other companies still maintain copyrights on all of their IPs from the era, technically the Roms used in emulators are only usually legal if they are a back-up to a physical copy you own. Many people now emulate old Gameboy games on their PSP's and/or Smartphones - I won't explore this here as I don't support that but it is an option if you are okay with that.
Also many of these games are available on the 3DS Virtual Console, this allows you to be legal, and fairly well recreate the handheld experience - additionally the creators of the games (or at least IP holders) get some of the money from the purchase so more games can be made.
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