Time to Celebrate The GameBoy’s 25th Anniversary!

 

25 Years ago, Nintendo had recently taken in a great amount of money and success from their ground-breaking and revoultionary home console, the NES. They were on top of the world and the big-dogs of the gaming industry, and knew that they could take this new realm of gaming that one step further. They tried to make gaming portable.

At the time, it was laughable. A console you could carry around in your pocket? Surely it would be too small to handle any good games! Its a silly idea! Well, then it became one of the fastest and best selling consoles of all time, and the handheld console became the most desirable gaming device of its generation. Silly idea? No, just sheer genius.

We could take our games with us! In the car, on the train, even into school (if the teachers didn’t catch you!) Portable gaming was the best thing since sliced bread – no, it was better than that, since I’ve never seen sliced bread play a game in all my days. Handheld consoles, or, more specifically, the GameBoy, were the next best thing, and everyone had to have one.

I did. I remember my first GameBoy,  a big brick of a thing, purple and scratched and second hand; but did I care? No. If I could play my games on the toilet then who cares what it looks like! Many of we generations of gamers who remember this time of revolution look back with fondness, 25 years ago and onward to the hundreds of games that were shoved into our eager hands.

As a celebration of the 25th anniversary of this console, I think it would be best to have a look at some of the best the GameBoy had to offer. The Top 5 of all.

Up first, its Harvest Moon.

Harvest Moon, if you’ve never played it (madness right there if you haven’t) is a farm simulator sort of game, but with Nintendo’s signature cuteness and adorable style.

You were let loose on a small and kindly town, with a farm to run and maintain as well as you could. On this farm, you could have a pet dog, cows, sheep, chickens, ducks – and it was your job to make the most out of them!

And yet, if farming games are so easy to make, how come Harvest Moon was so especially fantastic? I would argue it was Nintendo’s personal touch, that added in cute fairies and gnomes, ghostly grandfathers, adorable sprites and all the fantasy and magic you might never expect being so concerned with a local farm. It mixed a perfect blend of mystical with agricultural, and oh did we love it.

Second, its Bomberman.

 Bomberman, a classic Nintendo character that I’m shocked somehow hasn’t made an appearance in Super Smash Bros. yet, was one brilliant game. As you can remember or assume, it involved the planned explosion of bombs and explosives, being wary of their range and blast, or using the expected wave to kill multiple enemies all at once and feel like a true master.

The multiplayer mode was also one of the best forms, in which you could connect (via the ancient cables the new generation know nothing about) with your friends and their own GameBoys, in order to battle. Trapped in a maze of cover and walls, it was the challenge to trap and explode your opponent, using trickery, clever plotting and of course, many, many bombs.

We all know that awful feeling when you hurry about the maze, only to see one bomb ahead, and one behind, and knowing there is no way out. Oh the horror.

Making its way up 3rd, its obviously The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.

 This is one of the franchises that has survived for many, many years, all the way to 2013, now on multiple consoles and still reigning as one of the most popular Nintendo series’. That one green capped boy has stolen the heart of millions, and he owes it all to the GameBoy.

The first game, simply named the Legend of Zelda, brought the genre of medieval fantasy to Nintendo, on the ancient old machine, the Famicom Disk System, which was then followed on by a dozen different franchises aiming for the same success.

Making a name for itself on the home console, it took a while for the game to find its way to the handheld Console, but, once it did with The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, they never looked back.

Link’s Awakening was visually beautiful and a grand improvement, allowing open world elements and entirely new game play systems never before seen in the franchise, along with a whole new narrative no player had yet experienced. The game was released to immediate critical acclaim, much of which was my own.

In fourth place, its an obvious classic, Super Mario Land.

 Without this game, who knows where Nintendo’s baby could be now! Super Mario Land was the first handheld game, released at launch and beloved by millions. It was the first game to bring our chubby plumber to the small portable screen, and, with its success, was the foundation on which the popularity of the franchise has been built upon.

The game, an 8-bit side scroller that of course, sees Mario leap from platform to platform as he ever does. These days, we’ve almost gotten bored of the same old thing. But, back in the old days 25 years back, this was the best thing – no one had done it before – a plumber who rescues a princess? It makes no sense… But I love it!

And last, but certainly not least, it of course has to be Elf Bowling…

Aha just kidding. It has to be Pokemon.

Pokemon, known in Japan as “Pocket Monsters” originally, became a national sensation, with handheld gamers all over the country playing for hours on end, training these little unusual creatures to fight. Seeing its success, Nintendo sent the franchise to the West, in which it again, became a phenomenon. England, Spain, America, you name it, we adored this game.

Pokemon introduced a whole new species to us, a breed of weird, magic animals of sorts that the region of Kanto and beyond used as a life-affirming battle sport. In retrospect, it sounds awful. But did we care? No! Who could care less about blurred animal cruelty when you had the chance to raise cute fire dragons and electric mice? No one, that’s who!

Pokemon Red and Blue Version defined the handheld, if someone didn’t have a GameBoy before, they did now, for this game. You weren’t cool until you played Pokemon, and until you played Pokemon, you had not lived. The franchise was the life of a generation, the soul gaming central of the world – everyone played it, everyone loved it, and everyone wanted more.

To put it shortly, Pokemon was one heck of a big deal.

With Pokemon reigning as King of the Handheld, it was arguably the best the GameBoy offered us in its long rule of 25 years. People are still playing to this day, with past generations teaching their kids the secrets of the brilliant game.

But Pokemon aside, lets not forget all the other games put on offer! The GameBoy console offered so many fantastic games, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Metroid, so many! These were only a few I loved best and adored for years.

Which games do you think were the greatest on the GameBoy? Let us know in the comments below!