Game Boy Works

Let's take a second look at Nintendo's second game console. Yes, I've already published a Game Boy system retrospective. About 10 years ago. However, this new video covers the U.S. launch of the system rather than the Japanese—obviously it touches on a lot of the same material, but from a different angle... and with the added insight and detail that I've gleaned in a decade of putting together weekly retrospectives on systems from this era.

We're back at Tetris again. And, just as the simple concept of blocks falling from the sky and piling up until you fill complete rows that cause them to vanish translates into a near-infinitely replayable game, the not-so-simple process of bringing a game created under Soviet collectivism to the West and including it the box with a video game system inspires near-infinite video commentary. Well, something like that. Suffice to say, here comes another one of those block-dropping beats.

Aw, just kidding with that title. Super Mario Land is great. I mean, yes, it is the smallest, slightest, simplest, and easiest of all the first-party Mario platform games. But that's kind of the point? Nintendo needed a Mario launch game for Game Boy's debut, and the console's own creators put one together quite ably. Super Mario Land doesn't hold up especially well when compared side-by-side to every other Mario game, but compare it to literally any action game you could play on the bus or in the backseat of a car in 1989 and it absolutely freakin' rules. Super Mario Land works smartly within the limitations of the system and maxes out the available ROM size—it's literally the biggest and best handheld action game that anyone had made or could have made in 1989, and it deserves respect for that. Also, there's Baseball.

This video comprises the last of the U.S. launch titles for Game Boy, as well as—somewhat surprisingly—about 85% of all Game Boy releases in America for the remainder of 1989. A bit of a slow start compared to the 20 or so games that showed up in 1989 for Japan, but that's localization gaps for ya. Not that either of these games required any localization whatsoever. They're simple, accessible titles that you can have a ball with (get it, like pinball/tennis ball??) regardless of your preferred language. Or even if you have not developed human language yet and exist in a crude, nonverbal state. You don't need to understand the basic grammar of "Me Tarzan" to grok "avoid missing ball for high score." Anyway, not precisely amazing games by modern standards. But these blew away any comparable portable experiences at the time. Like the man said: "That'll do, pig. That'll do."

I had hoped that revisiting Castlevania: The Adventure again a decade after I first covered the title on Game Boy World would shed some new light on it and perhaps soften my opinion on this portable take on a NES mainstay. Spoilers: It did not. However, I will say that I can better appreciate how much of a step forward for portable gaming ambition Castlevania: The Adventure represented at the time. It's a busted mess that demands you play the entire thing exactly one way with zero deviations from the optimal path and timing, yes, but it still looked and played way better than anything available at the time in handheld form. When your competition is the Tiger Simon's Quest LCD Game & Watch clone, it's hard not to come away looking pretty damn good.