Do you think the Gameboy holds up today?

[WaterTypeStarter]

I never have played one but the screen is kind of small and greenish. The graphics are monochrome. And the console itself is bulky. Do you think it still holds up today? What do you think for the titles that were made for it or compatible with it? What are some of your favorites?

 

[pacman000]

I don’t think the size is that bad, tho it’s not pocket sized.

Screen’s about the size of my cellphone’s when the keyboard is displayed; no trouble there.

Lighting... You need to hold it at an angle to see the screen. That’s not good, tho it’s still usable.
Will have to hold off on judging the monochrome graphics & screen blur; it’s been awhile since I played the original Game Boy; most of this stuff I’ve said about the screen is based on the GBC, which I’ve played recently.

Controls are good, tho suited for simpler games.

Recommended Games: Tetris for sure; probably Super Mario Land 2. And Pokemon, since this is a Pokemon site.

 

[Shiny Ho-Oh]

Once in a while I feel a nostalgic trip and break out the Gameboy Color, but that's the only reason I would really play it. I'd be curious to know what someone who has never played it before would think.

 

[BCVM22]

No, a bulky, battery-gobbling, monochrome handheld doesn't hold up especially well today. But I'm not sure why it would need to hold up today.

 

[Auraninja]

I feel like the major problem with the Gameboy these days is that the games have save batteries that will eventually lose power and wipe your saves.

 

[bobjr]

At the time a handheld console was revolutionary, since the only other real options were those cheap tiger electronic games with two buttons, and every other handheld console had some huge flaw like being a miserable battery drain (not that the Gameboy was great about it).

The color and especially the GBA improved on things massively and have stuff worth going back to today, but I honestly struggle to think of anything from the GB specifically that's held up. Pokemon came out a month before the Gameboy Color so it's close enough to not affect it I think.

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

I don’t think the size is that bad, tho it’s not pocket sized.

Screen’s about the size of my cellphone’s when the keyboard is displayed; no trouble there.

Lighting... You need to hold it at an angle to see the screen. That’s not good, tho it’s still usable.
Will have to hold off on judging the monochrome graphics & screen blur; it’s been awhile since I played the original Game Boy; most of this stuff I’ve said about the screen is based on the GBC, which I’ve played recently.

Controls are good, tho suited for simpler games.

Recommended Games: Tetris for sure; probably Super Mario Land 2. And Pokemon, since this is a Pokemon site.

Definitely. Loved that system. Can recommend Solar Striker and Super Mario. Those games are a blast to play.

 

[The Admiral]

Depends on the games. A small amount of the Game Boy's library is actually good. A lot of it is underwhelming jank in a similar way to how a lot of the NES library is -- games made primarily because "hey this sounds cool AND we can make money off it." Not everything is Metroid II.

And, y'know, the OG hardware is not that great. The best way to play original Game Boy games on an officially-released portable unit is via the Game Boy Light. However, that was not released in most of the world. As in, I'm pretty sure it was just released in Japan. So... yeah.

 

[Orphalesion]

Yeah no, I can barely remember it, but from what I remember it would never hold up today.

And another problem with the original Gameboy is that its screen is ink based and the ink fades over time, making the screen blurry and difficult to see (the old gameboy I played a couple of times with as a child already had that really bad. The one time I tried to play my Pokemon Blue cartridge on it and I couldn't see any of the ground details or flowers in Pallet Town, I might not even been able to properly distinguish tall grass IIRC).
Also the screens are getting so old that their glue comes undone and mould can start to grow on the screen. Ewww.

 

[Chaos Emperor]

It technically didn’t even hold up when it was new; the sega game gear and Atari lynx were both much more powerful, able to display in color and with a backlight. Of course that meant they ate through batteries like crazy but nintendos handheld line has never been the most powerful on the market; pretty much every competitor to the game boy and later the gba, ds, and 3ds was from a technical standpoint, much more powerful than whatever nintendo offered.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

The original GameBoy is outdated and clunky to use. The VC ports are just fine and are better than the original version because you don’t have to look at that nuclear green screen as you play a game which can look pretty bad. Pokémon RBY don’t look so good in the green color. Battery life was also a major issue as four AA batteries could only power the system for no more than six hours at most. The GameBoy Color was a huge improvement for gameplay with the only downside being you needed direct light in order to play it.

 

[pacman000]

2. Battery Life
The original Game Boy boasted anywhere from 10 to 30 hours of battery life on four AA batteries, according to different sources (the more generous estimates came from Nintendo itself at launch). Nintendo achieved this feat of longevity by using a non-backlit monochrome screen and a low-power 8-bit processor in its first handheld. By contrast, Nintendo's competitors were obsessed with color backlit LCD displays and more beefy processors that made their units into battery guzzlers. The NEC TurboExpress, Sega Game Gear, and Atari Lynx only managed to squeeze out 2-5 hours of play time on 6 AA batteries, which could prove quite expensive for their owners over time.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019...w-power 8-bit processor in its first handheld.

 

[The Admiral]

And another problem with the original Gameboy is that its screen is ink based and the ink fades over time, making the screen blurry and difficult to see (the old gameboy I played a couple of times with as a child already had that really bad. The one time I tried to play my Pokemon Blue cartridge on it and I couldn't see any of the ground details or flowers in Pallet Town, I might not even been able to properly distinguish tall grass IIRC).
Also the screens are getting so old that their glue comes undone and mould can start to grow on the screen. Ewww.

This is actually a thing I forgot. The screen on the original Game Boy was pretty bad even when new, suffering from ghosting issues that made certain types of games look like absolute dog sh*t if you were playing them on the toaster. A lot of other handhelds were worse, but the Game Boy was not particularly good. It is also made up of thin layers that are held together by glue and the ink in a lot of them is going bad. So again, if you want to play the games on the platform, the original Game Boy is the worst way to play them.

 

[WaterTypeStarter]

For a long time I've been considering getting a Gameboy just for the vintage feel as well to experience something different from the modem trend of bright colors among other things. However, from what posters like Orphalesion have said, I think might pass on buying one (especially if the screen is that bad).

That said, does the Gameboy Pocket hold up today? It is monochrome like the Gameboy and has the same titles compatible I think. However, the console is less bulky, the screen is bigger, and of a lighter hue. Like the original Gameboy I have never played one. You can continue to answer the original question though you can also answer this new one about the Pocket.