Final Fantasy Legend on the Nintendo Game Boy is a game that particularly resonates with me because I remember buying it back in 1989 and playing it to death over the space of six months. Everywhere I went at the time I had my Game Boy, battery pack, and Final Fantasy Legend cartridge, and I would play it whenever I had the time. And when I hear the iconic music playing it takes me back like a time machine…
Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge, Game Boy
Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge was first released in 1991 and is the sequel to Castlevania: The Adventure on the Nintendo Game Boy.
Castlevania II makes much better use of the Game Boy‘s hardware than its predecessor, and is considered to be one of the best titles on Nintendo‘s monochrome handheld.
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Pinball: Revenge of the Gator, Game Boy
Developed and published by HAL Laboratory in 1989, Pinball: Revenge of the Gator is a memorable handheld pinball game with a cartoony, reptilian theme.
Castelian, Game Boy
Triffix‘s Castelian is a conversion of the classic Nebulus by John M. Phillips. And it is a top little conversion!
Trip World, Game Boy
Anyone familiar with the NES game Mr. Gimmick will see similarities between that and Trip World, a cute and slightly weird platform game released for the Nintendo Game Boy in 1992 (incidentally the same year as Mr. Gimmick).
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, Game Boy
This third game in the Super Mario Land series was the first Nintendo game to give Wario his own title, and also feature him as a playable character. After this, the Wario games went on to become a successful series in their own right.
Final Fantasy Adventure, Game Boy
The first game in the Seiken Densetsu (aka “Mana“) series was released on the black and white, handheld Nintendo Game Boy in June 1991.
It’s a spin-off from the famous Final Fantasy series, also by Square. In Japan the original title was Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden (translating as “Holy Sword Legend: Final Fantasy Side Story”). In the West it was released under the title Final Fantasy Adventure.
Golf, Game Boy
Simply called Golf, this 1989 Game Boy title is a conversion of Nintendo‘s classic 1984 Nintendo Entertainment System game and gives a fantastic round of putting and driving on Nintendo‘s humble little handheld.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Game Boy
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (1993) is like a mini version of the Super Nintendo classic A Link To The Past (1991) – both games share more than just the same DNA. At times Link’s Awakening feels like A Link To The Past without colour. Which is a huge compliment because A Link To The Past is one of the best games ever made. This, too, is among the best Game Boy games of all time.
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Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Game Boy
There have been quite a lot of excellent 2D Mario games over history, which makes the Game Boy Super Mario Land series easy to overlook. All three Super Mario Land games, however, are stunning and unique ‘best-in-class’ examples of what the Game Boy is actually capable of – ie. shifting lots of sprites around the screen, smooth scrolling, great sounds and perfectly responsive controls.
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