By: Peter J. Skerritt
Back in 1989, Nintendo forever changed the landscape of portable gaming with its release of its Game Boy unit. Nintendo gamers' prayers had been answered; they could take Mario with them wherever they went! Building upon its immensely popular portable version of Tetris, Nintendo secured a vast amount of third party licensees, such as Konami, Capcom, Tecmo, and others, and hundreds of games were created. Of course, the dream was limited; no color, blurred side-scrolling, and eye strain were common with Game Boy players. Everyone wanted color. Nintendo met gamers halfway with the release of the Super Game Boy unit, with which gamers could use to play Game Boy games on the SNES. Still, though, no true color.
But
now, Nintendo has again answered gamers' please. Game Boy Color was released
after much speculation. Finally... gamers could play games in color...
but many answers remain. Will Game Boy Color (GBC) play older Game Boy
titles? Does the screen still blur? Is it worth the added investment?
Let's see for ourselves...
GBC is about the same size as a Game Boy Pocket, except that instead of being totally flat, there is a bulge on the lower rear of the unit. The screen is not backlit, like many speculators figured it would be. Rather, the unit uses a full-color LCD to display graphics. This means that outside light is required to see the screen, whether it comes from the sun, room lighting, or Game Boy lights. The internal processor is not the same as the traditional Game Boy, but is instead faster. Developers will soon be taking full advantage of this slightly improved processor, and in time, the Game Boy Pocket will soon see game development cease.
GBC
plays ALL GB and GBC games. That's right, this baby is backwardly compatible!
To better that, the on-screen blurring has been minimized and the graphics,
even for the older titles, are the sharpest yet. No more blurring headaches.
Also, GBC adds a limited color palette to older games. Mind you, this
isn't full color, but there is some color to spruce up the original black
and white. This operates much like Super Game Boy in this respect. The
sound is also there, although, like the first units, digitized speech
is still horrid. The sounds are in stereo when gamers plug in a pair of
headphones.
The newer GBC games come in black casing, instead of the traditional
gray casings that gamers have been accustomed to for years. These games
are displayed with graphics utilizing up to 55 colors at once. Nintendo
has released DX (or Deluxe) versions of two of their biggest releases,
Tetris and Zelda:Link's Awakening. Both games have added features other
than color. Tetris has a battery backup to save your best scores, and
the game even saves your place during a game if you have to attend to
other business... like homework, your job, etc. Zelda includes a brand
new dungeon, complete with a
new boss to defeat!
With all this being said, the question remains... is it worth the $80 (US) dollars? The answer is a resounding yes! Imagine... GBC already has a huge library of games to choose from, plus there are more games in the works over the coming months! When you think back to 1989, GB units (w/Tetris) were selling at over $100 US. For $20 less, you get color and an extended GB lease on life! Nintendo has already signed on Midway and some other developers to work up some games for the GBC, and it's even been said that the GBC is capable of playing direct translations of NES games! Nintendo has not officially commented on this, but the possibility of this application is enough to drive NESers to buy one immediately!
The future of portable gaming has finally arrived in the form of Game Boy Color, and the future looks very, very bright indeed. Keep checking back with us here at Nintendoland.com for continuing developments and information on this groundbreaking system.
