If Nintendo put me in charge of a GameBoy Classic Edition, here are the 30 games it would include

Word on the street is Nintendo may be prepping a GameBoy Classic Edition--or "GameBoy mini," as many on the Internet like to call it--to complement its recent NES and SNES plug-and-play consoles.

Given the success the company found with those miniaturized systems, a similarly compact re-envisioning of its first handheld wouldn't exactly be a surprise.

What would be a surprise (or at least it would be to me): if Nintendo filled the memory of this as-of-now-imaginary GameBoy Classic Edition with worthwhile games.

After all, while the NES-inspired product featured a number of veritable classics, it also included some head-scratchers like Pac-Man. More surprising were the titles its omitted, like the first Dragon Quest (or Dragon Warrior, for old folks like me), Duck Tales and Bionic Commando.

Would I do a better job of cramming a GameBoy Classic Edition or GameBoy mini full of must-play games? I'd like to think so.

Admittedly, the brass at Nintendo probably would put the kibosh on a number of the carts I'd push for, but I won't let that keep me from discussing them in this post.

Alleyway--Most people pooh-pooh this "launch window" release as an antiquated bore, but I've always enjoyed it. Plus, even with its issues, I think it would be a perfect pick-up-and-play-when-you-only-have-a-few-spare-minutes title for a product like this.

Amazing Penguin--I have to imagine a lot of folks who owned a GameBoy in the late 1980s and early 1990s aren't aware of this game's existence. That's too bad, as Amazing Penguin's gameplay--equal portions Pac-Man, Pengo and Qix--sets it apart from all the humdrum puzzlers and platformers that flooded store shelves during the system's reign.

Balloon Kid--This Balloon Fight spinoff is a tough cookie and a painfully short experience, but it deserves a spot here due to its unique gameplay (it's a side-scrolling platformer in which its main character is nearly always floating beneath a balloon) and its female protagonist.

Bubble Bobble Part 2--None of Taito's handheld Bubble Bobble titles hold a candle to the arcade original, but that doesn't mean they're all stinkers. Part 2 (Bubble Bobble Junior in Japan) is the best of the bunch by far, with adorable sprites and sprawling stages.

BurgerTime Deluxe--I've long loved the original BurgerTime game, but there's no question it's often brutal. Thankfully, this GameBoy sequel is miles more accessible. It also looks great and features a surprisingly ear-pleasing soundtrack. Bonus: the Japanese BurgerTime Deluxe packaging and instruction manual are splendid, too.

Catrap--Yet another often-overlooked game that really should be played by everyone who comes within a foot of a GameBoy system. Not only are its cat-eared protagonists (you can switch between the girl or boy at the beginning of every stage) cute as can be, but the time-bending, brain-melting, puzzler-platformer action at its core is completely brilliant, too.

Dig Dug--You just know that should a GameBoy Classic Edition ever be made, Nintendo's more likely to include Namco's portable, black-and-white Pac-Man port instead of this one. Which would be a shame, as the puzzle-heavy "New Dig Dug" mode included here (and not found anywhere else) is a breath of fresh air.

Donkey Kong--This may well be the best game ever made for Nintendo's first portable console. If you've never played it, it takes the arcade original's straightforward barrel-jumping action and transforms it into the puzzler-platformer to beat all puzzler-platformers--and that includes the many Mario vs. Donkey Kong titles that followed in this 1994 release's footsteps.

Dr. Mario--Truth be told, I've never been a huge Dr. Mario fan. I know a lot of folks like it, though, so that's why I'm including it here. I also think it's a good counterpoint to the far less flashy Tetris.

Final Fantasy Adventure--It would be easy to give this game's slot to another thanks to the presence of Link's Awakening (see below), but I'd campaign against that tactic for a couple of reasons. For starters, not everyone loves Link or Zelda. Also, Final Fantasy Adventure's ARPG gameplay is different enough from its aforementioned competitor's to be worth a go even if you're a Zelda veteran.

Final Fantasy Legend II--Purists probably would prefer to include the first Final Fantasy Legend title here, but I think its sequel is the better, more interesting, game. Either title should be seen as a welcome addition to this line-up, though, as it's decidedly lacking in traditional RPGs.

Gargoyle's Quest--This was one of my most-cherished cartridges back when I first owned a GameBoy thanks to how it combines exploring an RPG-ish overworld with conquering side-scrolling action stages. And it was among the hardest to let go of when I stupidly sold my system and collection of GameBoy cartridges a number of years after I bought them.

Five favorites: North American GameBoy box art

A couple of years ago, I published a post that highlighted five of my favorite pieces of Japanese GameBoy box art.

This post, of course, focuses on five of my favorite pieces of North American GameBoy box art.

Balloon Kid--I know some of you will look at Balloon Kid's cover art and declare it to be an abomination. And I can understand that--to an extent. Its depiction of the game's pigtailed protagonist is a bit odd, to say the least. The illustration of the giant, bug-eyed fish that's attempting to eat Alice (the aforementioned heroine) is even worse. Still, I like the overall image, thanks in large part to its liberal and adept use of color. I'm also a big fan of the game's bold and subtly creative logo. (Bonus: the entirety of Balloon Kid's instruction manual can be seen here.)

BurgerTime Deluxe--This is one of the few instances where I prefer a GameBoy title's North American box art to its Japanese counterpart. (You can see the Japanese BurgerTime Deluxe's cover in this old post.) Not only that, but I think this particular example of packaging design may be my favorite of all the ones included in this post. I want to say the logo is the star here, but the illustrations of Peter Pepper (he's the guy in the funny-looking white hat) and BurgerTime Deluxe's angry, anthropomorphic ingredients are pretty stellar, too. I even like the purple backdrop that supports the whole she-bang.

Dig Dug--This selection will raise a few eyebrows, I'm sure. It's quite a bit darker than and nowhere near as cute as what most people would expect to see splashed across the cover of a GameBoy port of this Namco arcade classic. That's probably a big part of why I like it so much, to be honest. There's more to it than that, though. I also appreciate the skewed perspective that puts one of the game's iconic Pooka enemies front and center. Admittedly, the protagonist's mouth-tongue-whatever-it-is freaks me out a tad, but I'm willing to overlook it for the rest of what's on offer here.

Mole Mania--This piece of box art really looks like something the designers at Nintendo would cook up, doesn't it? It's stuffed to the gills with cute characters, it's positively doused with pastels and it's got an adorable logo plastered across its top half. Could the artists who created it have removed the main mole's unibrow? No doubt. Still, Mole Mania's cover is a keeper even with the little guy's questionable grooming habits on display. By the way, if you'd like to see how this game's North American packaging stacks up to its Japanese packaging, check out this post.

Wario Land--Full disclosure: I've barely played any of the first four Wario Land games. I can't even tell you why that's the case. I guess I've just always gotten my fill from Nintendo's Mario-centric platformers. Anyway, the Wario Land series' covers certainly aren't responsible for me ignoring its games. The one made for this first entry is a knockout, wouldn't you agree? Some may say it's busy, and I can't (completely) argue against that, but I personally think such a bombastic design works in this particular context.

So, what do you think of these examples of North American GameBoy box art? Do you like them, too--or do you hate them?

If it's the latter and if you can think of pieces of North American GameBoy box art you prefer, let me know about them in the comments section of this post.

Shall We Do It? (BurgerTime Deluxe, Final Fantasy Adventure, Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe and more)

So, I pushed both THE "DENPA" MEN 3 and Etrian Odyssey IV to the back burner this past weekend so I could play a handful GameBoy titles--specifically, BurgerTime Deluxe, Final Fantasy Adventure, Snow Bros. Jr. and a little gem known as Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe (aka Sunshine Angel Marlowe).

Here are a few thoughts on each of the aforementioned games:

BurgerTime Deluxe--What can I say about this title that I didn't say in the "Great Gaymathon" review I published earlier in the week? I don't know, to tell you the truth--well, other than that I finally made it pretty deep into the game and, as such, experienced some of its most daunting challenges.

Sadly, I never was able to successfully make my way through stage 4-4, so eventually I had to cheat (by looking up passwords via GameFAQs) to play through the rest. I'd normally feel kind of bad about that, but not in the case of this game--thanks to the fact that some of its later levels are tougher than nails and seriously impressed me with the amount of strategy that's required to beat them without wasting all of your "pepper shots" and lives en route.

Random aside: my favorite part of this most recent playthrough of BurgerTime Deluxe revolves around encountering the gigantic angry doughnut enemies that only pop up in its last few stages.

Final Fantasy Adventure--I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but I was absolutely obsessed with the first two Final Fantasy Legend titles that were released for the GameBoy way back when. (The third one, not so much--although in its defense, I've yet to spend much time with it.)

Given the above, it almost could be considered criminal that before this weekend I'd never played that series' companion (in the States, at least), Final Fantasy Adventure, for more than a few, scant minutes.

Now that I've played it for a good couple of hours, I can honestly say I was a complete idiot to ignore it for so long. The game's basically a mash-up of Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda and, thus far, has proven to be even more enticing and enjoyable than that combo suggests.

Two of its standout characteristics, in my mind: its destructible environments (assuming you're sporting the right equipment) and its old-school difficulty level. (Oh, and a third: its sublime soundtrack, which harkens back to Square's glory days.)

Snow Bros. Jr.--Considering I've long professed to being a bit of a "super fan" when it comes to single-screen platformers (see: Bubble Bobble), you'd think I would've put some serious time into one version of Toaplan's Snow Bros. or another before now.

Not so, sadly enough. Actually, I've spent a few minutes with both the arcade and Mega Drive iterations here and there, but neither left a very positive impression on me, if I'm to be completely honest. That had nothing to do with its gameplay, mind you; rather, I think it had to do with the game's odd, off-putting art style.

After I came across Snow Bros. Jr.'s Japanese box art a few months ago, though, I decided to give it another chance. And you know what? I kind of fell in love with it as a result. In part, this change of heart can be attributed to the earworm of a tune that accompanies players through the first 10 stages, although the snowball-throwing and -making gameplay is pretty infectious, too.

Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe--File this one under "it's never too late to discover great GameBoy titles." That's because I didn't even know of this Technos-made game until some kind soul on Twitter brought it to my attention a month or so ago.

After reading about it over on hardcoregaming101.net, I decided the above-mentioned twitterer was onto something and hunted down a copy of the game as quickly as I could. It wasn't long before I was regretting that decision, though, as despite the game's adorable art style and pleasant backing tunes, I found myself stumped by its gameplay during my first few attempts at it.

Returning to the Hardcore Gaming 101 article I mentioned a paragraph ago opened my eyes as to what I was doing wrong (yes, you can aim the sun's beams at baddies to get rid of them, but if you want to advance you have to aim them at the flower seeds that populate each stage, too), and ever since it has been smooth sailing.

Actually, it's been better than smooth sailing, as I now consider myself a fairly big fan of this kinda-sorta tower-defense game. It's far from a perfect game, of course--as implied by the fact that it took me a while to figure out how to play it--but it's also refreshingly unique and features some really impressive spritework.

Will I ditch all of the above and get back to THE "DENPA" MEN 3 and Etrian Odyssey IV this week? I'm not at all sure, to tell you the truth. I have a feeling, though, what ends up happening will fall somewhere between those two extremes (as in, I'll probably continue to play Final Fantasy Adventure while also playing one or both of the 3DS titles).

See also: previous 'Shall We Do It?' posts

The Great Gaymathon Review #69: BurgerTime Deluxe (GameBoy)

Game: BurgerTime Deluxe

Genre: Arcade

Developer: Data East

Publisher: Data East

System: GameBoy

Release date: 1991

As much as I've always loved the unique-to-this-day arcade classic that is BurgerTime, I'd be hard pressed to describe it as "accessible" thanks to the daunting challenge it presents anyone who dares approach it.

Thankfully, the folks at Data East--the now-defunct, Tokyo-based company was both the developer and publisher of the 1982 original--decided in the early 1990s to take another stab at the avoid-food-themed-baddies-while-piecing-together-gigantic-burgers formula that proved so appealing (if not accessible) in their earlier effort, with the result being this far more enjoyable sequel.

Now, that isn't to suggest BurgerTime Deluxe is some sort of pushover. In fact, by the time you reach the game's fourth "world," you'll likely be pulling your hair out as you attempt to complete at least a few of its final handful of stages. You won't be doing that because the stages in question are "cheap," though, and that's definitely a key takeaway here.

Another key takeaway related to this portable platformer (of sorts): despite its obvious lack of color, it looks great on the GameBoy's (or 3DS', if that's how you roll) small screen, with well-drawn sprites that easily put to shame those found in, say, the Famicom port of the arcade original. Sure, it would've been nice if the developers had done more to change up the backdrops that support this quirky title's burger-making, condiment-escaping action, but at least they throw in a new enemy or ingredient every now and then.

The team responsible for putting BurgerTime Deluxe together was a bit more creatively on the ball when it came to producing the game's soundtrack, thankfully, as three different tunes are divvied up amongst its 24 levels. My favorite is the lilting, peppy one that kicks things off, although the others have their charms, too.

Add all of the above together and you've got a GameBoy title that's well worth exploring, especially if you're like me and you liked the idea, but not the execution, of the arcade original.

It's nowhere near as deep or exhilarating as, say, Nintendo's splendid Donkey Kong revamp that was released in 1994, of course, but it holds its own against pretty much every other platformer produced for this iconic portable, and for that reason alone I'd say it deserves a look.

See also: previous 'Great Gaymathon' reviews

My favorite GameBoy photos (so far)

While prepping yesterday's post about the GameBoy's 25th anniversary, I spent some time wading through all of the photos I've taken of my GameBoy "acquisitions" over the last few years.

Although I think the shots I've snapped of, say, my DS, Game Gear and even WonderSwan games are more appealing (in general) than the ones I've snapped of my GameBoy titles, I like enough of the latter to share a smattering of them here--you know, so we can keep the GameBoy anniversary train rolling for at least a few more hours.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland

Kitchen Panic

Japanese Tetris box, cartridge and manual

Wario Land II + GameBoy Pocket

Balloon Kid cartridge and case

BurgerTime Deluxe's Japanese packaging

Top flap of Painter Momopie's box

Pokémon Red

If you'd like to see a couple (OK, a lot) more photos of GameBoy and other handheld carts and systems, head over to this Flickr album of mine at your earliest convenience.

Manual Stimulation: BurgerTime Deluxe (GameBoy)

Get ready for the return of the creepy BurgerTime Deluxe cover girl.

Thankfully, you're only going to have to look at her once in this post--as opposed to the numerous times readers were forced to look at her in my first write-up about this otherwise adorable GameBoy title.



To anyone who didn't believe me when I suggested a second ago that the rest of the Japanese BurgerTime Deluxe instruction manual was pretty darn cute: please check out the following pair of pages and then try to tell me that the illustrations of the game's protagonist are anything less than awww-inspiring.



The drawings that rest atop the next pair of pages--the first of which is dubbed the "Wonderland of BurgerTime Deluxe" and likely details the game's thrilling backstory--are even cuter, in my opinion.



Sorry, there are no cute illustrations to be found on the next couple of pages.



Don't worry, the designers responsible for this miniature manual are quick to bring back the drawings.



I don't know about you, but I find BurgerTime Deluxe's cast of enemies (shown on the left-hand page above) to be kind of bizarre. I mean, the "wiener" and pickle make sense, but the cracked egg and doughnut are questionable at best.



I'm sad to have to say that I'm not entirely sure what information the pages above and below are supposed to pass on to readers, although I'm pretty sure the left-hand page above explains BurgerTime Deluxe's password system and the pages below discuss its multi-player mode.





Regardless, there are a couple more adorable illustrations on the last few pages, so who really cares what all of the text around them is supposed to tell readers, right?

See also: previous 'Manual Stimulation' posts

If nothing else, BurgerTime Deluxe's Japanese packaging is cheerful and bright

I say the above because, well, the design that graces the cover of the Japanese version of BurgerTime Deluxe looks like it was made using cheap clipart in about five minutes.

So, why'd I buy it? Because I'm a big fan of this BurgerTime iteration's gameplay, which I consider to be far, far, more enjoyable than what's present in the arcade original.

I'll chat about all of that further in this game's upcoming "Great Gaymathon" review (because you know I'm going to publish one--and soon). For the time being, let's focus on this version's packaging.

Speaking of which, I have to say that I much prefer the cover art that was created for the North American release of BurgerTime Deluxe, which can be seen here.

The Japanese copy seen above and below actually was cheaper than the complete-in-box copies of its North American counterpart I came across, though, so I went with the slightly less-desirable option.

Anyway, the game's cartridge and manual also sport the same cheesy image that appears on the box cover, which is kind of creepy when you see them all sitting next to each other like you do in the photo above.

Thankfully, that overly cheerful blond is nowhere to be found on the backside of the box. That said, I almost wish she were present, as it's kind of bland as is, don't you think?

Even better would have been the addition of a few of the cute illustrations that can be found within BurgerTime Deluxe's instruction manual.

Now, don't get too excited, as the illustrations I'm talking about aren't quite up to the standard of those included in, say, Painter Momopie's manual, but they're nice enough and they're certainly more interesting than a couple of green-and-white screenshots and a slew of text.

Do any of you have any experience with this game? If so, what do you think about it?

See also: a few more photos of this copy of BurgerTime Deluxe can be found on my Flickr photostream