The MacWha’s Top 5 Gameboy Games of All Time

Hello again all! I welcome all of you in the Non-Fiction Gaming Nation to continue reading my overly opinionated, devastatingly charming and possibly nail-biting list of my top games separated by console. Now I remind you this list is for me, personally you shouldn’t even be reading it.

But alas you are and here we stand. The rules to my lists are as follows…

1.  It’ll have as many games on the list as I feel inclined, why you ask? It’s my list suck it.
2. It’s a list of games that have meaning to me, not the best games in the history of time.
3. In many cases I’ll state a franchise and then go into the which was the beast of the bunch.
4. Sometimes I’ll list a game I disliked, felt was overblown, or heck something I just have irrational hatred for.

Yup that’s it, no more to worry about. This week I bring you the grand and very portable world of the Nintendo Gameboy. Just to clarify, this list will include all games up to the Gameboy Advanced, personally it just seems silly to differentiate between the original and colour.

 5. Kirby’s Dreamland 2 (1995)

Ahhh Kirby, that lovable little pile of, hmm what would you call him? Pillow Vacuum? Marshmallow Suction Cup? You know what I’m just going to say he is comprised of a nice soft fondant and an angels fart. Nevertheless this is Kirby’s second outing into Dreamland and boy does he have himself a grand adventure. In this outing Kirby finds the Rainbow Bridges that connect the seven Rainbow Islands have been stolen by an evil alien force called Dark Matter, who has possessed King Dedede, intent on conquering Dream Land.

Kirby sets out to defeat Dark Matter, accompanied by three new animal friends. Yeah it’s a pretty standard story, but hey it was a fun game and made me smile. My fondest memory of this game was playing it on the crapper at my friends house when I was a kid. Mad respect for anyone who keeps their Gameboy in the bathroom, just saying.

 4. Mega Man Franchise (1987-1992)

Well here we have another one where again my fondest memories are playing it on the crapper. What can I say I love taking on Dr. Wily’s army of robots all from the safety and shelter of the commode. Now in this particular case I’m giving the win to the whole franchise of Mega Man Gameboy games, because well honestly I played a few of them over the years and buggered if I can’t remember which one was my favorite.

Each game has a very similar dynamic of a “Themed” world (eg. Ice World, Fire World etc…), where Dr. Wily’s robots all share powers based on said “Theme”. It all culminates in fighting the world boss who is the focus of the “Theme”. Simple but great, Mega Man was a wonderful platformer with quirky elements and great bad guys.

3. Donkey Kong (1993)

I know go figure, Donkey Kong is on a list of amazing even influential games. Personally I was shocked. All joking aside Donkey Kong is a staple of the video game community, in many ways the game helped usher in the age of the modern video game. Initial popularity was found in the arcades of the 1980’s, long term love was due large in part to it being one of the first games to experience porting to different consoles.

To date we have seen the original Donkey Kong ported to seven different consoles (two of which are virtual) and a playable Easter egg in two games. We have also seen produced a reasonably good documentary about achieving the all-time high score, a television program, countless sequels and spin off games. Donkey Kong is and always will be a part of pop culture.

 2. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (2001)

Again what I hope is another unsurprising addition to my line up we yet another in a long line of Zelda games. This particular adventure brings our ever vigilant boy toy Link out into the world of Hyrule to save his ever captured love Princess Zelda. Hmm sounds like every single Zelda game ever made… Seasons begins as the Triforce calls out to Link from within Hyrule Castle. Link approaches it, and is transported to a dark forest where he encounters a traveling group led by a dancer named Din. Din is soon revealed as the Oracle of Seasons. Blah blah blah, plot stuff happens and “Oh no! The seasons are out of whack”. It is now up to Link to find multiple, well lets call it random item of power S (the S is for Seasons) and save the day. Again I know this is pretty much most Zelda games, but hey if ain’t broke don’t fix it.

1. Pokemon Series (1999)

And my number one Gameboy game of all time is… Well it’s Pokemon obviously, back when the whole Pokemon craze hit I was the prime target audience and boy did I eat it all up.

•  Did I watch the show? Check!
• Did I see the first movie in theaters on opening night? That’s a big ‘ol check!
• Pokemon cards you say? I had a mint Charizard, so check!
• Pikachu stuffy? Do you need to ask?

Pokemon was and still is a great series, it has spawned countless spin off games, sequels games, movies, comics, merchandise and a television series that is running 600+ episodes and counting. There is no question in my mind that we will continue seeing many more come out in the future. Now for me, the game in this series that I hold near and dear to my heart was Pokemon Yellow.

A game for fans of the show, Yellow was really just a port of Red and Blue; having the same overall story and layout but with one massive add-on. Pikachu hangs out with you and follows you around, yay!

Seems silly now, but as a twelve year old kid all I wanted to be was Ash Ketchum and this game got me as close to it as well anything probably ever can. My only negative memory of the game was getting caught playing it in my grade seven science class and as punishment having my teacher save over my save file.

Yeah I know, he was a monster…