Board 8 > Board 8's Top 20 GB/GBC Games - The Results

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#20. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (1995)
Total Points: 17
List Appearances: 12
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/48712eda.jpg

Write-up provided by tazzyboyishere
Returning to the original Kirby's Dream Land is a bit surreal, as it didn't have the copy abilities the franchise is known for. Not the case for Dream Land 2! It follows up on the original Dream Land by adding some of the abilities present from Adventure, while also adding animal companions to the core gameplay. The animal companions each have their own "versions" of each power-up, so while the variety initially seems to be paired down, each of them have four variations of one single power. It's pretty fun to experiment with! It does run into the same issue Adventure had, where certain powers will feel redundant, or even detrimental at times, but that can be part of Kirby's charm, especially in the older games. There was no way this game was going to match the strengths present in Adventure, but looked at exclusively as a follow up to Dream Land, it's a very worthy successor.

I always forget Kirby's Dream Land 2 is a real game that exists. For some reason my brain treats it like Star Fox 2 (unreleased and not canon)

Kirby's Dream Land 2 is great! It doesn't hold up as well as some of the other contemporary Kirbies but I still love it.

Is KDL2 better than KDL3? I thought 3 was bad.

MacArrowny posted...

Is KDL2 better than KDL3? I thought 3 was bad.

You probably wouldn't like KDL2 either then but I don't know

it's pretty much the same general idea. it has the same sort of power/partner system as kdl3, where you have the basic copy powers but they get modified based on the partner you have at the time. Although in kdl2 you only have rick, coo, and kine.

you don't have secret missions on each stage like not stepping on the flowers that you have to do to get the true ending like kdl3, though. You just have to collect the 7 rainbow drops, one in each world.

2 is just a technologically inferior version of 3 (which happens to be why I rate it lower on my GB list). It's just not as engaging to play once you've already played 3. But in a vacuum it's good.

I'm a gigantic Kirby fan. One of my favorite series.

I hate KDL2.

#19. Wario Land 3 (2000)
Total Points: 18
List Appearances: 8
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3318f4fd.jpg

Write-up provided by ZenOfThunder
Me, to my wife: I know I liked Wario Land 3 a lot but I have to write something about it and I dont know what the fuck to say. I dont remember the specifics.

My wife: Why did you vote for Wario Land 3 if you barely remember it?

Me: I know in my bones that I loved Wario Land 3 but my mind is rotten. Like Wario.

My wife: Just go watch someone play it on YouTube or something.

I load up a YouTube long play of Wario Land 3 and scrub through it.

Me: Oh yeah, you can be zombie Wario. That fucking ruled.

My wife: That does look like it fucking rules.

Me: Oh right!!!! You can be FAT WARIO! HELL YEAH!

My wife: I am going to go back to what I was doing now.

Me: VAMPIRE WARIO!!!!! FUCK YEEEEEEAH! [note from tazzy: there were more f's and u's included but GameFAQs wouldn't let me post it]

I had to get my memory jogged on this one a bit as I admit, four Wario Lands all kind of blend together after so much time has passed. This game is definitely distinct from the other three in a lot of ways that I cant believe I forgot. It has its own distinct little legacy and a lot of cool ideas, some of which eventually came back in the spiritual successor to this series, Pizza Tower. Thinking back to the Wario Land franchise in general, I definitely have the strongest memories of this one, just because it was so weird and different (even though theyre all weird, this one really pushed it even further). You can definitely see the seeds of Wario is fucking weird starting the grow here before fully blooming in WarioWare. Im not privy to the rest of this list, but Id like to think the weirdness that Wario Land 3 brings to the table helped it stand out from the pack.

The noteworthy thing about WL3 compared to the others is the fairly open ended overworld map and the way that you're forced to revisit earlier levels after unlocking overworld items which change parts of the levels themselves. And also levels having alternate day/night versions which change enemy behaviors or certain environmental aspects.

I don't know why I didn't get into WL3 as much as WL2 or WL4.

#18. Mario Tennis (2000)
Total Points: 19
List Appearances: 7
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8309efa9.jpg

Write-up provided by jcgamer
This is basically a port of N64 Mario Tennis, so to have the gameplay carry over almost exactly from a 64-bit console to handheld is impressive in itself. It even has something the N64 version lacks - a very fleshed-out story mode, complete with Pokmon-style overworld. Its almost like the tennis equivalent of golf story but 16 years earlier. Still a blast to pick up and play in exhibition mode now and again - just booted it up on NSO last night and its aged just fine. My favorite non-Pokmon GBC game.

Tag

Dedf1sh posted...

The noteworthy thing about WL3 compared to the others is the fairly open ended overworld map and the way that you're forced to revisit earlier levels after unlocking overworld items which change parts of the levels themselves. And also levels having alternate day/night versions which change enemy behaviors or certain environmental aspects.

thank you, person who actually remembers why they love this game and should have done the writeup!!

Paratroopa1 posted...

I don't know why I didn't get into WL3 as much as WL2 or WL4.

researching WL3 to refresh my memory, I have so much of WL2 and 4 jumbled together in my head as one big Wario Land. I really need to revisit this whole series so I can parse out what's what

ZenOfThunder posted...

thank you, person who actually remembers why they love this game and should have done the writeup!!

I should have done the Wario Land 2 writeup because I have a lot that I could (and probably will) say when that gets posted. As a kid I didn't enjoy WL3 as much as 2 (despite them running on the same engine and having identical graphics, which was something that I did like in games back then) due to the vast structural changes between the games, mainly the stuff that I just posted. As an adult I can recognize the objective good qualities of the game and the fact that I probably didn't "get" it due to my age, but I do not have the soft spot for 3 like I do for some of the others.

In Mario Tennis I had 2 files, one where I split my exp evenly between both characters and one where I pumped everything into the main player (and left my partner at level 1). Eventually I decided to make the second file my main one and continued grinding my player all the way to level 99. Once I hit that I started leveling the partner and it turned into an ongoing project. To this day I still occasionally pick up the game and play a handful of matches against Mario just to grind exp for my partner. (I should check what level she is now).

The writeup is also missing any mention of the 9 minigames, 8 of which are relatively fun score challenges (although of a few of them are trivial to max at 9999 points which limits their replayability).

Genesis released before SNES, so that got my vote.

As a kid my birthday was one month before GBA came out, my parents said I could get GBC or wait for GBA.

Being impatient as hell for my first handheld I got a GBC despite my parents strongly urging me to wait.

I got Mario Tennis and played the crap out of that game. Loved it. My parents were surprised how content I was without a GBA, which I ended up getting for my birthday the following year. Good game. I recall loving the RPG elements.

I would definitely back the Mega Drive/Genesis next because it is next chronologically, even though I wont be able to take part. Will still look forward to the results and writeups.

Anyway Wario Land 3 does indeed rule. A bit surprised its that low actually.

Tag

I didn't really discuss in the NES topic so I'm gonna start trying to change that.

Though I avoided most criticism in my KDL2 writeup, I do have some problems with it. Here's my initial writeup I put on Backloggd after playing it for the second time last year:

This fortunately doesn't have the same slowdown as Adventure, but it trades that off for other issues, unfortunately. It keeps the copy abilities but greatly lessens the amount of abilities you can copy. This is fine, since so many abilities were redundant. It's also fine because the use of animal partners allows for further experimentation with these same abilities. This is cool at first, but then you begin experimenting and find out there's actually a large amount of abilities that are effectively useless or completely detrimental to your play. The animal buddies themselves don't add anything particularly exciting to the platforming, as beyond playing the fish in water, it's typically more fun to just control Kirby alone. The power-ups need to be fun with the animal buddies to make it more engaging, but beyond a set few, they're not particularly any more fun to use than with Kirby himself. I appreciate the effort made to create some extra challenge, but they go about it in some unfortunate ways. For one, the game has a heavy reliance on scrolling stages towards the end. There's one stage where you just have to guess a proper path, and if you choose wrong, you die. It's not fun. Furthermore, each world has a hidden item you need to gather to reach the true final boss. You usually get this through solving a neat puzzle, but it asks you to go through so many unfun challenges to make it to the item towards the latter levels. Despite all of this, the game never gets that hard. It's still Kirby after all. But the efforts at increased challenge unfortunately result in less fun. It hits the right strides many times, but where it flops can hit some pretty hard extremes.

It's still better than DL3, which had really bad movement for some reason. I still enjoy KDL2 fine. I think it's one of the worst Kirby games, but that's more a testament to how good Kirby games usually are.

I'm not a fan of WL3 at all, but like Zen, I remember very little since I played it ages ago when it got put on 3DS. I am Unending to go through the series again at some point since I think my tastes are pretty different now.

Never played Mario Tennis, but the story mode sounds cool, so I'm interested.

Tag

Just checked, my Mario Tennis characters were at 99/88 (then I did one exhibition match and earned enough exp for 2 levels so they're 99/90 now).

#17. Pokmon Puzzle Challenge (2000)
Total Points: 19
List Appearances: 10
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/0621d5dd.jpg

Write-up provided by tazzyboyishere
Panel de Pon is one of my favorite puzzle games. I never played it until it was on Nintendo Switch Online, and immediately dumped 50-60 hours into it. Trying to quickly move pieces together and chain combos is one of those low-skill floor / high-skill ceiling combos which make these games so addicting. I didn't put in as much time with Pokmon Puzzle Challenge, but I did spend quite a bit of time with it. It's essentially the same game, just with a Pokmon aesthetic, which is always a good thing to put into a game. It came out about the same time as it's N64 counterpart, Pokmon Puzzle League, which will hopefully make the N64 list because I like it a teensy bit more. The skill level needed to get to the true story mode ending in Puzzle Challenge was higher than I could hope to get to. It follows the same general path as Gold & Silver, so no wacky plot twists or anything (It's not at all story-focused, sorry if it sounds like I'm saying it is). But yeah, Panel de Pon is awesome, and this is a perfect pairing aesthetic-wise.

Sorry that's the first update, I'm just now getting to the computer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we-knxWLGSk

#16. Metroid II: Return of Samus (1991)
Total Points: 19
List Appearances: 11
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/cbc7f55a.jpg

Write-up provided by tazzyboyishere
The second entry in the Metroid franchise is one of the more interesting games to come out of Nintendo in the early 90s. Typically speaking, the best Gameboy games were scaled back significantly from their counterparts, yet Metroid II takes an opposite approach, refining a lot of the flaws present in the original and converting most of its best ideas into better ones. The largest barriers to enjoying this game are still the same as prior; that being the lack of an in-game map and the sparse visual differentiation. Metroid II fights the further complications of lacking a color pallet and having Samus take over a much higher percentage of screen real estate. It combats these limitations by making the campaign a far more linear experience, with much clearer goals toward progression. Areas rarely branch off in confusing ways and significant portions of the map are blocked off by a deadly acid to ensure you stay on track. More than anything, Metroid II is a game which relishes in the concept of depth. You fight some of the weaker Metroids closer to the surface, but as you go deeper into the core of the planet, the Metroids become more confined and more powerful. It all culminates in a relatively empty final area where the true dangers of this species are laid bare right before you eliminate the Metroid Queen and the younger Metroids surrounding her. A lot can be said about how well Metroid II presents its story and atmosphere, and it is especially impressive given that this is, in fact, a Game Boy game from 1991. I don't know that many games had taken such an artistic approach at this point, but Metroid II was an honest effort at creating something far more engaging than what initially appears on the surface. The final sequence of guiding the hatched baby Metroid to your ship as a somber tune plays in the background will forever be etched into my brain. MercurySteams eventual remake of the game would unfortunately botch this ending, but we were fortunate to receive a worthy rendition prior to it, even if Nintendo doesnt want you to know about it. But hopefully that can be a story for another day!

#15. Pokemon Pinball (1999)
Total Points: 19
List Appearances: 14
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f5b27d5e.jpg

Write-up provided by LightningStrikes
Releasing at pretty much the height of Pokmania, Pokmon Pinball sounds like it should be a cheap cash-in but actually offers a surprisingly robust take on both pinball and Pokmon mechanics. Like many pinball games of the time the game offers two tables (Red and Blue of course), but in addition to regular pinball mechanics each has a variety of different Pokmon to catch and add to your Pokdex like in the main games. All 151 from Red and Blue are here, and theres even an evolution mechanic. The two different tables also have a variety of locations from the games (Pallet Town and so on) that have their own Pokmon to catch. The Pokdex mechanic adds to the usual pinball aim of simply getting a high score and gives you a longer term goal to work towards. There are also bonus stages that take the form of what are effectively boss battles with certain Pokmon, again putting a fun twist on the pinball concept. Of course the actual pinball mechanics are great as well, and genuinely impressive in terms of visuals and physics for the Game Boy Color (if not quite realistic). It would be remiss not to mention the rumble feature - the cartridge had its own rumble powered by a battery that further makes this game seem like something that shouldnt have worked on that system. Overall Pokmon Pinball goes far above what it simply could have been to make whst is still one of the best Pokmon spin-offs to date.

I'm not sure why I never owned Pokemon Pinball as a kid, at the height of Pokemon being the coolest thing ever. I've still never played it! I should really go back and play the classic Pokemon games I've never played before.

Out of curiosity, what's the classic/color split on the list?

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

The writeup is also missing any mention of the 9 minigames, 8 of which are relatively fun score challenges (although of a few of them are trivial to max at 9999 points which limits their replayability).

Don't recall playing them much. If you're that much of an expert you could have submitted your own write-up.

azuarc posted...

Out of curiosity, what's the classic/color split on the list?

11-9 classic I believe

Already gave my honest opinions about the two I made the writeups for, though Metroid II is a game I more retroactively enjoy thinking and talking about as opposed to actually playing it. It's so cool, but it's hard to actually recommend because of how strongly the limitations impact the ease of play. One of those games where it can be hard to find the value, but if you can get into it's awkward methodology of storytelling and ludonarrative harmony, it's one of the better gaming experiences you can have.

Virtual pinball games are really hard for me to get into, mostly because pinball as a concept doesn't interest me at all, but also because the physics of one never really feel natural in video game form. I played a lot of Pokemon Pinball when I was a kid, but just remember being aggravated by it more than anything. Tried it for a couple hours somewhat recently and couldn't really enjoy it now either. Pinball games seem very niche on the whole, and it's one that I can't really get into, even with a Pokemon aesthetic tacked on.

I will hopefully get some updates sooner today, but I won't be able to do any updates until after work (about 5 Central time).

GAME GEAR LISTS ARE DUE BY 11:59 CENTRAL TIME TONIGHT

Will be released tomorrow morning.

#14. Super Mario Land (1989)
Total Points: 20
List Appearances: 12
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/79ba6b7e.jpg

Write-up provided by LightningStrikes
Launching alongside the Game Boy in 1989, Super Mario Land faced the difficult challenge of bringing the gameplay of Super Mario Bros on the NES to a portable system a fraction of the size. Rather than simply make a slimmed down black & white port though, Super Mario Land represents a different take on the series in many ways. None of the enemies or characters other than Mario return (instead of Peach and Bowser its Daisy and Tatanga), the worlds look different with Moai, Pyramids and Japanese temples, and even the genuinely impressive music mostly eschews the recognisable themes for wholly original tunes (and for some reason, the power star theme is the can-can segment from Orpheus in the Underworld). Instead of arcing fireballs flowers give you diagonally bouncing powerballs thanks to the limitations of the hardware. Perhaps most impressively there are vehicle-based shmup sections, including in the final boss, and the games boss battles do offer more variety than those of Super Mario Bros as well as offer a bit more challenge and excitement. This all adds up to not just being watered down Super Mario Bros but being its own thing and being very good at it. The game is very short at just 12 levels; a casual playthrough can take less than an hour. But despite its brevity Super Mario Land offers a fun, still unique take on the Super Mario Bros formula.

I'm genuinely curious if Super Mario Land is a game that people really like or if it just wound up on lists because people couldn't think of 20 games - I had no problem thinking of 20 GB/GBC games I liked more than SML, I don't really like SML that much, but I'm curious if it's a game that people do really like

SML1 is in a similar boat to Metroid 2 where it didn't try to "recreate" the existing NES game (literally or figuratively) but tried to be a legit new entry in the series. I'd say that Metroid did it better. SML was a valiant attempt but overall I don't think that it turned out that great. Certainly not as good as SMB1 nor as its eventual sequel. Still understandable why people who played it early would grow up with a positive opinion of it.

The nice thing about Super Mario Land is, its around an hour long to beat and just released on NSO, which means I was able to play it in full before doing my writeup. So I can confirm that its a good game! Does a lot very different to Super Mario Bros which I liked. Its only real issue is how short it is. As far as mainline Super Mario games go its on a lower level but not the lowest.

It actually got fewer placements than the last couple of game so people must have been ranking it highly too.

I didn't even know there was a Panel de Pon Pokemon on Gameboy. Neat

#13. Metal Gear Solid (2000)
Total Points: 22
List Appearances: 6
First-Place Votes: 4
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/70a11fec.jpg

Write-up provided by Snake5555555555
Utilizing a top-down, isometric perspective similar to the earlier MSX2 entries, Metal Gear Solid (or Ghost Babel, the superior Japanese name), was a game that went back to the franchises' roots and delivered one of the best experiences you could have in the series, all on a hand-held. It takes incredible cues from the PS1 game to create a substantial experience, and as usual a cast of rogues that have some cool designs even if the plot isn't always the most interesting. It wouldn't be the last time Metal Gear had a handheld entry, and it would only continue to try and expand on what the consoles entries were offering, and Ghost Babel is an impressive first step to this day.

#12. Mega Man V (1994)
Total Points: 24
List Appearances: 8
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d9403169.jpg

Write-up provided by tazzyboyishere
The Game Boy Mega Man games were fairly well-known as being quite derivative of the main series. That is, until Mega Man V came out. Though I feel it's more known for it's rarity (Complete collections cost well over $1000), it deserves to be discussed within the same realm as it's NES counterparts. It has the same feeling as Mega Man 6 where playing in a certain order can allow you to access alternate routes and even find optional hidden items. It's a very cool feature I like about 6-8 that got blown up a bit too much in the Mega Man X series. The weapons aren't all that memorable, and the difficulty can be a bit unbalanced in places, but this is a strong entry in a strong franchise. AND you get a cute-ass robot cat named Tango.

Super Mario Land is on my list because I enjoyed it. The music is great, the level design is fun, the enemies are memorable and different, and I put more time into than many other games around the time I had it (at least before Pokemon). I much prefer it to Super Mario Land 2 at any rate.

I really hoped that Metal Gear Solid would reach the top 10, but it says a lot about the game when 4/6 who had it on their lists had it in first place.

#11. Kirby's Dream Land (1992)
Total Points: 25
List Appearances: 15
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3668c81b.jpg

Write-up provided by jcgamer
Back where it all began for Sakurai and his little pink puff ball. Pretty impressive that he created the character at age 19. He wanted to make an easier platformer alternative to Mario, and wow did he succeed flawlessly. This game can be beaten in under 15 minutes once youre familiar with it, but its still incredibly fun and replayable over 30 years later. It may seem primitive for fans of later Kirby entries - you cant absorb enemy powers, for example - but for me, the simplicity just adds to the replayability. If you want a quick, low-stress platformer with a delightful aesthetic, look no further. Or, press Up+A+Select at the title screen for a new adventure.

Super Mario Land is fine. I didn't vote for it. Pretty average platformer. Wouldn't say it's bad but I don't really care much about it. I think it was actually the first game I beat and taught me that video games have endings, which is pretty special all things considered.

Never played MGS

Mega Man V I already talked about, but I'd probably put it around Mega Man 3 in my mainline ranking. One of the better ones for sure.

KDL is always a fun time. I like it better than KDL2 despite it having no power absorption. Just a really solidly built platformer.

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