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Merge Game Boy Reviews?

Posted: June 21st, 2019, 5:08 pm
by VideoGameCritic
Currently I have three separate sparsely-populated sections for Game Boy (original B&W), Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance. Does this make any sense? Are they separate portables or just an evolution of one?

I was thinking I could put them all in the "Game Boy" section, and then qualify each title with (GB) or nothing, (GBC), or (GBA).

Thoughts?

Re: Merge Game Boy Reviews?

Posted: June 21st, 2019, 6:29 pm
by Voor
For some reason, I tend to think of GBA in its own category, though I don’t really know why.

Re: Merge Game Boy Reviews?

Posted: June 21st, 2019, 6:46 pm
by Atariboy
I always thought of the GBA as the true next-generation.

Game Boy Color on the other hand always felt more like today's Xbox One X or Playstation 4 Pro. Just a Game Boy that was refreshed with extra power primarily to provide for full color Game Boy gaming, much like how the XB1X and PS4P boost frame rates, resolution, and sometimes provide HDR for compatible games.

Nintendo themselves are partly responsible for my perception with all those black cartridges that were marketed as Game Boy Color games, but also played on the original Game Boy as well. They don't even differentiate with their historical sales statistics and such, with Game Boy and Game Boy Color sales numbers simply lumped together.

I don't follow your icons, but if you were to merge the Game Boy and Game Boy Color sections (Which I'd support), you may want to differentiate the games to denote if they were Game Boy (Those in gray cartridges), Game Boy Color enhanced (i.e., the black cartridge releases like Link's Awakening DX), and the Game Boy Color exclusives in clear cartridges.

A Super Game Boy icon also could be useful for those that take advantage of your icon system to sort your reviews in a particular way (Myself, I always seem to overlook the icons despite their usefulness).

Re: Merge Game Boy Reviews?

Posted: June 22nd, 2019, 1:37 am
by Retro STrife
The GBC is often considered part of the original Game Boy line, so I think it's perfectly fine to group the two together if you prefer. Plus, some games could work on both systems, but had color features if used with the GBC - so that makes it harder to decide what category to put it in if the two are separated. If you group GB and GBC together, I like your idea of putting (GBC) near the color games and nothing near the GB games. I'd be in favor of this grouping.

As for GBA, it is considered to be a separate line, so I wouldn't group it in with GB/GBC.

Re: Merge Game Boy Reviews?

Posted: June 22nd, 2019, 2:41 am
by LoganRuckman
GB and GBC I would be fine with, but GBA clearly runs on different hardware and is a very different system. GBA needs to stay as its own category.

Re: Merge Game Boy Reviews?

Posted: June 22nd, 2019, 8:36 am
by pacman000
Color games will not play on the original Game Boy, so they should be in separate categories.

Advance games will not play on the original or color Game Boys, so, again, they need to have their own category.

Re: Merge Game Boy Reviews?

Posted: June 22nd, 2019, 8:46 am
by GTS
Keep them separate. I don't see any benefit of combining them.

Re: Merge Game Boy Reviews?

Posted: June 22nd, 2019, 10:57 am
by goldenband
I'd request that you keep them separate. GBA definitely shouldn't be combined with GB/GBC -- they're as different as the Master System and the Genesis, or the 2600 and 7800, or PS1 and PS2. All backwards-compatible but all distinct.

I personally strongly prefer having GB and GBC separate, because their libraries are so distinct and represent different eras in gaming. Yes, there's some overlap with the grey cart games like Montezuma's Return that will run on the monochrome Game Boy, but generally the type of game you see on GBC is so substantially different that the distinction is well worth making.

I'm perennially frustrated by a website I use that lumps GB and GBC together -- it makes it annoyingly hard to find what I'm looking for, or to keep straight in my head which games were GBC-only.

BTW don't worry if the sections for those portables are sparsely populated. I, and maybe others too, view those sections as almost something of a bonus, since console gaming is the main focus of the site.

Re: Merge Game Boy Reviews?

Posted: June 22nd, 2019, 12:03 pm
by VideoGameCritic
Thanks for the feedback guys! I think you've made a good case for keeping them separate. I have quite a few Game Boy reviews in the pipeline, not included the two I posted today. That should help fill out the sections.

I kind of like reviewing these old portable titles because they have simple graphics like the Atari 2600 and NES. Doesn't take long to review them.

I kind of wish I had stocked up on the carts 10 years ago because they can be pricey when you buy one at a time.

Re: Merge Game Boy Reviews?

Posted: June 22nd, 2019, 12:11 pm
by MSR1701
I would vote for keeping them separate. While the core of both the Game Boy and Game Boy Color is very similar, there are technical differences between the two that justify the difference. Aside from just color, the main system of the GBC is more advanced than the GB and supports larger carts. Conversely, I personally find the classic GB has better music than GBC games; this seems to be due to the system resource usage of the GBC more than a redesign of the hardware.

In addition, there are several games that are on both GB and GBC that would be best reviewed separately, as one would any given Madden game that was released on several systems (16-bit Madden, specifically). In the Game Boy's case, here's a few games that have different games between the two systems:

Klax
Defender/Joust
Aladdin
Lemmings
Centipede
Tetris/DX
The Legend of Zelda - Link's Awakening (I personally feel the classic GB version is superior even without color, due to several nuances (skippable text!!!) and glitches that make replaying fun)
Wario Land II