Examples Nintendo's Game Boy > NES?

[Nintegageo | 582]

A port / same IP, which titles do you think were awesomer with the Game Boy?

As an example, I think Link's Awakening is superior to either NES Zelda title.

[RH | 4,894]

I'm probably wrong but I had Duck Tales for the Game Boy.  It was my second favorite GB game as as kid.  I've tried to play the NES game.  It's the same, sure, but I always went back to the GB version.  I actually like the sound of the GB tunes better too.

You are right about Link's Awakening being better than Zelda on the NES, but that's not apples to apples.  Link's Awakening is more closer to LttP and should be compared to it as a contemporary.

[Tulpa | 3,488]

Donkey Kong is superior on Gameboy. So is Burgertime. But those were "deluxe" versions of the game, and the NES ports were decidedly mediocre.

I don't think the core game of Tetris is better on GB, but the Game-Link offers a two-player experience the NES game lacks.

Gargoyle's Quest, while not being a balls out arcade experience that Ghosts N' Goblins was, does have some cool RPGish elements that GnG doesn't have.

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by Tulpa

[Tanooki | 4,929]

While not the same franchise as it didn't exist, style is close enough, but Faria -> Final Fantasy Adventure.

Crystalis on GBC is better (debateably music aside) than the NES release

Shadowgate vs Shadowgate Classic GBC

DejaVu vs DejaVu1+2 on GBC

Dragon Warrior 1 2 and 3 on NES vs the GBC upgrades

Double Dragon on NES is crap, but the GB one far closer mimics the arcade

Kid Dracula(FC) vs the GB ...GB just is marginally better

Prince of Persia on NES was ok, but the GBC one looks a little nicer, controls a bit better too

(I'll probably get skewered on this but...) Wizards and Warriors on GB was more fun and handled better though more linear

Bubble Bobble on GB (1 and 2) were more fleshed out and fun than the fairly good NES arcade conversion

(Going to disagree with above) Tetris plays and sounds better on GB than the NES release

Ghosts n Goblins on GBC is better than NES even if visually it's based on it, has password(brutal, saves all variables) but arrange mode

1942 on GBC is more like the arcade than the NES one which is mediocre

Twinbee (1-3) on the FC(NES) don't look, sound or play as well as the GB one (either as there are 2)

...same can be said for Parodius too

Kid Niki vs the true sequel on JP GB Ganso Yanchamaru (same audio/visuals, bumped up, more variety/stages)

It's easy to pick on Metroid and Kid Icarus as the GB games are both superior being well done sequels

Dragon's Lair NES is an abomination, GBC is a conversion of laserdisc...nuf said.

Metal Gear on NES then Metal Gear Solid on GBC, no contest

[phart010 | 1,705]

I found this picture online, it seems to be fitting for this thread. Seems to be missing a few notables like Kirby, Bubble Bobble, Ducktales, the Megamans, etc. 

But it’s nice to look at like this.

Balloon Kid is better than Balloon Fight

Donkey Kong GB is WAY better than Donkey Kong NES.

I personally like Metroid 2 better than Metroid 1, although some may disagree.

 

 

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[Tanooki | 4,929]

Basically a majority of those games in the list above have GB versions of NES games that are superior.  A few definitely not, like TMNT.  Depending how you feel about challenge Ninja Gaiden too.  Yet a lot of them really did it very well.  People love to dump on the GB being an inferior, but they shot for different architecture that could still capture or maybe exceed the NES, and in the end, despite the lower resolution, it often did just that.

[phart010 | 1,705]

I’d have to say, if you’re into Megaman, the Gameboy Megamans are worth a shot. They are not better or worse, just different.

[fcgamer | 4,719]

2 hours ago, RH said:

I'm probably wrong but I had Duck Tales for the Game Boy.  It was my second favorite GB game as as kid.  I've tried to play the NES game.  It's the same, sure, but I always went back to the GB version.  I actually like the sound of the GB tunes better too.

You are right about Link's Awakening being better than Zelda on the NES, but that's not apples to apples.  Link's Awakening is more closer to LttP and should be compared to it as a contemporary.

I always thought Duck Tales handled much better on the GB, control-wise.

[Sumez | 2,929]

2 hours ago, Tulpa said:

Gargoyle's Quest, while not being a balls out arcade experience that Ghosts N' Goblins was, does have some cool RPGish elements that GnG doesn't have.

Wouldn't you rather compare Gargoyle's Quest to.... Gargoyle's Quest 2?

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Double Dragon on NES is crap, but the GB one far closer mimics the arcade

Honestly, Double Dragon NES is better than the arcade version.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Sumez

[Sumez | 2,929]

I honestly think it's hard to find really good GB games overall, so this is an interesting subject. Far too often, Game Boy games were considered cheap budget versions to their NES (or later, SNES) counterparts. Link's Awakening is a strange anomaly, but even then, it barely makes sense to compare that to even the SNES Zelda.

The Game Boy definitely had better Bomberman games than the NES, especially Bomberman GB 3 is a really good game.
It's an unfair comparison though, considering there are 15 other Bomberman releases between those two, including Saturn Bomberman
Bomber Boy was the next real Bomberman game following the first NES one though, and it's definitely better than both NES games. NES Bomberman II is the most pointless game of the series, feeling like a half-assed mix between a port of the excellent PCE title, and a remake of the first NES one, except much worse than both.

It's probably a really hot take, too, but I liked the original GB Kirby better than most of the sequels, including the NES one. The ability to get enemy powers is fun, but the original feels so much more skimmed and streamlined for not having it. You had to actually approach boss fights with a strategy rather than just wailing on them. And the "secret" hard mode is genuinely challenging.

[Strange | 1,700]

Kirby’s Dreamland 2 is one of the best games on the Game Boy in general, I think it comes out on top vs. Kirby on NES. Not that Kirby on NES has anything wrong with it to begin with, both are obviously high quality.

[WhyNotZoidberg | 585]

Definitely Donkey Kong.

[Tulpa | 3,488]

6 hours ago, Sumez said:

Wouldn't you rather compare Gargoyle's Quest to.... Gargoyle's Quest 2?

I've never played GQ2, so I was staying with the general IP, per the OP.

[RH | 4,894]

I can't believe I forgot Metroid II when I was running through the games I had as a kid.  This game is the only, solid perfect 10 I've experienced on the Game Boy.  No, it's not my favorite but it's a master class in limitation breeds creativity.  Using few words and extremely limited hardware, early on in the Game Boy life cycle, Nintendo crafted an amazing story and an immersive environment.  It's obvious that they learned a lot from the first game and made a near-perfect game for the second one.  I do enjoy Metroid games a lot, but since it lacked the same replay value as games like Duck Tales did, it only makes the top 5 of my personal list of favorite games.  With that said, Metroid II to me is a work of art.

Tetris is another good one that flies under the radar simply because it's so obvious.  I know everyone who had both versions might say the NES is a better experience but I feel like having a small green screen makes you get in the focused zone and all of your attention is tied to those tiny squares that ghost as they cut on and off.  I can still close my eyes and see those streaks of the blocks falling at high-speeds and it evokes a sense of zen.

Then there was the mention of Donkey Kong.  It's almost unfair to even compare the two because Donkey Kong for the NES or even the arcade are completely different games than the Game Boy version.  In fact, I snubbed the Game Boy one because I thought it was a lot like the arcade version, which I never loved.   A friend let me borrow it once and after I got  through the first few stages, I learned it was a pretty in-depth puzzle game and I played it all the way through.  I was hooked and I couldn't get enough of it.  That's extremely rare for me with puzzle-platformers.

[nesmaster14 | 432]

I think Gradius Interstellar Assault (GB) rivals NES Gradius on many aspects.  Really intense intro stage, neat boss fights,good music  and level variety. NES Gradius is still classic though and I don't get tired of playing it.

[croagunk | 798]

I like Yoshi’s Cookie on GB more than NES.

Edited June 9, 2021 by croagunk

[Tanooki | 4,929]

13 hours ago, Sumez said:

Wouldn't you rather compare Gargoyle's Quest to.... Gargoyle's Quest 2?

Honestly, Double Dragon NES is better than the arcade version.

GQ2 smokes GQ1 one, so no.  The game fixes any little annoyances the original had and is an all around better game.  That said GQ2 was a Gameboy release in Japan.  That one does actually if I remember reading right added content.

Not going to agree about that.  DD on NES blows, removed various moves, doesn't handle as well, it's like some weird janky RPG where you have to learn how to do basic moves like the grabs and elbows.  I couldn't stand it.

 

 

I don't get the garbage how Gameboy was the watered down system.  It's a horrible myth that has stuck around for like 30 years.  Early on sure, if you took the look of Super Mario Land vs that of SMB1 or 2 on NES, yeah I can see it.  But a large majority of those franchise conversions were on par or exceeded if marginally so the NES versions.  Sure there are some that are worse, Castlevania Adventure is one vs the NES titles, but then others are quite the opposite like Gradius vs Gradius Intersteller Assault.

[Strange | 1,700]

6 hours ago, RH said:

 

I can't believe I forgot Metroid II when I was running through the games I had as a kid.  This game is the only, solid perfect 10 I've experienced on the Game Boy.  No, it's not my favorite but it's a master class in limitation breeds creativity. 

 

I don’t have anything to add to the Metroid comparison here but I will say the limitations of the DMG Game Boy is what draws me to the system. It’s 2021, every modern handheld is/was in full color. The awkward graphics of the Game Boy Color don’t interest me nearly as much as the black and white only games. I want to see how devs handled the limitations. Show me Gunpei Yokoi’s vision. Except not in green, please.

[RH | 4,894]

7 minutes ago, Strange said:

I don’t have anything to add to the Metroid comparison here but I will say the limitations of the DMG Game Boy is what draws me to the system. It’s 2021, every modern handheld is/was in full color. The awkward graphics of the Game Boy Color don’t interest me nearly as much as the black and white only games. I want to see how devs handled the limitations. Show me Gunpei Yokoi’s vision. Except not in green, please.

I love the OG DMG, but when I want to play in monochrome, I'm going to reach for my Game Boy Pocket.  Not the GBC, the Pocket.

[Strange | 1,700]

2 hours ago, RH said:

I love the OG DMG, but when I want to play in monochrome, I'm going to reach for my Game Boy Pocket.  Not the GBC, the Pocket.

The Pocket is a nice sleek update. I like it a lot. I’ve got an IPS screen DMG which is my daily driver. The grey brick model just has a charm to it for me, but I love both.

[Tanooki | 4,929]

I'll use a GBC with an IPS panel installed.  For pre-GBC stuff and even the GBC hybrid and FULL you can play a bit of trickery too.

Each has 8 screen color modes (and 10 brightness.)  There is the pea green gameboy mode, black and white pocket mode, then a few singles (red, blue, etc) and then the 8th mode.  8th for pre-color is an interesting blend of colors much like a SuperGB game...it's like this soft blue, peach, green, etc setup that's generally really nice.

But what's really neat, GBC and FULL GBC mode won't get that last one, but what it will do for GBC is use that for its own color schemes a GBC will do, but youre NOT stuck to it.  You can go right to the old pea green, monochrome or the others. This even applies to GBC only stuff like Shantae, MGS etc... imagine them in pea green or mono, real Nintendo unhacked hardware won't do that.

 

That's how I play all my GB/C stuff now, on an IPS modded atomic purple GBC.  If that did not exist I'd use the POCKET for the mono stuff, and the GBA for the GBC stuff just to get the backlight as the GBC TFT is kind of dark without direct light.

[Strange | 1,700]

21 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Each has 8 screen color modes (and 10 brightness.)  There is the pea green gameboy mode, black and white pocket mode, then a few singles (red, blue, etc) and then the 8th mode.

The DMG I have has a bunch of colored screens too. I bought it from Supersparkster on Instagram.

[Tanooki | 4,929]

55 minutes ago, Strange said:

The DMG I have has a bunch of colored screens too. I bought it from Supersparkster on Instagram.

Ahh ok I think I saw an example there.  Definitely looks much like what I probably should stop being lazy about and do with a pair of DMGs I have in the closet here.  I'm sitting on 2 of them, 2 SPs that need reshelling, also have a GBC with a mystery surface mounted cap that broke off I need to source because it won't turn on without it.  And that one is modded already to go short of that.

DMGs with the new panels in a pretty new shell if you're into that vs appearing at a glance stock are both really good ways to go.  Keep it 'real' but not too real.  No reason for no backlight and blur when you can get the IPS panel and just run the DMG color mode.

[Sumez | 2,929]

9 hours ago, Tanooki said:

GQ2 smokes GQ1 one, so no.  The game fixes any little annoyances the original had and is an all around better game.  That said GQ2 was a Gameboy release in Japan.  That one does actually if I remember reading right added content.

I think I like GQ2 a little better, but I'm not sure it "smokes" it. They are both very good, with 1 having some slightly more memorably stages, and 2 getting the upper hand simply from color and a bigger resolution which especially helps avoid the cramped boss battles.
Both games are way too short and and easy, and feel like they end before they really get started.

Either way, I wasn't comparing the two, just think it's odd that you'd think of Gargoyle's Quest as the Game Boy representative of Ghosts 'n Goblins, when the spinoff series exists on both platforms as it is, and really has very little in common with the series it spun off of. Also, Ghosts 'n Goblins is way better than either of those  Just not the crummy NES version.

9 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I don't get the garbage how Gameboy was the watered down system.  It's a horrible myth that has stuck around for like 30 years.  Early on sure, if you took the look of Super Mario Land vs that of SMB1 or 2 on NES, yeah I can see it.  But a large majority of those franchise conversions were on par or exceeded if marginally so the NES versions. 

I think this thread already proves pretty well that the franchises that exceed their NES counterparts are pretty rare, and usually came out many years later in the cases where they exist, and have other titles to derive from. Gradius Interstellar Assault/Nemesis II came out two years after Gradius 3.

The Game Boy being "watered down" isn't a myth as much as it's pure circumstance. In terms of hardware, it's just plain logic - a monochrome palette and smaller resolution technically limits most games that aim to be ports of gameplay that you know from the consoles. And the sluggish refresh rate of the original screen meant that the games could not afford to scroll very fast either, which is why you'd also normally have much slower games as well.
Also, these were cheaper games, cheaper to buy and cheaper to produce, they were almost always budget releases for the companies that made them. And in nearly every example of a developer making a "Game Boy version" of a game, they had a clear cut goal of releasing a watered down version, right from the get go. No matter how much you still enjoy the games, it can't really change that.

[peg | 370]

Metroid ii is the best answer I've seen so far.

Gameboy tetris is really good too, but it's not as good as the nes version. The skill ceiling is just so much lower on the gb version.