Nintendo seems to have decided to step up its Game Boy catalog. Being one of the least cared for consoles within the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service, today they have announced that they are going to release three classics from the platform. Moreover, they are already available for all interested parties. What are these games?
Alleyway was one of the games in the initial Game Boy catalog, which was also very successful. It is a game in the style of Breakout or Arkanoid, where we have to destroy blocks with a ball, and we control a bar to bounce that same ball. The peculiarity of Alleyway is that Mario is the protagonist of the game, although he never appears characterized that way in-game. But hey, it was ’89: the covers were the graphics of the time.
Another one of the games to arrive, also from the initial catalog, is the legendary Baseball. A fun recreation of this sport, much more popular in the US and Japan, which will probably be the one that goes unnoticed the most among the new additions.
The jewel in the crown of the new titles is, without a doubt, Super Mario Land. Published in 1989 and not only being one of the titles in the console’s initial catalog, but also its main selling point, it is an excellent 2D platformer that adapts Mario’s classic gameplay to the small screen of the Game Boy. All this while introducing new enemies, powers, and some small twists in level design that are still very original today.
In addition, in Japan they will also receive a fourth game, which never came out outside of Japan: Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru. Translated as “For the frog the bells toll”, this game inspired by “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway, is heavily inspired by the second and third The Legend of Zelda, and in fact, it would serve as the basis for what would later become The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.
Although we can only enjoy the first three, it is an excellent selection that shows that Nintendo is paying more attention and care to the Game Boy. Even if we have had to wait for the Switch 2 to be on the horizon.
