Game Boy Pocket Area
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Nintendo's Game Boy Pocket: Small in size, big in features!

About the Game Boy Pocket - a biased review by Chris Pickett


Nintendo's widely popular Game Boy is the best selling portable game system in the world. Despite the fact that the Game Gear, Lynx, TurboExpress and now the Sega Genesis Nomad are all in color, Nintendo keeps making record sales with their little black-and-white system.

To top it off, the best selling portable gaming system got smaller, better and at no increased cost to the consumer. Good things can come in small packages and Nintendo's Game Boy Pocket certainly qualifies that statement.

I guess some of you are saying to yourself "Hey, you've already got two Game Boys, what the heck do you need with another", and I might be saying "Shut up". Now onto the Game Boy Pocket.
Oh: Don't ask, I'm not selling either of my other Game Boys.

True, I have a Game Boy platinum, also known as an Original Game Boy. Heck, I even have the original box. Then I have the black Play It Loud series Game Boy. The Play It Loud series is just Game Boy in colors, or clear(lacking color). Remember, black goes with everything. Then there is the Game Boy Pocket, which also comes in colors. I got the silver one since I like silver. Sort of goes with my color scheme.

The Game Boy Pocket is roughly 33% smaller in all dimensions. It's thinner, narrower and shorter, yet the screen is still the same size. I think the screen has also gone through some improvements because it appears larger and brighter, requiring less light than the Game Boy. The images appear larger, but I think this is sort of at psychological response to the smaller screen, but it is definately brighter in my opinion.

Smaller means less power. The Game Boy Pocket claims 11 hours of battery life from a pair of fresh alkaline AAA batteries. While this is roughly a third of the life of the 4 AA batteries in a regular Game Boy, this isn't bad and that's a LOT of game playing.

Other changes include a new Game Link port. The new connector is smaller. You'll probably want to order an adaptor cable so you can use it with your Game Link cable, assuming you have one. Other changes are the swapping of the sides. The volume and game port are on the left side now, while contrast is on the right. Also, the volume works in reverse of the regular Game Boy. The contrast and volume wheels are smaller than the original sized Game Boy.

While I'm on the topic of smaller, even the D-pad and A, B, Start and Select buttons are smaller. The AC adaptor is also smaller, and now located next to the headphone jack. Oddly enough Nintendo didn't change the size or location of the headphone jack, but that's a good thing as the next size down is 3/32" and those break real easy.

Overall, if you like your Game Boy, you'll like the Game Boy Pocket better. If you are a large person, or have large hands, or are prone to lose things, you'll be better off with the larger Game Boys. Other than that, Nintendo improved upon a good thing. If you have a Game Boy and want a second, get a Game Boy Pocket. Thinking about getting a Game Boy? Might as well get a Game Boy Pocket.



Games and accessories that I have


Game Boy:


  • Tetris

  • Yoshi

  • Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

  • Kirby's Pinball Land    [Completed]
    Select+RIGHT+A  Play bosses, can't die
    If you did this right, a black cat(?) will walk from Left to Right at the high 
    score screen.
    Select+LEFT+B  Play bonus rounds.
    If you did this right, a white cat will walk from Right to Left at the high score 
    screen.

  • Kirby's Dream Land     [Comleted]
At Title Screen:
Select+UP+A  Tougher game
Select+Down+B  Cheats and soundtest.

  • Kirby's Dream Land 2

  • Donkey Kong                [Completed]
    Level Select Code: At Title Screen: Up, Up, Down, Up, Down, Up, Up, Up

  • Donkey Kong Land

  • Mortal Kombat            [Completed]
View List of moves.

  • Mortal Kombat II         [Completed]
View list of moves.
View a 45K FAQ on Mortal Kombat II

  • QIX
    To turn off the sound, hold LEFT and press START at the title screen.

  • F-1 Race(4 players at once)

  • Dr. Mario

  •  Centipede/Millipede

    

    Game Boy DX(Dual Mode: Color and B&W)
    

  • Tetris DX

    

    Game Boy Color
    

  • Mario Tennis

    

    Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket/Light and Game Boy Color Accessories
    

  • Original Nintendo GameBoy Link cable

  • 2 Nintendo GameBoy Pocket/Color Link cables with adaptor for older Game Boy units


    

    Game Boy Advance
    

  • Super Mario Advance (Japanese)

  • Super Mario Advance (American/English)

  • Bionicle

  • Tetris Worlds

  • Super Mario Advance 2

    

    Game Boy Advance Accessories
    

  • Gamester Floodlight snap-on display light/Screen guard

  • Nintendo Game Boy Advance Link cable

  • Nintendo E-Reader

  • Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Advance Cable
    • Save money on sound for your corporate events.