Nintendo Switch Online May 2024 Game Boy Updates, My Thoughts

Let's take a look!

Super Mario Land

Developed and published by Nintendo, this was a launch game for the original Game Boy. It was released in 1989 in Japan and North America, and in 1990 in Europe and Australasia. It was a departure for the Super Mario series as instead of being set in the Mushroom Kingdom, it was set in Sarasaland. This game marked the debut of Princess Daisy, as Mario in this game would rescue her from the one-off villainous space alien Tatanga. The game would also feature a couple of forced side-scrolling shooter levels in the vein of Gradius or R-Type. 

This game would sell 18 million copies. The game was critically praised for being a well-done take on the platforming icon, but there was criticism of the game's short length.

This game brings me a lot of nostalgic feelings. I got this game for Christmas. I owned a Game Boy, and I think I also had Tetris, but I was obsessed with Mario as a kid. I played the heck out of this game.

Alleyway

Developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo, the game was released in 1989 in Japan and North America, and in 1990 in Europe. Like Super Mario Land, Alleyway was a launch title for the Game Boy.

Alleyway is basically a Breakout clone. You use a paddle to hit a ball and make it break some bricks. The game sold well, but it got mixed to negative reviews. Much of the criticism was from the game having a lack of a save feature and power-ups (like in Arkanoid for example), and level design that was seen as bland. 

I personally enjoyed Alleyway. Mainly because I only played it for short periods of time, and I think that's the best way to play it. The 3DS Virtual Console rerelease does allow saving, so that's a plus. I think this game should be given an enhanced remake with new features. That would be nice.

Baseball

Developed and published by Nintendo, Baseball was released in 1989 in Japan and North America, and 1990 in Europe. This actually was a port of the 1983 NES game. This was another favorite Game Boy game of mine; one I played a lot. Funny enough, I was, and still am, not a big sports fan. Yet, I loved this game.