-- by Eric Regan

Welcome to another FANTASTIC edition of the THUMBS. This month I have more of the strange, the weird, the...the...the wonderful world of the original Game Boy! That’s right: five FABULOUS games from back in the day. You know, the day when people didn’t really care about videogames—ESCPECIALLY portable videogames. Sounds like a recipe for success to me!

Dragonball Z : Taiketsu (GBA)

Hey! Waitasecond...this isn’t an ORIGINAL Game Boy game! What is it doing here. Well, sorry, but I lied. I couldn’t rack my brain enough to come up with a fifth a final game for the orginal system to showcase so I threw this CLASSIC in here!

So this is pretty much your basic fighting game. 2D, of course. For what it is, it is pretty good. I mean, it features BOTH kicking AND punching! You beat on your opponent, and whoever does the most damage wins. Simple stuff.

OK, I have to confess some weird stuff does happen when I play this game, like my character flying up into the sky for no reason and all of the sudden unleashing a 10000 hit combo in .34 seconds, which is cool, but still very strange. It is a very good game for portable play, as you can just run through the round of fights and unlock something rather quickly, and then go do something else if you so desire, and THEN come back and play more later!

So, to recap: weird yet mindless fun! WOO WOO.

Captain Eric's Super Thumb says... Thumbs Up!

Yoshi (GBO)

So looking back on all of the fond memories I have of this, I realized something: I have NO fond memories of this game! In fact, I don’t have ANY memories of this game! I am pretty sure nobody else does either, because whenever I ask someone about that old Game Boy puzzle game with Yoshi they are all like "Oh, Yoshi's cookie?" and I’m all like "No! Just Yoshi" and they are like “pfft, you’re crazy, that wasn’t a game, take your damned medication. NO! I SHAN’T. But I will tell you about this oh-so-memorable game.

It sucks. That’s why no one remembers it. It is kind of like a bad version of those gem drop games that are so prevalent nowadays, only with Mario baddies. It sounds decent enough, but you usually find your self falling asleep or dropping your precious Game Boy in desperation as you search for something that will actually provide you some entertainment. (Which would not be Chuck Norris's World Combat League.) This is one of those games where you should prefer not to remember it.

Captain Eric's Super Thumb says...  Thumbs Down.

Yoshi's Cookie (GBO)

OK! Now this is the one everyone remembers. MMmm mMMm mmMM, who doesn’t love themselves some cookies! OK, well, to be honest, I might not like THESE cookies. So, yeah, I really might not be the biggest fan of these puzzley games, but if you do want me to pay attention to your game, you should try something different. Oh, and NOT crappy—that’s the part these puzzle people forget.

Now I DO have memories of this game; of course, they are painful, painful memories of trying to figure out what the hell all the different cookies and those damned lines meant! THE HORROR! THE HOOORROOOOOR of the lines! Puzzle games are supposed to be difficult, but also fun, and usually intuitive. If you can’t figure out how to crumble the cookies, you just aren’t going to play this game too long.

I hate puzzle games. Maybe people enjoy this, but it’s no Dr. Mario! That is for sure.

Captain Eric's Super Thumb says...  Thumbs Down.

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GBO)

Look! Mario is here to save the day! HUZZAH! Well, in a time of lame and tiresome puzzle games that INFESTED the original Game Boy, this was always my go-to game during long trips. It’s pretty much like every Mario game, with Mario running around different stages trying to collect something or another. All the power-ups and other goodies you could ever desire, and everything!

This game does have some cool aspects. You can pick where you go across the large map, so if you start the game over many times, you can still explore different parts and have different experiences. You can also just try to find easier levels if you ever get too stuck. It’s a pretty difficult game and I died TONS of times while playing it. However, that IS my style and I still had a lot of fun with it because it had so many different levels to try even if you can only beat the simple ones.

Captain Eric's Super Thumb says...  Thumbs Up!

Tetris (GBO)

OK, well, I know I said I hated puzzle games, but Tetris isn’t just ANY puzzle game; it is the ORGINAL puzzle game! Everybody loves them some Tetris—it is like in our blood! It still survives today on cell phones and PDAs; if you have something electronic with a screen that fits in your hand, there is a good chance that someone has figured out a way to put Tetris on it.

So what draws us all to this strange game that never ends? For one, the rules of Tetris are simple and do not take very long to explain; you watch a Tetris screen for five and you know what’s going on. You also just want to beat that high score! The simpleness combined with the difficulty and the fact that the game itself just keeps you wanting to come back for more makes this game fun and highly addictive.

So, yeah, everyone has heard of Tetris everyone loves it. EVERYONE! Including you.

Captain Eric's Super Thumb says...  Thumbs Up!

Chuck Norris' World Combat League (TV)

Ugh! Seriously! What is this boring crap that is on my television set right now. I expected better from the one known as Chuck.

Captain Eric's Super Thumb says...  Thumbs Down.

 -- Eric Regan {02-2007}