Despite the limitations of the hardware, these Game Boy games proved to be surprisingly deep experiences.
The Nintendo Game Boy is often remembered for its simplicity, short play sessions, basic mechanics, and the fight for any inkling of illumination you can get to combat its lack of back-lighting. But these limitations of the console only encouraged some developers to let creativity and ambition flow in ways that weren’t always obvious at first glance.
Several Game Boy titles went above and beyond expectations, delivering shockingly layered gameplay systems, deep stories, or thoughtful design decisions. Here are the most surprisingly deep Game Boy games that deliver more than just pick-up-and-play fun.
The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
The first handheld Zelda title made the bold decision of not taking place in Hyrule or having the titular character in it. Core gameplay was the classic mix of top-down exploration, dungeon crawling, solving puzzles, and collecting items. But Link’s Awakening also introduced side-scrolling platforming sections, a choice that worked surprisingly well and added a new layer of variety.
It wasn’t just gameplay innovations either; the story starts simple but slowly reveals a multilayered dreamworld narrative that questions the very nature of reality. With an ensemble cast of side-characters, each with their own set of quirks and endearing interactions, Link’s Awakening incorporates a trading quest that spans a large part of the game. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening wasn’t just ambitious for the hardware; its themes of bittersweet endings and impermanence were far more mature than expected from a handheld Zelda game.
Final Fantasy Adventure
A game with many names, Final Fantasy Adventure has players take control of a young gladiator who escapes captivity and gets pulled into fighting to protect the Mana Tree. Featuring a wide range of weapons that can affect the environment, such as axes that can cut trees, and a progression system that was incredibly deep for a Game Boy title, featuring magic, stats, and equipment. There was a lot more to this game than meets the eye.
Themes of betrayal, loss, and personal growth make way for a full-fledged fantasy story.
