Super Game Boy: Information from Answers.com Mobile

Super Game Boy

Release Date: 1994
Genre: Adaptor
Style: Cross-Platform Adaptor

Accessory Description

The {*Super Game Boy} is an accessory for the {!Super NES} system that allows players to play {!Game Boy} cartridges on their console. In addition to serving as a platform converter, the {*Super Game Boy} also plays {!Game Boy} games in color. (The {!Game Boy} system itself only allows for monochrome graphics). {!Game Boy} games produced before 1994 will only appear in a simple, four-color style. Certain games published after the introduction of the {*Super Game Boy}, starting with {*Donkey Kong}, are programmed to display an eight-color palette when plugged into the {*Super Game Boy} converter. In addition to adding color, the {*Super Game Boy} can add borders and other visual effects to {!Game Boy} games.

~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Every "normal" Game Boy cartridge will be able to display up to four colors on the screen at one time, from a possible 32 palettes or color schemes. Once you power up the system, you'll be able to choose any combination you want or even edit your own if you're not happy with the default scheme. Games designed specifically for use with the Super Game Boy (they'll have a logo on them) can offer more colors.

Since the Game Boy image does not appear on a full screen (it's presented within a window), one of nine pre-designed borders will be displayed, including a likeness of the Game Boy casing itself. Games optimized for the Super Game Boy can also offer their own borders, such as a replica of the arcade casing or scenery from one of the levels. Now here's where the creativity sets in: you can also draw your own background and assign custom colors using a built-in editor. If you have an SNES mouse, you can use it to manipulate the cursor, making drawing and painting significantly easier. Only one small problem: there's no way to return to your created borders after the console is turned off!

The big question is whether it's worth it for current Game Boy owners or those curious about the system. If you have a Game Boy, you'll obviously lose the portability function by playing the game on TV, but it is much easier to see the action and you won't have to worry about the infamous blurring that happens in most scrolling action games. The screen is also substantially larger and the ability to assign color schemes will breathe new life into many of the older titles you have sitting in the closet. Yet if you primarily purchased the Game Boy to take on the road for vacations, there's really no need for it.

Now if you've never owned a Game Boy system before and are debating whether or not to see what you've been missing, let me make something perfectly clear: for the most part, you haven't missed much. Most Game Boy games are lacking in graphics, sound and depth, especially compared to similar titles on the SNES. Yet there a few games you won't find anywhere else: Metroid II, Wario Land, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Final Fantasy Legend, for example. True fans of these series will undoubtedly want to experience them no matter what format they're on.

Another thing to consider is that Game Boy games are on average 10 to 15 dollars cheaper than Super Nintendo games, so it might not be such a bad investment. All in all, the adapter does exactly what it sets out to do: provide a method for playing Game Boy games on the television screen. The fact that it adds some color while doing so is just an added bonus.

~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide