Video Works by Jeremy Parish

 

Another journey into Game Boy obscurity, Taxan's Serpent is an updated take on the classic old Snake game that has appeared in countless variants through the years. To my knowledge, though, this is the only one that involves snake-seeking missiles and serpentine war robots.

Direct download: 042_serpent_itunes.mp4
Category:Video Games -- posted at: 11:59am EDT

 

Are you ready for some football? "But which KIND of football?" you ask, trying to get me on a technicality. Ah, but I've covered my bases: This episode concerns both kinds of football, each of which saw its Game Boy debut in April 1990. From Konami, NFL Football does it up American-style; and from Sony, Soccer Mania does the Euro football thing. They may concern two different forms of football, but these two Game Boy releases share something in common besides a debut month: They're also both pretty awful. Hoorah!

Direct download: 041_NFL_Football_itunes.mp4
Category:Video Games -- posted at: 11:43am EDT

 

This is it: The soaring high-water mark of Game Boy technology. You might not expect it from a humble conversion of a 1978 arcade game, and the original Japan-only release of Space Invaders would bear out that assumption. But when Taito and Nintendo reissued the game in the U.S. four years later, they created the most elaborate and complex piece of Game Boy software ever. It's one of those things you need to see to believe.

Direct download: 040_Space_Invaders_itunes.mp4
Category:Video Games -- posted at: 11:41am EDT

 

Pack-in Video's Trump Boy is the sort of game that would appear these days on 3DS eShop without ceremony for $1.99. Back in the Game Boy days, though, we didn't have digital distribution, so this meager excuse for a card game collection showed up as a full-price release. Our thoughts and prayers go to anyone who shelled out ¥3000 for this clunker.

Direct download: 039_Trump_Boy_itunes.mp4
Category:Video Games -- posted at: 11:39am EDT

The first of several Gundam games to appear on Game Boy, Kunitori Monogatari is pretty much the living definition of "substandard licensed game." The Gundam license can't save this one... especially since the license in question is a spinoff of a spinoff of Gundam rather than the real thing.

There's not much to this game: You spread across the map with a cumbersome, turn-based menu, attempting to recruit various robot samurai through asking or conquest, and ultimately assault the enemy daimyo's palace. Daimyo are hilariously overpowered, though, so every war appears to end in a draw when both sides run out of robots to throw at the other castle. Great stuff, clearly.

Direct download: 038_SD_Gundam_itunes.mp4
Category:Video Games -- posted at: 11:37am EDT

 

Can you believe it? Another Game Boy puzzler. Another port of an old PC game. Another Japan-only release. Yes, Flappy Special is basically the quintessence of Game Boy games from 1990 — the sum totality of all that is GB. And yet, despite its redundancy... it's actually not too bad. A pleasantly doomed portable experience.

Direct download: 037_Flappy_Special_iTunes.mp4
Category:Video Games -- posted at: 11:36am EDT

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