Sure, we've seen a lot of puzzle games on Game Boy—and I do mean a LOT of puzzle games. And there are so, so many more to come. But every once in a while, one rises above the morass to merit attention, and that's precisely what we have with Vic Tokai's Daedalian Opus. Despite the opaque name and misleading box art, Daedalian Opus takes a decidedly different approach to its puzzle design. It centers on a refreshingly simple premise that results in complex, challenging puzzles. Sure, you can dabble in the same basic concept with the puzzle boxes in 3DS's Monster Manor Streetpass game, but that's haphazard and random. This is the real deal, and it's a remarkable and addictive puzzle. Bonus: It appears to have been made by the same people as NES cult classic Clash at Demonhead.

♫ It's Popeye the vid'ja game

(Not the one Nintendo made)

It's not entertainin'—

My good mood is wanin'

From Popeye the vid'ja game ♫

Those blockheads at Kemco give us another cartoon-based game that has no substantial connection to the property. Snoopy's Magic Show is only a Peanut's game because it has Snoopy on the box; otherwise, it's just another in a long line of unremarkable and poorly designed puzzle action games for Game Boy. I know, right?

As we enter the holiday season, Game Boy World gives us reason to celebrate at last: Not only a game that doesn't incorporate a single puzzle element, but a well-made and quite high-quality one at that! Mercenary Force puts a unique spin on the shoot-em-up, not only in terms of mechanics but also with its setting. It's wicked hard, but so good.

Ah, here we go. A true Game Boy classic. Capcom's ambitious debut for the platform brought the Ghosts ’N Goblins series to the world of portable entertainment, but not in a way we'd ever seen before.

Perhaps in acknowledgement of the limitations of the hardware, Capcom shifted the focus away from Arthur's hopeless action quests in favor of a slower-paced, RPG-tinged adventure featuring the bane of every Ghosts ’N Goblins fan's existence: A Red Arremer named Firebrand.

Despite an iffy localization and the inevitable content censorship that a game revolving around satanic hosts had to accept under Nintendo's religion-free regime, Gargoyle's Quest expanded the scope of the Ghosts ’N Goblins universe... and it brought legitimate excellence and ambition to Game Boy. An essential selection.

Game Boy World is made possible through viewer support through Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite). And please check out the needs list if you have any old Game Boy software you've been wanting to get rid of (especially boxes!): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sbFYQ4JtxkgFoL3eo_xd6NuI4r_wH1BUQv21f_rI3pg/edit?usp=sharing