Nintendo's Game Boy player brings the portable world of the Game Boy to the big screen. Check out our Australian review.By most estimates, Nintendo's Game Boy line of portable machines is the most successful console brand in the history of video gaming. Portable gaming has its problems, though, most notably small screens, speakers and controls. The Game Boy Player is Nintendo's solution to those problems; a small black add-on base unit for the company's struggling GameCube console that allows any Game Boy, Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance game to be played in full-screen glory with the large and responsive GameCube controllers.
This isn't Nintendo's first foray into big-screen Game Boy gaming glory; it attempted this strategy with mixed results some years ago with the "Super Game Boy", an add-on cartridge for the Super Nintendo console that allowed classic Game Boy Games (and a smattering of games designed for the Super Game Boy) to be played on any TV screen. Likewise, a variety of third-party hacks have allowed consumers to connect up the Game Boy Advance to TV screens, although the Game Boy Player's solution has two distinct advantages over the third party solutions; firstly, it doesn't involve opening up your Game Boy and thus voiding your warranty, and secondly, it allows for the use of full-size controllers, or the GBA itself if you're that way inclined.
The hardware side of the Game Boy Player is fairly straightforward; a base unit that screws onto the bottom of the GameCube via that system's expansion port, and a boot disc for the GameCube to allow it to recognise the extra hardware. Boot from the disc with any Game Boy, Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance game and you're set to play. Well, almost any Game Boy game, anyway; games that use vibration or tilting features within the cartridges won't work, and although we weren't able to test it we'd be honestly very surprised if the ill-fated Game Boy Camera functioned properly. At the very best, you'd be able to take photos of your memory cards with it, and who wants or needs that?
The use of a boot disc does allow you to keep the unit on your GameCube while not actually using it, but it does make us wonder if Nintendo will sell the discs separately to owners who've lost or damaged their boot disc. Without the boot disc, the Player unit itself is just a 1 inch high GameCube stand.
Our only complaint with the physical hardware of the Game Boy Player is that the cartridge slot is a touch fiddly to use as it sits on the base of the system. While it wouldn't be as aesthetically pleasing, we can't see why it wasn't placed on the side of the system as an L-shaped lump of plastic; that'd still reach the expansion port but make game insertion and swapping a great deal easier.
Once booted, you can switch games, change from a normal to full-screen stretched resolution, adjust the screen focus and choose from a variety of different frame designs for the borders of the screen. It's also possible to set a timer for play, although this is rather easily bypassed and doesn't really work as a strict parental control. It's also possible to switch between games without needing to reboot the unit, although there's no facility to save game progress to GameCube memory cards. You can always save to those cartridges that support that functionality, however.
We tested the Game Boy Player with a wide variety of Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges, and for the most part were quite impressed. Graphically some games don't resize terribly well; the incredible visuals of the GBA Tony Hawk games look quite mundane stretched out, and it reminded us how terrible some very early Game Boy games looked. Likewise if you're used to the Game cube's high quality audio, coming down to the Game Boy's bleepy tones can be a bit tough, although it can make some games sound better than through the equivalent Game Boy speakers. Button layouts can be switched on the fly to suit your tastes, and the unit worked flawlessly with Nintendo's excellent wireless Wavebird controller.
The other neat trick up the Game Boy Player's sleeve is that it also acts as a fully functional Game Boy Advance unit, so if you have multiple systems -- and we'd be surprised if anyone buying the Game Boy Player didn't already have a Game Boy of some sort -- you can use it in conjunction with other systems for multi-cartridge play, depending on the requirements of each game.
Ultimately we suspect that the Game Boy Player will be a tool to sell more GameCubes than a tool to sell more Game Boys; it adds a couple of thousand titles instantly to the struggling console's library, and is useless without a GameCube. Nintendo's working quite hard to push the linked GameCube-Game Boy Advance feature set in games such as Sonic Advance 2 and Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and the Game Boy Player appears to continue this formula. So, should you buy one? If you've got a sufficient library of existing Game Boy titles that you'd like to play in slightly more comfort, then it's worth consideration. Likewise, it's an excellent way to expand the Game Cube's rather small library of worthwhile games if you're already an owner of that system, and cheaper itself than buying a Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Advance SP
Nintendo Game Boy Player
Company: Nintendo Australia
Price: AU$99.95
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: (03) 9730 9822
Available: 20/6/03
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