For most people the GBA is the real first Game Boy that they ever knew. Then the Dual Screen up to the current generation. But for me the Game Boy Color is where all of those fun childhood memories come from.

I was a little older than the majority of my pier group, and maybe that is why the GBC is where my fond childhood memories reside.

I got the GBC as a hand me down from my cousin. He had a bunch of games including Metal Gear Solid which was deemed too mature for me and I had to play it by sneaking it out of the cabinet where it was kept hidden from me.

Alas my handheld has long since passed away but I still have the games.

Which led me to make a purchase a replacement.

Somehow it didn’t feel right when I had it in hand but it plays like I remember it but it still feels some off. Though I was told I was just remembering it wrong.

I would disagree, however, about it feeling like my old Game Boy.

Things that I have noticed:

For one, and I do not believe that this should work, you are able to press opposite directions, good, but not at once. I think that this is due to no pivot mechanism, when you press on the D-Pad. This is due to the missing pivot under the pad. What I have found is that this makes it way too easy to press your diagonals. But what it also does is that it guves you this experience that is overall feeling more than a little cheap. Plus it offers you a lot less control than the old D-ad.

I once read that the amazing D-Pad that you find on most Nintendo consoles is because Nintendo owns a patent on the pivot mechanism.

On top of that, all of the on device buttons as well as the D-Pad feel rather stiff and click when pressed. I think that this is mainly due to the amount of travel, Game Boys prior to the SP had a much softer travel that wasn’t clicky in the slightest. Even then the SP as well as the other consoles that Nintendo produced after it that did use this clicky button method had virtually no travel which countered it out.

Next the screen that comes with this one is also prone to scratches something that none of my old Game Boys had a problem with.

But being able to play those old classics, I still have MGS for GBC, is really nice.