Have you heard? Nintendo finally added Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games to their Nintendo Switch Online subscription plans. We've already covered the GBA games and will be looking at the Color offerings tomorrow, which means today is all about the original, black and white Game Boy. Right now, Nintendo Switch Online subscribers can download five old school Game Boy titles, including Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Kirby's Dream Land, Gargoyle's Quest, Metroid II: Return of Samus and, of course, Tetris. That's a solid line-up, but are any of these games actually worth playing? To answer that question, I decided to flip through the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro, Computer & Video Games and more classic magazines to see what the critics said about these games when they first came out. I think it's fair to say that now you're playing with power, because this is a Game Boy-filled episode of the Nintendo Switch Online Review Crew.


I don't think I'm speaking out of turn when I say that Tetris is one of the greatest games ever made. Even if you hate puzzlers, you have to at least give it credit for pushing the genre into the mainstream and making everybody yearn for falling blocks. So, knowing just how important Tetris is to the video game landscape, you might expect the reviews to rave about how it's one of the greatest games ever made. Right? WRONG!

Believe it or not, Electronic Gaming Monthly was not nearly as enthusiastic about Tetris as they probably should have been, giving it a shockingly low average of 7.75 out of 10. Now, to be fair, EGM didn't hate the game. Even Martin, who gave the game a 7, called it “the perfect portable game. Believe it or not, the Game Boy version has the best play of all the versions. Be warned, Tetris is VERY addictive.” Ed agreed, but definitely made Tetris sound more niche than it actually was: “A fascinating game for puzzle lovers. One of the best for the Game Boy.” All in all, the Review Crew liked Tetris, just not enough to give it anything above an 8.

Thankfully, that was not a problem for the rest of the critics working in 1989. For example, Nintendo Magazine System gave the game a near-perfect 95% in their first issue. Nintendo Power also came close to giving Tetris a perfect score, however, their 4.8 out of 5 score came almost a decade later, in their March 1997 issue. Computer & Video Games ended up giving the game a 95% and calling it “a remarkably simple concept remains as furiously addictive on this handheld as it is in its various other forms. Definitely one to get your porky digits round.” Um, sure ... whatever that means. The important point is that CVG loved Tetris, which is the right answer as far as I'm concerned.

Of all the Game Boy games coming to the Switch, both big and small, Gargoyle's Quest is easily my favorite. And no, I don't say that simply because it's a spin-off of the Ghosts ‘N Goblins series and my claim to fame is talking about Ghouls ‘N Ghosts on GamePro TV. I say that because it's true, Gargoyle's Quest is a surprisingly great game. And what's even more surprising is the fact that barely any magazine covered it back in the day. In my researching, I found that the typically reliable outlets like Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro completely ignored Gargoyle's Quest at the time, leaving us with some interesting options.

The good news is that this Capcom classic gives us a chance to once again check in with Ace and their baffling one-thousand-point review scale. Giving it an absurd 850, they called it a “tough arcade adventure that may well inflict heavy damage on your battery reserves before you clock it. Shades of grey, black and white (and sickly green) are used superbly to create a vivid arcade adventure.” Their biggest criticism was that players would lose interest in Gargoyle's Quest after a year or so.

The only other classic magazine I could find with a review of this spin-off is Nintendo Magazine System, which gives us this short, low-res blurb of a write-up. “Some pretty good gamesplaying skills are required to make your way around this game's unfriendly platform environment, but it's all very addictive, and should be checked out by hardened platform fans.” They gave it a respectable 80%, at least, I think that's what those pixelated numbers say. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little salty that there aren't more reviews for Gargoyle's Quest. This game deserves better.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the official debut of Kirby. That's right, Nintendo's favorite sucker first appeared on the Game Boy in 1992, laying the groundwork for a long-running franchise that is still going strong to this day. It has all the platforming action of a console game, yet is perfectly suited for the handheld's limited hardware. And despite all this, Electronic Gaming Monthly decided not to review it. Look, I promise that I'm not going to make this a thing, but between Gargoyle's Quest and now this, EGM really dropped the ball when covering Game Boy titles back in the day.

Thankfully, the other magazines decided to step up. GamePro, for example, gave the game a 4.5 out of 5, concluding that “Kirby's Dream Land will make your Game Boy dreams come true with great graphics, a fresh game play concept and hours of fun. Suck it up and take on this adventure. It'll blow you away.”

GamePro wasn't alone with their praise, as Nintendo Magazine System ended up giving the game an incredible 94%. Nintendo Power also liked the game, though gave it a lower-than-expected 4 out of 5. While Rob describes Kirby as being “kind of marshmallowish” and says that it's “geared towards only very young players,” George argues that the game has “excellent play control,” making “Kirby's Dream Land a really fun game.”

Now, I wasn't even going to bring it up, but we need to talk about this Kirby's Dream Land review in Game Players. The first thing you need to know is that this is from 1995 ... and isn't actually about Kirby's Dream Land. I'm pretty sure it's a review of Kirby's Dream Land 2, but they never actually use the number or clarify what game they are talking about. Hell, they even spell the name wrong several times, turning the two-word Dream Land into one word. That's not even the worst of it, either, because they randomly decide to credit Rare as the developer, not Hal Laboratory. And without getting the name right even once and crediting the wrong developer, they ended up giving the game a 70%. Look, I'm going to level with you, I've been reading reviews for a long time, and this is especially embarrassing.

It's hard to believe that there was a time when Metroid wasn't the celebrated and influential franchise that we know today. It was just a solid sci-fi platformer with a surprising gender reveal at the end. It really wasn't until Metroid II: Return of Samus that we started to get a glimpse at what Nintendo could do with this franchise. That's one of the reasons why revisiting this 1991 sequel is so interesting, especially knowing where this franchise would eventually go.

Of course, Electronic Gaming Monthly wouldn't know anything about that, because once again they chose not to review a high-profile Game Boy game. This is just ridiculous. Thankfully, GamePro was there to swoop in with a perfect 5 out of 5 score. “Rarely does a Game Boy cart come along that captures and holds your imagination like Metroid II. It's been a long time coming, but the sequel is well worth the wait.”

Nintendo Magazine System also liked Metroid II, giving it an 81% in their first issue. We also saw Nintendo Power give the much-anticipated sequel a solid 4.3 out of 5. However, the game's highest praise came from an unlike source – Entertainment Weekly. “Like another brilliant sequel, Aliens, Metroid II improves upon the first Metroid by enlarging the terrain and giving its eponymous monsters the ability to mutate, complicating your hero's search-and-destroy mission. With its endless descending caverns and steep cliffs, its mazelike buildings and bizarre alien artifacts, Metroid II gives you the feeling of being trapped in someone else's nightmare – a quality shared by the best science fiction, be it in the form of books movies or video games.” They gave it an A+. Not bad for a Game Boy game EGM refused to review. Okay, I'm going to drop it now.

If Nintendo did anything right with their selection of Game Boy games on the Nintendo Switch Online service, it's skipping right past the original Super Mario Land and giving us the far superior sequel. While it doesn't quite feel like the console games, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins brings a lot of new ideas and innovation to the side-scrolling franchise. It also looks great for a Game Boy game and is criminally underplayed, with many die-hard Mario fans skipping right over it in favor of the flashier console games.

The good news is that Electronic Gaming Monthly's Review Crew were not among the people skipping right over it, because they gave Super Mario Land 2 an average score of 8.75 out of 10 in their 43rd issue. Ed raved that “if there ever was a Game Boy game that was a 10, this is the one. Almost, anyway. Nintendo has literally created a new Super NES version and shrunk it into the Game Boy.” Sushi-X was the only critic to not give the game a 9, though said that it was his favorite Game Boy title. “The large adventure, and huge characters help reduce the horrible blurring of the screen somewhat. I'll have to give the Big N a ‘jo well done' salute for this one. Color would be nice.” Oh Sush, never satisfied.

Across the pond, you saw the UK mags largely agreeing with Sushi-X. N-Force ended up giving the game an 87% in their eighth issue. That's the exact same score Nintendo Magazine System gave Super Mario Land 2 in issue 2. Nintendo Power also liked the game, but could only muster up a score of 4.1 out of 5. George raved that “everything about this game is top notch,” while Rob liked the bunny suit thought it was fun flapping Mario's ears and sending him flying over dangerous obstacles. And then there's Jade who makes this bold prediction: “This game is going to be a big hit.” A Mario game is going to sell well? Way to put yourself out there, Nostradamus.

In case you're wondering, the highest score comes from none other than GamePro, who gave Super Mario Land 2 a perfect 5 out of 5. “Super Mario Land 2 is the most fun found on the Game Boy in a long time. The game play is not affected y the little screen, and some stages are more challenging than their 8-bit counterparts. Super Mario Land 2 is the kind of game that you'll play again and again. With so many hidden stages and so much awesome action, your battery bill will run as high as the plumber's bill. With everything and the kitchen sink included, this cart makes other Game Boy titles seem like sink sludge.” And if that doesn't sway you to download Super Mario Land 2 on Switch, nothing will.