Another Shooter With Space-Sounding Words in it: Solar Striker, Game Boy 1989

Solar Striker is a very, very simple vertical scrolling shooter released for the Game Boy in 1989, by Nintendo. By Nintendo standards the game is simplistic and boring, but it was one of the first shooters released on a system facing a glut of puzzlers and platformers.

I could be rough on Solar Striker, whether for its single, endlessly-repeating musical track, it’s lack of an interesting power-up system, or its easiness. I beat half the game on one try, and I was tired. However, I won’t be rough on it. Solar Striker is actually perfectly suited for the Game Boy.

First of all, it’s very simple. No giant bombs to clear the screen, no real power-up system, and very lackluster backgrounds (including some decidedly non-“solar” looking backgrounds like a highway lined with trees) are the order of the day. The upside, however, is that unlike Gradius (reviewed below) the Game Boy can actually handle it. There’s no lag or slow-down at all, making the controls feel as quick and responsive as an arcade game.

The predetermined enemy patterns and relative lack of bullets (you’re more likely to run into something) make it reminiscent of Tecmo’s Star Force, an arcade and NES classic. Making up for easy levels, however, are a variety of surprisingly well-rendered and challenging bosses, including a base-and-core boss where stationary guns fill the screen while you have to shoot a stationary, protected core.

And let’s not forget, Solar Striker is 1989! For such an early title, it’s really not bad at all. For a veteran gamer who cut their teeth in the arcades, Solar Striker is not even worth a look. But for an inexperienced gamer or a kid – who was the main Game Boy consumer in any case – it’s a decent, even good, game that recognizes the limits of the console and delivers a fun and playable, if ultimately forgettable, shoot-em-up experience.

Final Rating: 7/10
Final Comment: Eminently playable and fun shooter, though too stripped down to be a nostalgia-inducing classic. Reminds me why it's a good thing we moved beyond the Game Boy.

1989 - Year of the Game Boy

Welcome to 8-Bit Mind! Here, I will discuss retro games from the 8 and 16 bit era, both console and handheld. Some will be ubiquitous classics, others infamous piles of crap, still others hidden gems and forgotten but fun titles. Let us embark on the journey.

Every time I review a game from a new platform, I’m going to first give some commentary on that platform. Here goes.

Hopefully not mirroring the quality of my new blog here, I’m making my first post about the decidedly mediocre Nintendo Game Boy. Mediocre, you say? The system that revolutionized gaming by making it handheld!? Actually, that honor belongs to the deservedly-forgotten 1979 Milton Bradley Microvision (don’t pretend you’ve heard of it before).

Still, the Game Boy was the first console to actually deliver half-way decent portable gaming to the masses. This I will freely acknowledge. But the Game Boy has not aged very well. It’s small, low resolution monochrome display means that even on an emulator the games still feel cramped and lacking in detail. Graphics, of course, do not make the game – witness the enduring popularity of the pixel mess that is most Atari 2600 games – but Game Boy games by and large tried to be NES games, which the system was not quite capable of. The result is decent, even fun games, but games which usually introduce no innovation and are entirely forgettable.

And you could say the Game Boy accomplished its purpose almost flawlessly. With a nearly 10-year lifecycle, it’s one of the longest-surviving consoles in gaming history. And its mediocre library is due not to the fact that Nintendo lacked creativity, but that as primarily a kids’ platform, it was perfectly acceptable for the Game Boy to merely mirror the NES rather than innovate in its own right.

One more note – some of the best Game Boy titles came in series all bearing the word “Land”: Donkey Kong Land, Super Mario Land, and Kirby’s Dream Land. Odd coincidence, or conspiracy? While you figure that out, I’ll begin my first Game Boy review.

Final Rating: 7/10
Final Comment: Though the Game Boy hasn't aged well, its important role in a whole segment of the video game industry can't be ignored. This is its real achievement. A decent number of great titles are the icing on the cake.