Review: Gameboy/Gameboy Color on 3DS Virtual Console

There are a couple of neat features in the 3DS Virtual Console editions of classic Gameboy and Gameboy Color games that add some value to the service.

The tricks described here work for all Gameboy and Gameboy Color games on the 3DS.

• When loading the game, while the "Nintendo 3DS" flash screen is still visible, hold the select button down to boot the game into a 1:1 pixel ratio matching the original console. It will be surrounded by a Gameboy (or Gameboy Color) border, and increasing the 3D slider will add a little depth to the display as if the screen sits behind the plastic lens of a real Gameboy.

• Letting the game load without holding a button will display it in full screen (with black borders to the side to maintain the correct aspect ratio). This is a matter of taste - the 1:1 pixel version is a lot sharper, whereas the full screen version suffers from a little blur, but has some very nice smoothing so it still looks good, and makes the most of the screen real estate of the 3DS.

• In classic Gameboy games only (the monochrome ones - this is irrelevant to Gameboy Color games) holding L and R and tapping the Y button will change from the default greys to a green that is supposed to hark back to the original console's four shades of green. However the shades look wrong to me, a little dark perhaps, though this may reflect my preference for a lower contrast setting. An added bonus (a touch of Nintendo genius) is that in green mode the graphics suffer a little motion blur as they did on the classic Gameboy

• Back in the day Gameboy games benefited from a stereo soundtrack, though until the DS range Nintendo's handheld consoles only had one speaker, so to enjoy the full benefit you would need to use headphones. Now on Virtual Console you are playing on a machine with two speakers!

• A final benefit of playing the Virtual Console version of these games comes with the suspend feature of the 3DS console. Hitting the home button and exiting the game will create a "save state" that means you can continue where you left off. No more relying on your last saved location. Games without saves can now be continued whenever you like. Games such as Tetris, which would lose your high scores when the power went off, can now effectively save all your scores (though sadly the original Gameboy Tetris is no longer available on the eShop - the main downside to digital game stores).

These are great alterations to the classic games that, coupled with the low pricepoint of most games on the service, make it essential that you check out the 3DS Virtual Console.

Are there any other benefits to the Virtual Console versions of games that I've missed? Mention them in the comments below!