Are all the original Game Boys so green?!?

[gumbyandpals]

I just bought an old game boy, one of the grey brick DMG-01 models. Granted it's been about 15 years since I owned one, but I do not remember the screen being so green. I remember it as more of a blackish brown on yellow, not green on sickly green.

Maybe I was just so happy to have a game boy back then that I didn't care.

[BlackDS]

nope, gameboys have always been green.

[MrRoboto19XX]

I think you may just have the contrast set to be really dark. The lighter the contrast is, the less green it looks (at least to me that is). If it looks incredibly green, the contrast might just be really high (or low, whichever means "dark").

[gumbyandpals]

I've messed with the contrast. I'm sure my memory is just bad and I've been living with a gameboy pocket too long.

[Push Upstairs]

Always been sickly green.

Full of motion blur too.

[Arkhan]

I've messed with the contrast. I'm sure my memory is just bad and I've been living with a gameboy pocket too long.

your memory isn't bad.

My gameboy right here, is that blackish on brownish you describe and always has been. Though I've seen ones that are spinach green also. So who knows!

I describe it as poop green on piss yellow.

[ccovell]

GameBoy Pocket & Light use a brownish-grey screen. The original (full-size) GameBoys were always spinachy-green.

[chrisbid]

you could always hit yourself in the head with a dead squirrel

[DreadIsReal]

you could always hit yourself in the head with a dead squirrel

Lol. Great stuff. I'm going to watch Mallrats now.

[ShinobiMan]

you could always hit yourself in the head with a dead squirrel

LOVE the game gear commercial reference!

For those who have no idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVL3uW9uV4E

[allyourblood]

I have a handful of the original Game Boy, and some of the screens are pale yellow, while others are a very deep green. I always thought it had something to do with how much sunlight the display has been exposed to, but I can't say for sure. I prefer the yellower screen, myself.

[csgx1]

For me it's hard to go back to the original gameboy with all the other gameboy models that came out afterward.

The green screen or "non color" screen doesn't bother me, but its the blurry motion that does.:yipes: Adds another dimension to the challenge.

[scooterb23]

I've owned a Game Boy since day 1, and swear I've never once noticed motion blur. Either that, or it never bothered me.

[skaar]

I do remember them being more yellow and less green... maybe they aged funny.

[Push Upstairs]

I've owned a Game Boy since day 1, and swear I've never once noticed motion blur. Either that, or it never bothered me.

I've been playing GB games on a GBA and when I went back to the GB (easier for me to hold).

Holy crap, that blur is worse than I remembered.

[Arkhan]

I've been playing GB games on a GBA and when I went back to the GB (easier for me to hold).

Holy crap, that blur is worse than I remembered.

reminds me of when you go back and play a PSX game for the first time in like 5 years and go HEY, WHEN DID THE GRAPHICS GET ALL CHOPPY

[gumbyandpals]

For those who have no idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVL3uW9uV4E

His game boy is yellow and black. I'm thinking that the layer behind the LCD changes color over time from light yellow to a darker richer yellow. The LCD display is sort of bluish black and if you mix blue and yellow, what do you get? Green.

(The LCD is blocking reflected light so we're dealing with subtractive color combinations in case anyone tries to point out that blue light and yellow light don't make green)

[Push Upstairs]

Playing "Road Rash 2" after not playing it for years.

I recall the motion blur from "back when", but I guess it was tolerable because there wasn't any real alternative. You either played your games on the GB or you didn't (this was before the Super Gameboy).

Now there are options, and the GBA has a screen that is leagues better.

[Enigmus]

you could always hit yourself in the head with a dead squirrel


Might have to drink out of the toilet after that, also.

[Aussie2B]

I always thought it had something to do with how much sunlight the display has been exposed to, but I can't say for sure.

I actually noticed that sunlight screwed with my Game Boy's screen as a kid. I'd often leave it on a chair that was in direct sunlight from a window next to it. I can't remember the exact effect, but I do recall that it was temporary. But I did soon get in the habit of either leaving it elsewhere or turning it face down. I wouldn't be surprised if it could be permanently damaged if it was in sunlight frequently over the long-term, though.

As for motion blur, anybody who needs a refresher on how bad the Game Boy can blur only needs to pop in Donkey Kong Land. It's nigh unplayable on the original Game Boy (despite that I managed to beat it that way through memorization and inching along awkwardly through the stages). I feel the Game Gear has even worse motion blur, though, and it's a damn shame we still have to put up with it even with the PSP.

[gumbyandpals]

As ugly as the green screen is, I find it better for motion blur than my game boy pocket.

The green gives it more contrast and you can see the action through the blur a little better.

I tried playing super mario land 2 on my pocket and was pretty frustrated, but found it much easier on the original.

Perhaps nintendo had their reasons?

[Push Upstairs]

I think the screen tech was just not there. Or it was, but it was really expensive.

[snester]

Yeah, I too find it very difficult to go back and play on an original Game Boy green screen now that I'm spoiled by improved technology. I remember buying the Super Game Boy SNES adaptor when it first came out and loving every second of it. There are only a handful of Game Boy games that I think really stand up today though (Link's Awakening, Wario Land, Tetris, Metroid 2), and I find those games much more fun to play on a TV through my SNES. Super Game Boy even looks okay on a plasma screen.

[Mobius]

LOVE the game gear commercial reference!

For those who have no idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVL3uW9uV4E

Hey, I think that's Randy from My Name is Earl.