Gargoyle’s Quest: Graphics so (un)real you’ll forget (remember) it’s only a game

This post isn’t about to bury the Game Boy, which was a quantum leap forward in handheld video gaming back in its day. Anyone who had one in the early 1990s knows of which I type, that that little screen was a window into new worlds.

But come on, ad. I mean, really.

I have no personal experience with Gargoyle’s Quest. While countless hours were wasted on Dr. Mario, Super Mario Land, the murderous Punisher game and the Double Dragon port (after spending roughly one billion dollars in quarters to conquer the arcade version), it was never in the array of tiny cartridges that whiled away lazy afternoons. Those listed titles were great, though, and a lot of fun. But never in all that wasted time did I pause the gameplay, sit back in my bed and think, “Gee, these graphics sure are real.” If you got past the greenish yellowy screen, then yes, the graphics were as good as they could be in this sepia toned milieu. But real? No.

So apologies to Gargoyle and his quest, but we have to go all Lloyd Bensten: We know what looks real. We’ve played Game Boy games. You, Game Boy game, are not real-looking.