Monopoly brought to the Game Boy the famous board game about buying property, collecting rent, and trying to bankrupt the other players, complete with support for multiplayer via link cable. The game faithfully copies the rules of the classic original – players move around the board, buy spaces, build houses and hotels, and try to build economic dominance over their opponents, including computer-controlled rivals for single-player games who offer differing levels of aggressiveness in negotiation and building strategy. The game can also be played with several human players connected via link cables, which comes close to the experience of a classic family game around the table, just without having to lay out paper money and plastic buildings.
On the monochrome display, the game board is simplified but clear, and the interface lets you track everyone's finances and property without unnecessary switching between screens. The game keeps the pace of classic Monopoly, meaning longer matches full of negotiation and tactical decisions about when to build and when to save money, which sets it noticeably apart from the faster action titles available on the handheld and offers a completely different kind of gaming experience, built on long-term planning and negotiation rather than quick reflexes and immediate reactions.
Monopoly for the Game Boy is valued today mainly as a convenient way to play the classic social game on the go without needing to carry a board and pieces, and for collectors of licensed titles it represents one of the best-known board-game-to-handheld conversions. Even after all these years it remains playable thanks to simple, well-known rules that require no learning curve and will appeal to players who played the classic board version as children and want to play it away from home too, say on a train journey or on vacation.
Why play it: For anyone who wanted classic Monopoly on the go without a board and pieces, this conversion offers simple, familiar rules that will appeal to players who grew up with the board-game version.
Game 83 of 147 for Nintendo Game Boy
