Conker's Pocket Tales is an action-adventure video game developed by Rare and released for the Game Boy Colorin 1999. It is the first game in the Conker series and follows the story of Conker the Squirrel as he retrieves his stolen birthday presents and rescues his girlfriend Berri, who has been kidnaped by the Evil Acorn. The cartridge is dual-format, allowing it to also run on the original Game Boy with some gameplay differences.
Gameplay
Conker's Pocket Tales follows the story of Conker the Squirrel as he retrieves his birthday presents and rescues his girlfriend Berri after they were stolen and she was kidnaped by the Evil Acorn. The game is played from a top-down perspective, with Conker exploring large environments in an attempt to find all his stolen presents. By collecting a certain number of presents in each area and defeating a boss, players unlock access to the next one. In addition to standard running and jumping, Conker can perform a mid-air ground-pounding attack that can hit buttons to solve puzzles. Conker also has the ability to dig up patches of soft dirt, emerging at another predetermined patch to reach inaccessible areas, and uses a slingshot to defeat enemies or hit distant switches. Puzzles are also solved by pushing blocks into grooves in the floor. The game can be played on both Game Boy and Game Boy Color. However, the layout and some events in the game are different depending on the console it is played on. The game can be paused and savedanywhere when played on a Game Boy Color or later model, but can only be saved at specific save points when played on a non-color Game Boy.
Development and release
Conker's Pocket Tales is the first Game Boy Color game that was developed by Rare. The game was released in North America on 8 June 1999 and in Europe in August 1999.
Reception
Conker's Pocket Tales received generally mixed reviews from critics. In a very positive review, Planet Game Boymagazine praised the game's size and included minigames, stating that Pocket Tales is "a real grower" and that its lengthy lifespan of 20 hours "will fly by." Similarly, N64 Magazine stated that the game is "far more engrossing than you'd expect it to be after dismal start", highlighting its length, puzzles and exploration aspect. Although the magazine concluded that the game is nowhere near as good as , it still considered it one of the best Game Boy Color games at the time of its release.
