One of the Game Boy's early releases also happens to be one of its best.

Nintendo's little gray brick enjoyed one of the longest lives of any system to date, outlasting its rivals and finding its way into the hearts of gamers the world over. Following a very basic logic, a system with a long lifespan will typically have a large amount of titles worth your time. In fact, games were being released for the original monochrome system over a decade after its arrival. Such a feat is reserved for only the most powerful console juggernauts, such as the NES and PS2.

So the question is: what makes a Game Boy game great? Developers took many different routes in terms of portable game design, with foundations ranging from simple Tetris-esque puzzlers ideal for short bursts to full fledged epics such as Link's Awakening.

In this reviewer's opinion, the sweet spot for a Game Boy game falls in-between but leans closer to the latter: a game that can be enjoyed in short bursts and doesn't require a consistent commitment, but offers the relative depth and features of a home console game. In other words, a game where enjoyment isn't quite bound to either short or long playing sessions but feels perfectly fine with either.

Capcom's superlative Gargoyle's Quest manages to locate this sweet spot with ease.

Remember that red jerk who invariably takes away Arthur's armor (and often his life) in the original Ghosts 'n Goblins? Well, Capcom decided to give him his own game. Firebrand - for that is his name - must set off on a quest to return peace to his homeland (kind of an unexpected goal for a supposed villain, eh?) While your first instinct might be to throw the former-antagonist into the first pit you encounter as an act of revenge, most gamers will immediately discover that Firebrand sits atop an incredibly satisfying adventure.

In fact, Gargoyle's Quest was one of the pioneers of genre-blending. Even while the RPG and Action genres were still being defined, Capcom took a chance on a bold new format. And like virtually all of Capcom's late 80's / early 90's efforts, the game is a pure dose of old-school splendor.

The primary gameplay of Gargoyle's Quest is an incredibly tight action platformer. Firebrand jumps pits, clings to walls, tackles moving platforms, and fights enemies. What sets the action segments of Gargoyle's Quest apart from the many other games of this genre is Firebrand's hovering ability. He can hover for a limited amount of time, which not only helps him cross gaps, but also to set up well-aimed shots on enemies and bosses. Through the two fairly simple abilities of wall-climbing and hovering, Gargoyle's Quest immediately distinguishes itself from other action games of the time. Controlling Firebrand is devilishly fun - horrendous pun intended.

But that's not all; the other half of the game involves RPG-like gameplay: Firebrand visits towns, talks to locals, collects items, goes on brief fetch-quests, and all the other staples of early RPGs. He also levels up his shot, lifebar, and hover-time, adding a slight Metroid flavor to the mix. For example, a fallen bridge that leads to a new area isn't accessible until Firebrand upgrades his hover time far enough to cross the gap.

Gargoyle's Quest also showcases one of the not-so-romanticized elements of old-school gaming: the random RPG battle. While traversing the map, Firebrand will occasionally encounter a random battle, which takes him to a very small stage in which he fights a small handful of enemies using the platforming game engine. This can be slightly annoying, but it's comparatively rare to something like Final Fantasy. Also, the map areas aren't ridiculously large as to guarantee many random battles.

While the graphics and audio are somewhat typical of the time, the puny 8-bit system does a great job of conveying the mood of Firebrand's world. The music has a creepy 'church-organ-playing-at-night' feel to it, and fans of Ghosts 'n Goblins will recognise several familiar themes. Similarly, the sights are grim and drab, painting a portrait of a grim world. Though static screenshots might not be terribly impressive, most who play the game will find that the atmosphere has been set quite well.

Some may be turned off by the password system, but this comes with the territory. And even the most anti-password types can appreciate that Gargoyle's Quest avoids all of the pitfalls of many other systems: there's no zeros (to avoid confusions with the letter "O"), the passwords are short, and you maintain all of your items. For a game from before the time that battery-operated saves was standard, you really can't ask for much more. Plus, it means that you can track down a second-hand copy of the original cartridge without having to worry about the battery being dead - after all, this game is two decades old now.

Firebrand saw two more adventures, both of which are equally exquisite. The Gargoyle's Quest II on the NES plays much like the first but extrapolates all of the fun into a slightly better adventure and Demon's Crest on the SNES is one of the most criminally overlooked and under-appreciated games of all-time.

Beautiful in its simplicity, satisfying in its depth and assured in its execution, Gargoyle's Quest is almost a painful reminder of how good games used to be, and is a solid indication of how potent a gaming platform the Game Boy was, even during its fledgling years. A truly timeless release that should be experienced by gamers of all ages.