Coily's back, and he's hell-bent on making Q*Bert's life miserable. But the jumpy little orange fellow has plenty of help: the wizard Z!La shows up occasionally to give him a boost (namely an extra life), and points (plus another extra life for each one) are awarded for rescuing some wayward triplets from Coily's clutches. Anything green is fair game - and anything else is deadly. (Hasbro Interactive, 2000)

The Game Boy has already seen one adaptation of Q*Bert, when Jaleco turned out a rather nifty little game based on the arcade original in 1993. Despite that game's B&W graphics, it was pretty addictive, and made numerous changes to the game's traditional pyramid playing field. Hasbro's new full-color Q*Bert also makes changes, very much in line the PC and Playstation retro revival released around this time last year.

The new Q*Bert has an Arcade mode and an Adventure mode. The former has no specific goal other than surviving as long as possible, but oddly enough, it takes place on an ever-changing series of playing fields which bear little resemblance to the arcade game's pyramid. In the Adventure mode, helper characters such as Z!La and the Triplets appear, adding a free life for every one captured. The Adventure mode's playfields are even more complicated, and jumping off the edge isn't all that uncommon.

In both modes, there's waaaaaay too much Slick & Sam for my tastes, which can drag a single level out into a 15+ minute session as you chase the little green buggers down and try to change the cubes back to the target color. 15 minutes or more for one level alone. Too much, guys, too much!

Overall, however, the Game Boy Color edition of Q*Bert offers some interesting new adventures for the nosed one, which will remain challenging even for veterans of the 1999 version of the game.

Rating:  Four quarters - a couple of minor irritants, but mostly a compelling and addictive game.

Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster