There’s a lot of ways to make a game special and grab the eyes and hearts of the playerbase out in the multifaceted world of gamers. You can make it sleek, cool and dangerous. You can have it contain a plethora of recognizable characters from other IPS and then have them all going HAM on each other. You can make yet another cozy farming sim, because there just aren’t enough. Or, in the case of Goodboy Galaxy, you can craft an adorable protagonist, give him a truly unique approach to his world, and then chuck the whole thing in a time machine to go back twenty years in the very real sense of the world.

Before anything else about Goodboy Galaxy, I want everyone to look closely where this review takes place. This isn’t a Nintendo Switch game. This isn’t a Steam release or a Game Pass darling. This is a title that was built, from the ground up, for the Game Boy Advanced, in 2021. This was put on Kickstarter, enough people went “sure, I somehow want to play this GBA title when my Switch can run Skyrim,” and then the developers actually did it and did it well. Now it’s out there, on physical Game Boy Advanced cartridge, and legal roms for those of us who didn’t want to dust off their GBA SPs. Well, also, it’s really hard to get screenshots on my GBA Micro and I wanted to make sure I got photos that did this game justice.

Goodboy Galaxy is the tale of Maxwell the space dog, who gets blown off course by some unknown interloper while traversing the stars. Crash landing on a small science base, Maxwell immediately begins to seek the means to repair his spaceship and return to Canus Major. In order to get the necessary parts, Maxwell must explore the planetary system around him, and each planet has some unique power sources that seem to interfere with his equipment. Nevertheless, Maxwell will persevere and help not only himself but also the fine folks that he encounters on the way, while also dealing with a mysterious trio of bears who seem to be up to something truly diabolical.

There have been a lot of metroidvanias this year, including the beautifully brutal Worldless and the fishy fortune of Pronty, but I haven’t played one quite like Goodboy Galaxy in quite a long time. Each planet, Maxwell must pass through one of three gates in order to explore the area, and the gates will take one of his abilities: his blaster, his jetpack or his shield. Removing one forces the player to change up their approach in this side scrolling, pixel loving adventure, and every time is a great challenge without being too difficult. You can still jump sans backpack, but you can’t quite reach the heights. No shield means hazard terrain is totally uncrossable unless you’re very light on your toes. And no blaster leaves you defenseless initially, though some upgrades might give you the means to at least make some stand against foes.

The process by which you explore and unlock the worlds requires a lot of back and forth, and, for the most part, it works out well. There are indicators on each planet for when you should revisit a particular area and gate in order to do something new, and there’s never a moment where you’re left scratching your head about where to go next. While the game certainly doesn’t hold your hand, it guides you gently, making sure that players who are attentive will know, with some certainty, what to do next. And hey, if you don’t, there’s always just going somewhere and hoping for the best.

Controls for Goodboy Galaxy are ideal for the GBA, and I cannot recommend enough to play on a device that allows for multiple inputs at once. There are moments of split second reaction in order to reach certain platforms, race against timed gates and to dodge flames/lasers/bad stuff in order to survive. Players need to be able to comfortably manipulate shoulder buttons and joystick/face buttons at the same time. I attempted the first few levels on no fewer than five devices (iPhone with Gamesir X2, PC with Xbox Controller, Powkiddy V90, Data Frog SF2000 and Game Boy Micro with…means) and the tactile feel is vital for effective gameplay. Pass on touchscreen emulation, you need buttons for this good boy.

Being able to capture the joy of action of a Game Boy Advanced game is no small feat, and yet here we are, with a game that feels as fresh and innovative as Golden Sun, Minish Cap, or Metroid Fusion. Goodboy Galaxy understands how to not just make another game that has running and gunning, but something that presents itself in a singularly special light. Boss fights use cunning and patience to mix things up, sometimes taking up multiple screens. The map loops back around seamlessly, allowing for the limitations of the hardware while getting players to think creatively to move forward. Even the cutscenes, which are wildly brief compared to the cinematics of modern consoles, captivate players as the tone and energy conveyed in brief moments of animation grab your attention with the force of a bionic arm.

Also, be sure to play this on a smaller device if possible, because the visuals and sounds of Goodboy Galaxy are most loved on a portable handheld. Blown up across a PC display is more than alright, but the chunky pixels show their edges too much and it can distract from how complex and beautiful the worlds are. Shrunk down onto a proper three inch display, you marvel at the color choices and smoothness of how it all coalesces into this funky, dynamic setting. Each world has its own style, from beach relaxation to jungle madness, and the music – which reminded me startlingly of Donkey Kong Country – brings you along on the journey of a lifetime.

As Maxwell discovers more and more, he’ll also encounter a host of characters who are, to reuse one of my favorite words, DELIGHTFUL. There’s a ghost who’s lost her four babies (and doesn’t know what a ghost is). There’s the retired pop star who has a snack food addiction. The frog couple separated by a mountain impasse. Every single NPC has fewer than a handful of read lines, but it tells me so much about the personalities and differences throughout this star system that I can’t help but want to meet them all, and not just because that’s the most important fetch quest in the game.

Besides needing to get parts and pick up various items to unlock new items, Goodboy Galaxy specifically wants you to make friends: sixty-seven to be precise. Some will simply give you friendship because you also like vegetable pancakes, or because you’re a dog: a certain little girl is just over the moon over meeting a dog in a space suit (and who wouldn’t be). Others want you to finish their quest, like surfing on a giant leaf to prove your righteousness, or to gather up a bunch of herbs strewn across the planets. Yes, some friendships come as a result of necessary item unlocking, but some just want to be friends.

This, more than anything, is the secret sauce of Goodboy Galaxy. You could have still made a fantastic metroidvania jam packed with weapons and secrets, but the tone and life keeps the game engaging throughout. You can easily skip some of the side missions, but I really wanted to see what it was like for Maxwell to end up co-owning a hotel. I wanted to catch all the fish and spite the father of the current caretaker. I got excited when I saw an NPC on the screen, and made it my mission to go say hi. Goodboy Galaxy puts you in a dog’s mindset, and that is something utterly wonderful to behold.

Lastly, I have to praise the Goodboy Galaxy development team for their packaging as well. Yes, they are selling cartridges if you’ve still got the hardware, but the download package has everything a player could need even if they’ve never done emulation. You’ve got a ready to go zip that you can run without even knowing what Retroarch is. You’ve got a rom file to drop wherever you do your business. And they even included a pre-compiled CIA file if you’ve spent enough time with your 3DS to know what to do with it. THAT’S a fantastic level of consumer understanding, and I love that they included this for all of us out there excited to play legal roms.

Yes, Goodboy Galaxy might not be for everyone. Yes, there’s a Steam and Switch release in the works that is far easier and probably better looking. Yes, not everyone is a dog person, and that’s okay. But this game is perfectly programmed for the GBA enthusiast, the retro lover, and the ones who love something wonderful and sincere. This game was a surprise of the highest magnitude, and one of my favorite GBA experiences in decades. It really goes to show that you can teach a new dog old tricks, and those might be some of the best.

 

Graphics: 8.5 Pixelated perfection, this is a love letter to the older generation of handheld gaming. Amazing design from characters, cut scenes and items, it’s a visual feast for those who love the retro aesthetic, but arguably looks much worse on a large screen device.	Gameplay: 9.0 A smart take on the metroidvania approach with tight controls, great recall of new and old items and challenging division of areas, equipment and story posts. Can be confusing initially, and the ask for creative thinking can be a burden for some.
Sound: 9.0 Robustly symphonic while still keeping within the realm of the GBA chipset, a score of different atmospheric choices that literally change as you gain/lose equipment always kept my ears perked for cues that would delight and surprise me.	Fun Factor: 10 It takes a lot to make a game on a old system relevant today, but Goodboy Galaxy scratches the same itch that Infernax gave me last year, reminding me that video games are a medium like paint or clay, and sometimes you need the right pixels to properly tell a story. This is joy in doggy form.
Final Verdict: 9.0

Goodboy Galaxy is available now on Game Boy Advanced, with PC and Nintendo Switch ports coming soon.

Reviewed on multiple retro handhelds.

A copy of Goodboy Galaxy was provided by the publisher.