I've been debating posting this for a while now, cause, you know, it's a fan boy post. 

The reasons:
- a focus on mechanics, without distractions.
- many games are the best you can find anywhere on any system
- Region-free
- the best, most interesting platform games of all time
- still cheap to collect for. if you are collecting games as an investment, this might not appeal to you, but if you crave the purity of the hobby game boy is right up your alley. Not only because it is cheap, but because many games are a chllenge to find so the treasure hunting aspect is there.
-  Nostalgia. You can final many of the great arcade game versions here.
- pinnacle of puzzle games.

The game boy really does have it all. I first purchased the Super NT to play super nintendo games about 8 months ago. And while I started collecting snes games, I began to think about game boy games. For some reason, the monochrome appealed to me. So, I decided something. I bought a Super Gameboy 2, and collected my first gameboy game, which was Gauntlet 2 and never looked back.
I still kept a few snes titles:
Earthbound, Wizardry V, Robotreck, Yoshi's Island along with SMB Allstars, World, Soul Blazer.
But now I'm scouring the internet for a nice Speedy Gonzales box (I bought a sealed, though crushed box for $5 the day before) and the manager was pissed that his employee sold it to me for that. lol, bugt I'm looking for things like Nail n Scale, Bubble Ghost and a host of other games. 

I mean, basically every reason you give is subjective outside of it being cheap to collect for and region-free.

I've yet to personally play a platforming game on the GB that I'd consider the "best" in the genre, and same w/ puzzle games.

The console has some beloved classics for me to be sure (such as the Final Fantasy Legends and Adventure series), but I can easily name off technically superior games.

It's a great system for the time and it definitely whipped out some amazing games, but I don't think I'd go so far as to call it the best ever, even if restricting solely to handhelds.

Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, Kid Icarus, Bubble Ghost, Elevator Action, Lock n Chase, are all the best of the series. Link's Awakening is damn near the best Zelda game. Have you ever played Battle Bull? Or Great Greed. Some consider Ghostbuster's 2 the best North American version of that game. The original tetris, Super Mario Land 2, six golden coins is pretty high up there as well. Bionic Commando, Mole Mania (can't find that anywhere but game boy). Mega Man V, Kid Dracula, the first kirby, Avenging Spirits (very unique platformer). I mjean I could go on and on with this. The first appearance of Wario. That's not even to mention all of the pokemon games, Balloon Kid, Kwirk.

Also, the cheapness is not subjective compared to collecting for other systems, nor is the fact that many of the games are the best of the series. 

 

Nope, im with gloves

I stated that being cheap is not subjective.

All of your examples, again, I could easily find subjectively "better" games on other systems. Pokemon's 2nd Gen is far superior to the 1st, and is for GBC.

I've not played Battle Bull and it looks like just another game where you push stuff into enemies to kill them - not my favorite style of game. I HAVE played Great Greed and it was no "Great" IMO. 

As I say, it's all subjective. You seem to really like the system and power to you - it IS a great system. I just find it hard to give it the title of "Greatest of All Time" in any regard, personally.

G.O.A.T. kiosk

You can find a better Lock n Chase? Name it. You can find a better Kid Icarus, Wario WAS the first appearance of him.
Since you are interested in Absolutes: name a another puzzle game better than tetris.
The point is, the game boy is generally considered to have the greatest puzzle games of any syteam before or after it (that's not subjective), not only the greatest in terms of quality, but in terms of sheer variety. You may not like puzzle games and that's cool, but you cannot name another system that has more to offer, or more quality.
As far as 2-d platforming is concerned, it could be subjective that Game boy was the best system for it. I personally think it has some of the more interesting ones on the system.
The first Secret of Mana, on the gameboy. 
The first system with Link not in Hyrule, gameboy.
On of the few truly unqiue Mario Games, game boy.
Wasn't Castlevannia legends the first with a female protag in the series. Gameboy.
And while you may prefer other pokemon's, there is no denying that Pokemon for the gameboy made the gameboy the top selling portlable system of all time.

No, gameboy all the way.
 

Lol being the first to do something doesn't make it the greatest, so we can scrap all those arguments off the bat.

We seem to be defining things a little differently though - I am saying that "better" games exist on other consoles for each of the styles of game you're talking about. You seem to be saying "Game Boy has the best version of each of these specific game series". Of course this is purely subjective, in both cases.

Is there a better Ghostbusters game than the one on Game Boy? I dunno - in my experience there's no such thing as a good Ghostbusters game. The on on Game Boy looks boring and at times frustrating on account of the second-player AI. 

A better Lock 'n' Chase? I mean, I'd say Pac Man is better and that could count by the terms you've set in place, seemingly going off "this did it first so it's better". The game doesn't look very challenging or anything and I've not played it myself so can't really speak to that. That style of game isn't my bag - I prefer the simplicity of straight-up Pac Man.

Any puzzle game would be better than Tetris IMO. But I hate Tetris. Boring boring boring. Sticking to Tetris though I'd MUCH rather play something like Tetris Attack on the SNES; it has more features, better graphics, more gameplay modes, multiplayer, the list goes on as you say.

Final Fantasy Adventure I've already spoken to - I love that game. Is it the best in the series though? Hell no.

It seems most of your arguments stem from "Game Boy did it first", and that by no means makes it the best. What does GB being the first system with Link outside of Hyrule have to do with anything at all? Of course it is, he'd only been in what, 2 games prior? It's a very early mainstream console, of COURSE it did things first. 


 

So what system is your: goat then?

I'd say there is no one system. If you wanna ask something like "Which game has the best *GenreX* games?" I might be able to better narrow it down, but to say one console is itself the best of all time just seems silly to me. It's really purely subjective.

If you want to ask which console has the most potential I might go with the Nintendo Switch due to its feature set. Being able to play the same games on the go and on the TV with high resolution graphics in BOTH scenarios is great, and the only thing it really needs to compete is great games (it already has a good few).

Some actual guidelines for what makes a system a goat would help. 

Best handheld to me (ignoring the Switch) would probably go to the GBA SP for both its feature set and the sheer breadth of games available, or perhaps the PSP primarily for the games. I think GBA SP probably takes it in the handheld department for me, PSP is more a "hidden gem" kinda console.
 

I mean, honestly I don't think it even stacks up against other Nintendo handhelds.

It sounds like to me you are more interested in the best graphics than the greastest console. GBA SP (you mean the ags-101, right?) Why not just pick the gamecube with the component cable that can play all gameboy GBA GBC backwarsds compatible. And if you think I'm overracting, it's odd that you would say GBA "SP" as opposed to just the gameboy advance.

By the way, I can play my gameboy in 1080p with a huge screen and perfect music with my super nt, super gameboy 2 and a 4k computer monitor, with a super nintendo original controller. So, other than color and the fact that it is 8 bit as opposed to 16 bit, what else are you saying.

I am not talking about the console with the best viewing experience, I'm talking obviously about the games.

Graphics are a part of the experience, 100%. That said, it's far from my only focus. I gave examples outside of graphics why I'd play Tetris Attack over normal Tetris. I too play Game Boy games on MY Super Game Boy 2 on a Super NT on a 4k monitor, using an original Super Nintendo controller. Resolution doesn't equal good graphics and I think we all know that here. But there is something to be said for newer games with nice aesthetics, it's undeniable. The GBA SP specifically for me has the compact size, nicely lit screen, high quality build, and the best backwards compact available. Those would be my reasons for picking it. The Game Boy does not have the best games every, plain and simple.

It was groundbreaking, the library is strong (not quite as much shovelware as later handhelds) and many of the games are still fun to play, but greatest of all time is a tough standard to judge.

3DS is the best handheld

Or is it the best portable?
 

IE, the switch. Unlike the gameboy, where many of the ports are actually better versions of the games that they ported them from. Bubble Ghost. The game boy library is just really really awesome. 

Game Boy is sweet. Color adds a lot to games, and the screen sucks though (and games even had to design around that). Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden are slower and less detailed on Game Boy because the shitty screen just can't keep up. I dig limitations, it's why I love NES, but the Game Boy is a little too limited to be the GOAT for me.

Tabletop or giant dmg? 

I don't think the Switch has been around long enough to make a judgement on its library. Especially for an active generation console.

Shovelware can at least be avoided, if you judge the handhelds on the quality games alone.
 

I like how argumentative this thread is. Combine that with the obnoxiously long quote trains, and I daresay this thread is already off the rails!

I was out to lunch with my wife, so I was just responding and not editing my quote trains as I was on my phone. Home now though, so edited them out to lighten the load.

As for argumentative, I see no problem with a bit of debate. At least nobody's devolved to name calling or anything lol, I'm enjoying the conversation.
 

Oh Gloves, you sweet sweet man. I'm enjoying the debate as well. I'm just amused by the premise of the thread because it's so clearly subjective.

I'm working to collect a complete set of original, US GB games.  It doesn't make my answer definitive but as someone who greatly appreciates this system... it's to subjective a question.  No doubt, it proved that a well designed device that provided a cheap way to get games in the hands of consumers was a smart move.  Games were fun (in the late-80s to 90s) the system was easy to develop for and all things considered, for cartridge based systems, it was cheap to manufacture for.  It's awesome!  But, for a game to have long-lasting awesomeness, the games need to reasonably hold up well.  Inspite of the four-shades of pee-green, the some games do hold up well, but many are hard to return to due to the low resolution.  Nintendo provided well designed, solid First Party support but, to be fair, they always set the standard for all of their consoles.

I love the GB and I still enjoy playing games on it.  The last game that caught my eye that was new to me was Trax.  Not to hard but it felt well designed for the unit, and it was good to see that even 25 years later, it was a fun game to play, inspite of the limited nature of the hardware.  That said, it's old hardware and very limited.  With the exception of only a few games (probably between 10-20) there aren't that many games that will engage younger gamers.  In other words, it doesn't hold up.  However, NES, SNES, PS1, Saturn.. all of these systems may have had limited hardware but many games (especially if they were 2D games) have held up much better.  Are those systems more awesome than the GB?  Depends on the gamer.

Now, in regards to kiosk, this below is the answer.
I've not met anyone young or old who doesn't think the GIANT DMG that was put in places like Best Buy back in the 90s was awesome.  It's stuck with me to this day.  There have been a lot of Kiosks but, to my knowledge, now one else created a giant version of the device and placed it in stores.  I'm not a kiosk guy and I don't see myself ever becoming one.  They are huge and impractical.  That said, if/when I move and can setup a real game room, and if I ever find one of these kiosks in my area that works and is for sale, this is the only one I'll ever want.  It's amazing and I'd gladly haven't on display, even if it takes up 1/4th of my game room.  Definitelythe g.o.a.t. of console kiosks, and you all are wrong if you disagree.

3DS > DS > GBA > GB > GBC

Switch will most likely take the top spot when its run is over. Hell, it may have already.

Come up with a list of the top 200 games across all of those systems.  I'd dare to say that most people would put maybe 4-6 entries from the OG Game Boy.  10 tops.