Introducing retro gaming to my lad

[Nitrowing]

My wife and I were thinking of getting him a GameBoy as he is fanatical about Mario
A look on ebay shows there's a colour variant for around £15
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305290567092
with "proper" GameBoys and Advances up to £50

Does anyone here have a recommendation?

[AndyC]

Well that £15 one isn't a Gameboy. I assume it is one of those janky NES clones in a handheld form.

[Lee P]

I've got one of those but it was less than £3 off AliExpress, I wouldn't have paid £15 though.

[Nitrowing]

Well that £15 one isn't a Gameboy. I assume it is one of those janky NES clones in a handheld form.

Obviously but if it lets him play Mario, I won't get too stressed if/when he launches it in frustration!

[Lee P]

I've got one of those but it was less than £3 off AliExpress, I wouldn't have paid £15 though.

Edit: this one, either 84p or £2.25 including shipping, I can't work out their pricing, depends if you're a new customer I suppose. The buttons are a bit janky but it stopped me spending a couple of quid on booze.

[AndyC]

Obviously but if it lets him play Mario, I won't get too stressed if/when he launches it in frustration!

Depends how legit they are. Some just have a bunch of janky Cascade 50 style games, some have pirated NES games (which may or may not include the Big N's titles, depending on how risk averse they are).

[Nitrowing]

I saw the ridiculously cheap Ali items and I am tempted buuuut if if doesn't have Mario then it'll be bottom of the toy cupboard
The GB, GBC & GBA all seem to go for £50 with the Mario platformers going for around £15
All the Ali ones advertise 100's of games but I've seen no list so, for the enormous price disparity, I might just get one to see what it's like and give him both if it's ok.

[PROSM]

I saw the ridiculously cheap Ali items and I am tempted buuuut if if doesn't have Mario then it'll be bottom of the toy cupboard

Assuming that it's identical to the one in this review, it does include at least Super Mario Brothers 1 and 3. Bear in mind that some graphics could be altered for reasons unknown, but the game-play should remain the same.

The GB, GBC & GBA all seem to go for £50 with the Mario platformers going for around £15

Yeah, the prices have been climbing for the past few years, ever since these older consoles came back "in vogue", so to speak. It's inevitable, because the supply of these devices can only decrease now. Even the more recent stuff like the Wii is starting to go for silly prices from places like CeX. If you want something more reasonable, you'd have to take a punt on an eBay listing and hope it's not broken beyond repair.

You can still get a good deal if you're lucky - I got another DS Lite for £10 from a trader's stall at NERG a couple of years back as he needed rid of them.

[Nitrowing]

I've managed a tested&working GBA SP and 8 games (including Super Mario) for £80,
They're being sent to Brazil where any GameBoy model is nearly £300 alone
I'm tempted to send over 1 a month with that mark up