The company quickly rose to success with games such as "The Legend of Zelda," "Donkey Kong" and "Super Mario Bros."

Designed to strike a nostalgic chord with thirty- and fortysomethings, this new Game Boy looks similar to the NES machine with its black and gray colors and two bright-red A and B buttons to control the action. The font used for the words "Start" and "Select," above their respective buttons, is also the same used for the original NES.

This portable Game Boy Advance SP is a 32-bit machine, compared to the NES, which was an eight-bit television console.

The "Classic NES" Game Boy is bundled with a rechargeable battery and AC adapter. It can play all existing Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance titles.

Original games

To complement this retro hardware, Nintendo has also launched eight classic NES titles that were originally available on the 19-year-old platform.

Each one is available for $20 and rated E, for everyone, by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (www.esrb.com).

Here's a look at four of them:

• "Donkey Kong" involves a plumber-turned-adventurer who must jump over barrels, climb ladders and evade fiery enemies to rescue a young woman from the grip of a giant ape.

The game looks and sounds just like the original, but veteran players may recall that the NES version left out the challenging "pie factory" stage from the 1981 arcade version, so it's not on this new Game Boy title either. (3 1/2 stars out of five)

• "The Legend of Zelda" introduces a young hero named Link who sets off on an adventure to save Princess Zelda from an evil warlock.

Through combat, puzzle solving and item collection, our determined protagonist wades through eight dungeons to solve the single-player quest.

Crude graphics aside, "Zelda" translates well onto the Game Boy. (4 1/2 stars)

• "Excitebike" is a side-scrolling motorcycle racing game that lets players race against computer-controlled riders across five different tracks.

Both buttons are used to accelerate, but the secondary turbo charge can cause the bike to overheat.

Players can also use the track editor to design and race over their own creations. (3 1/2 stars)

• "Super Mario Bros" was one of the most popular console titles in the '80s and it holds up well as a pocket-sized diversion.

As Mario, players must fight all kinds of baddies, collect coins and explore subterranean worlds to reach the end of this 64-level "platformer" game.

For the two-player option, a Game Boy Advance Game Link cable is required, sold separately. (Four stars)

Other Classic NES Series games include "Bomberman," "Ice Climber," "Pac-Man" and "Xevious: The Avenger."

More information: www.nintendo.com.