The Game: The Boy and The Gear

[TransatlanticFoe]

There's also the converter that allows Master System games to be run on the Game Gear. At school both kids I knew with Game Gears had one, because every other kid had a Master System (they were about £50 at one point!). Though I'd imagine it doesn't do anything clever, so games from about 1992 onwards would probably run too fast on the GG's 60 Hz output.

[NYN]

Meanwhile: Game Boy selected titles are now part of Nintendo Switch Online, with Color options and even a GBC game like Wario Land 3. Game Boy Advance games are part of the +Expansion Set and require, as with N64, more coinage.

Just the starter games, The Six Golden Coins is the first Mario, omitting SML for now. It will be at least some kind of quality meter to the claim of "classic material", I feel. Until now I could very well resist Online, since I don't subscribe on principle. Silly to have an selected "all" or none, though this is how the moola flows.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

That's pretty much how the Switch Online emulator bundles have operated since day one. Their selection of games are pretty narrow and often deliberately omit sequels so they can release them down the road for additional hype. Part of it's likely minimizing how much they pay third parties to offer their games, but it's still strange to see the NES bundle offer Lolo 1 but not 2 or 3. The games on offer are not necessarily that good (there's a lot of Nintendo made ones on the NES that are of minimal interest), and there's plenty of great games for the system that aren't included.

The hilarious part is you're sometimes paying for a worse experience, as with Pilotwings 64. Sure, they made it so it now runs at 60 FPS and looks pretty, but one of the better events, the Birdman (which is a reward for getting above a certain medal ranking in events as well as finding secret stars hidden in levels), requires button mashing to play. The rate at which you need to press it expected the game to be at 30 FPS, and wasn't adjusted, so it's now basically unplayable as the mashing speed required to stay airborne is unbelievably fast. Since Birdman is really fun to play to chill out with normally, you might as well just play it in an N64 emulator and not miss out on the experience.

[XoPachi]

Man, it's so inventive how Wario Land switched from traditional powerups to powerups being status effects in the form of p a i n inflicted on Wario by enemies. I feel like I've never seen that besides Wario Land 2-4. That was such a defining and brilliant gimmick. Also highlights how indestructible Wario is..

Wario is the best.

[BryanM]

Another way Pokemon was practically made for the platform: palette limitations. Blasted, infuriating, evil palette limitations.

A human being requires about five colors on average, minimum, to paint. A color for their skin and hair. A couple for their clothes/weapons. And black for matte outlining.

So almost all sprites on the gameboy color only have two stupid unique colors. And the third is black. So tricks or compromises have to be employed. An extremely low number of sprites on screen like Shantae so you can stack a bunch of them on top of one another without breaking the sprite limit. The old timeworn "transform transparent into black by using a black background" trick from the NES days.

One way to go is given up on the ambition of including humanoids and their stupid stuff altogether. Two colors is almost enough for a lizard or a dog or whatever.

... what's really annoying is greyscale is almost better than color thanks to the cursed palette size of these systems. Everything could look so much better, if only black was standard as an extra color. Greyscale only conveys luminosity, so two shades is plenty.

[NYN]

I got my hands on a Darkwing Duck GB cart where instead of CAPCOM there is SunSoft in it's place. Can't find further information on the Nutnet. Did they do the port from NES? Publish? Did they develop it? Is it a misprint? Odd thing.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

As per: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gameboy/1 ... duck/boxes

It looks like it was developed by Capcom, and in the US Sunsoft handled the publishing, whereas in the EU Capcom handled the publishing. Bit unusual, but not totally out of the ordinary.

[NYN]

Thanks! It's a bit misleading developer-wise, though I imagine this could've been corrected later.
As said, it's the first I ever recognized those Disney toon licenses for not having CAPCOM on it.

[BrianC]

AFAIK, Darkwing Duck was a re-release and also had a Capcom published version in the US. Sunsoft also re-released some Square Soft GB games.

Edit: There are defintely carts, manuals, and boxes out there with the red boxed Capcom USA logo.

[NYN]

AFAIK, Darkwing Duck was a re-release and also had a Capcom published version in the US.

Yes, that fits with that I've never seen the SunSoft before. The year of release, with all the stuff aside frome handheld, it would be easy to overlook the D0T MATRIX port. Sure that didn't happen to the NES one. Nevermind, I played it first somewhat late 90s. Mis-remembering that I cleared it maybe? Dunno. I rember the final boss. Yet, is that from screens in mags? Not convinced I beat that then, though there is no password. Was I tuff'nuff for it? I'll just make new momories of it! Music bops!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

This discussion reminded me I have a copy of Final Fantasy Legend for the GB that has Sunsoft on it which always struck me as odd... and turns out it was a reprint! It seems Sunsoft bought the rights to do reprints of a number of GB titles from several different developers: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gameboy/5 ... gend/boxes

Interesting stuff to learn!

[BrianC]

Nintendo also re-released a few GB games in their "Player's Choice" line, including a couple Capcom ones. Most Duck Tales 2 I have seen in the wild are the reprint and I wrongly assumed that it was the only US release of the game, though there were games in the line that didn't have a previous US release like Mickey Mouse Magic Wands (aka Mickey Mouse V).

This discussion reminded me I have a copy of Final Fantasy Legend for the GB that has Sunsoft on it which always struck me as odd... and turns out it was a reprint! It seems Sunsoft bought the rights to do reprints of a number of GB titles from several different developers: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gameboy/5 ... gend/boxes

Interesting stuff to learn!

Yes. They even had print ads in magazines advertising their reprints of Final Fantasy Legend 1-3 and FFA.

[NYN]

Interesting stuff to learn!

Glad to hear my ramblings lead to something you could take away from it. From old to new.

Cleared 1cc. Play felt a bit stiff at first, and find it now very lean. Or my forgotten experience returned somehow.
More forgiving then GB MM. Bonus rounds get old fast, the following more then the first. Bosses vary the MM formula for the better, some, like Quackerjack, don't even have attack patterns and only evade.

[Lemnear]

I'm glad to never had a portable console, or i would end like all those idiots walking around searching for pokemons with their smartphones during Pokemon Go period...even at nights! even in the woods!!! at the lake! Everywhere!!!.

BUT, i've found my uncles Game Gear at my centenary olds grandma house one day.
The console was already old, with a little bunch of games with it...
Maybe was the atmosphere of that house, the panorama, the fact that this Game Gear was abandoned (but working) + how it sounds!.
Was so magical !!!

I still own it, it works, maybe the screen is not bright as it used to be, not at a normal inclination at least.

Loved GG Shinobi II the most!

Spoiler

There was also a piano at my grandma home...sometimes i playing some songs i've listen on the GG, the home was on an hill with an endless visual on the sunset.

[AZA]

Been enjoying Money Idol Exchanger on GB. It’s one of my favs now. It even is still good next to the MVS version because it has a more laid back, chill kind of feel. The arcade gets frantic a bit too fast for me.

[NYN]

Say, how fares PARODIUS for GAME B0Y? As xp on the system, I have only R-Type to rub it against with. Not a collector, just wanna play. It's still affordable.

(also the way young? players mistreated their carts by not laying thumb on the GB insignia and instead on the label thus rubbing it off with every pull-out, as many as shown on auction pics is indeed lamentable, just saying)

[NYN]

Snatched Kid Dracula on a flea market last summer, way under market price. Skeptical for a minute if it's a copy, not anymore. Playing it, it does offer some fun next to the limitations. Some thing feel a little tighter than on NES. The topsy-turvey bit is nice, and way before Everybody's Symphony or even Vampire Killer a.k.a Bloodlines. With the flame arches of Salamander beckoning...

For those who remember childhood I put this question: are the Tiny Toons games for GB of a similar quality as KD? Some kind of measure.

[SuperDeadite]

Real hardware VGM player acquired!

https://youtu.be/hiodxbc02FE?si=rnyqPVZTkn05xCTx

[Steven]

I can't believe that I forgot to mention this before, or that nobody else did either, but Ghost Babel exists. It's also getting its first rerelease in just a few months, too, so soon you won't have to pay an extortionate amount for a copy (Japanese cart-only isn't too bad, fortunately) or illegally download it. Yay, happy~

It is a GBC game and not a GB game, though.

While I am here, I would also like to remind all of humanity and any extraterrestrial species that may or may not exist that it is Game Boy, not Gameboy or GameBoy or whatever else.

[it290]

According to my research it is GAME BOY.

[Obiwanshinobi]

BurgerTime Deluxe indeed! I recall it being pretty great fun played on my GBA SP. Ye olde GB cart. I mean, really worked for me there.
Then again, I got raised on LCD handheld games. So I would compare BurgerTime Deluxe against them rather than TV or computer games, never mind coin-op.
Come to think of it, can anybody tell me about a smartphone, "Android" game (so it would work on my Samsung-Galaxy-Whatever) ANYWHERE NEAR as playable as BurgerTime Deluxe? Nothing I see folks play on their smartphones on city bus or wherever looks NEARLY as appealing to me. Perhaps I'm biased against ubiquity of phenomenon, but then I've never seemed so biased against freeware PC games, or GBA homebrew, SMS homebrew, easily-accessed games as such.
Most BLOODY obvious games to be made for smartphones, for my money, would be motion-detective ones like Kororinpa for Wii. Or anything where you'd move LEVEL around to manipulate things on screen.
If someones here don't think much of the first Game Boy games played on a handheld, I seriously wonder what - if any - games they like playing on their smartphones. Oh yes, I think text adventure games, dating sims and such work handsomely on smartphones.
P. S. I've never played Ghost Babel, but I can tell you that Kojima-directed Boktai games include way more Metal Gear's "DNA" than I typically see them credited for. Generally, GBA is one hell of a system to play hardly ever talked about here games on. Sure enough, frontlit screen and screechy sounds can get rough on you first... but if you grow to like screen's look when sunlit, it's pretty obvious frontlighting is just a bonus, not the very default way of seeing it.

[NYN]

The upcoming release of VIRTUAL B0Y software for both Switches Online service got me stunned. Instead of just go for it, players are required to wear a hardware emulation of the thing. Huh? Is that a fix, since that was what made the think tank for main norms, the weight and rigid properties. Sure the tech freaks got it then. I would not put anything that close to my eyes, then and now.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Did you ever like any Game & Watch title played on its original hardware? I remember these being the all around best LCD games in terms of an overall experience. Then seeing some footy (soccer) Game Boy title running on the real thing, I was very impressed indeed. That was long time before mobile phone games and backlit LCD screens. Heck, maybe even before hardware-accelerated "3D" on home systems. That any of Game Boy software is actually a videogame, handsomely plyable to this day, is just a nice bonus.

[NYN]

To answer my own question: Tiny Toons for GB? Yeah, as one would plan it for a mainly kids show, it is fairly mild. Next to the Vanias on the system, sprites are bigger, no gotta-go-fast. As far now level design seems solid and quick. Bonus games are indeed optional, no Kid Dracula stuff. We learn at Konami... What I found most confounding is this: since the title is BABS' Big Break I assumed it would be her to play with, and Buster, Plucky, and the Ham as a helper. Then I noticed that my "Babs" had no ear-ribbons and no skirt and got confused that they put the wrong sprite in. No, you play the boys club, and Babs only gives direction. Huh. Got the second game coming!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Did you ever like any Game & Watch title played on its original hardware? I remember these being the all around best LCD games in terms of an overall experience. Then seeing some footy (soccer) Game Boy title running on the real thing, I was very impressed indeed. That was long time before mobile phone games and backlit LCD screens. Heck, maybe even before hardware-accelerated "3D" on home systems. That any of Game Boy software is actually a videogame, handsomely plyable to this day, is just a nice bonus.

Yes, seeing and trying out the demo Nintendo Game & Watch LCD games were absolutely incredible (powered by two LR-44 type of button cell batteries), especially the later released Nintendo Panorama based games with the cool VFD (using "Vacuum Florescent Display" technology) and colorful graphics for their time + elaborate and intricate unfolding mechanism to show the actual VFD screen using a mirror back in 1983-1984. Here's a NOS Nintendo game handheld: https://www.ebay.com/itm/147341246890?_ ... R8qdzqvPZw

Even trying out Nintendo's dedicated tabletop VFD based games were awesome for their time as well (i.e. Mario's Cement Factory, Donkey Kong Jr., etc) -- they, too, also displayed a RTC to let you know exactly what time it was if said tabletop VFD game was running in demo mode. The Nintendo tabletop VFD games were originally priced at $59.99 usd brand new back in 1984.

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The classic Game & Watch LCD games were very well constructed considering that they were imported from Japan to the USA courtesy of the Nintendo of America subsidiary back in the early 1980s era -- not to mention that they were very expensive with MSRP prices of $39.99 usd to $59.99 usd easily (like with dual LCD screen setups with Donkey Kong II, Pinball, Mario's Cement Factory, Greenhouse, etc).

What's quite peculiar and memorable with the Nintendo's Game & Watch Donkey Kong II game handheld is, it was the very first Game & Watch to feature a fully functional and miniaturized Nintendo-styled D-pad setup indeed. How cool is that?
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BrianC]

Nintendo didn't use VFD for their games. They did use mirrors, but the panorama and tabletop games used color LCDs and were lit with external light through a white panel on the top of the game. No lights inside the game at all.