Hooray for indie developers! Not only do they sink hours of their time into a game that possibly nobody will ever play, but they do it with such unselfish motivations. I certainly assume that Nathan Tolbert, the man behind the GBA title
Anguna: Warriors Of Virtue spent so much time on his game not to be rich and famous, but instead to pay homage to games that meant a lot to him -- namely the
Legend Of Zelda series obviously. And that's commendable. So many of us talk crap about weak games. We talk about what
we would have done had
we been the ones making the game. But how many of us actually sit down and spend the time to code a new GBA game. Well, not me. That's for sure. So I salute the Nathan Tolbert's of the world because they are the ones who now have the power to keep our dead consoles alive. You see,
Anguna was released in 2008, the year after Nintendo themselves killed the Game Boy Advance.
[img width=300 height=200]http://imgur.com/UTIz4.png[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://imgur.com/UNP1X.png[/img]
Anguna is a very impressive independent release. It certainly looks far more professional than many homebrew games. And there's an incredible amount of detail included. Obviously the graphics are well-done as evident by the screens pictured. But what's really great is all the extras -- there are numerous secondary weapons to pick up, maps to find, a fully working save-feature, and even a catalog of the monsters you've come in contact with. Furthermore the game features five full dungeons to complete. This is really a deep Adventure RPG considering it was a labor of love that was worked on in free time. I'm certainly not saying it's as sprawling as a
Zelda game, but it's easily the most vast GBA homebrew game I'm ever seen.
[img width=300 height=200]http://imgur.com/OF8tf.png[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://imgur.com/fUmkP.png[/img]
What's even greater about the game is the amount of post-release love the developer has devoted to it. There is a wonderful website kept at
http://www.tolberts.net/anguna/ that hosts downloads of the game in both GBA and DS format, intakes bug reports, and even offers up maps and FAQs should you happen to get stumped.
If you're a Game Boy Advance collector you may want to order a physical copy of the cart as well while they're still available. Of course you could have the ROM for free, but a cart version not only makes a nice collectible, but it shows a bit of support for a hard-working indie developer. And I for one want to encourage game designers to continue to make new GBA releases. Speaking of which, I asked Nathan if he had any plans to make an
Anguna sequel, and he basically said that he had been planning one for a while but couldn't find an artist. He's currently working on porting
Anguna to some other consoles, but doesn't rule out another GBA release in the next few years. So head on over to
http://www.tolberts.net/anguna/ and check out
Anguna for yourself, and if you really enjoy it why not encourage Nathan to continue to help keep the GBA alive?
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I saw Warriors of Virtue and thought of this:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120479/
I am admitting that i was a bit disappointed to read this and find out that it was not about Kangaroos.
But i also offer up great praise to indie developers.
He mentions putting it on GBA carts for people. I wonder if he would be able to get his DS version onto a DS card as well....
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Thanks for the review!
I saw Warriors of Virtue and thought of this:
Sorry  Actually, the world for Anguna was loosely based on a pen & paper RPG called "Warriors of Virtue" that my friends and I came up with years before that movie :-/
He mentions putting it on GBA carts for people. I wonder if he would be able to get his DS version onto a DS card as well....
Yeah, the DS version works on most DS cards that I've tried (although the sound doesn't work correctly on the CycloDS), but based on the form of them (generally sd card adapters), offering to mail preloaded cards doesn't seem as cool for DS as it does for GBA.
Also, a few updates -- I'm currently working on an iPhone port of Anguna. After that, who knows. Currently, I'm rather doubt that an actual sequel will happen, but I'm interested in doing some other game after I finish the iPhone port (I keep dreaming of doing a 2d side-scrolling action adventure, but that keeps getting put off)
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@gauauu:
Also, one more thing, I just wanted to point out that the art for Anguna was all done by Chris Hildenbrand...he did such a great job that I thought he deserved a mention here as well.
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Pretty cool, sounds like a fun game and a really cheap price I think for a real cart.
Have you heard anything Motocross Challenge? It's a homebrew release that they are going to be selling at CGE this year. Depending on the cost I might pick it up while I'm there.
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@Duke.Togo: yeah Motocross Challenge carts were released in 2006/2007 if I remember correctly along with 2 other GBA homebrew titles. They were put out by a UK webzine. um... RBCD I believe? Something like that. Last I heard Motocross Challenge was being ported to NDS as well. Duke, if you happen upon the GBA cart at a reasonable price maybe you could pick one up for me while you're there?
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