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Blogger Archive: noiseredux 
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Recently the really great blog http://isitaboutmygamecube.blogspot.com put a post about the GameCube Shmup library. Fellow blogger lisalover did a great job outlining them, though what's odd is that even though he likes all five he seems to rank them completely different than I do. So as much as I encourage you to visit his blog and check out his thoughts, I'd also like to offer you some alternate thoughts on all five of these gems. Now it should be noted that although there are other Shooter games for the Cube, the library is really rather small if you're a fan of classic 2D Shmups like myself. However, I honestly think all five of these games is absolutely must-own if you are a fan of the genre. And of course I can't picture playing any of them without an arcade stick myself.
Now on to the games...
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Chaos Field tends to be one of those games that you either love or hate. There just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of in-between for some reason. Personally, I love the game. It has a fantastic techno soundtrack and features beautiful graphics that truly showcase the colorful bullet-hell patterns of the game. If you've never played Chaos Field then what you need to know about what makes the game so unique is that there are no levels to shoot your way through. Instead, Chaos Field is just a series of boss battles. Generally speaking this is what most non-fan gamers tend to hate about the game. But to me, this is what makes it so special. Shmups as a genre tend to be very zen-like in a strange way. Although they are often constantly high-tension games, the ability to control the situation by understanding bullet patterns is almost relaxing. In fact, fellow RFGen blogger Crabmaster2000 once wrote that Chaos Field was like Shadow Of The Colossus in space. With that in mind, I'm not sure any Shmup fan could not adore this one.
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What can I possibly say about Ikaruga that hasn't already been said a million times? Not much really. Of course everyone knows the gimmick about the white-vs-black polarities. Generally this is one of those games that everyone knows is a great game (regardless of the inevitable backlash that's starting to present itself). In fact most gamers will consider this one an essential title in any GameCube collection regardless of genre. So having admitted that I can't shed any new light on the game, I will surely just say that I do Ikaruga. I can't picture owning a Cube without this game myself. I still play it often, still find myself astounding by the graphics, and still think it's just as challenging as ever.
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Radirgy GeneriC has a huge cult following, as well as a bit of an interesting story. It was originally released in Japan and was actually brought over to the US as Radio Allergy toward the very end of the GameCube's lifespan. In fact, the game could have possibly been the last officially released GameCube game as the Wii was already in full swing. The US packaging was even set to have a "compatible with Wii" logo on the cover as a matter of fact. In spite of glowing reviews from gaming publications, the game ultimately never materialized in the US market. Indeed, I can't help but wonder how many promotional copies are out there, as obviously the reviewers had to have something to review. I also wonder if any copies were ever pressed. Certainly Milestone could have distributed them directly through their website. But perhaps they ended up in a landfill which has since been paved over. Oh well.
Radirgy is a great game, and it's certainly understandable why it would have such a dedicated following. It's definitely unique in its presentation with its cell-shaded appearance. As great as it is, I still don't rank it quite as good as Chaos Field, Ikaruga or Shikigami No Shiro II (I'll get to that one in a second). But that just comes down to personal taste. I just don't really enjoy the cell-shaded graphics as much for Shmup. I will say that the soundtrack is great, and I guess I should mention that if you don't want to spend the high premium for the GameCube import, the game was actually re-released (along with Chaos Field on the Wii's Ultimate Shooting Collection.
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Shikigami No Shiro II is by far my favorite GameCube Shmup. In fact, it's probably one of my favorite Shmups ever. The soundtrack is incredible, the graphics are stunning, and the variety is astounding. Indeed there are seven characters to choose from, each of which has their own shooting style and special weapons. What makes the game standout is that instead of spaceships, you control little flying people. The level of the detail put into these characters is insane. I personally use Fumiko the witch, and you can even see how her robe flows through the wind. I could go on and on about what a fantastic game this is, but ultimately I feel like you just won't get it unless you try it. There's certainly a small but dedicated following to the series. I myself plan to pick up the third installment that was recently released on the Wii myself based solely on the merits of this one.
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The GameCube version of the classic Star Soldier is actually an enhanced remake that was part of a series that Hudson released. Graphically, it's incredible. It certainly blows the original away, while retaining the classic gameplay style. But perhaps that's to its detriment. While I do think this is a game worth playing, it's also a lot less deep than some of the other Shmups I've mentioned above. However, the intention of these 2.5D Hudson remakes was that they were budget titles. At least in Japan they were. So while 3,000 yen was a small price to pay for what was essentially a prettier version of a simple Shooter, it's a bit pricier for the rest of us to import the game. Having said all that, the game is still certainly worth playing through and very enjoyable if you can track it down at a reasonable price.
Of course these are all just my personal opinions. As I mentioned earlier, lisalover had a completely different take on most of these. So what are all your thoughts on these titles? Oh! And one last thing -- if anybody wants to trade or sell me the Fumiko figurine at a reasonable price, please let me know!
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September's Together Retro title for the game club over at http://www.racketboy.com was Urban Strike. Now I had always heard of the Strike series, but I had never actually played any of the games. Nor was I even familiar with them beyond their titles. I had no idea how they actually played at all. Because of this I decided to first spend a little time with the Genesis version first in order to get a proper feel for how the game should play so that I might compare it to the Game Boy port. And in truth, I'm glad I did. I feel like playing the 16-bit version really helped me pick up on the vast subtleties that made the Game Boy port so impressive.
If you haven't played Urban Strike or one of the other games in the series, it's a little hard to explain. Basically you control a helicopter, and the game utilizes a semi-3D sort-of isometric view. Genre-wise I guess I'd call the game strategic action. Each level contains multiple missions that can be completed in any order that you wish. And strategy such as armor, fuel, and ammo-consumption all plays a big part in the game. However all of the action is real-time. It's interesting, and unique if not a bit on the sharp-side when it comes to the learning curve. However, once you put an hour or two into figuring out what exactly it is that you're supposed to be doing, it becomes apparent that the game is actually really great.
Once I felt like I understood the game itself (it took me nearly two weeks to beat the first level), I popped in the Game Boy port. Now remember, this game almost looked too good for a 16-bit game. So condensing it down to a Game Boy title was certainly ambitious. And although certain aspects definitely suffered (there's no music, and only minimal sound effects during actual gameplay; and of course the controls had to be modified to utilize only two action buttons. However it should be noted that although much of the graphics had to be a bit downgraded, much of the layouts, animations and missions are left very close to intact. It's actually extremely impressive to see these pseudo-3D scrolling effects on the Game Boy.
Below I've taken the liberty of doing some Genesis vs. Game Boy screen shot comparisons.
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Recently I've noticed that Gamestop is beginning to really condense their Game Boy Advance and Gamecube sections. As you might assume, this is a sad time for the Game Boy Player Land blog. And a sad time to be a fan of either library. I've noticed message boards blowing up with suggestions for games that we all must go out and grab before it's "too late." And yet, there's just one that keeps popping into my mind that I want to tell you all about.
Invader is a GBA Shmup that I've mentioned before. But the thing is, it's apparently very rare. At least here in the US. Even after all of Gamestop's recent price-drops, it's still $10. That's a hefty-price for a GBA cart that isnt' a first party title, or a Final Fantasy game. Indeed even Gamestop knows somethings special about this one.
Most websites claim that Invader was released in the US. But I have no proof of that. Indeed, the only copies I've ever happened upon here in the states are the European version. Copies that apparently made their way over here somehow, some way. And are indeed rare.
I'll tell you this though, friends: Invader rules. I can't say that it's the best GBA Shmup (because of Iridion II), but it's at least tied. And lucky for you the Gamestop website allows you to insert your zip code and see if your local store is carrying a certain game. So if it has Invader, you need to go get it. Trust me on this one, okay?
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What you're looking at above is a (rather bad cellphone) of my new 2-Player Cube setup. This is something I've wanted to put together for quite some time. In fact, not that long ago I even acquired a set of elusive Gamecube component cables so that I could connect the Game Boy Players (one hooked up to my computer monitor, the other to my TV) on my two Cubes from one end of the room to the other. Alas, I cannot find a GBA Link Cable long enough to pull this off.
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I did however recently come across a 5.4" LCD screen that sits atop a Gamecube. I couldn't turn it down when the gears in my head started clanking together again about the old 2-P Cube setup that I had been wanting to try out. I know it's sort of silly considering the GBA's are portable in nature so trying it on a portable screen sort of defeats the purpose. But I suppose more than anything it was a proof of concept (for my own eyes). Eventually I'd like to just get a second LCD monitor and have each Cube hooked up to its own monitor side-by-side. Combined with the pictured arcade sticks, this would make for a great setup to play ports of the Street Fighter games and things of that nature.
Also, once I come across a second Gamecube broadband adapter, it means LAN-time baby. But until then I'll be experimenting with the various games that benefit from multi-player released on the GBA. Surprisingly, a fair amount of games incorporated a single-cartridge multi-boot mode, such as Chu Chu Rocket (pictured above). On the flip-side, this will probably give me an excuse to get a second copy of Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival.
It's a sickness, I know.
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Recently while doing a bit of research I came across what is possibly the strangest Game Boy Color accessories out there: the Singer IZEK bundle. To be frank, I've seen a lot of odd Game Boy accessories out there, but this one was so unusual and expensive that I felt I had to share it with you all.
For $399 you get the IZEK sewing machine, a special GBC link cable, and a GBC cart that "contains stitch pattern designs. The Game Boy's on-screen menu will guide you through all the functions you need to make sewing fun and easy."
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Here's the features as listed on the website found at http://sewandserge.com/se...s&brand=Singer&model=IZEK:
* LOWEST PRICE GUARANTEED!
* Select stitches have length, width and mirror image adjustment capabilities
* Five buttonhole styles
* Letters (block, script or outline format), numbers and symbols
* Combine up to three stitches for combination patterns
* Create your own custom stitches
* Favorite patterns, letters and custom designs can be saved in memory
* Menu displays information in English, French or Spanish
* 84 actual stitch patterns
* 25 Year Manufacturers Warranty
* FREE Shipping
As a collector, there's a tiny part of me that would love to have the cartridge just to say I have it. But you have to draw the line somewhere. I am however extremely interested to know if anybody out there has ever seen one of these in person, and can maybe explain how the Game Boy Color connectivity is even useful.
I'm a longtime fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. The comic book and original cartoon was a big deal to me when I was young. I saw the original trilogy in the theaters. Not only did I have all three soundtracks, but I begged my parents to bring me to Pizza Hut so I could get the Coming Out Of Their Shells cassette as well. I had an air-conditioner box filled with the action figures. And luckily for me, there were a lot of video games based on the series. This is the first in a series of posts that will explore some of the titles related to the Game Boy Player Land blog. First up -- we'll take a look at the three Game Boy Advance games.
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was released by Konami in 2003. It was intended as a handheld port of the Gamecube game of the same title. Not surprisingly, the Game Boy Advance and the Gamecube games are completely different. While the Gamecube title was 3D, this one would be a sidescroller. It plays rather similar to some of the Game Boy Konami games from the series, though oddly it strays from the formula of the Ninja Turtle beat-em-ups that Konami had perfected in the arcades. However, this isn't to say the game is bad. It's a rather competent game that allows a good amount of playing time seeing as each turtle has his own levels to tackle. Konami being Konami also included several levels of other genres, such as switching to first person to keep things interesting. What's funny is that level-varying concept seems to be borrowed from the Battletoads games, which of course were a bit of a ripoff of the Ninja Turtles to begin with. Ultimately, the game isn't a classic, but it is worth a few bucks for the several hours you could sink it to it.
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In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus Konami used the same formula as the previous game, though seems to make everything a lot better. It's also a 2D take on the 3D Gamecube game of the same title, it allows each turtle to complete his own missions, and it throws in some other kinds of levels like Shmup-inspired ones to keep things fresh. However, it seems that to some degree this game just pulls everything off slightly better than the first. It's almost ineffable, but it just feels like a better and more perfected game. The controls are comfortable, the graphics and animations are great, and the music is good. Collectors should note that the first two games were reissued together on a single GBA cart as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Double Pack.
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TMNT was released in 2007 to coincide with the CGI movie of the same title, and it's easily the best of the GBA games. Though it plays the closest to the Konami arcade games, this game was actually published by Ubisoft. Although the Gamecube version is a 3D game similar to the Konami ones, the GBA port is an old school brawler and completely worth checking out. The graphics are fantastic and will appeal to fans of the comic books, and the gameplay is pure classic arcade beatemup. This one is not to be overlooked!
I'm aware that there was a GBA Video release that contained a couple of episodes of the revival cartoon, but I've never bothered to pick this one up. Later posts will focus on the Game Boy and Gamecube Ninja Turtles games. But what did you all think of the Game Boy Advance releases?
Recently there's been a lot of internet grumbling about a supposed Pokemon bootleg known as Pokemon Black. In fact, the game has turned into a bit of an urban legend, as nobody seems to actually possess a copy of this cart. Apparently Black is a hack of the original Game Boy's Pokemon Red which features a Pokemon called Ghost. Ghost can only use one attack called Curse. Using Curse instantly kills the opponent, so you naturally breeze through the game. Supposedly at the end of the game you become an old man, your horrible Poke-killing deeds flash before your eyes and then Ghost attacks you -- which invariably ends badly for you.
Many message boards have gone into a frenzy discussing this game, though nobody can seem to prove its existence. However one group of ROM-hackers have decided to try to make the game a reality, though it will be in the form of a patch that can be applied to the GBA's enhanced remake FireRed.
I recently contacted Team Creepy Black to get some details and share them with readers of GBPL. Here's what I found out for you guys:
noiseredux: First of all tell us a bit about yourself.
Kiekos: Well, I'm Kiekoes, but my real name is Bas, I'm 14 and live in Holland.
noiseredux: How and when did you first hear about Pokemon Black?
Kiekos: When the story was posted on GBAtemp.
noiseredux: What made you decide to make your own version of the infamous game?
Kiekos: Well, it's not my own, we we're discussing about the fact; is it possible to make it and then we got a team of developers, a page on GBAtemp and a website.
noiseredux: And how many people are on Team Creepy Black?
Kiekos: There are 13 or 14 people in the team.
noiseredux: How is the project going as far as have you hit any problems or anything like that?
Kiekos: The project is doing very well, we haven't encountered big problems so far.
noiseredux: Do you expect the project to be done this year?
Kiekos: We hope so but we can not guarantee.
noiseredux: How do you plan to distribute the finished product?
Kiekos: There will be a downloadable IPS Patch, users have to find their own copy of the ROM.
noiseredux: What kind of feedback have you gotten so far?
Kiekos: Well, mostly positive, some people are upset about the fact that we're doing FireRed instead of Red, but that's the only thing so far.
noiseredux: Why did you decide to hack FireRed rather than Red?
Kiekos: We chose Fire Red over the original due to the the originals engine limitation.
noiseredux: Have you heard anything either from Nintendo or from anyone claiming to have been behind the original Pokemon Black?
Kiekos: No.
noiseredux: What are the chances you might put together some actual Creepy Black cartridges?
Kiekos: Slim to none.
Now maybe what you all have been more interested in seeing, the first official screens from the project!
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If you want to keep up with the progress of Creepy Black, you can check out the website at http://projectcreepyblack.tk/.
Regular readers of the Game Boy Player Land blog surely know that I'm an active member of the Together Retro game club at http://www.racketboy.com. This month's game is the legendary NBA Jam, a game that I loved in its SNES incarnation. However, something recently piqued my interest: the fact that Acclaim attempted to bring NBA Jam to a Game Boy cartridge not once, but five times since the birth of the classic franchise. That's a lot of ports, but are any of them any good? Well luckily for you, I played them so you don't have to. Let's take a look...
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The original NBA Jam was ported to Game Boy in 1994, and it does a surprisingly decent job of bringing the original game's feel with it. Of course there are important omissions. There's obviously no "he's on fire!" commentary for instance. But the game does offer up an acceptable two-on-two arcade basketball experience. The biggest problem with the game (which we'll see across the board) is the logistics of the controls. The START button is the Turbo button on the Game Boy port, which was incredibly awkward on the original hardware. Luckily if you're playing this cart on the Game Boy Player then the Gamecube's proprietary controller actually makes this a more comfortable layout to utilize. In fact, this could be one of the only Game Boy games I can think of where I'll opt to use the Gamecube controller instead of the Hori pad.
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NBA Jam: Tournament Edition was released a year later. Unfortunately it wasn't the upgrade that SNES and Genesis received. Those games were flooded with new features and mountains of Easter Eggs. To be honest, I'm really not sure what the differences are in the Game Boy port of T.E.. In fact, I've heard that the original NBA Jam Game Boy game did in include some hidden characters (though I've never found them myself), while all sources I can find on the subject say that T.E. (and all subsequent Game Boy series releases for that matter) removed hidden characters altogether.
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NBA Jam 99 made the jump to the Game Boy Color and it was completely anticlimactic. Sure it's nice to see some colorized sprites, but somehow this game looked less like an NBA Jam title than the earlier Game Boy releases. Really, this game could be any old two-on-two basketball game. Though in fairness, it plays about the same as the Game Boy titles, so if you're really against black and white graphics then this could at least be an option to you.
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Much like the subtle (or pointless) upgrade from NBA Jam to Tournament Edition on the Game Boy, the release of NBA Jam 2001 was really a bit of a head-scratcher. Other than the slight roster update that would come from two years of drafts, really there wasn't much to make this a noticeable upgrade. Same old non-impressive graphics. Same old gameplay from the 1994 Game Boy edition.
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If ever there was a system that should have an NBA Jam port it was the Game Boy Advance. Indeed, many of us GBA enthusiasts tend to lovingly think of our handhelds as a portable SNES. And why not? The GBA was technically capable of 32-bit games (or so Nintendo bragged), so handling an eight year old 16-bit title should have been no problem, right?
How sad it is then that NBA Jam 2002 is actually the absolute worst game that the franchise has ever released. Yes, that's right. I'm actually telling you that the original GB game with it's awkward control scheme is a far better game than this.
First of all NBA Jam 2002 was able to utilize the GBA's hardware to at least alleviate the difficult control issues of earlier GB titles. But that might be its only strong point. You see it looks terrible considering the hardware it's running on. And though they were smart enough to bring an announcer back, he will annoy you within about 60 seconds with his limited array of voice clips (none of which include "he's on fire!" if you're wondering). The graphics are horrible. Indeed even when the ball goes through the hoop, it sure doesn't look like it. I really can't tell if I made a basket or not without keeping a close eye on the score. And the gameplay is just as terrible. Dunks are missed often, while three-pointers from the other end of the court are a breeze. And for some reason professional basketball players have a really hard time inbounding the ball without causing four or five turnovers in the process. I could go on, but I think you should just trust me when I say that this game is just really bad. No matter how good you know it should be.
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Apparently Acclaim also had plans to bring an updated NBA Jam title to the Gamecube in 2004, but that never materialized. A part of me thinks this could have been amazing if it was going to be anything like the retro-fitted Wii game that's set to be released in October. But from the preview screens, it's hard to say how it would have actually panned out (see above).
At any rate, it's funny to think that there are five versions of this game available for the Game Boy line, and yet all I can do is wonder just how good SNES emulation is on GBA hardware. Yikes!
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Habitual readers of the Game Boy Player Land blog are well aware of my affiliation with http://www.racketboy.com and the Together Retro game club. July's game was Ecco The Dolphin, a game I had never played until now. Though I had a Genesis at the time of its release, I remember thinking that it was a kids' game. And to be honest, I had never really thought about the game since. So when the game was announced for the game club, I looked forward to it. The concept of exploring the vast oceans in a game that was known more for puzzle-solving than violence seemed like a wonderful change of pace to me. How naive I was.
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When I first fired up the game courtesy of the Sega Smash Pack available on the GBA, I found myself in the kind of open-water level that I imagined. The music was ambient, and although slightly creepy it was indeed relaxing. I was amazed at the wonderful graphics. My understanding is that the GBA port is based a bit more on the Sega CD version than the Genesis version, which was apparently a bit easier. However, the GBA version has a few less levels than the Sega CD version, so it's not a straight up port either.
I breezed through the first level without much problem, and felt like I was really going to enjoy the game for the month. But here's my actual notes that I kept while playing the game since it utilized a password feature rather than any battery saves:
Ecco The Dolphin
KRMCSRDK - Undercaves - 7/1
YJ.TFNFF - The Vents - 7/10
N-VSZKKY - The Lagoon - 7/11
And that's it. Perhaps you're wondering what happened to my momentum? Well, let me try to recap. I spent about a week in the stupid Undercaves. As it turns out, this game is horribly hard. And I'm not the type to shy away from a hard game. I mean, I can get knocked around in Ghosts N Goblins and actually have a good time. No big deal. But this game is just a total jerk. Apparently everything hurts dolphins! And if you try to swim away from whatever hit you, it will hit you three more times as you clumsily try to get away.
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To be honest, I would have just left Ecco in the Undercaves to rot if it wasn't for the fact that I really wanted to see the Octopus for myself. So I stuck with it, and made it past the Octopus. And then for a glorious two-days I made some progress. And then I just plain stopped playing. I just couldn't face the game anymore. It just stopped feeling fun to me, and there were so many more levels ahead. I wanted to stick with it, because I've always really tried to do my best with the Together Retro games. But playing Ecco just felt like I was being punished.
I will however end on by saying something positive about the game: it features some of the most beautiful 16-bit graphics you'll ever see. For instance, this has been my desktop wallpaper all month...
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When A Link To The Past was ported to the GBA in 2002, it was a pretty big deal. Especially to me, since -- if hard pressed -- I would concede that my favorite game of all time would be A Link To The Past. It is to me the finest example of what makes a Zelda game a Zelda game and more importantly, what makes 16-bit gaming untouchable. There's such a perfect balance between limitations and technological mastery found in that cart. It's probably the one game I've replayed more than any other. So when it was ported the GBA I was more than thrilled to now have a portable version. And when the Game Boy Player was released it meant that I could start a dungeon sitting on my porch, and finish it in front of my TV. And other than some added (and maybe annoying) vocal clips, it was a pretty perfect port of the SNES classic.
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To me, a great port of A Link To The Past was a good enough reason to pick up the GBA cart. But to others there was a far more exciting selling point: Four Swords, a bonus game that allowed you and three friends to chain together your GBA's and help each other through a short quest, each of you as a different colored Link. Unfortunately, I didn't get to try that one past the intro screens. You see, it's not available in a single player mode. And I'm a loner, Dottie... a rebel.
Now surely you'll tell me that a single player mode would have defeated the purpose of Four Swords. We've already played a single sword adventure! you'll yell. And that's all fine and good. But multiplayer requires each Link to have his own GBA as well as his own copy of the game, and I don't have any gamer friends "in real life" as they say. Sure I come on and here and post my little rants, but my actual gaming is generally spent by myself only after work, dinner, and real life responsibilities have been fulfilled. It's relaxing time for me. It's not party time. And like I said, unless they make GBA link cables that can reach interstate, I don't even know anybody who could play Four Swords with me.
Which leads me to the point of this post: Four Swords Adventures, a Gamecube exclusive that I pretty much never notice anybody mentioning when discussing the Zelda cannon. Which is strange to me because it's actually a very unique, and awesome game.
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When Four Swords Adventures is mentioned, the emphasis is always on the multiplayer potential of the game. And surely that's understandable. After all, it is the game's major selling point. It was also one of the first games to successfully integrate the Gamecube/GBA connectability. Four Swords Adventures is meant to be played using the TV as the "main screen" but with each player using a GBA as their own private screen so that they can split up from the party without interrupting anybody else. It's certainly an ingenious approach. There's no denying that.
For a long time I avoided the game, assuming that much like the GBA side-game this would be a multplayer-ONLY affair. But once I discovered that there was a single player mode, the game became must-own for me.
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One thing that never seems to be mentioned is that the single player campaign in Four Swords Adventures is actually a lot of fun. Certainly it's lacking the same exploration that's found in most Zelda games -- as the quest is actually quite linear, but it's still a great game.
Upon its release many critics seemed to put the game down for reusing 2D sprites that didn't show off the Gamecube's potential. Be that as it may, the 2D sprites are a selling point as far as I'm concerned. Here we have an amazingly presented Gamecube quest that goes back to basics and delivers a game based on the classic Link To The Past or Link's Awakening style. As far as I'm concerned, I'd be happy if the series never stopped using these sprites. I like what I like. And I like this. Likewise, much of the music is pulled from the SNES classic -- a point that most critics blasted, while I applauded. Really, what's so wrong with embracing perfection?
Admittedly Four Swords Adventures will not last you nearly as long as A Link To The Past. As I previously mentioned, it's a linear quest which means there's a lot less guess work of the "where do I go next" variety. But at the same time, it's filled with some rather clever puzzles, excellent controls -- which is needed when you're in charge of four characters at once, and some truly awesome boss battles which thrills me to experience in the 16-bit style. If you've been avoiding this one because you thought a single player quest in a multiplayer game would be worthless, please do yourself a favor and add this to your collection now.
The title Kunio-kun may not immediately ring any bells, but the chances are good that you've played one of his games. The series is incredibly long-running in Japan, but sadly few titles have been brought over to the US. And in many cases the ones that have been were completed remade to lose their very specific art-style and charm. But trust me, you've played (and most likely loved) some of these games; among them are NES cult-classics such as Renegade, Super Dodge Ball, and River City Ransom. But of course our interest involves which of the 30 or so titles made their way across the pond and landed on a Game Boy system.
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The Game Boy version of Double Dragon II actually has nothing to do with the Double Dragon series at all. It was originally released in Japan under the title Nekketsu Tough Guy Kunio: The Further Brawls and was basically a portable River City Ransom sequel. However, when Acclaim brought the game to the US, they decided to completely Americanize it by replacing all the awesome Kunio characters with sprites from the first Game Boy Double Dragon and replacing Kunio cutscenes with some nonsense about Jimmy and Billy Lee.
Sadly pretty much everybody loses. As a Double Dragon game, it's pretty boring. The controls are wonky and the levels leave a lot to be desired, especially when compared to the NES game of the same title, which is arguably the greatest Double Dragon game ever released. On the flipside, the original Kunio sprites probably would have made the game at least slightly more interesting with it's cutesy style that fans of the series are accustomed to.
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I am personally not a fan of soccer at all. And I'm not much of a fan of soccer video games. But yet Nintendo World Cup is addicting. Why? Because like the best Kunio-kun sports games it contains the classic Kunio character sprites, and more importantly it allows you to beat the hell out of your opponents. Simply put, this is a fantastic game. Though it does suffer from a bit of slow-down now and again where there is too much action taking place on the screen, it really does an admirable job of including a full team roster and the aforementioned beating the hell out of your opponents. Highly recommended!
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River City Ransom EX is THEE must-own Kunio game if you have a Game Boy Advance. The remake was helmed by Atlus, who you may know as being incredibly awesome. The game sticks very closely to the original NES version, but adds a lot of really great extras such as lack of slow-down caused by the NES' inferior hardware. The graphics are incredible, the story is well-translated, and the save feature will allow you to pick up and play your adventure anywhere you go. Trust me on this one: get this game!
As a weird side-note, there was a downside to this release. When Atlus announced the game it caused the end of another game that was in process by an indie developer. There was actually a River City Ransom 2 being worked on for the Game Boy Advance, but ultimately it seemed that Atlus' release would overshadow the unknown sequel and it sadly never materialized.
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Atlus also released a port of Super Dodge Ball on the Game Boy Advance. Much like their port of River City Ransom the cover art completely sucks. The gameplay on the other hand is fabulous. Luckily Super Dodge Ball Advance supports multi-player gameplay, which fans of the original game know is a necessity. The graphics are all really impressive, although for some strange reason Atlus decided to completely remove the Kunio sprites and opted for a decidedly more American looking game. But fear not, at its heart this is still a very polished remake of a fan favorite. Definitely worth tracking down.
Much like I had hinted at in the Double Dragon II description, there are also an incredible amount of Game Boy and GBA Kunio games released in Japan. Almost every sport has been given the Kunio treatment for instance. However, the full game list is a bit out of the scope of this blog post. But if you've played any of those, I'd love to hear your thoughts on which are great and which are not.
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.
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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.
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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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The Game Boy Color's launch in the Winter of 1998 should have been a big deal. It had been nine long years and the original Game Boy's outdated hardware was still chugging along. Finally Nintendo decided to offer up what would basically be a portable version of the NES. And maybe eventually a lot of GBC titles would live up to such standards, but upon the launch of hideously purple Game Boy Color system, there were only four games to choose from. Strangely none of them would really demonstrate exactly why a colorized Game Boy was something to get excited about. My only guess is it's because these early GBC titles were the black-GB cartridge type that were also backwards compatible, so perhaps they were purposefully stripped down games?
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I often wonder about the board meeting that Nintendo had when planning the Game Boy Color's launch. And I figure it went something like this:
Well it's been nine long, hard years of research and development but we've finally done it! We've created a new Game Boy with a processor twice as fast as the original, with four times as much RAM, that's able to display 56 colors simultaneously on screen from its palette of 32,768! Which means it can play Centipede, a game that looked dated upon its release 18 years ago with absolutely no problem.
I mean honestly. Why Centipede? Even a port of the original Donkey Kong would have made far more sense after the success of Donkey Kong Country on the SNES. But Centipede just looks really shitty with its tiny nondescript little sprites. I just don't get it.
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Game & Watch Gallery 2 is probably the best looking of the GBC launch titles. The bright colors of the modernized Game & Watch titles is really nice. Admittedly, I'm not the hugest fan of the series, so I may not be the best judge of the game. Although I can admit it can be a brief fun time-killer, at the same time most of the six included games just feel like variations of either juggle-this-stuff or dodge-this-stuff; in both instances pressing only left or right is the only requirement. However, as mentioned the cartridge does include six games to pick from, and each of them record high scores so this could keep you interested for a while if you're one of the many big fans of the series.
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I actually skipped the GBC launch myself. But if I had a time machine and traveled back in time to the launch and had to choose just one of the four games, it would have been Pocket Bomberman. The Hudson original is a fun little platform-puzzler that takes the classic Bomberman formula and combines it with a side-scrolling quest. The sounds are nothing to write home about, but the graphics are at least passable as an (early) NES game. As mentioned above, Pocket Bomberman certainly doesn't show off exactly what the new GBC hardware was fully capable of, but having said that it is still a fun and overlooked little title.
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Okay so Tetris DX sort of stumps me as a launch title. Most new adapters of the GBC were upgrading from their original Game Boys, which would pretty much mean that they probably already owned Tetris. And if they popped their original Tetris cart into the GBC, it would be in color, right? Well. Yeah. For the most part Tetris DX is unnecessary. It's the same game as the Game Boy original, minus the awesome music. However there is one thing that makes Tetris DX superior: it saves high scores. Of course that's only going to be a selling point to a certain batch of gamers, but for some of us it's enough to make Tetris DX a must-own cartridge.
So now that we've reviewed these four titles, what do you think? Was the launch an indication that Nintendo was already far more focused on the eventual Game Boy Advance? Was GBC always destined to be the awkward middle-child? Or am I just being over-critical?
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July's game for the Together Retro game club at http://www.racketboy.com was the Sega classic Outrun which I revisited with glee. Outrun is one of the games I remember always wasting a few quarters on back in the early 90's arcade at my local mall. It's a game of great simplicity -- drive a cool car as fast as you can, or lose. But even looking at the (dated?) game now, it's easy to see the appeal that it would have had on a pre-teen version of myself. Remember, the arcade version put you literally behind the wheel of a Ferrari and let you gun it toward the beach with a blonde in the passenger's seat. Any avid follower of Saved By The Bell and its ilk would have been drawn in.
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The GBA port of Outrun is excellent in my humble opinion. It has a very 16-bit feel to it that holds up quite well to how my brain remembers the arcade original. The music, which you cannot forget to mention while discussing Outrun is just as great as ever. In fact, I'm now on the hunt for the soundtrack recording by the SST Band, as Outrun is often mentioned in discussions of best-soundtracks-of-all time. And rightly so. The GBA controls are responsive and satisfactory as far as I'm concerned.
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Speaking of which, when I first started playing the game this past month I decided I would do so using a GameCube racing wheel in an attempt to recapture the feel of the arcade. The wheel I chose was this one, made by Intec. It's a nice smaller sized wheel that doesn't take up a ton of space if you don't have a huge game room. It features lots of buttons on both the left and right side, making it ideal for both lefties and righties -- or for switching between control schemes on the fly while making some crazy turns. Also, its built in suction cups cause it to firmly plant itself on my Ikea desk and integrate itself quite seamlessly with my Game Boy Player set up.
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Unfortunately as fun as bringing the arcade home was, it turns out that I just could not beat the damn game with the wheel. So eventually I resorted back to my trusty Hori pad. The thing about Outrun is that it's not a terribly long game by any means. I beat it at least three or four times throughout the month in fact (see high-score picture below right for proof!). But what's nice is the choose-your-own-route dynamic of the courses. When you get to the old Robert Frost-style forks, you decide which way to go. I didn't end up beating every combination of courses myself, as I really couldn't keep track of which ones I had done.
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I'm not sure if a score of 25359300 is actually any good, but it was my (recorded) high score of the month. I can't say I really even mastered the game as the truth is I never even figured out when it would be advantageous to hit the brake. Really my only strategy was to put it in high gear as often as I could take it, and to just ease off the gas whenever I had to take a sharp turn or make a daring pass. Somehow this worked out for me. At any rate, I can definitely say I had a lot of fun with this game, and it's certainly one of my favorite arcade racers of all time.
For the first time of the Summer this year, my wife and I hit the beach this past weekend. We brought drinks and a nice lunch. The water still seemed a bit too chilly for swimming, but it certainly felt nice just laying under the sun. My wife is an avid reader, so she brought a book to pass the time. Surprise! Surprise! -- I brought my Game Boy Advance.
Now the art of selecting a beach game is tricky. As far as I'm concerned I usually need something that isn't too graphically intensive. Remember, you're sitting under a bright sun, so there's considerable glare no matter how you position yourself. Anything that has lots of detail is going to be a burden. Also, I a pause-button or turn-based game is a must. You have to be able to stop at any moment when you're at the beach because of the aforementioned glare, or well... just because this is relaxing time. Not intense time.
My beach game of last Summer was Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. It worked well because each round generally doesn't last that long, you can pause at any time, and although it is a puzzler, it relies more on strategy than on agility. Also, there isn't an overwhelming amount of detail -- really just primary colors.
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This year I decided on an RPG. It seemed like since I'd just be laying on the sand, I wouldn't mind taking the extra time to read the text and get into a story. Similarly, the battles would be turn-based, so I wouldn't have to rush anything. So now I'm three hours into DemiKids: Light Version and absolutely loving it.
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DemKids is a spin-off of the popular Shin Megami Tensei series of games which also includes the cult-classic Persona series. The DemiKids games are certainly influenced by other games, but the result is nothing short of awesome. The game follows a group of elementary school children on a quest that overlaps both the year 20xx and another dimension ruled by demons. The current-day kid vibe seems to be reminiscent of the Mother series. And although I'm not a big Pokemon fan personally, the gimmick of recruiting a party of demons to do your battling for you is intriguing and not overly annoying in a gotta-catch-em-all sort of way either.
I know it's still early in the game, but so far I'm having a great time. A lot of times I won't bother starting an RPG because I feel like I don't have the time to commit to perpetuating the storyline, so I'll eventually lose interest. Of course having it as a beach game just might help.
What are your beach games? What criteria would you use to describe a beach game? Or do you just think I'm nuts for bringing a Game Boy so close to sand and ocean?
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