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Blogger Archive: noiseredux 
Since I've been keeping the Game Boy Player Land blog, I've gotten a fair share of messages sent to me with various Game Boy related questions and comments. I love this sort of thing. People might send me a heads up on a rare cart popping up on eBay at a good price, or let me know about a title I've never heard of that I might like. Other times I get questions about various accessories, or technical specs, or similar subjects related to the Game Boy line. However the other day I got a really interesting message that got me thinking that I should share some information here for everybody who may have similar questions.
Here's a quote:
...something I need your help with.
I was very excited to find this at Gamestop and not so excited when I got home. Final Fantasy VI Advance. It has a completely different label on it. I thought it looked weird, but I didn't know what it was supposed to look like. If you study the case hard enough you can notice very small differences. It looks like a professional reprint or whatever you want to call it. The chip inside looks different than I've seen before, but I'm no expert on GBA games. I've only opened a few. It does have Nintendo printed on the chip. Anyway I've included photos. Mainly curious to see if the chip is legit. I'll probably return it either way. Let me know what your input is on it. Thanks a ton!
I no longer have my GBA, so I'll have to wait until I get my Gamecube hooked up before I can test it.
Thanks for the help! Take care!
Best Regards,
Dale
Dale was also thoughtful enough to take some very good pictures of his Final Fantasy Advance VI cart for my inspection, which he was nice enough to give me permission to use in this post:
[img width=300 height=200]http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab324/l0whit07/Stuff%20For%20Sale/FinalFantasy6label.jpg?t=1276379148[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab324/l0whit07/Stuff%20For%20Sale/finalfantasy6insides.jpg?t=1276379311[/img]
Now right away the label on the cartridge gave me cause for alarm. Every single copy of every installment of the Final Fantasy Advance series that I've ever happened upon has been the same plain-Jane black-text-on-white label. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that this is a bootleg cartridge. Of course there exists limited edition releases, promotional copies, imports, etc. I'm certainly not going to pretend that I've seen every GBA cart in existence.
But that brought me to my first real red flag. I've gotten many messages in the past where people have shown me a picture of a GBA cart label that has Japanese text on it and asked if I could figure out what game it might be. And that's always a breeze. You see every cart has an AGB number on it. The AGB number is like a game's specific catalog number which can very easily be Googled. It's as easy as that.
Example, when I type AGB-AKWE-USA-1 into Google, the first thing that pops up is Konami Krazy Racers. Similarly, when I typed in AGB-ALLE-USA and expected to get Lunar Legend for my example, instead I learned that my copy of Lunar Legend is a bootleg that had fooled me until now.
Which brings me to my next item to look for. Once I realized that the AGB number on my Lunar Legend cart brought up nothing, I flipped the cart over and looked at the chip board under a bright light. Sure enough, the little green board did not say Nintendo. Generally this is a quick and easy test. However, this isn't always the case. Check out that picture above that Dale took of his Final Fantasy VI chip board. You can see that it actually does say Nintendo. And right next to it is an AGB number, which by the way was how I figured out for sure that his cart was a bootleg. Googling AGB-E06-02 brought up a Yahoo! Answers thread about a copy of Pokemon Emerald bought off eBay that -- sure enough -- turned out to be a bootleg.
And what was the telltale sign for our Yahoo! Answers Pokemon Emerald victim? The damn game won't save! That's a very common problem with GBA bootlegs. And in my opinion, it's the biggest problem with them. There's many collectors out there who feel ripped off because they're not getting the official Nintendo-approved product. To be honest, that's not my issue. Sure I enjoy finding a complete-in-box game, but it's not necessary. I have many cart-only games as I'm generally pretty cheap and I'll take what I can get. But if a game won't save, that makes me furious. Especially if it won't save because it's a fake. I should point out that my (apparently bootleg) copy of Lunar Legend saves just fine. Perhaps some bootlegs are of higher quality than others? But who knows how long it'll keep its saves for.
If you're a collector and feel concerned that a game you're after on eBay or at the local flea market might be a bootleg here's a few tips and pointers to help you get better at spotting phony carts in the wild.
First, a few pictures taken from Nintendo's own website on Anti-Piracy, found at http://ap.nintendo.com/de...hotos/gameboy_advance.jsp:
Real:
[img width=425 height=125]http://imgur.com/n4OMl.jpg[/img]
Fake:
[img width=425 height=128]http://imgur.com/uTmj6.jpg[/img]
Real:
[img width=425 height=126]http://imgur.com/9OZXd.jpg[/img]
Fake:
[img width=425 height=126]http://imgur.com/ho8va.jpg[/img]
Notice the poor quality of the labels, especially in the case of Super Mario World. This is similar to the weird "fiery" version of Dale's Final Fantasy Advance VI above. But of course, this -- like all of the signs -- are not always present. Such as the case with my Lunar Legend. The label on that cart was very convincing.
Another helpful guide is found on eBay itself, since so many bootlegs carts seem to get distributed there, either knowingly or unknowingly. The full text can be found at http://reviews.ebay.com/B...0QQugidZ10000000000991496 and much like the Nintendo guide, it offers up similar pictures to compare.
[img width=200 height=149]http://imgur.com/bwdN3.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=149]http://imgur.com/qVYuD.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=148]http://imgur.com/WmzEY.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=149]http://imgur.com/aGztF.jpg[/img]
Perhaps you noticed that both the Nintendo guide and the eBay guide both used Golden Sun as an example? That brings us to another valid point. Generally, the more popular the game, the more likely it is that it would get bootlegged. That is to say that there are far more Zelda bootlegs floating around out there than there are Urban Yeti fakes. So keep that in mind when you're out hunting for the classics.
Using the info that I've posted here, as well as the linked articles you should get a lot better at spotting fakes. But you'll also figure out that it's not always quick and easy to notice them. Many boot-jobs are rather well done, and can fool you until you really take the time to inspect it. Case-in-point, my Lunar Legend bootleg that revealed itself to me while writing this very post.
Oh, and if you're wondering how our friend Dale made out with his Final Fantasy VI bootleg that he unwittingly purchased, he sent me this update message just as I was finishing up this post:
Well I took the FFVI game back. I took it to a GS I've never been to before. I went there cause I had to pick up MGS: Twin Snakes. Anyway the people there were really cool about it. They were like "that is definitely a bootleg". They said it was a shame since it was such a good game. I was happy they didn't hassle me about it though.
Also... I think this copy is a little better than the other one.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i876.photobucket.com/albums/ab324/l0whit07/Stuff%20For%20Sale/FFVI.jpg?t=1276565154[/img]
[img width=400 height=300]http://imgur.com/lLKoO.jpg[/img]
According to the Nintendo list there was somewhere in the neighborhood of 650 (official) games released for the original gray brick in the US. It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when there were only five Game Boy titles to choose from. That's right, at the Game Boy's launch we ecstatic pocket gamers had very little choice. Of course it wouldn't be long before every major publisher began carrying over their popular franchises. But for a brief holiday season, these were the five games in every Game Boy owners' collections.
[img width=300 height=300]http://imgur.com/3jAJ6l.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/mu8JG.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/fhSfT.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/iODqb.jpg[/img]
Alleyway is generally referred to as "that Breakout clone." And that's mostly what it is. Or technically it's a clone of Arkanoid, which was the NES' Breakout clone. But it also delivers some variants on the original simple game that make it surprisingly fun and interesting. Similar to the approach that Nintendo would later take when creating Donkey Kong 94, Alleyway begins with a very familiar level causing an initial feeling of comfort. But only a couple levels in and things start to get wacky. Whole levels begin to shift, paddles get smaller. Though the graphics are simple and the sound effects are generic bleeps and bloops, Alleyway is decent time-killer that can be a lot more fun than a game that was technically already 20 years old in concept by the time it was released on the Game Boy.
[img width=300 height=300]http://imgur.com/FaNdh.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/Jc2h9.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/SKVz9.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/ysoCU.jpg[/img]
The imaginatively titled Baseball was almost a no-brainer for a launch title, being the American Past Time and all. And in truth, it's not a terrible game either. It plays rather well, although all the players are extremely slow for athletes. For the most part the game works well as a pick-up-and-play-one-game cart, but due to the fact that you cannot progress throughout a season, really there's little reason to get truly wrapped up in the game. More than likely Baseball was released as a quickie launch title that could demonstrate the benefit of the Link Cable for some 2-Player action.
[img width=300 height=300]http://imgur.com/tOevF.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/AUci0.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/3dn0o.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/FCd08.jpg[/img]
As far as I'm concerned, Super Mario Land was the Game Boy's killer app. That year the top two items on my Christmas list were a Game Boy and Super Mario Land. It just seemed so exciting, a brand new Mario game -- on a brand new system! And I'll be honest, I probably liked (the American) Super Mario Bros. 2 far more than the next guy, but the prospect of Mario Land playing closer to the original Super Mario Bros. was good news. Nowadays I hear a lot of complaints about Mario Land -- it's too short, it's too easy, the sprites are too small, the controls are bad, the enemies are weird. But honestly, I shrug all of that off. This is still one of those titles that I play through once or twice a year and still enjoy every bit as much as I did back then. Truthfully, it is a short and easy game, the sprites are on the small side, the controls do take some getting used to and the enemies are weird. But that's all part of the game's charm. The new Game Boy system seemed to give a new outlet for game companies to experiment before releasing a major home console game. And that was fine with me. Generally gamers tend to prefer Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, but not me. Although it may be technically superior in every way, this is the first Game Boy game that I got completely attached to.
[img width=300 height=300]http://imgur.com/TfdiM.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/DDPnP.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/QG1zS.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/QO2my.jpg[/img]
Though I have absolutely no data to back this up, my guess is that far more kids found Baseball under their Christmas trees that year as opposed to Tennis. Though it is a similarly simple sports game that was probably rushed to launch to promote the Game Boy's 2-Player capabilities, it's actually a much better game than Baseball. For starters, it's rather fast-paced with controls that are difficultly nuanced though very good once mastered. Graphically the game looks great -- especially today when colorized via the GBA. And the music is also quite good. Though most gamers today will overlook this one and instead for one of the Mario Tennis titles that this game preceded, I'd certainly suggest giving the original a try if you happen upon it at a reasonable price.
[img width=300 height=300]http://imgur.com/l6CPC.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/21w94.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/VuESn.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://imgur.com/ZmZT8.jpg[/img]
Ah, Tetris! I almost hate to even attempt to write about it. There's been so many long and in-depth essays written on the game. So I guess what I'd like to point out it is the sheer balls that Nintendo had when making this the pack-in game with the new Game Boy system. At the time, Mario was such a draw that they could have easily insured some immediate sales just by including Super Mario Land with the system, much like that had been doing with Super Mario Bros. and the NES. But instead, they chose some simplistic boring-looking puzzle game with a Russian soundtrack. I won't lie, I didn't even play my copy for several months. But once I did, I was as hooked as anyone else. And though it may sound like a cliched story, my mom really did constantly steal my Game Boy so she could play Tetris, which didn't end until she got her own Game Boy. We would then play against each other, and although she was good -- she just wasn't as good as me.
So this was it. These were the only games you could buy if you were a proud launch-era owner of the Game Boy. Of these original five titles, I myself only had Tetris and Mario Land at launch. How about the rest of you? Which games did you have at launch? And which would you choose now if you could go back in time?
Over the past couple months I've done a lot of posts surveying various arcade-centric genres of games to play using an arcade stick. In that time I've developed a certain new-found fondness for Shmups. But the truth is the real reason I bought my Hori Fighting Stick in the first place was to play, well... Fighting Games. Now many of you out there probably scoff at the thought of a Game Boy Fighter, but there were actually quite a few commendable ports released.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/0/585620_46673_front.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=200]http://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/gb/screenshot/Battle%20Arena%20Toshinden-1.png[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2572/4086922341_5bbbc9a9b1_m.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/gb/screenshot/Battle%20Arena%20Toshinden-2.png[/img]
When the Playstation was first released, it took me forever to save up for one. And one I finally was able to get my hands on the console, I couldn't actually afford to buy any games for a while. Thankfully it at least came with a demo disc that contained a demo for a new game called Battle Arena Toshinden. And though I never actually played the full game, I rocked that demo for quite some time. The concept of a 3D Fighter was still very new and impressive to me at the time.
The Game Boy port of Battle Arena Toshinden obviously removes the 3D perspective. But what's most impressive is that Takara was able to strip the game of its selling point, and still make a rather awesome 2D Fighter out of the remaining game. All eight characters are present as well as an exclusive hidden character, Uranus. Takara wisely chose to use a super-deformed approach to the sprites which allows for more screen-space to play with. Perhaps most importantly is the fluidity of the controls. Special moves are pulled off with ease. Battle Arena Toshinden is an incredibly impressive port that stands on its on as a great portable Fighter.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/3/585773_46680_front.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=200]http://ui11.gamefaqs.com/1610/gfs_46680_1_1.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://ui01.gamefaqs.com/1856/gfs_46680_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://ui13.gamefaqs.com/1036/gfs_46680_2_2.jpg[/img]
You have to hand it to Rare for at least trying to port Killer Instinct to the Game Boy. However it just didn't fare as well as the conversion that Donkey Kong Country had made from the SNES to the Game Boy. First off Cinder and and Raptor were cut from the roster. And though the the remaining characters are recognizable, the backgrounds are rather boring. The controls are decent enough, though. So if you're a huge fan of the series then this might be a passable portable version for you. It's also notable that Rare was able to implement a 2-Player capability when using the Super Game Boy.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/5/563285_28969_front.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=200]http://www.mksecrets.net/images/kolumn/issue05/image03.png[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://ui05.gamefaqs.com/772/gfs_28969_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://ui02.gamefaqs.com/1985/gfs_28969_2_2.jpg[/img]
Mortal Kombat is bad. Really bad. Looking back on it now, the arcade game itself wasn't even really that great of a game. It certainly didn't have the excellent controls of Street Fighter II. But what it did have was digitized actors and lots of blood. In fact it had enough blood to make us overlook how poor the gameplay actually was.
Sadly the Game Boy port does nothing to detract from how terrible it is. The controls are obviously worse than the console ports due to the button limitations of the Game Boy. In fact most of the special moves are incredibly difficult to even pull off. It's almost astounding that Acclaim even decided to release the game, though at the height of MK-Fever it's understandable why they would have wanted the product out there.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/1/585811_38660_front.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=200]http://ui04.gamefaqs.com/1667/gfs_38660_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://i.neoseeker.com/p/Games/Gameboy_Color/Action/Fighting/mortal_kombat_ii_image_YuBTyBf0chm5RbN.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://images.nintendolife.com/screenshots/24342/medium.jpg[/img]
When Mortal Kombat II was released in 1994, the clear winner to me was the SNES version. This was my chosen version, and got played a hell of a lot whenever a friend would come over the house. However, in all honesty it's a portable version that's remembered almost equally as fondly to me now when thinking back.
Sure the Game Boy port of Mortal Kombat II is not without its faults. Baraka didn't even make the cut! But at the same time it seems that Acclaim did everything in its power to right the wrongs of the first Game Boy game. Here, the characters don't look like shit; the controls are fluid so that special moves are actually possible to pull of; the frame-rate is suitable; and most impressively each character can do an individual fatality, a level-specific fatality and even a babality! As stripped down as this version is, it's actually quite a lot of fun.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/1/585861_46687_front.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=200]http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/Primal_Rage_GBC_ScreenShot1.gif[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://ui16.gamefaqs.com/1359/gfs_46687_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://ui17.gamefaqs.com/1808/gfs_46687_2_2.jpg[/img]
Primal Rage is another example of a developer trying to cram too much into a small cart without understanding how to properly play to the strengths of the Game Boy's hardware. Which is to say that the game looks pretty well -- it does a nice job of attempting to mimic the impressive graphics of its console counterparts. But unfortunately, all the details put into the characters force the game to flicker pretty badly due to the frame-rate of the action. I can't say the game isn't fun, but at the same time the port leaves a lot to be desired and really is more of a curio than lost gem.
[img width=300 height=300]http://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/gb/thumbs/Samurai%20Shodown.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=200]http://ui19.gamefaqs.com/1746/gfs_56943_1_1.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://ui19.gamefaqs.com/82/gfs_56943_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://ui01.gamefaqs.com/928/gfs_56943_2_2.jpg[/img]
Takara's port of Samurai Shodown is similar to what they did with Battle Arena Toshinden. Which is a good thing. The character sprites are all super-deformed and excellently detailed. The controls are wonderful and easy to pull off special moves. There's twelve characters to choose from -- an impressive feat given that the Game Boy port of Mortal Kombat was forced to cut its roster down to six, for instance. This is definitely a game I'd recommend to any Game Boy Fighter fans out there.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/7/585927_91750_front.jpg[/img]
[img width=200 height=200]http://ui19.gamefaqs.com/2066/gfs_91750_1_1.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://ui06.gamefaqs.com/741/gfs_91750_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://ui12.gamefaqs.com/715/gfs_91750_2_2.jpg[/img]
The Game Boy port of Street Fighter II is far from perfect. The frame-rate is choppy, the characters move slow, and you're limited to only nine of the original twelve characters. But at the same time I have to give credit to Capcom for how hard they tried visually. The character sprites look rather awesome (look at Blanka!) and the backgrounds attempt the same level of detail as the SNES port. Though it's easy to say that this is a pretty lousy port of a 2D Fighter when compared to something like Battle Arena Toshinden, if you're a huge Street Fighter II fan like myself, you're going to at least be interested in giving this one a shot.
Now I'd like to think that this post was pretty exhaustive. But of course the Game Boy library is so vast, it's certainly possible that I missed out on some of the absolute best and worst Fighting Games out there. Please let me know via the comment box below!
To celebrate the launch of the Game Boy Advance in 2001, Nintendo Power magazine decided to start a series of quarterly special editions known as Nintendo Power Advance. These quarterlies were significantly more expensive ($14.99) than the monthly magazine, and as you might have guessed -- focused solely on the Game Boy Advance. Sadly for we GBA enthusiasts only four volumes were ultimately released. And though certainly the reviews may have been a bit biased, each issue is actually a really awesome little time capsule of the year that was the GBA's first.
Generally speaking, each issue would feature in-depth walkthroughs and strategy guides for a handful of major releases. Then they would have a "buyer's guide" that would give half-page previews of upcoming titles. Sprinkled throughout would be various GBA-related news, advertisements, tricks & tips. So let us take a journey through the magazines' short lifespan.
[img width=385 height=500]http://themushroomkingdom.net/mania/images/mag/npa_v1.jpg[/img]
Volume 1 (aka: the Premier Issue) (130 pages) was intended to announce the arrival of the Game Boy Advance system. Accordingly, the issue opens with an article entitled Introducing Game Boy Advance which offers an "actual size" picture of the new handheld, along with a breakdown of its specs, features and various accessories that were already available.
The featured games in this issue were:
Super Mario Advance
F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
Rayman Advance
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon
The Buyer's Guide features:
Earthworm Jim
Super Dodge Ball Advance
Pinobee: Wings Of Adventure
GT Advance Championship Racing
Bomberman Tournament
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2
Tweety And The Magic Gems
Hot Potato!
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure
Fire Pro Wrestling
Top Gear GT Championship
Army Men Advance
ChuChu Rocket
Konami Krazy Racers
Iridion 3D
[img width=399 height=510]http://themushroomkingdom.net/mania/images/mag/npa_v2.jpg[/img]
Volume 2's (130 pages) cover featured Mario Kart: Super Circuit. It also came with a subscription card that offered "Your Choice Free!" of either a Mario Kart: Super Circuit T-shirt, a pair of Nintendo Power Advance headphones or a Pokemon Crystal Version Player's Guide. (Note: If anyone has those headphones, I'd like them for myself.) This issue is of particular interest to me due to the inclusion of a full moves list for the entire roster of Super Street Fighter II, which is easily one my all-time favorite GBA releases.
The games featured in this issue were:
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Advance Wars
Super Street Fighter II: Turbo Revival
Jurassic Park III: Park Builder
Lego Bionicle: Quest For The Toa
This volume also includes a section entitled Sports Arena which features:
ESPN Final Round Golf 2002
High Heat MLB 2002
The Buyer's Guide includes:
Mega Man Battle Network
Namco Museum
Jurassic Park III: The DNA Factor
Final Fight One
Fortress
Klonoa: Empire Of Dreams
Tang Tang
Lady Sia
Snood
Lego Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge
Pac-Man Collection
Back Track
F-14 Tomcat
Driven
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
[img width=394 height=524]http://themushroomkingdom.net/mania/images/mag/npa_v3.jpg[/img]
Volume 3's (138 pages) cover is dedicated to Golden Sun, Nintendo's very own 16-bit RPG retro throwback. And if that doesn't get your RPG mouth watering, the issue also features a section on the GBA re-release of the SNES cult-classic Breath Of Fire. The issue comes with that same subscription offer (still want those headphones).
The games highlighted in this volume were:
Golden Sun
Wario Land 4
Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone
Breath Of Fire
Though the issue contained less featured games upfront, it seems appropriate due to the vast coverage required of two RPG's. The issue also added considerably more bulk to the Buyer's Guide this time out which included:
Tekken Advance
Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits
Disney's Donald Duck Advance
Jackie Chan Adventures
Spyro: Season Of Ice
Columns Crown
Tom And Jerry: The Magic Ring
Road To Wrestlemania
Spongebob Squarepants: Supersponge
Rampage Puzzle Attack
Cruis'n Velocity
Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder
Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX
Madden NFL 2002
Monster Rancher Advance
Midnight Club Street Racing
Planet Of The Apes
Mech Platoon
Alienators: Evolution Continues
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2
Tiny Toons Adventures: Buster's Bad Dream
Super Bust-A-Move
Hot Wheels: Burnin' Rubber
ESPN Great Outdoor Games: Bass 2002
Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles
[img width=413 height=550]http://themushroomkingdom.net/mania/images/mag/npa_v4.jpg[/img]
The fourth and final volume was unique in that it only featured one game. Volume 4 (130 pages) served as a complete strategy guide to Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2. In fact the first 100 pages of the issue were spent offering in-depth walkthroughs for each level and breaking down the enemies, power-ups and minutia of my personal favorite Mario Bros. sequel.
The final Buyer's Guide included:
Sonic Advance
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
The Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go
Razor Freestyle Scooter
E.T. The Extraterrestrial
Puyo Pop
Nancy Drew: Message In A Haunted Mansion
Moto GP
M&M's Blast
Batman Vengeance
The Flintstone's: Big Trouble In Bedrock
American Bass Challenge
An American Tail: Fievel's Gold Rush
Dokapon
Motocross Maniacs Advance
Broken Sword: The Shadow Of The Templars
Salt Lake 2002
Sheep
NBA Jam 2002
Inspector Gadget: Advance Mission
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear
Jonny Mosely Mad Trix
Disney's Peter Pan: Return To Never Land
Ecks Vs. Sever
Bomberman Max 2: Red Advance and Blue Advance
Mike Tyson's Boxing
Monsters, Inc.
Planet Monsters
Zone Of The Enders: The Fist Of Mars
Chessmaster
Guilty Gear X: Advance Edition
High Heat Baseball 2003
Breath Of Fire II
Sadly there was no Volume 5. Looking back it's unclear why. Perhaps it was the elevated price tag, considering that the same games were probably at least somewhat featured in the far cheaper monthly Nintendo Power magazine? Perhaps there weren't enough people like me who were interested in free Game Boy Advance headphones? Whatever it was, it wasn't a waning interest in the GBA system, as an overload of games would be released for the handheld over the following six years. And these four brief volumes of Nintendo Power Advance serve as a great overview of a year when one of the absolute greatest handhelds of all time was still in its infancy.
There's no surprise that the Game Boy Advance is generally loved by retro gamer enthusiasts. Indeed it was a platform that saw many great and classic games ported, remade, demade and re-imagined. It also offered many carts that contained multiple old school games that could please us so-called Cheap Ass Gamers. With this in mind -- and keeping up with the recent series of Game Boy Player Land blog posts focusing on arcade-stick friendly titles -- let us investigate the world of GBA Retro Compilations.
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Activision Anthology is by far one of the most impressive retro compilations released for the Game Boy Advance. The cart contains almost fifty Atari 2600 games including classics like Pitfall, Keystone Kapers, and Atlantis. Unsurprisingly, each game is emulated quite well considering the vastly superior GBA hardware.
The real real pleasant surprise is the amount of extra that went into the GBA cartridge, both in presentation as well as extras. The menu screens display a virtual room and allow you to browse through racks of virtual 2600 cartridges. You can even inspect zoomed-in versions of the game labels or read histories of the games. Activision even went as far as to include a nice handful of homebrew 2600 games -- something not present on the home console versions of the anthology! What's even better for Game Boy Player fans is the ability to use a GBA as a 2nd player controller, and play cooperatively using a single screen. This cart is highly recommended.
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Atari Anniversary Advance is a nice collection of six Atari arcade games: Asteroid, Battlezone, Centipede, Missile Command, Super Breakout, and Tempest. The games are faithful emulations of the original arcade titles, so fans of the early days of arcade should be pleased. The cartridge also contains a bonus Atari trivia game and offers up a single-cart, single-GBA 2Player option -- again, rather perfect for the Game Boy Player.
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Capcom Classic Mini Mix is a great little compilation of three Capcom NES games: Bionic Commando, Mighty Final Fight, and Strider. Each game is emulated pretty perfectly from the NES. Bionic Commando is generally the draw-in here, as the NES version is pretty well remembered. On the other hand, the NES version of Strider is extremely different from the arcade or Genesis versions that most of us probably remember. Likewise, Mighty Final Fight is a demake of the arcade version of Final Fight that looks and plays far closer to River City Ransom. I personally recommend this collection for Mighty Final Fight alone. Though sadly Capcom really didn't add much to this cart in the way of extras -- not even a save feature.
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The rather cumbersomely titled Komani Collector's Series Arcade Advanced is a nice collection of six Konami Arcade classics: Frogger, Gyruss, Rush'n Attack, Scramble, Time Pilot, and Yie Ar Kung-Fu. Like most of these sorts of early arcade collections, the GBA has little problem emulating the games. There is a nice single-cart 2Player option available, as well as some optional modernized versions of the games. In keeping up with the nostalgia, Konami was also thoughtful enough to offer up some extras by way of the famous Konami Code.
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Namco Museum is pretty much a necessity for GBA retro enthusiasts. Admittedly, I'm a bit biased as Galaga is one of my personal all-time favorite games. That being said, the other three games included -- Dig Dug, Ms. Pac-Man and Pole Position are all certainly classics in their own right. The games all play great though my biggest complaint is the lack of a high-score save feature like the one found on the other home console releases of Namco Museum. There's apparently also a 50th Anniversary addition GBA cart that adds Rally-X and the original Pac-Man but sacrifices Pole Position.
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The Sega Arcade Gallery is a great collection of four Sega arcade ports: After Burner, Out Run, Space Harrier, and Super Hang On. The games all play quite well, with the possible exception of a so-so After Burner. On the other hand Space Harrier is rather impressive given its original complicated presentation. If I had to come up with any complaint at all, it would be that THQ decided to include two racing games which can come off a bit redundant. Though I certainly can't complain that Out Run is included. Unfortunately extras are non-existent and there is no high-score save feature.
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Sega Smashpack is another bare-bones compilation of three Sega games: Ecco The Dolphin, Golden Axe, and Sonic Spinball. The compilation is definitely a mixed bag. The port of Ecco The Dolphin is quite impressive. However the port of Golden Axe is rather poor in execution and lacks the co-op mode that it is most known for. Sonic Spinball is a fine port, though an actual Sonic The Hedgehog title would have been preferred in its place.
Having said all that, each of these collections is generally worth seeking out for one game or another. As I've said in other recent arcade-related posts, playing a game like Galaga or Ms. Pac-man using an arcade stick is especially awesome. Now what retro collections am I missing out on?
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Back when the 16-big Wars were in full rage, there was the Sega Army and the Nintendo Army. Meanwhile, a rather awesome and little-known troupe became a fatality. It was known as the TurboGrafx-16. The system was impressive, but could never seem to make a dent in the American market. Without much fanfare it was soon delegated to electronic stores' cut-out bins. Around this time I was able to convince my mom that we were fools to not own a TurboGrafx-16 at such a price. She surprisingly agreed and console came home with us.
Now in these days there was no eBay; no Amazon. Back then most of us got our games from one or two local chain stores that had limited shelf-space. So even if you read about some amazing and exotic game in a magazine, either your store had it or you were shit out of luck. Unfortunately for me, I was never able to find most of the TurboGrafx games that made me want the system in the first place. Sure my Genesis was stuffed to the gills with Sonic games, and my SNES had more than enough Mario. But finding a Bonk game seemed impossible -- never mind Air Zonk!
Luckily as the TurboGrafx petered out it seemed a lot more lucrative for Hudson to start porting some of their more popular franchises to more successful consoles. Which is why we happy Game Boy owners were blessed with a magnificent port of Bonk's Adventure in 1992.
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Bonk's Adventure for Game Boy is really an amazing version. The game is not a full-on port of the TurboGrafx title. Instead, it takes cues from the original and incorporates them into a brand new game. The levels are all pretty much based on the original's levels, but offer enough variety to keep fans interested.
Playing through Bonk's Adventure it's almost amazing that the franchise didn't catch on in the US. Even if the TurboGrafx failed, a game like this could have really made its home on the Game Boy and sparked a whole series -- as made evident by this release. One can only assume that the game just managed to slide under everyone's radars at the time of its release. Which is too damn bad. The graphics are quite impressive on the little screen. Though they keep the cutesy and simplistic art style of the original, there's also just as much subtle detail thrown in. The enemy characters and Bonk himself are varied and have expressive animations. Everything is visually rather amazing.
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A great little gimmick to the gameplay is the power-ups. Bonk will eat pieces of meat that will turn into different Bonk-variants. Be it an angry punk or a Frankenstein's monster, or even a tortoise. The whole presentation is extremely impressive and shows an amount of effort put into a portable port that was generally not seen at that time. The game is not terribly long, but it is challenging enough to keep you from beating it too quickly.
Two years later Hudson released a similar port of the sequel, Bonk's Revenge, which I've yet to play. But based on how great this game is, I certainly plan to. Bonk's Adventure is highly recommended. Do check it out if you get the chance.
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One of my highest collecting priorities these days is tracking down all the games I remember spending the most time with when I was younger. What this means is that although certainly classic games like Super Mario Bros. 3 or A Link To The Past are high on that list, they also rub elbows with games that another collector may have never played -- or even thought twice about playing. Friends, I present you with one such game: Robocop.
Released in 1990 and developed by Ocean, Robocop was based on the ultra-violent film classic of the same name. Due mainly to the limitations of the Game Boy hardware, the game isn't nearly as blood-soaked as the film, but it is a surprisingly competent release which is saying a lot for a movie-licensed 8-bit game.
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The game is mainly a side-scroller in which you patrol the mean streets of Detroit. There are a load of scumbags out there looking to take you down, and for an incredibly strong cyborg you can die pretty easily. And unfortunately the controls can feel a bit clunky. For instance when you duck down, you have to manually push Up to stand up again. However, this and the rather limited height of Robocop's jumps actually help to make him feel a bit more robotic and heavy. Perhaps this was unintended, or perhaps it was brilliant design. Either way, it works in a strange way.
What's really interesting about the game are the mid-levels. Each one offers some kind of change-of-pace to the usual shoot-everything side-scrolling levels. For instance, you may find yourself reconstructing the face of a wanted criminal via the police computer systems. Or maybe you'll be using a scope to disrupt a hostage situation in the first-person perspective. There's definitely a lot of variety to the level layouts. And in no shocking surprise for many early Game Boy releases, Robocop gets really hard really quickly. Though there are only ten levels total, I've never beat the game myself. And yet, the difficulty never really stops it from being fun either.
There are a surprising number of Game Boy sequels including a crossover with the Terminator, and even eventual Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance releases. But I can't speak about any of them from experience. All I can say is that either nostalgia has skewed things way out of perspective, or Robocop is one hell of a fun game.
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One of the main reasons I love collecting Game Boy games is that it gives me an excuse to relive my youth. Truly, many of the games that are highest on my wishlist aren't what you would consider classics. And in some cases they might not even be considered great games. But when you're young and your only source of games is what happens to be in stock the at the toy store the day your parents decide to get you a new one, you learn to love an ordinarily overlooked game because you can either spend some serious time with it, or just do your homework instead.
One such title that fits into this description is the 1990 Konami release Skate Or Die: Bad 'N Rad. This is a title I played the hell out of in my pre-teens based mostly on the merits of the NES Skate Or Die titles, along with the promise of an experience that would be equally bad AND rad -- two very enticing words to adolescents of the the 1990's.
This Game Boy sequel bares very little resemblance to the first NES game. The original game focused more on open-ended skating and the ultimate goal of becoming a skateboarding champion. Or at least shutting up that mohawked jerk at the skate shop. Bad 'N Rad on the other hand plays out like an adventure game. On a skateboard. You must skate through each level and dodge lots of spikes, rats, thugs, and for some reason people in life rafts with tridents.
 
Similarly to what Konami did with their Game Boy Contra games, they decided to split up the levels in Bad 'N Rad between sidescrolling levels and overhead levels. This seemingly offers a challenge to gamers that are better than one or the other, which ultimately probably helped make the game last a bit longer. Unfortunately the other thing that made the game last so long was the extreme cheapness of the obstacles! You might land in water and get hit by it twice. Or a rat might run at you from a two pixel buffer zone between you and the end of the screen. And there are a lot of spikes in the town this skater lives in. But none of this really stops the game from being fun. It instead calls for a certain blend of eye-hand coordination along with level memorization which is somewhat similar to the approach that Konami took with their early Castlevania games.
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Like most of Konami's early releases for Game Boy, they put an awful lot of detail into the graphical details as well as the music. In fact, the music in this game is certainly on par with the original NES release. The sound effects are few, but good when they do pop up. Most importantly the gameplay is stellar. Left and right will make your skater coast appropriately with enough control over speed; A jumps and B crouches which is a great touch when you use it to go through large pipes and other interesting tricks.
Later Konami released a Game Boy sequel titled Tour De Thrash which I never got the chance to play. And though I won't try to say that Bad 'N Rad is a completely unheralded classic, it's certainly classic to my own gaming memories. And it's definitely worth picking up if you happen upon it.
From time to time I've encountered some pretty awesome ads from the history of the Game Boy line of handhelds. I was 8 years old when the first Game Boy was released, and I've followed the line rather closely. So in a way it's endearing to see this time line grow up with my generation. For your review I've assembled a bit of a retrospective of the Game Boy line and how each new iteration has been presented to the world.
Continue reading How To Get Ahead In Handheld Advertising
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