That was a pretty good video. Wondered why I hadn’t seen that person before but looks like they are pretty new.
Yeah, I only came across him today, I cancelled my order since I’m waiting for confirmation about the pixel artefacts being fixed before re-ordering.
He linked to this guy: https://youtu.be/DA3xl-EzQAQ
Who talks about the transition glitch lines in grid mode (a quirk of the pocket’s refresh rate or something) but this dude doesn’t mention the noise/pixel artefacts macho sees. I wonder if it was an error from the install?
Also found that the macho dude has a 5% affiliate discount code (MACHONACHO)
The issues in that video posted June 18th looks like electrical noise. I saw this on the shop website:
2020-06-03： Fixed a noise problem with the kit
So it’s feasible that the video shows a kit from before he noise fix?
It could be, there was an audio noise problem somebody mentioned also, I’ve asked for clarification as it’s a bit vague.
EDIT: It was a sound VCC noise issue “A constant annoying beeeep through the speaker”
Ah well, that’s a shame that it’s unrelated to the visual glitches.
It remains the case that most of these screens are fairly underwhelming and the technical implementation is kind of hacky. Like, the IQ might be better than the originals but none of these projects have actually excited me yet. It’s unfortunate since my GBC’s frontlight has some issues and I’ve been casually following these projects for years waiting for a solution but every single offer has had issues, nevermind color accuracy for the GBC in particular.
It feels wrong to interrupt the hardware chatter here, but I just had to write about this game! I picked up Kirby’s Dream Land recently, having only previously played it a long time ago on a friend’s Game Boy.
After (finally!) conquering expert mode this afternoon, I’m happy to report back that it really exceeded my expectations. As we’ve seen with many other Game Boy classics, less really can mean more.
Being the first Kirby game, the little puffball doesn’t have his signature copy ability that he’d later obtain in his Famicom debut - but he really doesn’t need it. Dreamland’s five tightly designed levels are the perfect match for Kirby’s limited - yet expressive - moveset.
While a first playthrough isn’t particularly testing, the game is beautiful, its backgrounds, limited (yet purposeful) enemies and short pre-level animations conveying a lot with a little.
It’s what happens after the credits roll that really made the game for me. The first short playthrough was really just a test run to familiarise yourself with the controls and rules of the world and its enemies. Extra Mode puts up a tough and engaging challenge. It remixes what were once unthreatening enemies and level layouts into testing arenas that demand mastery of Kirby’s abilities.
Sections and bosses that you could clear sloppily first time around now demand careful attention to your movements and awareness of enemies, and get the nature of Kirby’s free-flying floating gameplay means victory rarely feels like the product of trial and error. Even when level 4 took about twenty attempts!
This is a game that doesn’t outstay its welcome, and it’s mindblowing to think how much they got out of a simple idea like this - even the shmup segments make perfect sense given Kirby’s abilities and the powerups in the game. It’s another product of its time in the sense that the Game Boy’s hardware and storage limitations - and Kirby’s then-absence of expectation from a new series - were an editor of sorts, keeping excess at bay. I just wish I tried it sooner and didn’t dismiss it due to its relative simplicity compared with its larger Famicom sibling.
I’ve still got Trip World to play (again, on 3DS VC), but there’s also quite a few well-known titles left that I haven’t looked into. I’m definitely picking up Revenge of the Gator on @D.Lo’s recommendation, but is Metroid II and Kid Icarus II worth a look?
I thought Avenging Spirit is one of Jaleco’s best games, but there’s also two predecessors to SFC game Operation Logic Bomb on Game Boy, hope those are good.
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Nice little review/impressions. The Gameboy library is deeper than people remember, lots of goodies. Metroid II is good though I haven’t beaten it. I think anyone who enjoys the series would enjoy II? Kid Icarus I can’t really speak to, but I know some people swear by it. Trip World is fantastic, its only drawback is the length.
Thanks. I’ll grab both of them, forgot how they are pretty cheap releases on the 3DS.
It’s funny how I was so engrossed in catching up on the third party gems in the library (Catrap, Avenging Spirit, Belmont’s Revenge, Roadster, * Osawage! Penguin Boy) that I’ve missed a tonne of internally developed Nintendo games over the years. Like the criminally overlooked Donkey Kong ‘94 one can only assume these titles stood in the shadow of the ‘bigger’ console releases at the time.
I went back and played through Trip World this evening actually - took a few attempts due to some pesky bosses, those first couple of levels lull you in to a false sense of security. Wonderful game, though, it has a really surreal, otherworldly feel to it despite the natural beauty of its environments.
Gosh those screens look pretty nice. I have not purchased any 3DS VC games. Maybe I should get on that.
Metroid II is pretty good. I replayed it a couple years ago and it was a decent run. A little repetitive but not bad overall. I owned but sold Kid Icarus because it seemed to me the bosses were bugged - it was taking like 100 hits to beat them. Maybe I was doing something wrong??
If you buy them, you have to hold select and start when booting the game to get that accurate pixel layout. Otherwise it scales it and uses very soft interpolation.
Ah, huh. I’ve only looked that screen shots in the eShop and they all look kind tiny and bad. Would this fix that?
Yeah it’ll be pixel perfect in that mode but will display in a small screen
What’s great about pixel perfect VC on 3DS is they use the 3D to set the GB/GBC screen subtly back from the border, emulating the original space between screen and the front of the unit.
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I’ll give both a go, put enough eShop credit to get them. I’m intrigued by Kid Icarus 2’s bosses!
It should do to some degree. From what I recall, the eShop screenshots often have a load of compression that ruins the look of many games, but 1:1 pixel mode will lead to a tiny (Game Gear Mini sized?) image on a regular 3DS. Playable but eye-straining. It’s much better with an XL/LL model’s larger pixels. And as D.Lo points out, the 3D effect creates a subtle barrier between the plastic screen covering and the display itself.
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I’,m really liking the DMG-2x-ALT shader in retroarch for my classic gameboy needs.
The attention to the detail in both the border, and the LCD simulation really approximates the real experience well.
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Here’s what I’ve decided on from the European and Japanese eShops. I’m excited!
- Revenge of the Gator
- Kirby’s Dream Land
- Ikari no Yousai (predecessor to Operation Logic Bomb)
- Ikari no Yousai 2
- Lock’n Chase (seems to be an updated version like Burgertime Deluxe)
- Tumblepop (more Data East arcade goodness that I missed out on)
- Metroid II
- Kid Icarus II
- Balloon Kid
- Balloon Fight GB (Japan-only GBC update of Balloon Kid, never released on cartridge but rereleased on Virtual Console)
I’m not so sure on:
- Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon - didn’t realise Konami put this out as late as 1998. But I seem to remember @D.Lo saying the third game on the GBC from the Kobe studio was the best.
- Bomberman GB 3 - any point in this? Back in the 90s I only had GBC Bomberman Pocket (sidescrolling one)
On a related note, I really appreciate them putting Trip World on there for the equivalent of $3, that game goes for crazy money now.
This looks good - I like the depth behind some of the darker colours since like the Game Boy Pocket the ‘off’ part of the screen is at the back, and the ‘off’ part isn’t a solid colour!
Nice impressions - it was my first Gameboy game and I agree, it’s a very nice little masterpiece. I must have played through it at least 100 times as a kid.
Aynone here ever owned a gameboy light? Still regret passing one up at the toys r us in the emirates around 2001 or so, they were going for aprrox. 50,- at the time. Was just messing around with one of the other shaders and I actually really like this look. 