Game Boy/Color/Advance OT + Collecting Thread - Get into it!

Video Games
802

Been playing Shiren GB2, a clear cart GBC game, on and off recently, having picked it up on a whim in Japan. Had no idea it existed!

This was clearly a labour of love for developer Chunsoft, as it’s one of the most impressive games I’ve seen on the system. The animated event sequences (third and first person!) are gorgeous. The sprites have a lot of frames of animation, and backgrounds are often adorned with overlaid sprites or animation, which you rarely see in games on GB/GBC. I guess the extra memory available for a GBC exclusive was used to its fullest here.

Opening sequence:

Sprite animation:

803

Forgot to mention that I revisited Oracle of Seasons last year and didn’t come away impressed despite playing it to the end on release.

The game just came across as more generic Zelda content. Subrosia is cool, but the world design is all over the place, each dungeon and its surrounding area feels like a separate piece of game that the designers glued back to the game world afterward. It’s not bad, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it’s an essential playthrough given the extensive history of the series.

Been watching Araknie Loves It Retro’s YouTube channel recently and noticed he’s reviewed both Oracle titles, I think his view is spot on really:

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804

Whoa hard to understand at the start! Eventually I caught on.

Kind of agree, I’d be harsher at this point.

What weird is there is an odd narrative out there that they’re ‘better’ than Link’s Awakening. I have to assume a lot of these narratives are based on whoever was a kid when a game came out and so objectivity is lost. Plus a general low ability for average joe to be discerning - it has more stuff so it must be better or something.

One other theory I have is certain tastemakers (reviewers, commentators) from around 2000-2010 online actually had some major influence on narratives.

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805

I think both theories are major factors for sure, it’s just a shame of all the flawed games to celebrate it had to be these ones. They aren’t bad games, as we know, but they just aren’t particularly interesting.

Funnily enough I’ve been wanting to play Mario Party Advance for a while now, just because it seems so offbeat for a game in the Mario series.

Honestly, this part of this video plus the gambling section that follows had me in stitches. The gambling in particular wouldn’t make it within a nautical mile of a Mario game nowadays!

806

On that note it looks like Konami is rereleasing these games on Switch and PC this year!

Includes Duel Monsters 6 which is one of my favourites - released in the west as Worldwide Edition

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807

I loved Konami games but had no connection or interest in this franchise so never played any.

Maybe one day when I have infinite time!

808

I guess you can’t copy Bluesky links? Idk, anyway:

—

RT: Marc Max
@marc_robledo

Here they go, #SuperGameBoy border converter & injector!

That’s it: inject your custom #SGB border into your favorite #GameBoy game!

Convert:
https://marcrobledo.com/super-game-boy-border-converter/
Inject:
https://marcrobledo.com/super-game-boy-border-injector/
Game needs 16 free bytes in bank 0 to work

#retrogaming

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809

Game Boy Wars fan translation released:

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https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/s/S6voHy1G83

Oh no

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811

You monster. Why would you do this to us? :cry:

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812

I feel sick.

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813

As you may know, I’m a fan of the Game Boy Micro — it’s among my most played consoles ever. Earlier this year, I picked up a second one:

Game Boy Micro
Game Boy Micro1920×1240 71.5 KB

I love the GBA library, but lately I’d been bothered by the fact I was unable to share it. Then I remembered single-pak multiplayer, a long lost feature that I had barely touched back in the day. I found someone selling GBM link cables on Etsy:

GBM link cable
GBM link cable1920×1251 331 KB

The cable is well-made and you can choose its colour scheme. One thing to note about these cables is that one end is designated as player 1, so if you connect the devices the wrong way round, single-pak multiplayer won’t boot. I suppose you could label the cable to get around this.

Anyway, I selected a few games to play with my partner. First up was F-Zero Maximum Velocity:

F-Zero MV
F-Zero MV1920×1265 107 KB

I played this game at launch in 2001 and liked it, although I didn’t totally embrace it as I was majorly into X, and this is pretty different. Having recently returned to MV, I now see it as a direct sequel to the OG F-Zero, another game I’ve learned to appreciate with time.

In any case, single-pak multiplayer is quite limited, with only one vehicle and one track available. I guess that’s understandable, as this feature utilises the GBA’s 256k of RAM, and F-Zero is quite complex. My partner isn’t the best at F-Zero but we still had a laugh.

Next up was Kururin Paradise:

Kururin Paradise
Kururin Paradise1920×1235 127 KB

This is one of the best GBA games in single player mode, and its single-pak multiplayer implementation is brilliant! There are thirty stages to race through and they load instantly. You can adjust the length of the ship and the number of lives, which makes the game more approachable to newcomers. In a nice touch, you can see a real-time ghost of your opponent, so you always know who is ahead. Apparently the original Kururin has fifty stages, so we’ll have to try that next time.

Another of the GBA’s very best, ChuChu Rocket!

ChuChu Rocket!
ChuChu Rocket!1920×1259 108 KB

This port is legendary, containing every single level and feature from the Dreamcast version, and then some. Multiplayer is no exception! Even though we had fun with this, I must say I prefer playing multiplayer ChuChu Rocket! on a single screen. It just better suits the chaotic nature of the game.

Last, but by no means least, Tetris Advance:

Tetris Advance
Tetris Advance1920×1285 128 KB

No multiplayer session would be complete without Tetris, especially on a Game Boy. This is a version by Success and it is excellent in single player mode. Single-pak multiplayer works perfectly, even if it lacks a soundtrack. At least it has sound effects. We will get a lot of mileage out of this one over the years, I’m sure.

That’s all for now!

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814

Amazing photos! I recently went back to rocking the Micro as well (just made a thread on why!), and it’s nice to be back after a couple of years using the Analogue Pocket. The extreme portability is especially a breath of fresh air, I can actually pocket a handheld again. Not that PSP or DS weren’t pocketable, but in the age of smartphones being the primary gadget in our pockets there isn’t always room!

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Micro is just so small. I’m already in need of readers for handhelds and prolonged phone usage, but as small as Micro is, it’s also super cool. Really glad I snagged one some years back.

I do love the Analogue Pocket though. With the adapter set, it’s just a lot of fun to carry around a bag of Nintendo/SNK/Hudson history. Still haven’t bought any Lynx games, but they’re coming…

816

The original GBA has two main revisions of the screen.

The first and more common one is the Sharp screen which is noticeably darker.
It’s claimed that the Black and Orange Gbas were confirmed to have the Pansonic screen, it’s way brighter in the sun and has a more ‘‘pastel’’ look to the colours, much closer to the GBC screen.

The AGS-001 as far as I’m aware has the brighter Panasonic screen.

One of these revisions has a way more noticeable pixel grid as well, which I believe is the Panasonic one.

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817

This stuff is deeplore and I don’t even remember how I managed to discover this.

Q. Is there any difference apart from superficial ones between them?
A. Some of the newer GBAs (black and orange guaranteed, others sometimes) have superior Matsushita (Panasonic) screens as opposed to the older Sharp ones. Not only does this make the screen sharper, it also makes the GBA look better with an Afterburner.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gba/916598-game-boy-advance/faqs/10973

Also worth mentioning I asked around about it, and a guy confirmed to me that one of his gbas was brighter and had a noticeable pixel grid, while the other was darker and more smoothed out. Maybe some of the collector monsters on here can help us distinguish these GBA screen revisions?

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818

I used to think it was the difference between the Sharp and Panasonic displays but now I’m not so sure, especially as Panasonic was said to only be supplying 5% of displays to Nintendo, at least initially.

There is a definite difference between the 32 pin and 40 pin GBA models, though, which seems mutually exclusive to display type?

Interestingly I still found the GBA SP (AGS-001) to be more viewable due to better viewing angles of the panel, and less flickering.

Check out this thread for more details: Game Boy Advance with 40 pin LCD display cable has more reflective, viewable display

819

I’ve been chipping away at Kirby’s Block Ball lately. It’s a block breaker game and a very good one.

Kirby's Block Ball
Kirby's Block Ball2845×3701 1.66 MB

There are eleven stages of five rounds and they get pretty complex towards the end. Clearing them is trivial but making the cut in terms of the high score is not!

Kirby's Block Ball 2
Kirby's Block Ball 22876×3726 2.32 MB

You need to make the cut in each of the first ten stages in order to unlock the eleventh, and I’ve yet to do that.

Kirby’s Block Ball 3
Kirby’s Block Ball 32973×3858 2.52 MB

I think I need to better grasp Kirby’s copy abilities to improve my scores on some of the stages…

The game was developed by R&D1 (Game & Watch, Tetris GB, Wario Land). If you are a fan of their ‘easy to learn, difficult to master’ approach, it is worth checking this out!

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820

Yeah block ball is great! Best ever arkanoid clone IMO.

I’ve ordered a Funnyplaying DMG IPS screen, will be interesting to see it in person.

I love the DMG, my ideal console would probably be the DMG Color, but that seems too difficult right now, so will make the ultimate DMG.

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I bought KBB recently without knowing anything about it and became immediately hooked! Like so many Kirby games, it takes a simple thing from the past and Kirbies it into something totally awesome!

I really wish sometimes that I had chosen Game Boy over Game Gear back in the day when they were new. The library is just loaded with great playing games. I really feel like it was my greatest blind spot.

I wasn’t so dumb once Game Boy Advance arrived tho. That and the DS/3DS are easily my most played handhelds.

I like having a Switch Lite, but it feels too much like the PSP to me in the bad way… games not designed for portability. I really loved the era where things were split in Nintendo development that way so you got what were excellent portable experiences alongside the excellent home games.

————-

The one major positive of not playing Game Boy when it was new? I keep finding gems like Kirby Block Ball for reasonable prices and play them for the first time in 2024! It’s like a perfect time warp. The same has been happening for me with Turbografx/PC Engine, which I left mostly untouched for thirty years. :slight_smile: