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As I recently divulged in the GBA Shmup post, I've been playing through a lot of various arcade-style games in an effort to test out my new Hori Gamecube Fighting Stick. This has led to a continuing onslaught of blog-posts randomly surveying various genres of arcade games released throughout the Game Boy lifetime. Much like last time, I find it important to preemptively point out that these posts are not meant to be comprehensive by any means. Nor are they a list of the Top 10 games or anything like that. They're just a smattering of games that I've played presented in a vaguely organized manner. So come with me, Dear Reader as we investigate GBA Beat-em-ups.
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As many GBA collectors are fully aware, Atlus rules. In 2003, they released Double Dragon Advance, a remake of the original 1987 arcade game Double Dragon which is quite visually different than the NES port that most of us grew up on. Unsurprisingly, Atlus did a fantastic job with this remake. The sprites are large, but not too large for the GBA screen; the colors and graphics are brilliant; and if you've got two carts they made the 2-Player mode fully co-op. This game is definitely recommended to fans of the series.
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Capcom's Final Fight One is basically a port of the SNES version of Final Fight. The game is really quite good. It features large sprites and graphics that rival -- and maybe even trump the SNES version. Capcom also had the good thinking to include co-op 2-Player mode via GBA link cable. Oh and the game is also still pretty damn hard with its constant barrage of dudes anxious to beat the hell out of Mayor Haggar and his friends. I must admit though that I'm not a huge Final Fight fan personally, as I grew up on the Streets Of Rage series and tended to prefer those instead.
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Golden Axe was included as part of the 2002 Sega Smash Pack. This version is pretty much a port of the Genesis version in both graphics and sound. Strangely though, THQ decided to remove the co-op 2-Player mode. Generally this serves as a turn off to most fans of the series. I don't do a whole lot of cooperative video-gaming personally. However, my major complaint is that I feel like the enemies in this version are a whole lot cheaper than I remember them being on back on the Genesis. I feel like they all tend to just run at you from off-screen, giving you pretty much no warning. So either it's the cheapness, or the game just hasn't aged as well as I would have wanted. One or the other.
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Very late in the GBA's lifespan Capcom released the Capcom Classics Mini Mix, a small collection of their NES games. And luckily it included the NES version of Final Fight which was dubbed Mighty Final Fight. Though this game strays very far from the arcade original -- instead opting for tiny super-deformed sprites -- it kicks ass. In fact, I'm not embarrassed to say that I completely prefer this version over the original. The game is fast-paced and crams a ton of the original into a teeny-tiny package. If you want proof of how amazingly awesome an 8-bit demake can be, then check this one out. Highly recommended.
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X-Men: Reign Of Apocalypse may have gotten lost in the shuffle of a million other Marvel-related games. That's too bad however, as it's actually one of the closest games to the classic Konami X-Men arcade game. It's very similar both graphically and in game-play. The game allows you to choose from four X-men and the controls are excellent. The game also features 2-Player co-op, though it's certainly a blast in single player mode. As far as GBA originals go, this one is definitely a must-have for Beat-em-up fans.
I was intending to include some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games in this post as well, but ultimately decided that I would eventually devote an entire post to their Game Boy and GBA lineage. So besides any of those, what Beat-em-ups have I missed out on? And which are so terrible they should be avoided at all cost?
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Continue reading Unloved #12: Little King's Story
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The original Game Boy found its way under my Christmas tree in 1989. And with it came what would be known as perhaps the greatest puzzle game of all time: Tetris. There's certainly no arguing with how great Tetris really is. And in all honesty, there's been a lot of thoughtful and insightful analysis written on the game. But the reason I bring all this up is to make it known that I in no way knock Tetris nor its importance to Nintendo, the Game Boy and the rise of so-called Casual Gaming. There's no denying that Tetris was meant for the pea-green-gray brick. And up until last year Tetris would have been my favorite puzzle game of all time, because that's when I discovered Super Puzzle Fighter II.
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Super Puzzle Fighter II is the sort of game that is made for fans; in this case fans of Capcom. There's lots of in-jokes and references. And let it be no secret that I am a fan of Capcom. Here they've taken the tried and true formula of dropping multi-colored shapes from the ceiling and having the player organize them until things get too chaotic, and somehow managed to make it entirely fresh. How the did this was by mixing the puzzle genre with the Player-vs.-Player intensity of their 2D Fighting games. As ridiculous as that may sound, it actually works amazingly well.
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What immediately draws in geeks fans like myself is the art style. Whereas most puzzle games are very simple -- and generally speaking, that's often the point of many puzzlers -- Super Puzzle Fighter II has amazingly rendered 2D sprites. Characters from both the Street Fighter and Darkstalkers series are reimagined in a cutesy super-deformed style. The two fighters occupy the middle of the screen and slug it out Capcom Vs. style in a representation of the puzzle-solving skills of their respective player.
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Luckily for puzzle fans the actual puzzling element of the game is just as great as the art. The game seems simple enough: gems fall of different colors; you put like-colors together until a glowing gem of that color appears. By pressing say a red glowing gem to a bunch of red gems you've piled up, you cause a bunch of crap to fall on your opponent. However, the real strategy comes in choosing which colors you'll try to build up, and how you'll arrange them -- the bigger the squares or rectangles you create, the more crap that you'll send over to the enemy. Meanwhile, in true Street Fighter fashion, it's just important to keep an eye on the other guy and think defensively. Indeed Puzzle Fighter II is one of the most addictive puzzlers I've ever played. It's easy enough for a beginner to enjoy, but then requires an incredible amount of strategy to fully exceed at.
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I also wanted to point out a very unique aspect to this game. Capcom came up with an incredibly original (and perhaps strange) way for two players to enjoy the game using only one cart. The idea was that in Vs. Mode two players would hover of the same GBA unit and each use half of the buttons. So Player One would use left and right to control the gems and the L-Button to flip them. Meanwhile Player Two would use the A and B to move their gems and R to flip theirs. I've never actually tried this single-GBA approach to playing, as it certainly sounds awkward in theory. However this means that a single Puzzle Fighter II cart can be inserted into the Gamecube Game Boy Player, and can be played totally co-op with each player using his own controller since the Game Boy Player recognizes any controllers plugged in at the same time. Certainly this wasn't Capcom's original intention, but it's definitely a bonus for current enthusiasts of the Game Boy Player.
Hey guys! I'm really busy with revision and homework and stuff so I can't really talk, so here's my recent room tour:
Amount Paid:
Psychic Detective Vol 4 (J) 0.99
Sega Classics Arcade/Sherlock Holmes (U) 0.50
Corpse Killer (E) (No manual) 16.86
Formula 1: Beyond the Limit (E) 4.99
Total Paid: 794.00
(long time in a while to see an integer money value)
The recent acquisition of my Hori Fighting Stick has gotten me in a very arcadey kind of mood. I've been going through various genres that I tend to associate with the feel of an arcade stick. That being said, don't be shocked if the Game Boy Player Land blog becomes a bit flooded with these sort of random rundowns of stray games. First up: Shmups.
Now I should note that different people tend to classify genres differently. It tends to be a personal thing. Shmup, or slang for "shoot 'em up" (as anyone who frequents this website is well aware) is described by the all-knowing Wikipedia as a game in which "the player controls a lone character, often a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks." This is actually exactly how I tend to think of Shmups. Others consider something like Contra to be part of the genre. But in my head -- no spaceship, no Shmup. Contra and the likes are Run-N-Guns, which many consider to be a sub-genre of Shmups, but again -- no spaceship, man. So to me those two genres are millions of miles apart. That's just me.
Also, I think it's important to point out that this is not meant to be any sort of comprehensive list, or Best Of, or anything like that. Ultimately, it just touches upon games that I've actually had experience with.
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Gradius Galaxies seems like a good place to start. I mean look, right there in the title... it says Gradius, so it must be good. Right? Well, sadly that's just not the case. Sadly, Galaxies has a lot going for it, but manages to drop the ball. The graphics are certainly top-notch, but the huge downfall is the control. Unfortunately, control is pretty much the most important aspect of whether a Shmup will be playable or not. And Gradius Galaxies is damn-near unplayable as far as I'm concerned. You see, the ship is terribly terribly slow. I mean really slow. I mean if you're at the top of the screen and you hold the down button expect to really wait a while to make it to the bottom of the screen. In a genre that prides itself on pandemonium, this kind of snail's-pace just doesn't cut it.
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Invader seems to be a somewhat overlooked GBA exclusive from 2002. And it's pretty much everything I want out of a Shmup. It's brightly colored with crazy robotic bugs and explosions. It's got lots of power-ups, a fantastic ambient-techno soundtrack and vocoder voices. It's really hard, but not infuriating. This is a game I cannot praise enough. Though it's rare that I see it mentioned when discussing GBA Shmups, ultimately I think it will earn a certain cult-status. In my eyes it's like the Ikaruga of the Game Boy Advance.
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Iridion II tends to be the first game anybody ever mentions when discussing Shmups released for the Game Boy Advance. And with good reason. In reality Iridion II -- which is somewhat confusingly the sequel to Iridion 3D -- is a fantastic game. It's got a great control scheme, and stunningly innovative graphics. To be fair, this game and Invader are certainly a tough call as far as which is my favorite GBA Shmup. I've actually never played Iridion 3D but from what I can tell it portrays its ship from an over-the-shoulder perspective like Space Harrier or Star Fox. Though those are two games I love, I generally flock more towards traditional vertical or horizontal shooters.
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R-Type III: The Third Lightning is such a frustrating release to me. Take a look at those pictures and you can see that this is a game with gorgeous graphics. They certainly are on par, and maybe surpass the SNES version. However my major plight with this game -- and it's the same problem I had with the previous Game Boy and Game Boy Color R-Type games -- is that the ship is just too big for the screen which results in incredibly difficult maneuvering. Your ship is just so long that it works as a detriment, making even simple movements result in crashing into something. This is a real letdown considering just how great the game looks. I've heard that some fans really love the Game Boy releases, so who know; maybe this game is for you. But I just couldn't get over this flaw in any of the Game Boy entries in the series.
Besides these, there's a supposedly near-perfect port of the SNES classic Phalanx that I would love to track down. Similarly there's the Japan-only release of Darius R which I'd love to get my hands on. But you tell me, what GBA Shmups am I missing out on? And more importantly, which should I avoid?
What's that? You say its April 20th? OK, it is a little late for the RFG Thanks for March, I guess the zombie brain eating earlier this month left me a little forgetful. But late is still better than never, right?
March was another great month for RFG and its members. There were 2,352 total submissions;1,037 page edits; 358 image submissions; and 525 title additions. Many of you helped us to gather all these wonderful bits of information. But five of you stood out of the crowd and made over 100 submissions alone. Those members were Paully3433, Izret101, Link41, ApolloBoy, and Madir. Rounding out the top ten submitters were ga5ket, Duke.Togo, NES_Rules, Shadow Kisuragi, and Pop Culture Portal.
But as always, many of those submissions wouldn't go anywhere without our team of reviewers. In March, with well over 100 approvals, the top reviewers were Izret101 and ApolloBoy.
Now let's see if we can April even better! We're getting very close to 55,000 scans and 30,000 screenshots in the database. Maybe we can do it in April, if you've got a scanner and/or a way to capture screenshots; get to it and make some submissions. You will be helping out RFGeneration, its members and the countless others that use us as a resource for their collecting needs. Plus, its always neat to have your name and/or a picture of one of your games forever immortalized on the Internet!
Finally, I'd like to announce the promotions of Izret101 and Paully3433! Because of their continued contributions, they have been promoted to DB Editor and DB Reviewer, respectively.
Well there was no update last week because I finally took a vacation to Cancun... what a blast that was, but that is another story.
This week I woke up very early and hit up the big flea market in my area, and then picked up a few friends and drove to the TooManyGames expo.
Found a few great deals at the flea market.
First stop I purchased 10 nintendo games with the holder.
Was asking $2 each, I purchased them all for $10.
Received: Skate or Die, R.C. ProAM, Rad Racer, Othello, Marble Madness, 1942, Top Gun, John Elways Quarterback, TMNT Arcade Game, Spy Hunter.
From another stand picked up the Final Fantasy XII strategy guide for $2. Can anyone shed any light why it says "Not For Sale" on the back though? So I am not entirely sure.
Another Pickup was Frogger 2 and Crash 2 Mint In Box, and Pac Man World CIB for $3 Each.
Last Pickup of the flea market was Mega Man X4 for the PS1 in a Sega Rally Case, NHL 99 CIB, VR Gold 97 CIB, Boxing CIB, Powerboat Racing CIB, Wild 9 Disk Only, and Dark Stone CIB all for $5.
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After this was the TooManyGames Expo.
I probably wont be going back to that next year. I honestly dont feel it was even worth the 2 hour drive it took me to get there.
The expo was 1 medium sized room. In that room there were about 7 different places selling all sorts of video games from every system, one had imports. 5 out of the 7 places the prices were extremely overpriced, even what I could purchase a copy off ebay for. (I am a cheapassgamer at heart and will never pay retail for a game)
One of the places had decent prices, and 1 had good prices.
There were a few vendors selling shirts, a video game art stand (which was very cool), and a place selling food.... hot dogs and cookies lol.
On the other size of the room they had about 10 tvs hooked up to 10 different systems you could try out, and a few tournaments starting up.
There was also a dance club type room where they were playing techno remixes of old nintendo tunes... but everybody was just standing around, and there were about 5 people dressed like star wars characters on the dance floor playing light saber.
Was kind of just expecting everything to be bigger and better. Brought $500 with me looking to spend and only spent $70... oh well.
Here is the merchandise:
For the Gamecube I purchased Bomberman Generation and Metroid Prime for $5 each, CIB.
For the Xbox I purchased Doom 3 and Munch's Oddysee for $5 each, CIB.
For the NES I purchased Shigen the Ruler, The Ultimate Stuntman, and Caveman Games, all 3 for $10.
I also Purchased Zelda for the SNES CIB with everything it originally included for $35. I was most excited about this purchase. Speaking of an example of the prices, this same game at a different stand they wanted $75 for.
The last purchase is while I was talking to the artist selling video game art for quite awhile and while I was leaving he said he brought a few games to sell and asked if i wanted to check them out, I said definitely and he sold me SNES: Super Mario World, Super Mario All Stars, Aladdin, StarFox, N64: Diddy Kong Racing, and Jaguar: Iron Soldier. 6 games for $5. Sweet.
The Enchanted Arms Special Edition I purchased at the Gamestop by the Airport after getting back from Cancun for a little under $10.
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The above blurry cellphone picture is of my gaming setup -- I'm playing Super Street Fighter II Turbo, if you're curious. I've been asked many times to show it off, so here it is in tiny cellphone pixelated format. The reason for showing it off now is because I wanted to celebrate with you, dear Game Boy Player Land blog readers, my newly acquired holy grail -- the Hori Fighting Stick.
 
 
Yes the Hori Fighting Stick is an arcade stick that I've wanted for quite some time. So it's kind of a big deal that I finally have it. For a while I was content to seek out an easier-to-find alternative. And trust me, I tried. However it wasn't until I got my Hori Game Boy Player Controller that I knew that nothing was going to substitute the quality of Hori.
At any rate, here's a bit of a rundown of the others that I tried...
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My first Gamecube arcade stick was the Soul Calibur II stick that Nuby Tech released when Soul Calibur II came out. The stick was actually made to work universally with Gamecube, XBox and PS2 which is actually a pretty cool feature if you have multiple consoles. The stick certainly looks rather cool with its Soul Calibur graphics, and it's a pretty sturdy build. As cool as the stick looks on display, I wasn't that impressed with it functionally. The stick itself can only be described as clunky, and the buttons seemed to stick at times. It isn't a horrible controller, but it's not the most fluid either.
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Next I tried the Wii Shaft, which despite its name is actually a Gamecube controller. The stick is made by a third party manufacturer and is pretty easy to find at an affordable price online. It's a compact design which is nice. However, this stick was far worse than the Nuby. Though the buttons were a little nicer to press, the stick on the other hand was so loose that if offers almost no accurate control at all. This one I'd stay away from unless you're desperate.
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The Hori stick comes in two flavors, the more common Soul Calibur II version (left) and the more generic Fighting Stick (right). Other than the Soul Calibur graphic they are the same exact thing. The Hori stick is incredibly durable, with a good weight to it. The stick itself clicks like many real arcade cabs, and the buttons feel just as accurate. This is the kind of stick I was hoping for since I first became a Cube enthusiast.
I personally use mine almost entirely for games on the Game Boy Player which means that only four of the six buttons are used in any one game. Of course thanks to the Z-Button menu, the layout can be reconfigured however you prefer. If you are planning on using this stick for Gamecube games then certainly it's important to point out the lack of a C-Stick. But if you're a hardcore Game Boy Player like myself, then this stick is pretty much the best thing you could pair your Cube with. Trust me. I figured that out the hard way.
Normally my blogs contain humorous little diatribes or reflective thoughts on gaming and collecting in general. However, I feel the very pressing need to make a PSA to the gaming and collecting community at large:
Sellers, PLEASE start checking your games for 'disc rot'.
YES, it exists. I've bought half a dozen games this year alone, online, that had this problem upon arrival, including Panzer Dragoon Saga and several Turbo CD games.
What is disc rot?
Well, first let's explain what it is not: an indication of someone handling the game poorly. Unless there is a scratch on the top layer of the disc that ends up appearing similar to disc rot (a tiny nick on the label can look similar), the problems are separate and unrelated. For some of the games I purchased, the seller felt cheated because of the claim that there were no scratches or problems with the disc and that it was well taken care of. Disc rot damage is typically unrelated to how well one takes care of the disc.
Continue reading An important note to Video Game Sellers and Buyers
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Like many collectors, I sometimes browse Ebay listings of cheap Game Boy carts in an effort to stumble upon something awesome. And one night the cover above caught my eye. I had completely forgotten about Spider-Man 2, but I knew the instant that I saw it that I had owned the game when I was younger. And how could I have not? Look at that cover! It has Carnage on it! And yet strangely as hard as I tried, I just could not recollect the game itself. I did a quick Google Image Search, and nothing jogged my memory. I could see the game was published by LJN who had been responsible for several games I have fond memories of, so I figured it was worth tracking down.
When the game arrived I tossed it into my Game Advance SP and within about two minutes I remembered Spider-Man 2 with a vengeance. Yes friends, this game is terrible. It is so unbelievably hard that I doubt anybody has ever had the skill patience to even make it past the first level. I know I never did when I was younger (and I was way more skillful patient when I was younger).
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The game begins in an abandoned warehouse. You exit out a window and there's the Hobgoblin. Then he hits you with a pumpkin-bomb, you fall off the side of the building, quickly run out of webs while trying to make your way back up to the Hobgoblin and eventually somebody kills you or you just shut the game off in disgust. Seriously. That's everything that happens in this game. I mean, it's possible that there are other levels after this one. But I'm not sure they're needed, because this scenario is going to play out every time.
And yet what's really strange about this game is that I have no urge to get rid of it. I've gotten rid of far better games than this simply because I never felt like playing them. Perhaps there's a part of me that wants to hang on to the nostalgia associated with a game that infuriated the child version of myself nearly 20 years ago. Or maybe I'm just a masochist.
The Ring: Terror's Realm
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Yeah, it's been a little while since I updated this. I apologize about that. So to herald my triumphant return to discussing the joys of horror gaming, I present you with a title so horrific and so foul that I must beseech you, nay, get down on my knees and beg you never, ever, ever to even consider playing it!
No, seriously, this game is terrible. Not only do I enjoy horror, I also can enjoy a horribly made game from time to time. I believe it's something to do with an almost kitsch value to it that makes it unique and allows me to laugh at it. The Ring: Terror's Realm did its best to go above and beyond anything I had ever experienced. I have beaten the title, and I can honestly claim that it is not only a bad game, it is the WORST game I have ever played. And I own Pit-Fighter for the Super Nintendo.
But I suppose an explanation is in order. The Ring: Terror's Realm is a Dreamcast game based upon the Ringu property, albeit an extremely loose take on it. The game follows Meg Rainman as she starts work at the Center for Disease Control following the death of her boyfriend Robert, who was also a CDC employee. Once at work, she begins exploring and investigating a strange computer program called RING, which apparently leads her into a strange and horrific virtual world where mankind battles it out in abandoned buildings against strange monsters.
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I'm sorry, did I say monsters? I mean gorillas, cat things, and strange goblin-looking critters of various colors. And when I say abandoned buildings, I mean the CDC building. Yes, that is a bit of a spoiler, but you don't really want to play this game, so don't worry about it. The monsters don't really do much beyond running up and attacking you, which they have a nasty habit of doing at a rate that will prevent you from getting a round off if they get too close. They also randomly float in the air and drop down on top of you...I think that was more of a bug that never got resolved when the game was created. At least I hope it was.
To fight these critters, Meg has an arsenal of various weapons she will acquire, all fitted with laser sights, so you can aim at critters across the room, if you can see them with the fixed cameras and if they're standing upright. Perhaps the greatest point in the game's favor, at least in my opinion, is that Meg's also not a total pushover. She can fight while unarmed, knocking the monsters away or kicking them, which is especially useful on the cat creatures.
And then there's the graphics...
[img width=400 height=300]http://diehardgamefan.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Ringsc03.jpg[/img]
...but I won't be too critical of them. I feel its appearance is out of place for a Dreamcast title, but we are retro gamers. Games don't have to look spectacular for us to enjoy them. Just understand that people look blocky and move in unnatural means, and the textures are bland and repetitive. And creature movement isn't any better. There are some nifty mechanics with enemies having a difficult time detecting you in the dark, but it rarely comes into play.
As for the sound, there's only a handful of musical tracks, and these usually consist of five, maybe six notes in a sequence before repeating. It quickly becomes nauseatingly repetitive, and the creature sounds feel off. The voice acting is also some of the absolute worst, with the random friend who appears in the intro video earning my choice as the worst actor ever. The only saving grace is the sound at the starting menu of the game, where confirmations reward the player with the most satisfying squishing sounds I've ever heard. I broke into peals of laughter every time I heard them.
[img width=700 height=466]http://www.goodcowfilms.com/farm/games/screenshots/the-ring-dreamcast/the_ring_screenshot6.jpg[/img]
And finally there's the story exposition. Or the lack thereof.
You will need a guide for this game, or a lot of free time, because very rarely are you told what you are supposed to do next. Characters sometimes speak in broken English and conversation always comes off as stilted and disjointed. There's also little in the way of true character development, and most seems to be there solely to fill a stereotype or perform a nameless role. Characters will sometimes fly off the handle for no real reason in an unexpected emotional outburst. It makes for some tough going.
[img width=700 height=466]http://www.goodcowfilms.com/farm/games/screenshots/the-ring-dreamcast/the_ring_screenshot23.jpg[/img]
If you're really interested in seeing some gameplay, here's a video. You'll have to skip to about the 1:00 minute mark to get past their intro, but if you want a good laugh, check it out:
[img width=320 height=317]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/0/585880_56940_front.jpg[/img]
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.
[img width=300 height=300]http://ui05.gamefaqs.com/1732/gfs_56940_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=300 height=300]http://www.consoleclassix.com/info_img/RoboCop_GBC_ScreenShot2.gif[/img]
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.
Got two new systems and a few new games recently, so I thought I'd post my revised set up and let you guys peek inside the drawers. Take a look.
This is my updated full set up, with the drawers open so you can see. The image on the TV is actually my custom health warning screen for the Wii, my Wii is hacked to have a custom theme too, I'll post specifics on that in another post.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i41.tinypic.com/jjsdhl.jpg[/img]
This is a close up of my stack of most played systems. Notice the Playstation nestled between the NES and N64! That's new. That's the box my copy of Ocarina of Time came in. I thought I was getting the original case, but whatev, I got the game, that's what matters most.
[img width=700 height=933]http://i44.tinypic.com/x2qp81.jpg[/img]
This is the right side drawer, just some gamecube controllers, games, and various accessories.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i43.tinypic.com/2a62i5i.jpg[/img]
This is the left side. My other new addition, a first gen Sega Genesis and Sonic 2, 3, and Sonic and Knuckles. No hook ups or controllers yet, but I'll get those later. Some SNES games, just A Link to the Past and Sim City 1, no SNES yet, but I figured I'd snag those as I play those on emulators alot. My 64 games and NES games on the right. My mom has a labler, so I label my N64 games on the top for easier sorting. Almost forgot to mention the Gameboy Color there next to the Sega.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i39.tinypic.com/ifyl4y.jpg[/img]
So that's it for now, Makin' good progress or what?
[img width=350 height=242]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/HH-Title.jpg[/img]
Every wonder what it would be like to have RPG elements added to a wrestling game? Wonder no more, Hybrid Heaven shows you that it can be awesome!!
Continue reading Unloved #11: Hybrid Heaven
Jamie Woodhouse may not be a household name, but he's certainly an interesting fellow: a game designer who dropped out of college (his major was designing games) so that he could just get on with designing games. His major claim to fame is a puzzle-platformer called Qwak; a title in the vein of Bubble Bobble, Parasol Stars, or other similar deceivingly cutesy games from a simpler time in gaming history. Though it was initially released on the BBC Micro in 1989, Qwak would eventually be ported to Acorn Electron, Amiga, Amiga CD32, and in 2006 Game Boy Advance. But what's special about the Game Boy Advance release is that Jamie decided to release the damn thing himself. By this time he had had enough experience designing GBA games to just make this his own pet project and sell the homebrew carts, xeroxed instructions and downloadable printable boxes right on his website. However, here's a bit of a breakdown of all the GBA titles that Jamie has had a hand in creating.
[img width=200 height=200]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/0/930120_70405_front.jpg[/img]
[img width=300 height=200]http://www.jamiewoodhouse.co.uk/images/portfolio/simon.png[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://image.allmusic.com/00/agg/screen300/drt100/t118/t11825dy5ir.jpg[/img]
Simon is a port of the old handheld electronics game. Y'know, there's four buttons -- each a different color. They light up and play a note in random order and you have to play it back. Sort of a precursor to the rhythm games we have today. The GBA version is exactly that. Although it may trigger some nostalgia and perhaps even boost your memory (I have no scientific data to back that up), it's not incredibly engrossing either.
[img width=200 height=200]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/6/929026_68519_front.jpg[/img]
[img width=300 height=200]http://www.jamiewoodhouse.co.uk/images/portfolio/scrabble.png[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://www.jamiewoodhouse.co.uk/images/portfolio/scrabble_t.png[/img]
A port of the board game Scrabble Junior was a similar upgrade of a childhood favorite. This conversion bodes much better than Simon as it's far easier to get sucked into. It's also a perfect match for a handheld, as it's the kind of game that you can easily kill some spare time with.
[img width=200 height=200]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/7/929037_68532_front.jpg[/img]
[img width=300 height=200]http://www.jamiewoodhouse.co.uk/images/portfolio/lander.png[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/262/reviews/929037_20050920_screen010.jpg[/img]
Next was a port of the 1979 arcade classic, Lunar Lander. The GBA version is an extremely faithful recreation. And trust me, it's just as hard as ever. Retro-fans of the original will certainly be thrilled with the attention to detail, though newcomers may find the vector graphics to sort of sell the GBA's video output a bit short.
[img width=200 height=200]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/3/565733_45928_front.jpg[/img]
[img width=300 height=200]http://ui06.gamefaqs.com/1285/gfs_45928_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://ui07.gamefaqs.com/1542/gfs_45928_1_4.jpg[/img]
Lego Racers 2 is possibly the most ambitious GBA release that Jamie developed. On the surface it's an average 2D racer reminiscent of Super Mario Kart. But what's interesting is the story mode, which adds Grand Theft Auto-ish missions and even statistical elements of an RPG. It's certainly an interesting mix of high- and low-action genres.
[img width=200 height=200]http://www.jamiewoodhouse.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/box_2561.jpg[/img]
[img width=300 height=200]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BDCqpuwRnf4/RdHSlPxBMpI/AAAAAAAAA2E/lmO8SoOk23w/s400/qwak2.jpg[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BDCqpuwRnf4/RdHSYPxBMoI/AAAAAAAAA18/jdwXEcrUmHU/s400/qwak1.jpg[/img]
In 2006 Jamie decided to independently port his masterpiece, Qwak to the GBA. This version is fantastic. It seems almost like it was meant to live on the portable console with it's bright colors bursting out of its dark backgrounds and the condensed Donkey Kong-like levels. And much like the 1994 Game Boy release of DK, the levels just keep on coming, delivering hours of challenging game time. This cart is a must-have for GBA puzzle fans. And although the Game Boy officially "died" sometime in 2007, perhaps there's hope that independent developers could continue to breath new life into the fan favorite console.
Check out the rest of Jamie Woodhouse's portfolio, and beg him to port his other games to GBA here: http://www.jamiewoodhouse.co.uk
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