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Game Boy / Game Boy Color Appreciation Thread

Hakkapell

Neo Member
Gameboy was my childhood. I started out with a red gameboy pocket that came bundled with Dr. Mario. Worked my way through GBC, GBA, GBA SP. I want to be a micro and also some older gameboy models since I regret selling them back when I was younger. :(
 

trinest

Member
I'm trying to find a decently priced and condition copy as we speak...!

Been trying to legit-a-ise my Survival Kids part of the Lost in Blue collection I have. Walked away with SK2 some time ago but still trying to hunt down SK for a lot less then ebays $30+.
 

Gazunta

Member
Man this thread is bringing back lots of memories of running GBHQ back in the day. The first ever GB fan site apparently. I remember it was such an uphill battle trying to tell the world the GameBoy was a good platform (pre-Pokemon) or that there was more to it besides Pokemon (post-Pokemon).

Christ I'm old.
 
Because it uses Mini SD cards (mine is 2GB), it is indeed drag and drop. HOWEVER, there's one issue - due to the tech in the cart, it is unable to create it's own save files. If you simply drag a ROM onto the SD, and boot up on the GBA, it won't be able to save any progress for that game.

There's a EZ Flash Client available online which you can download which both copies the game onto the SD, and creates the required *.SAV file for it to save to. It's easy as hell to use.

The other option is if you have a DS with a flashcart, there's a homebrew app for it that lets you rip your own GBA games onto the micro SD along with the save files! All you need to do then is shove those files onto the Mini SD for the GBA flash cart and voila - your collection is totally backed up, along with saves!
Thanks a lot, I hope to get one soon!
 

Chopper

Member
Zeldaaaaaaaa.

Can anyone tell me about the differences between Oracle of Ages and Seasons? Are they literally different games, or are they more like different versions like Red and Blue? Will I benefit from playing them both? Is the Linked Game worth investing my time?
 

EvilMario

Will QA for food.
Zeldaaaaaaaa.

Can anyone tell me about the differences between Oracle of Ages and Seasons? Are they literally different games, or are they more like different versions like Red and Blue? Will I benefit from playing them both? Is the Linked Game worth investing my time?

They totally different games. Seasons is generally considered more action based, where Ages has a lot of puzzle. They're different worlds / dungeons though, with different items and characters.

Linked Game is neat, unlocks some stuff you wouldn't find otherwise and gives you the 'true ending', but you could live without it if you're not able to do that, because both games are really solid.
 

Ultratech

Member
Zeldaaaaaaaa.

Can anyone tell me about the differences between Oracle of Ages and Seasons? Are they literally different games, or are they more like different versions like Red and Blue? Will I benefit from playing them both? Is the Linked Game worth investing my time?

Some more on this:
Ages uses a Time Travel mechanic (think LttP a little) and has quite a few puzzles.
Seasons uses a season-changing mechanic and is mostly more action-based. (And has a few elements from the original LoZ!)

So yeah, totally different games.

Linked Game is pretty cool since it allows you get some pretty awesome stuff (i.e. Lv3 items and other fun stuff). That and you get to face the penultimate final bosses. Definitely worth it if you can manage it.
 

Chopper

Member
Thanks for the information guys. I am all fucking over it. I played one of them as a kid, don't remember which it was or anything about it. Come at me true final boss!
 
Recently picked up two GBC games, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Walt Disney World Magical Racing Tour. The latter's somewhat mediocre (it's a side-view-isometric racing game, not terrible but bland), but yeah, the Harry Potter game is fun. I've never played a Harry Potter game before, but it's certainly amusing enough to be worth the few bucks I spent.

Some more on this:
Ages uses a Time Travel mechanic (think LttP a little) and has quite a few puzzles.
Seasons uses a season-changing mechanic and is mostly more action-based. (And has a few elements from the original LoZ!)

So yeah, totally different games.

Linked Game is pretty cool since it allows you get some pretty awesome stuff (i.e. Lv3 items and other fun stuff). That and you get to face the penultimate final bosses. Definitely worth it if you can manage it.

Yeah, and while the final boss is the same either way, there will be differences in the second, linked game, versus playing it without the password. So the games have some replay value for a second play going the other way (ie if you do Ages first and Seasons second the first time, do Seasons first and Ages second to see the linked changes in the other game).

The reason is because RPG worlds tend to be rather huge and varied in terms of size and detail, and that's hard to cram down into a Gameboy cart. Plus in most RPG's you expect some interaction between a few characters, but on the GBC, if you put more than ten 8-pixel sprite chars on a scanline, the extra sprites would disappear, so it was a challenge arranging cutscenes (a single character could be 3 to 6 sprite-chars wide, depending on how you made them).

I worked on three RPG's for GBC, of which only two got completed/released, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. And both of those Harry Potter games used every byte of the largest GBC cart that Nintendo ever made (4 megs/512k if I remember right), at the end of the project we were really crunching things trying to get them to fit, using every trick in the book including compression formats designed for the Commodore 64.
32Mb GBC games? So that's how big they got? I remember Kirby's Block Ball for the GB being one of the biggest original GB carts at 8Mb, but GBC games basically used that as a starting point.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Man. While having some people over for the 4th I lent my old GBC and SML to a kid and his mom, and forgot how much fun people could have with it despite not having apps and an OS and all that multimedia crap.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Behold, my newest baby! This thing is lovely! Looks virtually brand new!

be1d48e5631b3330021148c307f264de954826eb.JPG
 

Chopper

Member
Behold, my newest baby! This thing is lovely! Looks virtually brand new!

be1d48e5631b3330021148c307f264de954826eb.JPG
Gorgeous. Looks just like mine. I like to think this thread had a little influence in your purchase. :)

I discovered last night, during a drunken social gathering, that a Gameboy Light breathes new life into a Gameboy camera. I really need to get my hands on a printer...
 

Kokonoe

Banned
Super Gameboy was great, too bad something about it caused my original Pokemon Gold save to erase. (Same thing happened with Mario GBA on the Gamecube GBA player)
Playing Pokemon games on it was always fun due to the interesting borders. I'm thinking of picking up a Pokemon themed Gameboy Color and possibly modifying it with a backlight. Gameboy SP is a bit too thin, and I'm not really a fan of it's DPad and buttons.

I do still have my original Ice Blue
Kenan and Kel
Gameboy Pocket somewhere. I need to eventually beat Robopun Sun Version as it was a pretty great game, but the save file kept erasing for some reason. Might have to see if there's a way to back up GB saves or something to the PC.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Gorgeous. Looks just like mine. I like to think this thread had a little influence in your purchase. :)

I discovered last night, during a drunken social gathering, that a Gameboy Light breathes new life into a Gameboy camera. I really need to get my hands on a printer...
Yeah, I've been collecting a lot of handhelds lately and have nearly all of the major ones. This thread pushed me to fork out the extra dough to just go ahead and pick up a Light.

Also, along with the Light, I did obtain one of these. Both were definitely pricey. :)

 

Kokonoe

Banned
It's been a while since I've played on a Gameboy Color, but is the screen size essentially 2x that of the resolution? Is there any bilinear filtering used like on the 3DS with DS games?
 

Johnas

Member
I just recently finished Deja Vu for NES, and was thinking that I had heard of Deja Vu II somewhere in the past.

Lo and behold, I discovered the existence of Deja Vu I & II for Game Boy Color. Looks like it's fairly rare, only a couple of them are on Ebay. I'd love to buy it, but I guess I'll have to look around elsewhere, I don't really want to deal with Ebay anymore.

A Black Falcon, feel free to comment on the game if you've played it, and if it's worth picking up a copy.
 
I know this, but I haven't played a Gameboy in a while either. The screens seem to be bigger than the actual pixel resolution size (kinda like the 3DS XL). I'm wanting to know if it's a clean screen.
I'm not sure what you mean... a handheld from the '80s or '90s using a higher resolution screen and then upscaling? What? Why would you think it'd do that, I can't imagine it. But anyway, if you look at any GB or GBC screen, you can easily see the pixels, they're fairly large.

One thing that is kind of interesting is that the GB/GBC actually has the same exact screen resolution as the Game Gear, even though the two use entirely different aspect ratios. The GG has a 4:3 screen, while the GB's is nearly rectangular (that is, the GB screen is only barely wider than it is tall). However, both use the same resolution. Obviously they use differently shaped pixels. Emulators would have to deal with this issue through different aspect ratios and scaling, of course, in order to create the look of the original systems.

I just recently finished Deja Vu for NES, and was thinking that I had heard of Deja Vu II somewhere in the past.

Lo and behold, I discovered the existence of Deja Vu I & II for Game Boy Color. Looks like it's fairly rare, only a couple of them are on Ebay. I'd love to buy it, but I guess I'll have to look around elsewhere, I don't really want to deal with Ebay anymore.

A Black Falcon, feel free to comment on the game if you've played it, and if it's worth picking up a copy.
I believe that it's a fine port (and the same is true for Shadowgate Classic on GBC, too), but I haven't played them myself.
 

RM8

Member
I'll be the happiest guy on Earth if I can find a GB Light in Japan later this year. An affordable one. In decent conditions. I love Game Boy *bookmarks thread*.
 

neohwa

Junior Member
I got it bundled with Tetris and really love this thing back then. It's amazing after so many years and drops and wear and tear, it's still working well like brand new(only lost a few screws lol).
 

Jawmuncher

Member
Metal Gear Solid Ghost Babel is one of the greatest portable games ever made.
Still impresses me today whenever I play it.

As for Resident Evil Gaiden, I still have never gotten past the first 5 minutes.
What a letdown.
 

Pre

Member
Would I? Probably not given my reasons for enjoying it. I like the original look of the game on the GBC, I prefer the music (which isn't available in the remake until much later in the game) and I prefer the Pokemon sprites as well.

The remake is much easier to get into and it also provides slightly better leveling then the original when it comes to being prepared to fight the Elite 4, even though you'll probably still be underlevelled. It's also easier to get around the world given that the running shoes are available so early and there's also a ton of extras (that I didn't care for personally) in the remake. So for the majority I'd say get Soul Silver.

Yes my opinion is heavily influenced by nostalgia but hey, that's part of the territory when it comes to enjoying older games and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I found that I was a lot more underleveled in SS, but then again it was the first Pokemon game where I had built a balanced team and didn't just ROFLstomp everything with my starter. So I had to grind Victory Road for a bit and rely on lots of hyper potions and revives in SS.
 

Slermy

Member
Pok%C3%A9mon_Pinball_Coverart.png


PokemonPinballGB-h350.jpg


I played the shit out of this.

I bought this when it came out back in the day. I liked Pinball, and liked Pokémon, but holy hell, this game was sooooooo good. I actually prefer this on my GameBoy Pocket and not a device that supports the colors, not sure if it's nostalgia or just my dislike of the limited color palette here.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I've been playing a lot of Dracula Densetsu II recently and, man, I really love it.

The first GB Castlevania title was pretty bad (I owned it a kid) in that the engine was very slow (tearing in a GB game) and the stage design was just awful. The second installment, however, plays much better and features some genuinely interesting stages. On top of that, the soundtrack is one of the most underrated in the series.

I also appreciate the Megaman-like progression (where you select a castle to conquer and receive a password after finishing one).

Anyone else spend much time with this one?
 

Chopper

Member
I played a shitload of Belmont's Revenge as a kid, but have no idea where my cart is. Will have to re-invest.

Is the first one that bad? It just came out here on eShop and I was thinking about giving it a shot.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I played a shitload of Belmont's Revenge as a kid, but have no idea where my cart is. Will have to re-invest.

Is the first one that bad? It just came out here on eShop and I was thinking about giving it a shot.
I think so.

The game has trouble with framerate so it feels extra sluggish and the level design is pretty poor. I still had fun with it as a kid, but it definitely wasn't great and does not hold up.
 

mktrOOp

Banned
Anyone else spend much time with this one?

I got Castlevania II - Belmont's Revenge one week ago and I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of the Megaman-Progression style. But apart from that the gameplay is very solid and I appreciate the polished graphics. (unlike the first Castlevania Game for the GB.....)

PS: Yay, my first post, hello everybody :)
 

DRZ

Member
Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite! is a surprisingly solid adventure game, like the sequel on GBA.
51jUkCW06xL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

6epte.jpg
N6olp.gif

Ham-Ham Unite is indeed a great game, second in Hamtaro series and probably the best adventure game on the platform.
Ham-Ham Heartbreak on GBA is a bit better, but this game too is a great achievement on a console such the GBC.

A shame that after the 4th game the series deranged...
 

Chopper

Member
I got Castlevania II - Belmont's Revenge one week ago and I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of the Megaman-Progression style. But apart from that the gameplay is very solid and I appreciate the polished graphics. (unlike the first Castlevania Game for the GB.....)

PS: Yay, my first post, hello everybody :)
Good thread choice for a first post. However your initiation involves the purchase of a mint Game Boy Light, or I'm afraid you can't be welcome. Report back with pictures. :)
 

mktrOOp

Banned
However your initiation involves the purchase of a mint Game Boy Light, or I'm afraid you can't be welcome. Report back with pictures. :)

Sorry, but in my opinion the Game Boy Light is a little bit overrated ;) (yes, the DS spoiled me regarding backlight) But maybe I'm wrong because i never saw the Gameboy Light in action, mmh.

Nevertheless I would prefer the GBA SP AGS-101 but in Germany it's nearly impossible to find the surf blue edition. Therefore I still have to use my old GBA SP for my GB Games :/

ah and here is the picture :p

udphzddc.jpg
 

Chopper

Member
Sorry, but in my opinion the Game Boy Light is a little bit overrated ;) (yes, the DS spoiled me regarding backlight) But maybe I'm wrong because i never saw the Gameboy Light in action, mmh.

Nevertheless I would prefer the GBA SP AGS-101 but in Germany it's nearly impossible to find the surf blue edition. Therefore I still have to use my old GBA SP for my GB Games :/

ah and here is the picture :p

udphzddc.jpg
Ha ha. Amazing. You are hereby king junior of this thread! I've been hunting for a reasonably priced AGS-101 for a looooong time. I'm in the UK, so I feel your pain in trying to find one. I'm after black myself. Ebay seems to be full of re-furnished, customised versions that admittedly look awesome, but don't quite qualify as the "real thing"...
 

Peagles

Member
Thanks to this thread, I just had one of those dumb moments where I forgot something important.

I read about Oracle of Ages/Seasons above and remembered that when my brother played them he linked them up at the end; got all nostalgic.

Then I was thinking, ohh man I wish I hadn't sold my purple see through GBC.

Then I was lamenting the fact I no longer owned a GBC and therefore couldn't use my old link cables with my older games that I kept.

Then I remembered I have two Gold/Silver Pokemon Limited Edition GBCs and an ANA transparent blue Limited Edition GBC tucked away in a box.

I guess it's just not the same as my first love :)
 
This is a repost from "questions that don't deserve a thread" but no one answered there, this is probably a better place to ask.

Is there a way to make dual mode games boot in original Game Boy mode when played on a Game Boy Advance SP?

This thread mentioned a couple of titles that are significantly different depending on mode, and I wasn't sure if this was possible or not.
 
l6X5B.gif


Donkey Kong (94): Donkey Kong by name, this is really a very clever and well designed puzzle game. Notably though, it was the first Game Boy title that was made with Super Game Boy specifics in mind. This included a palette designed just for the title, and a great looking SMG border as well. The title has polish and the simplistic graphics do not detract from what the game has to offer.

Don't forget that the Super Game Boy also adds a voice to the game (you can actually Pauline yell "help!" on the SNES), and it enhances the music that plays during the credits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=SJyqMPWM4Zs#t=36s
 

AndyboyH

Neo Member
I'll be the happiest guy on Earth if I can find a GB Light in Japan later this year. An affordable one. In decent conditions. I love Game Boy *bookmarks thread*.

You'll be lucky. I don't live in Japan or anything, but the numerous times I've been out there, I've not seen one to buy. You'd be better off putting ゲームボーイライト into auctions.yahoo.co.jp and finding a cheap deputy service, IMHO.
 

Slermy

Member
You'll be lucky. I don't live in Japan or anything, but the numerous times I've been out there, I've not seen one to buy. You'd be better off putting ゲームボーイライト into auctions.yahoo.co.jp and finding a cheap deputy service, IMHO.

You sir, have an incredible avatar.
 

gerudoman

Member
Pok%C3%A9mon_Pinball_Coverart.png


PokemonPinballGB-h350.jpg


I played the shit out of this.

I loved both Pinball and Pinball R/S, best Pokémon spin offs by far IMO. It's funny, because second hand shops here are full of Pinball catridges, they tend to have no less than 5-10 in each one. I guess many children asked their parents for it in the middle of the Pokémon fever and got disappointed with the way it played...
 
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