Support NeoGAF

[jko]

I have come to an understanding that most GBA games are half-a$$ed efforts by most developers to simply put out 'decent' titles on the market for the system. I have played thru many GBA games and I can honestly say that even big name companies such as Nintendo, SquareEnix, Konami, etc. don't put most of their capable efforts/resources into making a GBA gem.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good GBA games out there, but it's just that the ones that are good could've been MUCH better. Take Minish Cap for example, they half efforted the main world...it's smaller than the ORIGINAL Zelda for the NES for crying out loud...and not to mention most of the gameplay machanics and puzzles are rehashed from previous Zelda games...heck, even the music could've used more work.

Then you have all the pretty ports...and some not so pretty ones(FF4a anyone?). The only games I could come up with top of my head that feels like it's made with full effort are the Kirby games, the Golden Sun games, and Mega Man Zero games.

The guiltiest party of this is SquareEnix I'd have to say. None...I repeat, NONE of their GBA games were with full efforts. Sword of Mana, the gameplay feels amaturish. FF4a was a sorry excuse of a port of an emulation of a port. FFTA, hahah...

Anyway, I'm done ranting, I'm glad companies are upping their shots on their DS games...

 

[TheGreatDave]

I've managed to buy two times more DS software since launch than I have GBA games total. I love the system, but there's a huge amount of shit games, a lot of good ones, but very few I feel I HAD to own. Outside Metroid Fusion, the Wario Ware series and some of the recent Bit Gen games, I pretty much just stick to using it to play ports of old games I liked.

 

[Tarazet]

There are some really wonderful and fulfilling GBA titles, but they come from unexpected sources and they tend to get overlooked. I have a feeling that smaller developers like St!ng (Riviera), Eighting (Kurukuru Kururin), and Treasure (Astro Boy) just work better with small budgets. S-E have gotten used to just throwing money at people and hoping that the flash and production values will mask their creative stagnation.

 

[drohne]

welcome to portable gaming, where developers don't try and the shovelware ratio would make an nes blush. gba was the grand exception among portables, with far better software than any portable before or since, and even its library can't compare to a successful console's.

 

[Zoramon089]

How can you say Nintendo puts no effort into GBA games?

Pokemon R/S/E/Fr/Lg
Advance Wars 1&2
Golden Sun 1&2
Drill Dozer
Metroid Fusion
Metroid Zero Mission

 

[ZeoVGM]

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good GBA games out there, but it's just that the ones that are good could've been MUCH better. Take Minish Cap for example, they half efforted the main world...it's smaller than the ORIGINAL Zelda for the NES for crying out loud...and not to mention most of the gameplay machanics and puzzles are rehashed from previous Zelda games...heck, even the music could've used more work.

you couldn't be more wrong. Minish Cap is amazing.

smaller than the original Zelda? uh, no.

it only looks small on the map, but there are so many places that open up due to you being able to shrink.

and most of the gameplay machanics and puzzles are rehashed? wtf? did you even play it?

FFTA, hahah...

uh, how is that HAHAHALOLZ exactly? just because you didn't like it doesn't mean they didn't put effort into it. there's TONS of effort put into it. but they wanted to make an easier game that was more for the younger crowd. i wish they didn't, but to say they didn't put effort into. ugh

 

[jko]

How can you say Nintendo puts no effort into GBA games?

Pokemon R/S/E/Fr/Lg
Advance Wars 1&2
Golden Sun 1&2
Drill Dozer
Metroid Fusion
Metroid Zero Mission

dude, i never said 'no'....i said 'whole'.

and yes, some games do work better with a lower budget and in turn works out wonderfully for the GBA like Kururu Kururin, etc. but like one of you said, i have around 40 DS games now since last summer(yeah, pretty crazy), and that's about 2/3 of the GBA games i have total since it's launch...that's a pretty good indication that themore effort you put into making a game, the better the quality...and more people will buy it. but of course there are always exceptions. ;p

 

[jko]

you couldn't be more wrong. Minish Cap is amazing.

smaller than the original Zelda? uh, no.

it only looks small on the map, but there are so many places that open up due to you being able to shrink.

and most of the gameplay machanics and puzzles are rehashed? wtf? did you even play it?



uh, how is that HAHAHALOLZ exactly? just because you didn't like it doesn't mean they didn't put effort into it. there's TONS of effort put into it. but they wanted to make an easier game that was more for the younger crowd. i wish they didn't, but to say they didn't put effort into. ugh

yes i have, i'm at the

Spoiler

cloud place retrieving the last element

now. again, i didn't say the game was bad, jsut seemed like they didn't put a whole lot of effort into it.

as for FFTa, my take is, if they really had put more into polishing the game, it would've flowed better...the pacing and the actual battles. i played about 5 hours into the game, i just couldn't make myself continue. but it could be just me ;p

 

[ZeoVGM]

yes i have, i'm at the

Spoiler

cloud place retrieving the last element

now. again, i didn't say the game was bad, jsut seemed like they didn't put a whole lot of effort into it.

they did though. i don't see how anyone could play it and think "hm, not much effort put into this!"

and capcom should make another Zelda very soon.