CuteFaceJay
Member
Why isn't Gameboy a thing anymore?
I've got even more games to add to your list:No way. It's as if the Woz guy is not familiar with GBA library:
the best games as in Metroid Fusion (and Zero Mission), Advance Wars 1/2, Castlevania: AoS (plus two more), Zelda Minish Cup, Astro boy, Ninja Five-O, Tactics Ogre, Gunstar Super Heroes, Fire Emblem (two games), Golden Sun (two games), FF:Tactics advance, Mario & Luigi SuperStar, Wario Ware etc were entirely new entries or as with Zero Mission - a remake of NES game (to the point you could consider it a new game)
Some were sequels/prequels of SNES/Genesis games (Tactics ogre, Gunstar Super Heroes).
There were some amazing ports too (like Link to the Past), but they were hardly the defining titles of GBA.
No way. It's as if the Woz guy is not familiar with GBA library:
the best games as in Metroid Fusion (and Zero Mission), Advance Wars 1/2, Castlevania: AoS (plus two more), Zelda Minish Cup, Astro boy, Ninja Five-O, Tactics Ogre, Gunstar Super Heroes, Fire Emblem (two games), Golden Sun (two games), FF:Tactics advance, Mario & Luigi SuperStar, Wario Ware etc were entirely new entries or as with Zero Mission - a remake of NES game (to the point you could consider it a new game)
Some were sequels/prequels of SNES/Genesis games (Tactics ogre, Gunstar Super Heroes).
There were some amazing ports too (like Link to the Past), but they were hardly the defining titles of GBA.
Yes, that is why it takes ages to make them right. Though definitely this is a great thing to not worry about hardware limitations nowadays. We just lost so many years by a push for 3D graphics in the industry. As a result a lot of artists stopped honing their skills in 2D art.Aesthetically I also agree that the quality of Sprite and pixel art as gone down.
However it was talking about game design. And on that front, modern game are richer, more diverse and have a lot better controls.
Most old games have brick controls and poor cameras. They have unfair challenges and redundant level design.
Modern 2D games have advanced a lot since then.
PS: I also like the games, you've highlighted, I was just trying to show the breadth of experience one can have nowadays.
Why isn't Gameboy a thing anymore?
Eden Games did the Playstation 2, Gamecube and XBOX versions.Here's another gem for the GBA library: V-Rally 3, created by Eden Games and published by Infogrames. It's an extremely solid and playable racing title, offering a large number of cars and tracks. The visuals are rendered in 3D polygons and are arguably the best for the portable system. Gameboy Advance had very limited 3D powers, and it appears that programmers really had to hustle to make it work. Here, the developers certainly made the effort and it shows.
It was more than enough to do it much better than both the SNES and GBA combined.The PSX couldn't properly handle sprites legit without some trickery.
It was more than enough to do it much better than both the SNES and GBA combined.
"Best Castlevania games"
OH HEYALL NO
Just look at the DS games. Harmony of dissonance is..decent i guess. Aria of sorrow is amazing, but it doesn't even come close to Dawn of sorrow. and god forbid i talk about the rotten egg that is Circle of the Moon. Like no. Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia and Dawn of Sorrow are so much better than the GBA games.
SNES has better 2D graphics and can scale sprites better.
Could you name those games, because I have no idea how you could arrive at that conclusion.Almost all of the best 2D games on the platform were slightly downgraded ports from previous generation home consoles.
Could you name those games, because I have no idea how you could arrive at that conclusion.
Unless you consider "Mario" games (incl. yoshi), Mario Kart, Donkey Kong as the best 2D games on the platform.
I used to think that Dawn of Sorrow was the much better game between Aria/Dawn. I kinda flip flopped though after replaying both again recently.
Dawn has the better OST hands down but I really like Aria's castle better and prefer Soma's GBA sprite. Dawn's castle kinda sucks and is a bit boring.
Well, yeah. Other than Link to the Past I simply don't consider those to be the best games on GBA by far.Street Fighter Alpha 3, Mother 2, Super Mario 3, Yoshi's Island, Final Fantasy 4, 5, and 6, Zelda Link to the Past, Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, and 3, Super Mario World, Breath of Fire 1 and 2, Phantasy Star, etc
Would you like more?
This. And CPS2/3The Neo Geo was the pinnacle of 2D
The Neo Geo was the pinnacle of 2D
It also had arguably the best 2D Metroid, Zelda, Mario, Dragonball, and Castlevania games ever made.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow had very consistent high quality through out, others were kind of more hit and miss in quality (like the Order of Ecclesia reusing not only tilesets, but whole areas multiple times in the game, still a great game though)Super Metroid > GBA Metroid
SOTN > Any 2D Castlevania but also DS Castlevanias > GBA Castlevanias
Mario... seriously? The GBA doesn't even have an original 2D Mario for itself. And even the ports aren't as good as in Mario All Stars.
Can't comment on Zelda since i only played a few 2D ones.
Not because it took too long to load them, that's because the console did not have enough VRAM to store all the data. Standard Neo Geo can address the entirety of its ROM instantly, the entire ROM is the VRAM, and the actual VRAM is small in size and only stores color data (palettes). So obviously, you can't replicate this on a system that does not offer instant access the data at all time. Almost all other consoles require loading data to be displayed in VRAM (NES is like the Neo Geo, otherwise the consoles we are used to have to load data in VRAM). Well, consoles like the SNES and MD probably rely on loading data in VRAM during gameplay for fighting games for example, so they can handle this, but they are cartridge based, and access the ROM is still pretty fast. However a CD console cannot do this at all.The Neo-Geo CD even had some games with cut animation frames (or background frames) because the CD took too long to load them, despite the system being the same as the AES/MVS.
I remember reading that they did the cuts to reduce the already slow CD loading. And i saw the cuts so i assumed that was correct.Not because it took too long to load them, that's because the console did not have enough VRAM to store all the data. Standard Neo Geo can address the entirety of its ROM instantly, the entire ROM is the VRAM, and the actual VRAM is small in size and only stores color data (palettes). So obviously, you can't replicate this on a system that does not offer instant access the data at all time. Almost all other consoles require loading data to be displayed in VRAM (NES is like the Neo Geo, otherwise the consoles we are used to have to load data in VRAM). Well, consoles like the SNES and MD probably rely on loading data in VRAM during gameplay for fighting games for example, so they can handle this, but they are cartridge based, and access the ROM is still pretty fast. However a CD console cannot do this at all.
If the Neo Geo CD had 1 more MB of VRAM (bringing it to 8), you would probably not have cuts in all the games released on it (with the exception of Art of Fighting 3, not too sure of the size of the full characters in memory for this game, probably pretty huge). Still, the console would not have been able to handle KOF 2K3 as this game can switch instantly between 6 characters, meaning that you need to load all 6 in VRAM.
This is what makes Neo Geo difficult to emulate on any system that cannot load the entirety of the game in its RAM.
Actually it's more fun to think of the GBA as the 32X but not a complete failure. They have similar looking 3D graphics.
Not because it took too long to load them, that's because the console did not have enough VRAM to store all the data. Standard Neo Geo can address the entirety of its ROM instantly, the entire ROM is the VRAM, and the actual VRAM is small in size and only stores color data (palettes). So obviously, you can't replicate this on a system that does not offer instant access the data at all time. Almost all other consoles require loading data to be displayed in VRAM (NES is like the Neo Geo, otherwise the consoles we are used to have to load data in VRAM). Well, consoles like the SNES and MD probably rely on loading data in VRAM during gameplay for fighting games for example, so they can handle this, but they are cartridge based, and access the ROM is still pretty fast. However a CD console cannot do this at all.
If the Neo Geo CD had 1 more MB of VRAM (bringing it to 8), you would probably not have cuts in all the games released on it (with the exception of Art of Fighting 3, not too sure of the size of the full characters in memory for this game, probably pretty huge). Still, the console would not have been able to handle KOF 2K3 as this game can switch instantly between 6 characters, meaning that you need to load all 6 in VRAM.
This is what makes Neo Geo difficult to emulate on any system that cannot load the entirety of the game in its RAM.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow had very consistent high quality through out, others were kind of more hit and miss in quality (like the Order of Ecclesia reusing not only tilesets, but whole areas multiple times in the game, still a great game though)
SOTN probably still had the most oomph overall.
It's so tough to rate iga-style Castlevania games, because they are all pretty, pretty good, other than Harmony of Dissonance distinctly standing out as one of the worst.
Thing with Aria of Sorrow is that it feels like the most polished and consistent out of the bunch, like a very, very strong entry overall. And definitely one of the best GBA games.
Super Metroid is one of the best games ever made, so it's hard to beat that by pretty much anything. It doesn't mean GBA Metroids weren't great, just not as great as the masterpiece.
This is fine, the thread is about convincing someone that the GBA is not the pinnacle of 2D pixel art capabilities.It's so tough to rate iga-style Castlevania games, because they are all pretty, pretty good, other than Harmony of Dissonance distinctly standing out as one of the worst.
Why isn't Gameboy a thing anymore?
the thing didint had any decent original Mario or Zelda.
Why isn't Gameboy a thing anymore?
What are you talking, dude.That's not "taste." It's a fact. The GBA's resolution was 240x160. It wasn't enough resolution for real games.
SNES was 256*224, still pretty low actually.The SNES' horizontal resolution was just 256. That's a measly 16 pixels wider.
If Nintendo announced a new Gameboy in 2019 there would probably be stupid outrage on it not being "inclusive" or that it's "sexist".Why isn't Gameboy a thing anymore?
This is fine, the thread is about convincing someone that the GBA is not the pinnacle of 2D pixel art capabilities.
So SOTN destroys any GBA castlevania game in that sense, the spirtes and background have more colors on the PSX, they are better animated compared to their GBA counterparts, everything is also more detailed because it runs at a higher resolution. - SOTN is still arguably the best game in the series, but this may be more contentious.
Same is true for any game that was on pretty much any other system as well as the GBA:
SF alpha 3 - the GBA verson doesn't hold a candle to any version released in the same time frame.
Multiple versions
Mortal Kombat 3 on the GBA
Arcade
Here's a gameplay demo clip of Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer. For me, it's just about the best thing to ever hit Gameboy Advance, a fantastic sports game that fits nicely within the Tony Hawk mold. If you've ever played the surfing competition in California Games, then you'll absolutely love this.
Controls are fairly simple but require some dexterity. You can perform grabs, flips, cuts and other cool stunts, rotate in the air, and perform barrel rolls inside the waves (where the big points are scored). You have to be careful not to crash and wipe out. Most of the moves are easy to pull off (Tony Hawk style) but a few of them require really precise timing to get right.
There is a lot of variety in beaches, offering different sizes of waves, moving in different directions, and score multipliers that emphasize different areas. Some locations emphasize air stunts, others focus on the waves. In addition, each beach features challenges where you must perform specific moves to pass. New surf boards are awarded this way.
Nobody ever bothered to look at this game, as there was a Kelly Slater on the big consoles featuring 3D polygons. Even today, I can't find more than a couple YouTube videos and certainly nothing showing the game at its best. Weirdly enough, this short video of the demo mode remains the best showpiece.
Whatever. Kelly Slater on GBA is spectacular and an absolute must for everyone. You can still find boxed copies for next to nothing, so there's no excuse for passing this one up. Gamers are no longer thumbing their noses at the sight of lowly, "obsolete" 2D graphics, and thank goodness for that.