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Showing results for tags 'GBA Chronogaming'.
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The dictionary defines "snood" as a net or fabric cap for the hair. That being said, it has nothing to do with snoods. I'm guessing they picked Snood as the title of the game because they thought it was a nonsense word. Anyway, what Snood is is a Bust-a-Move (or Puzzle Bobble) clone. In case you don't know what Bust-A-Move is, it's a puzzle game where you shoot colored bubbles from the bottom of the screen up to the top. If you match three or more of the same color, they disappear and points are scored (or whatever.) In fact, the game is so similar, I am surprised the makers of Bust-A-Move didn't go after Destination Software, Inc. I guess times have changed since the Atari vs. Magnavox case and neither one cared. In fact, the only difference Snood has with Bust-A-Move is that the bubbles have been replaced with anthropomorphic dots (again stealing from another company. M&Ms, Seven-Up?) I'm guessing this game was for the poor kids who blew all their money on getting the new at the time GBA and wanted a cool game but couldn't afford one.
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This looks like a game I wouldn't be interested in. Played the Training Mode, which is good to get a feel for the game without actually starting a new file. Basically what you do is walk around like Link trying to solve puzzles and stuff. The movement is kinda difficult, especially trying to throw those dumb turtles and use them as stepping stones across water. And so is diagonal movement, which is kind of necessary for the game. Plus, I figured the fact that Lego in its title would lend one to believe that the whole place is made out of Legos. No. The people in the game don't much resemble the Lego people I'm used to when I was growing up. I guess more people would buy the game if they put "Lego" in the title, although you'd think that would only attract nothing but Lego fans. Not really a good little title, although it tries.
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OK, when being a superhero, one thing is important: The ability to swim. Apparently, Spider-Man hadn't taken swim lessons as a kid. Easy mode is too hard. Yep, another one of THOSE games. And yet another slug-fest a la TMNT2 for the NES (and apparently the arcade, although it's a lot more fun on the NES if you have a front loader and a Game Genie.) I don't know why every superhero game has to do this. The X-Men did this, and now Spider-Man. And apparently Spider-Man isn't a very good superhero. Oh sure, he can shoot webs and stuff, but it seems like he's really weak. A few bullets really does damage to his health meter. Superman has the ability to have bullets bounce off his chest. Aqua Man can swim. Maybe Spidey needs to take a few more lessons in superhero school. I was able to clear downtown OK, but Pier 54 was where I learned that Spider-Man can't swim. Some idiot enemy punched me off a few boxes that were apparently magically floating in mid air and I fell to my death a few times. That is when I knew I was defeated and so I turned the GBA off, never to play this one again unless I feel like torturing myself, which might happen because it has passwords. I never did get any passwords when I beat the downtown level, but in the main menu it has a place to enter them, so... This concludes September of 2011. On to October!
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Release date: 9/28/2001 (almost ten years ago! It's been THAT long since the GBA debuted?!) Another one of those games where medium difficulty is too hard and easy difficulty is too easy. On Medium, I finished last and on Easy, it barely put up a fight. And there's only one track you can actually race on. There might be more, but damned if I can figure out how to get to them. US Open mode is only two races on the same track, and if you win both of them, you're the champion and you get nothing except a screen saying Ricky Carmichael (or whoever you picked) is the champion. Wrong, except if Ricky himself is playing the game. And there's a race alone mode to get the feel of the game apparently. As for graphics, they're polygon based except for the objects like colored boxes, the racers and car tires half-stuck in the sand. These tires only have three directions to face when you're turning so animation is choppy at best. So anyway, it's not a very good game, but if you're a fan of motocross, I guess it warrants a look. up next: Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace
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Company: TDK Size: 32 Megabits NP's Rating: 4.5/5 (volume 149 p.123) ESRB Rating: E (Mild Violence) Where have I seen that TDK logo before? Ah yes, on old blank cardboard VHS tape covers! Well, anyway, TDK apparently hit a high note, at least in this GBA game-playing project I'm doing, with a fairly decent platform game. The editors at Nintendo Power think that the game is too easy. Suuuure it is. No, they're wrong. It's kinda difficult, especially when you need to attack enemies with nothing but a sword in the early stages of the game. The graphics give the game a cartoony feel, which is not what the box art predicts (I don't have the box, but I'm looking at a picture of it in NP). And although it's better than most of the other games I've played thus far, I doubt I'll give this a second spin. Question for NP editors: if you think the game is too easy, then why is your collective rating a 4.5/5? My rating: 6 (out of 10)
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Another one of those games. Yep, this one is really stupid, and one of the worst I've played so far. Everything, from the NES-quality music, to the gameplay, reeks of stupidity. The game play's main problem is YOU CAN'T JUMP. And most of the moves are with button combinations, like R+A equals shooting, while L+B equals running left. I have an idea, but it's far too late: Why not make the A button make your character jump?! Because of the jumpless feature, I fell some place where I couldn't get out of. And it really needs a jumping feature because the game is similar to Elevator Action. And, finally, to top the stupidity all off, the game uses passwords. Yep, if you own the game and google it, you can play the final stage, although when the game is this bad, who would want to? This game is so bad, you can't play it. If you ever see this game in a store, run away screaming like a little girl. rating: broken
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Yeah, I used to watch it when it was on Cartoon Network. It wasn't that great of a show, but the Game Boy Advance game is, well, a deesaster. The trouble is, it's too difficult. You move around in an environment similar to the classic arcade game Marble Madness, trying to collect clones of Dexter's sister, Dee Dee. Only trouble is, there's way too many enemies and the environment is totally way too big with doors and portals and stuff. The map, selected with the select button, doesn't really help at all. I was expecting a 2D side-scroller and what I got was a 3D collectathon. A sucky one, at that. This is made by the same people who made the awful Powerpuff Girls game for the N64 (which was, surprisingly, released AFTER this game was!) Well, anyway, avoid this like the plague.
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The problem with Tetris Worlds is that pressing up makes the place fall down to the very bottom without any chance of making it move left or right. Or maybe that isn't, I'm not sure. Even though I never press up, sometimes it acts like I did, which screws up the entire game, especially on the later levels. If they hadn't have made that stupid change in the controls, Tetris Worlds would have been enjoyable. But no. Some idiot had to go design that "hard drop" thing. And it isn't just on my Game Boy Micro, either. When I had the instruction booklet when I had the game before I had a Game Boy Micro, I had the exact same problem, and the instruction booklet does not explain why it does that. If I were you, I'd just get Tetris DX for Game Boy Color. It's basically the same game without the stupid hard drop thing. up next: "Dexter's Laboratory: Deesaster Strikes!"
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This game is technically impossible. Nobody (and I mean nobody) can get past level 1-2. I guess the game testers just quit testing the game after defeating level 1-1 and said "That's good enough." Well, had they gone past that and actually attempted to defeat level 1-2, they would have found a major flaw in the game. The snag is it is impossible for the stupid guy to jump high enough to get onto a ledge. I tried getting an enemy into the pit and that didn't work. I tried doing a special jump that works with enemies to go higher with the box and that didn't work. So basically you're stuck in 1-2, which is sad because it was a good attempt at a game. And anyone who claims they have gotten past 1-2 are lying, like the people on GameFAQs. They made everything past 1-1 up. After all, what's the use of having a FAQ for such a short game? I hate these impossible games. Major fail for making 1-2 technically impossible to beat, like Impossible Mission for the Atari 7800, this one is also impossible. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this. We all know Impossible Mission is impossible, but I guess nobody has played Klonoa on GBA and found out it is impossible. That, and there was at least a 5-minute long introduction story. I hate games that have the story inside them. That's what instruction booklets are used for.
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I am not a big fan of baseball. I expected to go through this for a minute or two before saying "It sucks" and never playing again. Well, that is true, but not for the reason I had expected: Three batters later in the top of the first inning, I was down 3-0. That's right, a home run each and every time for the computer. (If only the Mariners were that good in real life!) I knew then that this was exactly like the Game Boy Baseball debacle I had earlier. Why isn't there a FAIR baseball game for a system? One that doesn't have the computer hitting home runs all the time? And as long as I'm asking pointless questions, why don't I have a million dollars? Up next: Klonoa (although I'm having a tough time trying to find it for cheap.)
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company: Konami release date: 9/14/2001 landmarks: The first game released after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Well, here we have another movie-based game. Well, I shouldn't really say "another", this is only the second one ever released for the GBA, if you don't count TV-themed ones. Here, Konami did something really interesting: Instead of making ONE game out of Jurassic Park III, they made, well, III of them. This was the first one to be released. And there is a difference between this and other movie-based games in terms of gameplay: This one plays a lot like Sim City, where, well, you're a park builder. I am not sure how to play "strategy" games, so I'm going to leave this one alone. I can tell you that after the better-than-average introduction with various dinosaurs doing whatever dinosaurs do, once you get into the game, the graphics change dramatically for worse, The in-game graphics remind me of Chu Chu Rocket, a previously played in this blog section. And a disappointment, there is only one save slot. So if I had wanted to make my own park, I would have to erase the one already made. There is a cursor, where you can click on the people. Above them, Sim-style, are happy or sad faces telling you what they think of the park you built. If you click on people, they will give you a sentence or so of what they think. The trouble is, there aren't very many preprogrammed sentences in the game, so I got a lot of repeating ones. Clicking on dinosaurs gives you a menu about what to do with them. I suppose it would be kind of fun if I was into this sort of thing, but I still haven't watched the first Jurassic Park movie, let alone the Lost World, and I don't plan on doing so any time soon. So if you're into Sim City and/or park management, this game is for you. Otherwise, meh.
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X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse Release date: 9/8/01 Company: Activision Basically what this is is a TMNT Arcade clone. Yep, another one. Gee, what fun these are. Move a few inches, fight enemies, then move another few inches, fight even more enemies. And also, I have no idea what I'm doing, either. At the beginning you pick from one of four X-Men and then the story (which is weird) begins. Seems the X-Men have been thrown into another universe, only this time, their hideaway has been in ruins. I've never read the X-Men, so I have no idea what I'm doing here. up next: Well, here are some possibilities. Here's what's next on the release list: Jurassic Park III: Park Builder, High Heat MLB 2002, Klonoa: Empire of Dreams, Dexter's Lab: Deesaster Strikes, and Tetris Worlds.
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I am not good with flight sims. This is why I am not liking this one. There is an option on this game's title screen where you practice to land on an aircraft carrier. I crash every time I try it, and the frustrating part is I don't know why. Moving on to the game itself, it's basically Battlezone in the air. I shot down two airplanes and then had no idea of what I was to do next. I read the instructions on how to maneuver the plane, but still didn't understand anything. The good thing is that I knew this game wasn't going to be a good experience from the time I ordered it. This ranks right up there as one of (if not) the worst game of this whole blog section. up next: X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse.
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Now normally I wouldn't review a football game for this GBA Chronogaming project, but I read about its minigames. I'm not a football freak, I mean I know enough to enjoy it, but I don't know everything about the game. I certainly wouldn't even get one question right in the trivia minigame, so I avoided it like the plague. Instead, I spent most of the time in the mini-game section's two playing football-related ones: Punting field goals (which is so easy a monkey could do it) and another one called "fourth and long", where you replay the same situation over and over: You are at the 50 yard line and it's the fourth down. Before each attempt, you can pick a team as well as the play, but I have no idea what plays even are (my, what pretty red, blue and yellow arrows.) so I just did my best not to get sacked and throw by pressing A to an open man. By the way, you cannot pick who to throw to, it does that for you. The defense is very tough, most of the time I get sacked before the 30 yard line, occasionally I get sacked between 30 and 1, and I remember only three touchdowns I made. And since I don't remember how well any teams were in 2002 (I bet the Seahawks sucked, though!), I was really flying blind. I don't think I'd want to play a full game of this, seeing as how I have no idea how to play defense, but I bet if I enjoy the mini-games and have a little interest in football, football fanatics would really dig this one.
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Advance Wars company: Nintendo Release Date: 9/10/2001 (ironically the day before an actual war broke out) Rating: E for Everyone OK, I have decided NOT to do X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse (unless I find it locally) because it just costs way too much on eBay. First off, I'm not really into strategy games or RPGs. This is a combination of the two, and, after learning a little about the game in the two training missions so far, I can't say that this is a bad game. In fact, it is going better than I had hoped, in the fact that I actually am understanding the game. It will probably be much harder in the coming missions, though. But still, even if I lose, I will understand why, although I won't understand why they had to make it so hard. Also, starting with this review, I will actually give out numbered ratings! So here they are: Graphics/Sound: 5 - The graphics here don't really play a major factor here, as all you need to display are a grid and troops on it, I guess kind of like Risk? Difficulty: 4 - For me, easier is better, so lower on this number is good. There is still a lot I haven't gotten to yet, so this is me being liberal with my ratings. Game Play/Idea: 7 - Back in 2001 when this game was released, there were fewer army games back then. Although calling this an army game would be calling Army Men Advance an army game. Now you've got more realistic army games (which I don't play). The idea was good and IMO presented good. up next: NFL Blitz 20-02
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Let me just start out by saying this game is too difficult to be enjoyable. Yes, one of those games again. In Tang Tang, your job is to go around making blocks to get rings and then find the exit. It's like Solomon's Key for the NES, basically. But there are stupid enemies, and you only get three shots per level. Yes, you heard me right. How lame is that? And these levels consist of different stages, or screens. There is only one suggestion I can make to this game: ADD INFINITE SHOTS. Even with infinite blocks you can build, this still isn't enough to warrant getting, unless you like swearing and getting angry at games. Level 1 is unbeatable since you only have three shots. And these boss levels, I have no idea what to do here. You can't shoot them, so why bother making them? Again, if you had infinite shots, you could have made this a shoot the boss until he explodes level, but noooo, the creators were too dumb to go that route. Morons.
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This is quite possibly the dumbest game I have played for this blog. Yes, kids, it's even worse than the Castlevania debacle I experienced. I think there are two main problems I had with this game. #1 - I never watched the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers so I had no idea who anyone was. #2 - the game is just so damned hard. I mean, there is this mine in a level where there there is a hole. While you are supposed to fall down some holes to progress in the level, once you fall down this particular one, you die. Nobody ever told me, I had no clue, yet there were a whole bunch of clues that helped me to progress up until that point. The plot is stupid: Some evil guy wants to take over the past. So I went down a mine shaft. The game is basically like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, where you go and slash up enemies as you progress, but the other game which I had as a kid was much better. This one is so stupid, it's ridiculous. It's like the movies the crew of MST3K make fun of, although you won't be making fun of it, you'll turn off your GBA, go to the bathroom and flush the game down the toilet, but not before vomiting. Up next: Tang Tang.
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Finally I got my hands on Caesar's Palace Advance. I wrote down what games it had, but I lost the piece of paper, and I'm too lazy to turn the game on just to see what games it has. I know it has video poker, because that's what I spent most of my time with so far. You win an unusually large % of the time. On the Jacks or Better video poker machine, I earned about $20, which is a LOT considering the amount of games I had played. Way better than Lynx Casino for the Atari Lynx (or just about any other gambling game for any system, save Golden Nugget Casino for the DS.) There was also roulette, which was hard to get the hang of moving the cursor to make a bet, but I finally got the hang of it. Also, there was Blackjack, but you have to know a lot about the game to play it (I thought I did, but as it turns out, I know very little about the casino version.) There was also craps, but I didn't play that either. A lot of these games I surmise are just random number generators with spiffy graphics. Well the graphics are good, especially for a GBA game. There was also video keno, but I don't know how to play that either. I've always wondered how people can get addicted to losing money. LOL. I went into a casino once. I gave them 25 cents on the video poker before leaving. After years of playing gambling video games, I wanted to experience the real thing. It wasn't really too satisfying, and nothing I could say I could get hooked on. I know there's a Caesar's Palace for the NES, SNES and Game Boy, but this one is a lot better because there's more games for it, although I could well be just as happy if there was only video poker.
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This is one of those times I fear the game is too difficult for its target audience. "Rugrats" for those who don't know, was a popular animated show on Nickelodeon about talking babies. And since the show was on Nickelodeon, I deduced that the game is for kids. Well those kids really need to know how to play a difficult video game. I barely beat the first level on this thing. You can choose which levels to beat first off. I went into a level inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk (any guesses as to why? ) As I was playing the game, I figured out some stuff (I didn't have any instruction manual to help me). #1 : Health is determined by diapers. You start out with a whole bunch of them. I didn't really know what happened when you ran out of them. Do the kids die or something? #2: When you find another kid, you can reach higher places by pressing Up and A. This allows for a Diddy Kong getting on Dixie Kong's shoulders and then jumping style setup (from Donkey Kong Country 2.) While I was exploring the area, I accidentally did this a lot. Guess the directional pad on my Game Boy Micro is wonky or something. Anyway, like Mario, the kids have stuff to collect. Instead of coins, it's pacifiers (fitting.) Pressing B throws different items related to the level. In the JatB level it was what looked like bananas. I don't know what good this does because it doesn't seem to faze the enemies any. Anyway, it's kind of fun if you're into the Rugrats TV show, but if not, I say pass on it.
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First off, I hardly know anything about the cartoon series this was based on. All I know is it's about a group of skater kids that hang out. That being said, the premise is simple: You skate around levels, pressing R switches you from skateboard to rollerblades, pressing R again switches you from rollerblades to shoes, and pressing R again completes the cycle by switching you from shoes to skateboard. On the skateboard, pressing B makes you jump onto things in the background, while B not being pressed makes you skate in the foreground. With that being said, imagine my anger when I have 13 of 15 stars, only to realize that there's a giant wall, and before that is a passageway under it, but you need a key to enter. Only problem is, the programmers forgot to put the key into the game! I searched high and low for that stupid key, bopping on enemies' heads, hoping to find a key somewhere, but to no avail. That's right, kids, level 1 is impossible to beat! Major bummer, huh? Totally un-radical. To start off things, you could pick between two levels, maybe the key is in that other level and you need to pass that level before you can pass the one I selected, but then that would be totally unfair. I doubt that's the case anyway, and IMO just another case of Impossible Mission for the 78000-syndrome, which is too bad because it's a decent enough platformer, which can be aggravating at times. Unfortunately, there was no effing key!
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This game isn't very good. First off, I don't know how to play skateboarding games. That puts this game at a disadvantage before I even put it in the Game Boy Micro. Once I did, I tried the practice thing (in this game called Freeskate). The only thing I could do is make the guy jump by pressing A or make him twirl and jump at the same time by pressing either R or L shoulder buttons. The way you move around in the park is reminiscent of Skateboardin' for the 2600, which is kind of stupid because you'd think the GBA would have the capability of scrolling the park around. Anyway, basically, it's one of those games that even if I had an instruction manual, I still wouldn't know what the heck I'd be doing. up next: Rocket Power: Dream Scheme
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I must admit, I didn't watch the movie. And even if I did, it was released nine years ago, so I would have probably forgotten what it was about. So I was going into the game knowing nothing of the characters and plot. What I found was typical of platformers: Difficult, although I was able to get past level 1, I gave the game three chances to get past level 2, but it didn't want me to get past it, so I quit. I could just look up the passwords on the internet, but I don't want to for two reasons: #1 - if the game is hard on level 2, I don't even want to attempt level 3. #2 - Complete and total apathy. This game is not engaging in the least to me, probably because of its level of difficulty. Remind you, this is a game that is based on a Disney movie, so it should have been easy, if not easier. up next: ESPN X-Games Skateboarding (whoopee.)
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There are two clear things I hate and love about this game. The thing I hate is: They brought the coins back! Why? Did people actually *miss* them or something? Luckily, we haven't seen them since, but having them in GP 150cc just makes the game worse and harder. The one thing I love, however, is the Quick Run option. This allows you to pick any track, but doesn't keep track of points, like the other later versions with one player vs. options (Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii.) I was also disappointed that they integrated a ratings system in GP mode (I have yet to get above a D in Star and Special cups in 150cc mode.) And the tracks that are unlockable are those in Super Mario Kart! I mean, if you wanted to play them, why not just pop in the SNES version? I wish they would make all new tracks instead of bringing back the retro tracks like they do nowadays. Imagine having something like 32 all-new tracks and no retro ones in the next Mario Kart. That would be cool! Anyway, Mario Kart: SC comes in 4th out of 6 in the Mario Kart series. But that's only because all the other Mario Kart versions are way awesome. This is a very good game, albeit frustratingly hard sometimes. If you love racing games and don't have this game, there's something wrong with you! Although Mario Kart DS is IMO better than MK:SC, SC is still a good game, and probably one of the best GBA games I'll ever play in this blog category.
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Fortress Company: Majesco Size: 32 Megabits NP's rating: 3/5 (v. 147 p. 117) I guess Fortress is one of those games I just don't "get." The concept is this: blocks fall from the sky like Tetris, but instead of getting complete lines, your job is to build walls to protect the title object. I guess it would be kind of fun in 2-player mode, but the 1-player mode vs. computer really sucks, especially since the computer attacks your fort more than you attack its. I'd pass on this one. Up next: Mario Kart: Super Circuit
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Pac-Man Collection is a collection of Pac-Man games. First, there's the normal Pac-Man, playable in either full-screen or scrolling. Then there's Pac-Man Arrangement. This one puts Pac-Man in sort of a Super Mario Bros.-style worlds. Of course, you're still in a maze and same goal is to eat all the dots, but there's additions such as pills which do various things, new enemies that try to ram you, and other interesting things. Of course, the game gets real hard real quick but lucky you: you have infinite continues! It took me a long time to beat all 5 levels, and i really needed all those continues, too. Pac-Attack is a Tetris-like puzzle game in which groups of bricks, ghosts, Pac-Men, or a combination of two fall. A row of bricks disappear, but if one or more ghost is in a row, the bricks will not disappear. Your job is to get the Pac-Men to eat the ghosts so the bricks can fall down and disappear. And, then there's Pac-Mania, a port of the arcade game. I knew this game from the unlicensed Tengen NES version. It has bigger, harder, scrolling mazes, and it's harder even though Pac-Man has the added ability to jump. So what do I make of all this? This is a game that Pac-Man fanatics will really get a kick out of, and so will people who aren't crazy about Pac-Man (like myself). I enjoyed most of it. up next: Fortress.
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