Buried Treasure: Original Gameboy Conversions Of Atari Age Games.

[A Sprite]

Now in color.

 

 

In retrospect, most of these games were a bad idea. Small graphics on a bad screen. The blur was so bad that a programmer could achieve a true transparency by flickering a sprite off and on. Most action games were unplayable; forget figuring out what the graphics were supposed to represent, you counted yourself lucky if you knew something was trying to kill you.

 

Even worse, from a business perspective, the average player seldom played for high scores anymore, outside of abstract puzzle games like Tetris. With cartridge memory being limited, and catridge costs being high, it wasn't unusual for a single retro game to be packed into a single cartridge, and sold at full price.

 

Until they were marked down.

 

Magazines seldom reviewed the portable market. When they made a stab at it, it was to review 8 bit adaptations of 16 bit games, by 16 bit standards.

 

Publishers in turn, relied on brand recognition to reach uninformed consumers.

 

Konami's first Castlevania was rushed out the door, and resembled a stillbirth more than a labor of love. Megaman relived his old adventures, in a bizzare medical experiment where two old games were chopped in half, mashed together, and packaged as something new.

 

Then there were the movie adaptations. Waterworld allowed you to get your ass kicked by tiny fish, just before Aquaman stole your wallet. Navy Seals allowed you to play as a true American hero with a license to kill anyone who even looked like a terrorist. It took two shots to do this. You died if you made contact with their sprite.

 

Nobody else besides me has played this game in the past 10 years.

 

By the time the gameboy color was released, everyone was only too happy to pretend all the years leading up to it never happened.

 

The release of the gameboy advance sealed the deal.

 

And yet, for these games, so many of which were once unplayable, it was the best thing that could have happened.

 

With limited color support for the classic games allowing 4-8 colors on screen , and a new, better screen, the original apple to swamp green gameboy was revealed as having one the largest collections of classic arcade games ever made for a post crash system. Even better, they were so well programmed that when the next series of bad reviews came, as the fans took over the internet, it was often due to the fact that they were rated as if they were true emulations - the uncanny valley had been reached.

 

So why collect them now, since their time has long passed, and they will always be flawed?

 

The answer for me, is because they are flawed.

 

This is library of games you can't simply play straight out of the box. If you want color, you need the right tools, and an eye for what the programmers were trying to achieve.

 

More than that, you need to sacrifice.

 

The ghosts in Pac-Man can only be two sets of colors. One set when chasing you. Another when you're chasing them. What colors can all 4 of the ghosts share, and still have the the same effect on the player as the arcade?

 

Once you realize you'll never have a game that's perfect, once you're willing to sacrifice what's best for what works...you realize there's a game to be found in just optimizing the smallest of details...

 

You come a little closer to understanding what it was like to create games back in the Atari Age.

 

For those of us who can't program, this is as close to a time machine as can be found.

 

If you've sat through this post, I thank you for your patience. Even if I haven't convinced you to try the Gameboy games, I hope you enjoyed seeing the games themselves. I was inspired to do this, by the series "The Many Faces" - there are many faces of old friends still waiting to be found...

Edited November 15, 2007 by A Sprite

[orangest]

the GBC port of dragon's lair is still a minor miracle.

[kennyk]

Nice post. Actually I kinda like the Donkey Kong for the GB.

[borntorun]

I've been building up my collection of classic games on the 3 Gameboy systems. For thr original Gameboy, Miney 2049'er and Elevator Action were 2 games that I had never owned on any platform and have had a blast playing on the Gameboy. Activision Anthology for the Gameboy Advance is awesome.

[fishsandwich]

I've been building up my collection of classic games on the 3 Gameboy systems. For thr original Gameboy, Miney 2049'er and Elevator Action were 2 games that I had never owned on any platform and have had a blast playing on the Gameboy. Activision Anthology for the Gameboy Advance is awesome.

 

I can certainly see Elevator Action, but Miner 2049'er on the Game Boy? Man, that game is BRUTAL. I was a wiz on the 5200 version (shite controller and all) but the GB game kicked my ass. I never made it past screen 2.

[jboypacman]

I played Dragon's Lair on Gameboy and i was just amazed how well this translated over to the small screen.Not perfect by any means but still impressive.

[vdub_bobby]

In retrospect, most of these games were a bad idea. Small graphics on a bad screen. The blur was so bad that a programmer could achieve a true transparency by flickering a sprite off and on. Most action games were unplayable; forget figuring out what the graphics were supposed to represent, you counted yourself lucky if you knew something was trying to kill you.

This just seems odd to me. I mean, the bad screen and blur are hardware issues that were corrected eventually and, furthermore, those affect every game released on the GB, not just arcade ports.

 

By the time the gameboy color was released, everyone was only too happy to pretend all the years leading up to it never happened.

That's an...odd...assessment of the most popular handheld of all time. Sure, it wasn't great hardware, but it was insanely popular for a reason: people liked it.

 

And Elevator Action works fine on the small screen, both on my GBC and my GB. The graphics are fine, EA isn't such a fast-moving game that the blur is a big deal, and the screen is plenty big enough. The main problem is that they "updated" the game and, inevitably, made it worse in the process. Now you can find new weapons in some doors, which might seem cool, except that some of the weapons are worthless (and you can't get rid of a weapon except by dying) and they downgraded your standard pistol.

 

Also - the screen isn't that small. It has the same horizontal resolution (160 pixels) as the 2600, 5200, the C64, and the Atari 400/800/XL/XE line. The vertical resolution is squashed a bit but not too much (144 lines versus about 200 visible scanlines on a TV).

 

Your overall point stands, of course - you play GB games now for the same reason you play 2600, NES, Genesis, etc. games - because gameplay is what really matters and gameplay doesn't change.

[A Sprite]

This just seems odd to me. I mean, the bad screen and blur are hardware issues that were corrected eventually and, furthermore, those affect every game released on the GB, not just arcade ports.

 

Screen blur wasn't completely eliminated until the release of the Gameboy color, which made the back catalog of the Gameboy obsolete: some of it's best games were even re-released in color form (R-Type I & II), or given color sequels (Elevator Action EX). While all games were affected by the screen, unless you had ideal lighting conditions, it was usually easier to track games with larger sprites or slower, more deliberate gameplay. Early arcade hits were neither.

 

That's an...odd...assessment of the most popular handheld of all time. Sure, it wasn't great hardware, but it was insanely popular for a reason: people liked it.

 

It was popular - but I seldom see it given the kind of love the 2600, Intellivision, NES, Genesis, SNES, and even Game Gear receive. Most reviews I've read compare the games to games for SNES and Genesis...and there has never been a rerelease of the original green and grey games for any modern system.

Edited November 15, 2007 by A Sprite

[vdub_bobby]

unless you had ideal lighting conditions, it was usually easier to track games with larger sprites or slower, more deliberate gameplay. Early arcade hits were neither.

Well, sure. But (a) I'd argue it wasn't that big of a deal and (b) Tetris was an early arcade hit with small sprites and fast, non-deliberate gameplay. It doesn't seem to have hampered its playability too much nor its popularity - see the "best Tetris" thread where a bunch of people claimed GB Tetris as the best they've played. I mean, some of the top GB games were SMB variants, Tetris, and Donkey Kong - all arcade-style games with fast action.

 

It was popular - but I seldom see it given the kind of love the 2600, Intellivision, NES, Genesis, SNES, and even Game Gear receive. Most reviews I've read compare the games to games for SNES and Genesis...and there has never been a rerelease of the original green and grey games for any modern system.

Eh, give it time. It hasn't been that long since the GB was the current gen handheld. Besides, I've been shopping for GB games and the prices certainly don't reflect a lack of popularity!

 

And the reason that they compared the games to Genesis/SNES games is because...they were contemporaries. That was its competition, to a large extent.

 

Lots of the original games were rereleased on modern systems, you mentioned some of the colorized versions yourself. As for rereleasing to a home console, well, they certainly aren't alone there. How many handheld games have ever been rereleased for a home console?

Edited November 15, 2007 by vdub_bobby

[Atariboy]

This just seems odd to me. I mean, the bad screen and blur are hardware issues that were corrected eventually and, furthermore, those affect every game released on the GB, not just arcade ports.

 

Screen blur wasn't completely eliminated until the release of the Gameboy color, which made the back catalog of the Gameboy obsolete: some of it's best games were even re-released in color form (R-Type I & II), or given color sequels (Elevator Action EX). While all games were affected by the screen, unless you had ideal lighting conditions, it was usually easier to track games with larger sprites or slower, more deliberate gameplay. Early arcade hits were neither.

 

That's an...odd...assessment of the most popular handheld of all time. Sure, it wasn't great hardware, but it was insanely popular for a reason: people liked it.

 

It was popular - but I seldom see it given the kind of love the 2600, Intellivision, NES, Genesis, SNES, and even Game Gear receive. Most reviews I've read compare the games to games for SNES and Genesis...and there has never been a rerelease of the original green and grey games for any modern system.

 

Screen blur is still there even on the SP2 and DS lite. Play any 2d game like Galaga on Namco Museum for the GBA and watch something like say the colored stars in the background having bright well defined colors when the starfield isn't scrolling, and once gameplay starts it looks pretty bad and they then lack well defined bright colors as it blurs with the black background.

Edited November 16, 2007 by Atariboy

[BrianC]

Konami's first Castlevania was rushed out the door, and resembled a stillbirth more than a labor of love. Megaman relived his old adventures, in a bizzare medical experiment where two old games were chopped in half, mashed together, and packaged as something new.

 

The first GB Castlevania/Legend of Dracula wasn't the best, but it at least had some good music and decent graphics for the GB. Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge/Legend of Dracula II is very well done and has better music, though. The GB Megaman/Rockman World games used robot masters from the NES games, but the levels are all new. They weren't repackaged NES games. MMIV/Rockman World IV had some features unique to that game. MMV/Rockman World V was all new with no reused robots. I found them all to be great games in their own right, except for MMII/Rockman World II.

 

I disagree on GB games being unplayable. While the screen wasn't the best, many action games for it are far from unplayable, though they play better on the GBC screen. I used to beat Super Mario Land all that time on that screen.

 

Movie adaptions usually suck for any system, though there are exceptions, even on GB with games like Batman.

Edited November 26, 2007 by BrianC

[BrianC]

And Elevator Action works fine on the small screen, both on my GBC and my GB. The graphics are fine, EA isn't such a fast-moving game that the blur is a big deal, and the screen is plenty big enough. The main problem is that they "updated" the game and, inevitably, made it worse in the process. Now you can find new weapons in some doors, which might seem cool, except that some of the weapons are worthless (and you can't get rid of a weapon except by dying) and they downgraded your standard pistol.

 

I liked the way EA was updated, especially how you can fall down a floor without getting killed. The only worthless weapon is the grenade. It's possible to get rid of a weapon without dying, but not on your own. You can enter another power up door to get another weapon. Sometimes, you can even get downgraded to the pistol when you enter a power up door with a weapon.

[BrianC]

I played Dragon's Lair on Gameboy and i was just amazed how well this translated over to the small screen.Not perfect by any means but still impressive.

 

You mean the GBC one, right? There's also a GB b/w Dragon's Lair game that is far less impressive. Oddly enough, the GB b/w one is actually a port of a ZX Spectrum game named Rollercoaster.

Edited November 26, 2007 by BrianC

[A Sprite]

Konami's first Castlevania was rushed out the door, and resembled a stillbirth more than a labor of love. Megaman relived his old adventures, in a bizzare medical experiment where two old games were chopped in half, mashed together, and packaged as something new.

 

The first GB Castlevania/Legend of Dracula wasn't the best, but it at least had some good music and decent graphics for the GB. Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge/Legend of Dracula II is very well done and has better music, though. The GB Megaman/Rockman World games used robot masters from the NES games, but the levels are all new. They weren't repackaged NES games. MMIV/Rockman World IV had some features unique to that game. MMV/Rockman World V was all new with no reused robots. I found them all to be great games in their own right, except for MMII/Rockman World II.

 

I disagree on GB games being unplayable. While the screen wasn't the best, many action games for it are far from unplayable, though they play better on the GBC screen. I used to beat Super Mario Land all that time on that screen.

Movie adaptions usually suck for any system, though there are exceptions, even on GB with games like Batman.

 

I'm only damning precrash action games as being nearly unplayable due to motion blur - the Megaman II/Castlevania tangent rant probably should have been completely removed, since both companies made it up to their fans.

 

If you're playing on an original Game Boy or Game Boy Pocket, the infamous "Game Boy Blur" victimizes this particular game. Even when you invert the palette so the game is black-on-white, the end result is an incomprehensible smattering of pixels that's simply unplayable. Consider yourself warned.

 

All Game Guide; review of Defender.

[NE146]

Well.. you're looking at a guy who bought nearly all those games, full price, when they were on the store shelves. How could I not

 

Of course GB Donkey Kong is an all time classic. You won't find any Gameboy player who doesn't think that. But don't play it expecting the arcade game because it's simply not. (yes, despite the similarity to the arcade screens on the 1st 4 levels)

 

Space Invaders of course had another release with the Super Gameboy support (i.e. a nice arcade border), and even more awesome, the full blown SNES game built in as well.

 

Now, Joust & Defender I got the combo cart. That was and still is a formidable port... one of my all time favorites. It even surpassed the versions on the ill-fated Midway/Williams collection on the GBA of which I forget the exact title

[BrianC]

If you're playing on an original Game Boy or Game Boy Pocket, the infamous "Game Boy Blur" victimizes this particular game. Even when you invert the palette so the game is black-on-white, the end result is an incomprehensible smattering of pixels that's simply unplayable. Consider yourself warned.

 

All Game Guide; review of Defender.

 

I actually didn't find it unplayable, but the GB b/w version of Defender had other problems besides motion blur. The later GBC Defender is even harder to see on the b/w GB, simply because it was designed with the GBC in mind with half hearted GB b/w support. The GBC version is a much better port of the game, though. With the b/w GB, I used to have to adjust the contrast like crazy to find a proper setting for the games. I don't miss not having to do that with the GBC and GBA.

Edited November 26, 2007 by BrianC

[BrianC]

Now, Joust & Defender I got the combo cart. That was and still is a formidable port... one of my all time favorites. It even surpassed the versions on the ill-fated Midway/Williams collection on the GBA of which I forget the exact title

 

There were two Defender/Joust combo carts, a b/w GB one and a backwards compatible GBC cart. Both were handled by different developers (GBC by Digital Eclipse and GB by Software Creations). The GBC cart is much more accurate to the originals, but was designed with GBC in mind, so is hard to play on the b/w GB. The GB b/w one was designed for the b/w GB, but the ports aren't the best.

[+doctorclu]

I love the super gameboy ports. Battlezone was amazing, and I have ALWAYS been impressed with the port of Super Breakout which looks like a direct port of the Atari 800 version. After seeing that, I more or less left the Lynx scene (of course this was like 2003)

 

I get into stuff when it gets cheap.

 

After that I bought mainly Atari titles or ones that you'd see on the Atari Jaguar. I even put Atari Jaguar decals on my Gameboy Advance, and bought the Gamecube to be my screen extension of my Gameboy (I have very few Gamecube games, just use it for the adaptor).

 

Have any of you tried the telegames ports of Yars Revenge, or Shamus?

 

I thought they sucked.

 

Jaguar titles on the Gameboy... Cannon Fodder (GBC) was pretty good, liked Classic Defender, Rayman was good, Wolfenstein is ok, I remember there was Doom, and there were a bunch of other titles for the GBA at least when I was looking.

 

Ok, I'm starting to remember why I bought the GBA and Gamecube.. to have something that the Lynx and Jaguar couldn't offer... a portable experience that could played later on the screen.

 

Wow.

[BrianC]

I love the super gameboy ports. Battlezone was amazing, and I have ALWAYS been impressed with the port of Super Breakout which looks like a direct port of the Atari 800 version. After seeing that, I more or less left the Lynx scene (of course this was like 2003)

 

From what I tried, that version of Battlezone for the SGB and B/W GB wasn't the best. It was made too easy by the lack of tank controls, unlike the 2600 version, which was designed around the lack of tank controls. Super Breakout in Battlezone/Super Breakout is a good port, but it's not a direct port of the Atari 800 version. It's a port of the arcade version. The arcade version always had simple graphics and sounds. Also, both of those games are in Atari Anniversary Advance, which I feel is a superior collection.

 

Have any of you tried the telegames ports of Yars Revenge, or Shamus?

 

I thought they sucked.

 

 

Oddly enough, the Yars Revenge was originally a b/w game offered for free from the developer, but was later released as a commercial GBC game. I liked what I tried, but I feel it's not worth paying full price for. What did you find wrong with Shamus and Yars Revenge? I read many reviews that said the GBC Shamus isn't good, but they usually say it's because the game is outdated. I haven't seen many reviews that offered a comparison with the original, which is disappointing. What's wrong with the GBC Shamus besides it being "outdated"? It is really a bad port of the original?

 

Jaguar titles on the Gameboy... Cannon Fodder (GBC) was pretty good, liked Classic Defender, Rayman was good, Wolfenstein is ok, I remember there was Doom, and there were a bunch of other titles for the GBA at least when I was looking.

 

Wolfenstein GBA and Doom listed with the GBC games? GBA may be backwards compatible, but the hardware is still different. Lumping the titles for all the GB systems together just makes things confusing. None of these are actually based on Jaguar games, aside from the GBA Doom. Cannon Fodder is an Amgia port. Rayman is an original game. I agree both Cannon Fodder and Rayman are good, though. I also like the Defender in the GBC Joust/Defender, though again, it doesn't have anything to do with the Jaguar.

Edited November 27, 2007 by BrianC