The Official Game Boy Thread

[electricmastro]

Nice use of a license from Konami on The Grinch. No doubt it has drawn suggested parallels to Metal Gear:

 

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by electricmastro

[Tanooki]

@electricmastro Strike 2.   I had that game, I won't buy it again, prefer the old black and white Bionic Commando.  Some of the changes just didn't sit well with me, but I'm also not a real fan of the franchise either so take that as you will as I'm not going to fan out over it.  The color is quite nice given it's a GBC only game, audio too, but didn't care for the play on that one.

 

@Hwlngmad If you like digital pinball which tries to do more table like stuff, than playful adventure style (Kirby's pinball, super mario pinball, pac man pinball, house of the dead) they're some of the best you can find.  There are others, largely crap though.  I've never put time into it but I understand this muppets pinball game that exists on gameboy was oddly good, and the little mermaid pinball I've barely touched it but it seemed decent but not enough time to recommend or not.

[electricmastro]

From quite possibly Namco's most underappreciated series:

 

 

[+jgkspsx]

Been playing one table in Pinball Challenge Deluxe this week. I went from barely able to make the high scores in Stones and Bones to this. I still have three extra balls left, but the Well ate my ball and nothing I have tried will tilt the table and release it

 

 

It is a little nuts with the extra balls. Earning at least 12 in one game is something my skill level does not deserve. It also never seems to reset multipliers, so once you get going you will probably eventually be able to play forever.

[Tanooki]

Not bad that's a good game you got going there, never hit that bug before though.

 

Hey true story, Ubisoft I'm about to give you another reason to dislike that pos company, being cheapskates.  The contract they had with the studio that handled that game there was to include high score saving on the cartridge which they in fact coded in.  Right before it was to come out, Ubisoft reneged on the deal and they decided (what I was told by the developer themselves over email) to save 50 cents (they're UK but converted it to USD I guess for me) scrapped the battery backed up score and shipped it on a bare cart with just the ROM.  They were FURIOUS.  Actively went around at the time (probably why they told me as much other than I was media then) shit talking Ubisoft and how they'd not work with again for being liars and cheap skates.  They people in open posts on various forums, and my conversation too, to go out and emulate it or buy a flash kit so you can play the game as intended!

[electricmastro]

18 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Ubisoft I'm about to give you another reason to dislike that pos company

Well, I did appreciate them putting out games like Street Racer. lol

 

[+jgkspsx]

I gotta say, if you have a GBC-playing device and like platformers with a lot of run'n'gunning and cool bosses and powerups, slap Merlin on your flashcart or emulator or find a cheap copy. It is maybe a little too easy when you are fully powered up but it is such a joy to play. It's bizarre that I only stumbled upon it and bought it on a whim after never having heard of it before; it's one of the most pleasurable experiences I've had on the system. All of the reviews online follow pretty much the same trajectory as I did: "Oh, another europlatformer for the GBC, yay. Oh, huh, this is kinda different actually. Hey, this is kinda fun. Wow, this is a lot of fun!"

 

Also, if you like pinball at all, you've gotta get 3D Ultra Pinball: Thrillride. It is top-tier, and even has a high-score save!

[electricmastro]

Glad that Bomberman was branching out more by the Nintendo 64 era, as opposed just strictly staying in puzzle maze bombing games, because this RPG works pretty well as an example:

 

 

 

[+jgkspsx]

I beat Trax in a cakewalk last night after finally sitting down to play it properly:

 

Then I beat The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird during my afternoon tea break. In about 18 minutes. Sheesh, and here I thought Trax was short. Thank goodness I only paid $8.50 for it.

 

[electricmastro]

Interesting attempt at a Zone of the Enders on a handheld.

 

 

[high voltage]

How's the homebrew scene on GB/GBc/GBA:

The only homebrew I have is the UK-made QUAK for the GBA. Can't remember what purchase year it was.

 

Is the Homebrew scene flourishing on GB?

[+atari2600land]

Yes, there is a homebrew scene on GB. I am trying to become part of it:

There is even a discord on Game Boy programming. And an Everdrive to properly play the Game Boy homebrews.

[+jgkspsx]

4 hours ago, high voltage said:

How's the homebrew scene on GB/GBc/GBA:

The only homebrew I have is the UK-made QUAK for the GBA. Can't remember what purchase year it was.

 

Is the Homebrew scene flourishing on GB?

Holy mackerel. That is in my top 25 games I want.

 

The Game Boy homebrew scene is flourishing through a combination of good tools and lots of interest. Our very own @Fadest recently ported his Lynx smash hit Asteroids Chasers to Game Boy. The Game Boy Color title Goodboy Galaxy seems likely to set a new standard for what can graphically be done on the system. And there have been dozens of new cartridge releases this year.

[Pixelboy]

20 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

The Game Boy Color title Goodboy Galaxy seems likely to set a new standard for what can graphically be done on the system.

Game Boy Advance, actually. 

 

[+jgkspsx]

Oops! There are so many new games it’s hard to keep track! I am hoping to complete The Shapeshifter between the holidays if I finish Ynxa, which is priority 1.

[Tanooki]

7 hours ago, high voltage said:

How's the homebrew scene on GB/GBc/GBA:

The only homebrew I have is the UK-made QUAK for the GBA. Can't remember what purchase year it was.

 

Is the Homebrew scene flourishing on GB?

Dude sweet!  You have one of the 300 too?  I just have the case, cart and stapled manual, not sure where that letter went or if I ever had it come to think of it.  That game is a treasure of high enough quality it's tragic it wasn't a real release at retail as it's far better than quite a few turds people put money into getting licensed.

 

Also there is a very growing community in the GB/GBC circles for homebrew, but I almost feel bad calling some of it that because the bar is raised so well, especially from one studio I can think of, it would have been retail 20 years ago and cherished, that good.  I want you to check this site out here https://www.spacebot-interactive.com/ and tell me what you think.  I've repeatedly talked with this guy who runs the studio online and he's got some amazing stuff going on there.  This isn't just looks good but usual plays stiff/like crap homebrew people usually are victims of, solid solid stuff here and variety (keep scrolling beyond Dragonborne DX and see.)  Also AsobiChan has the excellent Jetpak DX for GBC he refreshed this year on GBC too which he originally put out like 20 years ago which was nice to see.

[high voltage]

Nice, thanks for all the info

[+atari2600land]

Just bought three GB titles on eBay for my collection.

Missile Command, Wordtris, and Ren & Stimpy: Veediots (which I finally found a game Genie code for) Edit: Found some more.

[+atari2600land]

A link to the Game Boy game I'm working on. It's Hamburgers En Route To Switzerland, previously released on the Virtual Boy and Game Gear.

I found an episode of Jeopardy! from 1992. I was surprised to see the second and third place winners got an NES (among other lovely parting gifts). They advertised the InfoGenius Game Boy cartridges along with the Jeopardy! game, both of which were made by the same company (GameTek). Now, second place gets $2000 and third place gets $1000.

[+atari2600land]

I have been searching for Game Boy ads on my old '90s VHS tapes. I found a few.

 

[+jgkspsx]

More like “So I get off track, consult the FAQ, feed crocs crap, and get the Master Sword back” d d d down with Zelda.

[0078265317]

this was interesting

 

https://gizmodo.com/turns-out-the-nintendo-game-boy-is-the-worst-possible-w-1848295094/amp

[+jgkspsx]

2 hours ago, 0078265317 said:

this was interesting

 

https://gizmodo.com/turns-out-the-nintendo-game-boy-is-the-worst-possible-w-1848295094/amp

Did they see the Atari 2600 movie player? ? 

[+jeremiahjt]

Have a question for some Game Boy Color experts. I saw a game called Project S-11 in a local game store for $18. I looked up sold listings on eBay and they ranged from $20 to $75. I could not tell if there was some variation selling for more or something else. Anybody know why this game has such a large price range?

 

Also, should there be an official Game Boy Color thread in addition to the Game Boy thread?

[Tanooki]

7 minutes ago, jeremiahjt said:

Have a question for some Game Boy Color experts. I saw a game called Project S-11 in a local game store for $18. I looked up sold listings on eBay and they ranged from $20 to $75. I could not tell if there was some variation selling for more or something else. Anybody know why this game has such a large price range?

 

Also, should there be an official Game Boy Color thread in addition to the Game Boy thread?

Eh why split it, the GBC may technically be its own system, but it's more so just a beefy upgrade, the precursor to how the DS got the i, where you get 2x speed and 4x the RAM among other things.

 

Project S11 I've owned for a long time, sadly not my original, but still.  It's a rarer game, not a huge run.  The group who did it were big demoscene peeps in the 90s that opened up a legit game studio, so they know how to insanely work a processor to squeeze out stuff that'll blow your mind, this game hits that.  Also maybe in part of the lower run, but also the publisher factor, Sunsoft, they have enough cred in cases to add bucks too.

 

Project S11 is GBC only, so see through cart.  The game breaks the so called hardware limits of the base unit in respect to one very particular thing, total sprites/sprites per line which is 40 total/10 line.   Project S11 spits out far more than 40 sprites insanely though through some trickery of the hardware.  A particular gun in this game is like effectively a lava cannon.  Once you tap it, it spits out a bunch of red flame balls to the top, then if fountains as a spread backwards towards you, if you hold it, the fire stays up but distance begins to shrink to encourage not spamming it.  The cannon alone pops out that many balls when the button is held, throw in enemy ships and incoming fire you're over the cap.  It's a very fun game made by a smart group with a low distribution, therefore, shark level pricing unfortunately.  I'd say be happy it's still more obscure or it would be over 100 easy.

 

See for yourself here: