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The Official Game Boy Thread


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20 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

I am really partial to the Crazy Castle series.

 

 

I found the Lonney Tunes games, particularly on Game Boy Color, to be interesting. It seems as if there were usually attempts to experiment a little with them like changing up the standard platforming viewpoints to the viewpoints in Looney Tunes: Twouble! and Tasmanian Devil: Munching Madness.

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Y'know, I would gladly buy a translated repro of Real Bout Special, seeing as there's not that much to translate.

 

 

When such games get translated, some guys in China usually pick up the ROM and offer these translations on real GB carts. I bought several such English translations on eBay, for Game Boy and also for Super-NES, and I'm kinda glad I can buy these, usually for cheap.  :)

 

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Real Bout Fatal Fury that is the best one of those on the Gameboy as far as the FF/KOF titles the GB got.  FF2 is the worst, has a lot of problems, and KOF95 isn't much better, KOF96 is a big improvement, but I find RBFF the best of the four.  I'm still more a fan of the design handling they did with both Samurai Shodown 1 and 3(JP only.)

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Felt like posting some lists:

 

Best Game Boy games:

 

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

 

Pokemon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition

 

Tetris

 

Mega Man V

 

Donkey Kong

 

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

 

Kirby's Dream Land 2

 

Mole Mania

 

Wario Land II

 

Final Fantasy Adventure

 

Worst Game Boy games:

 

Swamp Thing

 

Pit-Fighter

 

Cool World

 

Wayne's World

 

Toxic Crusaders

 

Cutthroat Island

 

Bram Stoker's Dracula

 

Dragon's Lair: The Legend

 

Double Dragon 3: The Arcade Game

 

Last Action Hero

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I believe Mega Man I (also known as Dr.wilys revenge) is far superior to Mega Man 1 as a game.

 

Although one could argue the gameboy game is harder.

 

Yeah you have magnet beam backtracking and yellow devil.. and Elec man's potential one or two hit kill.

 

But dealing with rotating flying scissors on conveyor belts in cutmans stage in the GB game makes his stage harder by default.

 

Fireman stages throw guys and the fire balls take up bigger boxes and are a pain with the smaller screen.

 

Last fortress stage is vanish block city filled with enemies hitting you from off screen. Including as soon as you teleport into the level, you WILL get hit the first time.

 

Also no Etanks.

 

But on the other hand there's gutsmans stage with it's pixel perfect jumping requirement on those lifts for the BES game.

 

Hmmmm.

 

Maybe the gameboy game is harder.

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Hell yeah Mega Man GB(Dr Wily's Revenge) is the better of the MM1 games, don't get the laugh emoji that post got.  The Gameboy games on all of them are a little harder, but it's not so much the enemies or stage designs, it's the cramped space.  Capcom kind of had a head in the ass style thought with their designs, not wanting to appropriately scale down the X/Y size of Megaman and Robots, they eat up MORE room on screen than they would on the NES proportionately speaking, so it's easier to get hit as you have less room to dodge taking hits/shots.  That's why they're harder, the stages if anything are a bit easier, it's the robot master fights that'll piss you off more than on the NES, and it gets worse with the SNES to GBC style conversions of Mega Man Xtreme 1 and 2 which mash up MMX1 and MMX2 onto the handheld.  The very worst would be Megaman & Bass(Rockman & Forte) on SNES/SFC as they already had these highly detailed robots (and mega) which were bigger than ever, and what they did on GBA was awful, they kept 1:1 detail, but they're SO huge when you get into a robot battle at the end, each eats up a full on 1/6th of the screen space in the boxy room for the fight, it's damn near impossible not to get hit, very bad design.  I can't get anywhere in that GBA game but I could crush the SFC one as I had basic room to move.

 

That's the only reason portable megaman/x games on Nintendo formats are nastier than the console games they spawned from, oversized sprites not accounting for smaller resolution, so smaller space to move in.

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21 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Hell yeah Mega Man GB(Dr Wily's Revenge) is the better of the MM1 games, don't get the laugh emoji that post got.  The Gameboy games on all of them are a little harder, but it's not so much the enemies or stage designs, it's the cramped space.  Capcom kind of had a head in the ass style thought with their designs, not wanting to appropriately scale down the X/Y size of Megaman and Robots, they eat up MORE room on screen than they would on the NES proportionately speaking, so it's easier to get hit as you have less room to dodge taking hits/shots.  That's why they're harder, the stages if anything are a bit easier, it's the robot master fights that'll piss you off more than on the NES, and it gets worse with the SNES to GBC style conversions of Mega Man Xtreme 1 and 2 which mash up MMX1 and MMX2 onto the handheld.  The very worst would be Megaman & Bass(Rockman & Forte) on SNES/SFC as they already had these highly detailed robots (and mega) which were bigger than ever, and what they did on GBA was awful, they kept 1:1 detail, but they're SO huge when you get into a robot battle at the end, each eats up a full on 1/6th of the screen space in the boxy room for the fight, it's damn near impossible not to get hit, very bad design.  I can't get anywhere in that GBA game but I could crush the SFC one as I had basic room to move.

 

That's the only reason portable megaman/x games on Nintendo formats are nastier than the console games they spawned from, oversized sprites not accounting for smaller resolution, so smaller space to move in.

 

Technically all 5 gameboy games weren't made by Capcom they were all outsourced to 5 different companies with Capcom support.

 

While size is an issue there are also a few added difficulties. I mentioned the rotating scissors and conveyers in cutmans stage.

 

Mega Man 2 gameboy, the worst one, has tons of problems.

 

But I do feel Mega Man iv and 5 GB finally made some good games taking screen size into account.

 

But I think the Megaman X(treme) games were the only portable Mega Man games that actually resized the sprites for the gameboy screen. Which is why they were able to retain the X series speed.

 

You mentioned those were bad but I'm confused why you think so. The sprites in Xtreme 1 & 2 aren't big 1:1 like MM&B or the gameboy Mega Man games, they did redo them and shrink the size.

Edited by Leeroy ST
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I just picked up the three awesome SGB compatible Namco Gallery compilations from my favorite GB import site. (PM me for details, I don’t want to overexpose it.) The first two loose, the third boxed, all super cheap. Very nice ports.

 

Here’s a nice writeup of these weirdly unknown games: http://www.thegaygamer.com/2013/11/getting-to-know-namco-gallery-gameboy.html

 

 

 

 

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I actually a little new to the GBA scene, I bought the original GB when it came out back in the day and every week when I got paid I bought whatever new game came out(as only one was coming out a week in the beginning).  Then one day I walked into TRU to see what was new that week and there was 6 new games, so I bought one, then next week I went back and it was like 10 new games.  So anyway I ended up buying pretty sparingly at that point.  I did continue to play with the GB, for a long time, I remember getting a GB Pocket at Burdines (a Florida based store that is no longer around) that was Tommy Hilfiger (it was yellow and had the Tommy logo on it) when I bought 2 pairs of jeans or something.  I later picked up a GB Pocket Light in a Hong Kong TRU, that thing was amazing compared to the original screen.  Anyway enough back story.

 

By the time the GBA was out I was not really playing handhelds (or very many consoles) anymore, as life was not leaving much time for that.

 

I recently got re-introduced to the 'retro' handheld market and the GBA, and there are some amazing advances, so I ended up building a few GBA machines, and I would like to share them with a couple of photos with you guys.  My re-introduction came in the form of the GBA-Consolizer kit, it was/is neat but I then decided I wanted some to play portably. 

 

1855458353_GBAcwithEverdriveGBSandGBc.thumb.jpg.99a0d0f733e29a46b3a3b6b3e9ac70fb.jpg

 

The first was just a GBA SP - I re-shelled it with a translucent blue case that also glow in the dark, I added an Atom sticker to the inside of the case cause it looked a little plain (and well why not) installed an IPS v2 Screen, changed the charging port to USB-C. Fresh Rechargeable Battery and a Omega Cart.

 

 1416526702_NintendoGameBoySPGlowinthedarkonStand.thumb.jpg.84263dba5186e195a4e8d94a3da13598.jpg

 

Then I found out about the Boxy Pixel 'Unhinged' kit, I was like wait what there is a billet aluminum GBA, (being a car guy and an engineer) I was like I must have this in my life.  So I ordered a kit.  I built it with the IPS Screen, Headphone Jack, Higher Rated Li-Po Cell, USB-C Charging Port and a Everdrive Cart.  This really is an amazing setup to see first hand.

 

1535333419_NintendoGameboySPUnhingedonStand.thumb.jpg.e3e1555ffdb5bed3630b4bb657acebb7.jpg

 

The latest one I built and have been using the most lately is the Gameboy Macro.  I have been wanting a Gameboy Micro and we recently went to the Classic Game Fest in Austin TX and I did not fine one there and really dont want to buy one sight unseen as they seem really ease to beat up, also they seem a little small for my (old) eyes, so it really would be more of a novelty.  I had heard about the GB Macro kits created from a broken DS Lite, I have never had a DS and had no interest but the slightly larger GB conversion was interesting.  So a black DS Lite turned up on my local Fb Market place for 20$, I contacted the seller and ask if it worked the girl said I dont know, I dont have the cables.  I told her I would go ahead and roll the dice for 20$.  I picked it up and the damn thing was near perfect, just no cables, stylus or cart cover.  I almost felt bad taking it apart, but did it anyway.

 

So here it is now a GB Macro with a Boxy Pixel Aluminum Front, Helder's Amp Circuit and a Clear Shell Back.  I got another Omega cart for this as they come with a shell to make the GBA cart fit flush.

 

1901826324_GameboyMacro2.thumb.jpg.fec3e1dfa270789c4cad54d15d459732.jpg

 

1492831048_GameboyMacrobackclear.thumb.jpg.925d6c4118d3ef0a72513b2c73fc13c1.jpg

 

So there you are my GBA collection.

Edited by c0op3r
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2 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

I just picked up the three awesome SGB compatible Namco Gallery compilations from my favorite GB import site. (PM me for details, I don’t want to overexpose it.) The first two loose, the third boxed, all super cheap. Very nice ports.

Nice. One of the standout compilations for me on the Game Boy systems would have to be Sega Arcade Gallery.


52105-front.jpg

 

 

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29 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

Amazing work! I do feel bad about a working DS getting cannibalized, though - there’s a lot with broken top screens out there.

If it is any consolation I put the parts not used on eBay so someone can get them cheap and repair their machine.

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13 hours ago, Leeroy ST said:

 

Technically all 5 gameboy games weren't made by Capcom they were all outsourced to 5 different companies with Capcom support.

 

While size is an issue there are also a few added difficulties. I mentioned the rotating scissors and conveyers in cutmans stage.

 

Mega Man 2 gameboy, the worst one, has tons of problems.

 

But I do feel Mega Man iv and 5 GB finally made some good games taking screen size into account.

 

But I think the Megaman X(treme) games were the only portable Mega Man games that actually resized the sprites for the gameboy screen. Which is why they were able to retain the X series speed.

 

You mentioned those were bad but I'm confused why you think so. The sprites in Xtreme 1 & 2 aren't big 1:1 like MM&B or the gameboy Mega Man games, they did redo them and shrink the size.

I know, I'm very well aware that Capcom farmed out their MM games.  I still will never agree with some people who crap all over MM2 on GB.  I think it's a really fun outing on there, liked it a lot more than the first one.  They did start to make for better space with the later releases, though I think with 5 it was obvious since it was all fresh meat and not dual NES game re-hash it went a bit better for it.  The X games on GBC are partly resized, the stages work great, the problem is not giving enough room in the boss rooms, one thing that plagues all 7 of the 8bit releases (2 GBC, 5 GB) and it was always the biggest put off to me.  The stages on the GBC and MM5 on GB have the room allowances to be far more comfortable, maybe it was Capcom taking the mover vs farm out if that's the case I don't know.  The GBA game though is a dumpster fire, it really needed to be scaled, and it's a common problem with platformers brought from the SNES to GBA because DKC1-3 even from Nintendo/Rare have the same leap of faith garbage due to the last of horizontal space and lack of consideration to tweak stuff for it.

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I'm going to double post here, love this thread and see things I want to respond to:

Starting with @electricmastro (#489) You have a few nice ones there, but I really feel I should point out a couple more, and the funny thing, they're only underappreciated on the system, but not by name where they came from.  One would be MAGICAL DROP which was a GBC only cart, popular from the Neo Geo arcade which had 3 releases.  The other would be a GBA game, a Dreamcast upgraded port because it carries the entire original game and 100s (1000?) added puzzles people(fans) submitted to Sega for some years and rolled up into it ... Chu Chu Rocket which came out at launch, in every way other than resolution better than the original. :D

@jgkspsx Dude...Ive wanted those for awhile, just never have the good luck to find them for a right price, than the gouging troll rate.  THose are the pinnacle of those Namco releases on 8bit Gameboy hardware and they did them with such care.  I really need to just make the effort a bit more, you should review them for fun in here...if you know the originals enough to be good with it.

 

@c0op3r Wow nice job with the consolizer.  I'm the opposite, in college and beyond thanks to life, (class then), kid and junk now...it screws with my ability to plop onto a TV consistently so the portability of the Gameboy, DS/3DS and Switch line opens real doors.  You have a nice progression there.   How hard was that making that consolizer, and more so curious how easy it was moving the SP into that unhinged shell.  I've got a couple of battered but 100% 001 Gameboy SPs on the shelf I need to dump or if anything, minimally reshell so someone will take them off me (also have a 2 jacked up screen DMGs and one good AGB too.)  That unhinged is nice really, just not sure I could hack doing all the hackery involved with wires and stuff to pull off that full list you have there, but I would enjoy the new panel, new metal shell, and a phones jack can't be that hard.  Macro I couldn't do that, over my head and I really don't want a DS still for that use, but love seeing those done.  At least people sell proper shells for them now, I could never snap off/bondo make one of those not look hideous if I did it.

 

@electricmastro  #495  I've been considering that Sega Arcade package off and on for some time (years sorta) but since I never see it local I just waffle buying it off lame ebay.  I've read enough hit and miss comments it's part of the problem.  My favorite game on that would be Afterburner but I've read it's anywhere from good to unplayable and lacking which is concerning.

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2 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

 

@c0op3r Wow nice job with the consolizer.  I'm the opposite, in college and beyond thanks to life, (class then), kid and junk now...it screws with my ability to plop onto a TV consistently so the portability of the Gameboy, DS/3DS and Switch line opens real doors.  You have a nice progression there.   How hard was that making that consolizer, and more so curious how easy it was moving the SP into that unhinged shell.  I've got a couple of battered but 100% 001 Gameboy SPs on the shelf I need to dump or if anything, minimally reshell so someone will take them off me (also have a 2 jacked up screen DMGs and one good AGB too.)  That unhinged is nice really, just not sure I could hack doing all the hackery involved with wires and stuff to pull off that full list you have there, but I would enjoy the new panel, new metal shell, and a phones jack can't be that hard.  Macro I couldn't do that, over my head and I really don't want a DS still for that use, but love seeing those done.  At least people sell proper shells for them now, I could never snap off/bondo make one of those not look hideous if I did it.

 

The Consolizer is not that hard, getting the kit was the hard part, if you can handle basic soldering you can do it.  There are two kits (I have done both, the 'face huger' and the full kit) I did the face hugger first but sold it off so I could get a full kit.

 

The Unhinged is again pretty easy, only catch there is you can not use the original SP buttons and directional pad, you have to get the billet buttons and the kit is designed around the IPS screen, so the cost goes up a bit, but trust me you have never seen an SP with that amazing of a screen.  It even beats the 101 screens.  There really is no 'hackery' there is one wire to solder (and you dont even have to do that if you can forgo the 5 brightness settings), now there is some special work if you want to do the headphone and USB-C jacks but again those are optional.  The original SP charging port is still there and still works if that is all you need.  But I would say the headphone jack was the hardest part, as there are several wires and a jack to make sure it does not move around.

 

I would be interested in a DMG if you have one that is in garbage shape to do a conversion to an IPS screen for a friend that loves the original,  been looking for a really cheap one. but I am too lazy to do the yard/garage sale thing to get one.

 

The Bondo GB Macro's are just gross looking, and actually harder to make as you have to solder a very tiny 330Ohm resistor in there and you only get MONO sound (one side you have to pick).  With the Helder Macro Mod Amp you get mixed audio and no tiny resistor to worry about as it is already on the board.

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