Weekly Video Game Podcast – Dec. 27, 2009 67 mins (30.7 MB)
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• Jamie Gore and Chris Karpyszyn
• Finally back with a lot of news and info
• Lots of holiday specials with lots of cheap games to download
• Capcom isn’t confident that Dead Rising 2 is going to be a good game (there, I said it).
• All our sales data comes from www.vgchartz.com
• Continue reading for all the release dates and expanded sales figures

Video Game Sales for the Week of December 12th, 2009

Game Releases This Week

Title: Super Naked Fat Fuck

Author: Lamehackers

Platform: Game Boy

Information:
Graphics & text hack of Super Mario Land. Look at it. You know what this is.

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Benvenuti nella seconda puntata dei Crocevia Multidimensionali! Vi siete ripresi dalle ambientazioni fantasiose di Myst? Chiuso i conti con misteri ed indovinelli basati su acquedotti in bambù e alberi meccanici? Bene, perchè quest’oggi andremo ad espolorare un mondo totalmente diverso e molto più…”fungoso”!

Titolo: Super Mario Land
Anno di Pubblicazione: 28 Settembre 1990
Sviluppatore: Nintendo
Distributore: Nintendo
Formato e Lingua: PAL – Inglese
Giocato su: GameBoy Color
Genere: Platform 2D

Ebbene si, Mario Land occupa la seconda puntata di questa sezione che ripercorrerà giochi su giochi tra quelli che mi sono rimasti particolarmente impressi giocandoli. Perchè proprio Super Mario Land? Beh, anche se molti lo hanno sempre criticato per essere radicalmente diverso dagli episodi nati su NES, il gioco possiede pur sempre un suo particolare fascino. E voglio parlarvene nonostante i suoi (obiettivi) difetti.

La trama, come sempre nei giochi del nostro idraulico preferito, non è di alcuna importanza ed il testo che segue è quindi assolutamente privo di spoiler riguardanti il gioco. Al limite ci sono spoiler riguardo il gameplay…di un gioco di 20 anni fa. Beh, decidete voi se proseguire o no, io fossi in voi non mi farei problemi.
Dicevo, la trama vede Mario questa volta impegnato nel regno della Principessa Daisy, Sarasaland, che è stato invaso da un misterioso alieno di nome Tatanga, che pare aver ipnotizzato tutti i suoi abitanti per rapire la sopracitata e…sposarla. Vabbè…

Tocca quindi a Mario andare a salvarla attraversando le quattro aree del regno Sarasalandiano. Pronti? Via!

Mario Land si basa sul gameplay collaudato della saga Super Mario Bros.: si salta con A, corre con B e spara eventuali armi (le Superball!) sempre col pulsante B. Niente di più, niente di meno. Nel suo viaggio dal lato sinistro al lato destro del livello (non si può tornare indietro!) bisogna superare ostacoli in salto, uccidere nemici saltando loro sopra (come sempre) o colpirli con eventuali power-up raccolti per strada per entrare infine , entro lo scadere del tempo (prima arrivate, più alto sarà il punteggio), in una di due uscite a fine livello. Perchè due? Beh, ce n’è una a livello del terreno, che è sempre raggiungibile ed è considerata l’uscita standard. L’altra, invece, sarà mano mano più difficile da accedere, ma se ci riuscirete avrete la possibilità di guadagnare un fiore power-up (e quindi le sopracitate Superball), o da una a tre vite extra, che, fidatevi, faranno molto molto comodo nei livelli avanzati.

Le differenze dagli episodi casalinghi, tuttavia, non si fermano qui. I nemici, difatti, non sono i soliti goomba e koopa del Regno dei Funghi, ma seguaci di Tatanga, e in quanto tali si differenziano in aspetto e forma (e soprattutto nome) dagli sgherri di Bowser. Alcuni sono semplicemente dei nemici vecchi con design e nome leggermente diversi (non Goomba, ma Chibibo, non Piranha Plant ma Pakkun Flower, e così via), altri invece giocheranno con i vostri ricordi dei passati Mario per NES, SNEs e quant’altro. Per esempio i Nokobon.
Sembrano dei normali Koopa, ma attenti! Se saltate sopra di loro e poi tentate di prendere il loro guscio o di saltarci sopra per usarlo come “palla da bowling”, sarete fregati: i loro “gusci”, difatti, sono delle bombe e dopo pochi secondi dalla morte dei Nokobon esplodono, e se siete troppo vicini agli sconfitti, morirete con loro. Dei veri Kamikaze!!

Ulteriormente ci sono due livelli molto poco Marieschi in cui piloterete un sottomarino e un aereoplano. E, credeteci o no, per quanto semplici, questi due livelli sono davvero divertenti! Siamo pur sempre di fronte ai primi due veicoli pilotati da Mario nella sua storia ormai più che ventennale! Ma passiamo all’analisi dei mondi di gioco, affrontabili, ovviamente, solo nella corretta sequenza indicata dal gioco.

Mondo: Birabuto Kingdom
Tema Generale: Pseudo-Egitto
Livelli: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3

Il primo mondo, come in tutti i giochi Marieschi, è piuttosto standard. Nel primo livello il giocatore di solito familiarizza coi comandi, e quindi da subito abbiamo un power-up a nostra disposizione, un paio di semplici nemici in arrivo su cui saltare e un paio di muri o tubi da superare in salto. L’ambientazione è vagamente egiziana, con palme e piramidi nello sfondo, i burroni sono semplici e le monetine da raccogliere sono in numero discreto (100 ne danno una vita, quindi siate avidi), ci stanno alcuni passaggi segreti ad aree bonus sotterranee, ma per lo più le cose si fermano lì. Dopo il primo livello vedrete i primi nemici volanti del gioco, i Bunbun, che voleranno in linea retta da destra verso sinistra e vi butteranno addosso frecce come se fossero caccia bombardieri. Il terzo livello, infine, vi ricorderà immediatamente l’underground level di Mario Bros.: si svolge infatti all’interno di una piramide pseudo-egizia, come testimoniano le scritte in geroglifici sulle pareti del luogo, e sarete circondati da muri sopra e sotto di voi. Le Pakkun Flower fanno il loro debutto e lo fanno in modo davvero abbondante; qua e la incontrerete anche delle specie di Sfingi sputa fuoco, i Gao, e, sempre nell’1-3 per la prima volta c’è un bivio. Una strada è percorribile solo da un Mario non potenziato (e quindi piccolo), l’altra solo da un Mario grande e potenziato. A dipendenza della scelta potrete raccogliere più o meno monete e anche un power-up. Se perdete quel power-up, però, siete nei guai, perchè non c’è modo di tornare sulla strada principale del livello.
Il boss del primo mondo è King Totomesu, una gigantesca Sfinge con attacchi di fuoco proprio come Bowser. Potrete o evitarla o ucciderla cono 5 colpi di Superball, se le avete.

Mondo: Muda Kingdom
Tema Generale: Piattaforme sull’acqua.
Livelli: 2-1, 2-2, 2-3

I livelli del Muda Kingdom sono a sfondo acquatico, anche se ve ne renderete davvero conto solo alla fine di questa terna di percorsi. I primi due iniziano su un paio di piattaforme su un fiume o un mare, dall’acqua, di tanto in tanto saltano in verticale degli Honen (pesci-scheletro) che sono piuttosto banali da evitare. I salti tra piattaforme iniziano a farsi leggermente più complessi (in particolare nel 2-2, con nemici posizionati su quelle che probabilmente sono le vostre posizioni di atterraggio o piattaforme più piccole), anche se il livello di sfida rimane comunque basso ancora per un pò. Gli schermi bonus iniziano ad essere complessi, non tanto da trovare (di solito sono sotto i famosi tubi), ma da completare nella loro raccolte di monetine. E’ utile ricordare che anche le Superball, che rimbalzano sui muri, possono raccogliere le monetine per voi.
I nemici più ostici del livello sono i Yurarin Boo, dei giganteschi cavallucci marini che vi colpiranno con i loro proiettili se non state attenti. Spesso incapperete nei Nokobon, che praticamente renderenno off-limits determinate piattaforme, per via delle loro esplosioni kamikaze. A metà secondo livello un lungo bivio deciderà (a dipendenza della statura di Mario) se dovrete affrontare nemici in rapida successione o se potrete raccogliere una monetina dopo l’altra con quasi nessun nemico nei dintorni.
Compaiono anche le prime piattaforme crollanti (una volta che ci mettete piede, cioè, cadono giù e non ricompaiono) e questo renderà a tratti difficile giungere alla seconda uscita dei livelli.
Nel 2-3, come preannunciato, per la prima volta nella storia di Super Mario, il protagonista guida un veicolo. Si tratta di un sottomarino, con siluri illimitati per blastare ogni nemico che ha l’infelicità di trovarsi davanti a noi. Lo schermo scrolla di continuo in avanti, rendendo praticamente il procedere nel livello predeterminato. Il giocatore può muovere Mario solo all’interno dello schermo, raccogliendo monetine, evitando ostacoli e sparando nemici. Le difficoltà del livello? I Gunion (dei polpi) ed i muri del livello! Provare per credere! (Pensate al fatto che lo schermo scrolla di continuo verso destra.)
Il nemico finale del mondo, se non lo si affronta con l’autofire, può risultare ostico: è un cavalluccio marino gigante (tale Dragonzamazu) che dalla destra dello schermo vi sparerà addosso proiettili non meglio identificati. Fondamentalmente però basta evitare i suoi colpi e sparare a-go-go.

Mondo: Easton Kingdom
Tema Generale: Isole di Pasqua
Livelli: 3-1, 3-2, 3-3

L’Easton Kingdom è palesemente ispirato alle Isole di Pasqua; decorazioni e statue nello sfondo, nonchè praticamente tutti i nemici del livello, sono dei fac-simile delle enormi statue che si possono trovare nelle famose isole disabitate del Pacifico.
Qui il gioco inizia a fare sul serio, i salti diventano più ostici – o meglio, richiedono un tempismo prossimo alla perfezione per inanelare un salto dopo l’altro; pena l’esser colpiti da un qualche nemico o la caduta in un burrone – ed è possibile morire anche nei livelli bonus(!). I nemici sono mano mano posizionati in luoghi diabolici e le piattaforme in movimento o crollanti si fanno sempre di più. Compaiono i Gira, i Pallottolo Bill in verisone Tatanga, e ci sono anche dei particolari…nemici, senza il giusto “utilizzo” dei quali vi sarà impossibile battere il livello: i Ganchan!
Il secondo livello dell’Easton Kingdom è in una grotta, come testimoniano cascate ai bordi dello schermo e stalattiti che pendono dal soffitto, l’ultimo invece è un percorso a metà strada tra interni ed esterni, probabilmente situato sulle vetta di una montagna ed una grotta sul suo fianco addobata da santuario. Una volta al suo interno (decorato con statue e fiaccole) il numero dei nemici aumenta decisamente, tornano i Ganchan e soprattutto dovrete vedervela col temibile ed impronunciabile Hiyoihoi, il boss finale dell’Easton Kingdom! L’unico modo per distruggerlo è silurarlo per ben dieci volte, ma sinceramente non ci ho mai neanche provato e sono sempre andato avanti semplicemente evitandolo.

Mondo: Chai Kingdom
Tema Generale: Giappone Horror (?)
Livelli: 4-1, 4-2, 4-3

Benvenuti nell’ultimo dei regni di Sarasaland; questa ambinetazione sembra – a mio avviso – essere un mix tra un’ambientazione giappo-cinese e una horror orientale. Tra piante di bambù (?) e montagne nello sfondo dovrete combattere, tra le altre cose, con Pionpi, una specie di zombie che se gli saltate in testa, dopo un pò tornano di nuovo in vita! Solo le Superball li uccidono definitivamente! Li ho davvero odiati questi qui! Anche dal punto di vista dei salti, questa coppia di mondi (4-1, 4-2) non scherza; tra piattaforme in movimento, nemici ben piazzati e sessioni in cui Upside Down Pakkun vi assillano dall’alto mentre Pakkun normali arrivano da sotto, ne avrete da sudare per arrivare alla fine del livello. Ricompaiono anche i Gira e le piattaforme crollanti, davvero ostili!
Il penultimo livello di gioco si svolge per metà all’esterno e per metà in una grotta. Ci sono di nuovo due parti in cui il sentiero si divide in una parte superiore ed una inferiore, mentre nella parte chiusa del livello dovrete evitare con attenzione palle di fuoco ruotanti intorno a certi blocchi di pietra, un pò come nei livelli avanzati di Mario Bros., in cui però i fuochi sono vere e proprie girandole! E questo a ripetizione, tra nemici vari, salti, power up che scompaiono e proiettili avversari. Ah, dimenticavo, ci sono anche parti in cui dei muri vi crolleranno addosso dall’alto, quindi state ultra-cauti!
L’ultimo livello di gioco è uno scherzo in confronto ai due precedenti, se non fosse per il boss finale, Tatanga, davvero ostico. Mario è a bordo di un elivelivolo questa volta, probabilmente un aereo del 1920 non meglio identificato, e volerete – ve lo assicuro – con l’autofire a paletta per tutta la durata del livello, anche in assenza di nemici.
Ci sono un paio di parti intriganti in cui serve velocità e precisione negli spostamenti dell’aereo sullo schermo in continuo scrolling verso destra, ma per lo più collezionerete vite e power up per lo scontro finale in rapida successione. Ne avrete estremo bisogno d’altronde: Tatanga vi farà sudare non poco, con pattern di difficile memorizzazione e molta, moltissima vita.

E questi sono i livelli di Mario Land. Già, un pò pochi, ma stiamo parlando pur sempre della sua prima incarnazione in versione portatile (escludendo ovviamente gli episodi su Game & Watch, tra l’altro mai arrivati in Europa), e a parte un paio di difettucci qui e lì il gioco non delude. E questo ve lo dice uno che il gioco l’ha giocato in pieno 2009. Certo, i giochi di Mario da allora hanno fatto enormi passi in avanti, contenendo mondi sempre più vasti, ingrossandosi in 3D e conquistando galassie intere, ma il fulcro del gioco in Mario Land c’è tutto. Saltare e progredire attraverso i livelli.
Mario Land, come molti giochi platform 2D, ha una struttura di gioco basata sulla memorizzazione di pattern; il progredire cioè, soprattutto nelle fasi avanzate del gioco, avverrà soltanto nel momento in cui il giocatore avrà memorizzato come eseguire una determinata successione di salti, o i movimenti di un nemico particolarmente ostico. Il gioco dà un pò di spazio a sperimentazioni, ma siccome la precisione dei salti non è proprio percentualmente controllabile come in Mario Bros. (non c’è alcun mid-air control), non di rado provando qualcosa di nuovo finirete in un burrone o addosso ad un nemico. Ciononostante la varietà di situazioni non vi scoraggierà mai del tutto.

Le musiche che vi accompagneranno durante la giocata si ispirano ai classici temi Marieschi e alle melodie classiche degli scorsi secoli remixate in maniera digitale, ma sono sufficientemente diverse da non poter mai essere definite semplici remix. Alcune sono molto azzeccate, come gli spensierti temi del primo livello ed i toni cineseggianti del Chai Kingdom, e non va assolutamente sminuito il tema delle caverne, con quell’alone di mistero che riesce a creare nella mente del giocatore. L’unica melodia che non proprio mi ha convinto è stata quella dello Starman (la stella che ci garantisce invincibilità), presa pari pari da una canzone americana molto molto nota – il can-can. Per il resto però il sonoro si attesta su buoni livelli.

La grafica, sinceramente, è un pò spoglia e stilisticamente alienante (dovevo dirlo!), ma facciamo anche due considerazioni. Anzitutto il team artistico dietro il gioco è diverso, il capo del projetto è Gunpei Yokoi (creatore del GameBoy e di Metroid) e non Miyamoto, e le scelte artistiche diverse si notano subito; il tema è quasi “spaziale”, con un alieno come nemico finale del gioco, i nemici, seppure ispirati a quelli di Mario Bors., hanno un design quasi più “dark”, che non si presta al massimo con il mondo Mariesco, ma che rappresenta comunque un genuino cambio stilistico. Non sempre al 100% azzeccato, ma accettabile! La seconda considerazione è che ci troviamo di fronte al primo episodio portatile di Mario con una certa rilevanza, e la padronanza delle potenzialità grafiche del GameBoy, come titolo di lancio, non possono essere certo massime. Vedremo con altri giochi GameBoy delle grafiche molto più definite, molto migliori e ricche di dettaglio. In confronto Mario Land sembra quasi un titolo fatto alla svelta, in futuro (ma anche poco dopo) ci saranno produzioni graficamente molto superiori come Zelda – Link’s Awakening o il remake di Donkey Kong con livelli aggiuntivi. Ciononostante non mi sento di penalizzare il gioco più di tanto sotto questo aspetto, sia per l’età, sia per il fatto che la grafica, nei giochi di Mario bidimensionali, non ha mai rappresentato un punto focale del titolo.

Passiamo all’unico award che il gioco si “merita”!

Troppo Corto

L’unico award di Super Mario Land è un’award di demerito. Infatti sia gameplay, che sonoro che fattore divertimento di SML sono a buoni livelli, l’unica vera pecca del gioco è la sua esagerata brevità. Certo, ci sono quattro mondi, ognuno con 3 livelli, per un totale di 12 stage. Per un gioco pensato per essere PORTATILE qualcuno ci si potrebbe anche accontentare. Così dite? Eh, no, difatti. All’epoca col GameBoy uscì Tetris! Adesso Tetris può piacere o non piacere, ma è un gioco infinito – o quasi. Mario Land coi suoi 12 livelli sfigurava allora anche come gioco portatile. Ulteriore pecca è il fatto che il platform in questione, come già citato in precedenza, su basa su un pattern di memorizzazione dei livelli. Ce ne metterete molti di tentativi per arrivare alla fine del gioco, ma una volta che sapete come arrivarci, sarà difficile che le successive sfide presentino molta difficoltà aggiuntiva. Certo, una volta concluso il gioco si sblocca la modalità Hard, che aumenta, come da nome, il livello di difficoltà del gioco, ma ricordiamo che SML non ha una batteria interna per salvare la partita, quindi ogni volta che spegnete il GameBoy dovrete rifare TUTTO daccapo! Bella cagata, scusate il termine.

Sommario? Amate Mario in ogni sua incarnazione? SML è un gioco da avere, conoscendo i suoi limiti, ovvero il design diverso dal solito, un controllo di Mario non preciso come quello delle versioni NES/SNES/Advance e la sua incredibile brevità.
In alternativa, provatelo da qualcuno, è un gioco abbastanza diffuso ed è divertente da giocare, chessò, la sera prima di andare a dormire, come ho fatto io. Vi divertirete e non ve ne pentierete!

Voto Personale: 7,5/10

Ok, now I have another song stuck in my head and this one is even worse than the last one. I effing love this song I would literally beat Super Mario Land on the Gameboy just to see this last little scene.

Der Atari 2600 Cartridge Geldbeutel ging ja durch fast alle Seiten, weshalb er hier nur gaaaanz kurz Erwähnung findet.

Wesentlich besser und aufwendiger ist der Game Fighter. Dabei handelt es sich um einen Gameboy Klon, der wie das damals konkurrierenden Sega Game Gear eine horizontale Ausrichtung hat. Somit sind die Tasten und LAutsprecher nicht unterhalb des Bildschirms, sondern links und rechts davon platziert. Definitiv eine Alternative zum bekannten GameBoy, wobei ich nicht weiß, ob die Tasten dadurch genauso gut zu erreichen sind, wie beim Original.

GAME FIGHTER!

QUELLE: Katein´s Video Game Classics

I’m not going to lie. I am obsessed with this game. Super Mario Land has this incredible effect on me. I can sit and play it for hours and not get tired of it. I only recently got a copy of my very own, but I have fond memories of playing it as a child. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time at my Grandma’s house, and I was really close friends with the neighbor kids. One of them had a Game Boy and a lot of games, including Super Mario Land and I got my first real taste of portable gaming. It is one of my earliest gaming related memories.

The game itself is kind of an anomaly in the series. For example, it is one of the few titles that creator Shigeru Miyamoto had no involvement in. It ended up being the child of Game Boy creator Gunpei Yokoi, and as a result, it has a certain quirkiness that makes it really stick out. In typical Mario fashion, you pick up a mushroom and you become super Mario, then you pick up a fire flower and that enables you to throw fireballs. The weird part about this game is that instead of throwing fireballs you throw these orbs that bounce off of everything. It controls like a regular game in the 2d series and has a similar sense of gravity, making it pretty easy to get used to. This game is very easy to just pick up and play.

Most entries in the series have classic Mario enemies along the way to make your life miserable. Super Mario Land is no exception. Some of the creatures you’ll come across are a little bizarre. I’ve had to fend off flying moai statues, spiders, angry bugs with spears, and ninjas. Sarasaland doesn’t fuck around.  The usual goombas, piranha plants and koopa troopas are also present, although Bowser is nowhere to be seen. In his place is a “mysterious spaceman” named Tatanga. Also absent is Princess Peach. Instead the quest is to save Princess Daisy who has been kidnapped by Tatanga with his plans to take over the kingdom of Sarasaland. This sounds oddly familiar.

Many things continually draw me back to this game, but one of the big selling points is the music. All of it is incredibly catchy and it gets stuck in your head for days. Hirokazu Tanaka composed some excellent music for this game, none of which relying on the classic Mario theme. For the most part it is all really upbeat and fun.

Another thing that makes this game a little bit different is that it is part shmup. That’s right. It has a couple horizontal style shmup levels in which Mario is cruising along in a submarine or an airplane, breaking bricks and shooting whatever comes at him. It is a nice break from the sometimes frustrating platforming, but it really does kind of come out of left field. I wish more of the games in the series would have little fun things like this in it. The final battle itself against Tatanga is in the shmup fashion and it can be irritating but it’s so entertaining as well.

For being a launch title on the Game Boy, Super Mario Land is still a lot of fun to play. I really recommend playing it if you never have. Like I’ve said before, it can be a little frustrating until you get used to it, but it is rewarding.

This game is short but sweet and I love it.

Por Alexei Barros

Super Mario Land é um dos poucos jogos de plataforma do Mario que a trilha não é do Koji Kondo. Talvez essa seja a explicação para ser tão pouco lembrado pelos concertos profissionais e amadores. Mas as músicas são do Hirokazu Tanaka, e talvez se não fosse pela Low-tech Son e a Tezuka Yusuke Enharmonic Orchestra não me daria conta da qualidade.

Como de praxe em se tratanto de Hip Tanaka, são duas faixas grudentas que ficaram maravilhosas com a sonoridade big band da T.E.O. Depois da introdução no piano, a sessão jazzística tem início, e na performance da “Marine Pop, Sky Pop!”, que entremeia a “Rocket Ship Ride”, nota-se uma forte influência de jazz latino, com direito a apitos e percussão. Para não ninguém dizer que sempre falo mal das transições, está aí um exemplo perfeito de passagens muito naturais (2:10 e 3:25). No final tem umas desafinadas de leve, mas são pequenos detalhes. Eis um medley que poderia fazer parte do Mario & Zelda Big Band Live.

“Super Mario Land Medley”

“Rocket Ship Ride” ~ “Marine Pop, Sky Pop!” ~ “Rocket Ship Ride”

Stubbs is rubber, Old G is glue

It is apparent to anyone that either knows the Piranha Poodles, or who reads this blog, that our profiles as gamers are as about as similar as Commander Keen and Duke Nukem.  But it may come as a surprise to many people that both of us have fond memories of very similar gaming experiences.  We can both remember the responses to insult sword fighting in the Secret of Monkey Island, both of us can remember the complete solution to Transylvania on the Apple IIE (and subsequently beat the game in circa 2 minutes – hint, the obscured writing on the stump says “knock here”) and we have both poured hours into Gran Turismo 4 on the PS2.  Despite these similarities; we both have grown into different types of gamers.

Stubbsy’s main obsession is games with atmosphere, being able to participate in a believable and coherent world, and finds it even better when it manages to replicate and draw in real life.  He also has a bit of a thing for games (particularly sports) that are high on personal skills that you build up over time. 

Oldgaulian however loves the whole Japanese thing and has a particular love for a decent JRPG.  But more importantly,  the attention to detail (and to strangeness and innovation) that the Japanese have has meant that there is a great expectation of game play and art, and favours a unique art style (like Okami or The World Ends with You) over something running at 90+ fps on DirectX 10 with all the pixel shaders blazing.

These different takes on videogames has led to some epic debates over the years (at least we don’t fight like dairy farmers).  And it got us to thinking, what game was it that basically defined us as gamers, the one that made us realise “this is a pretty big deal”?  And then which game dragged us in to the point that you realised there was no return?

After much deliberation, heartache, blood, sweat and tears (mostly about what we couldn’t include) we came to two titles each that best describe our personal evolutionary paths of our favourite hobby.

Senor Tubbs

Secret of Monkey Island

I got this in a Lucas-Arts game pack when we bought our first CD-Rom drive, which must have been in 1992 or 1993.  I’d played adventure games before, one of the first “grown up” games I can remember is Transylvania, and I’d done my time with Zork, and some crappy Lord of the Rings and Hobbit adventures, but this was different, very different.  Monkey Island was built on the SCUMM system where you created sentences out of objects on screen and a big box of “joiner” words, open, give, look etc…  This was inspired, using while also poking fun at the text interface that had defined adventure games to that point.  And it made a huge difference, where in the past you used to type in dozens of phrases until you finally got the one the maker had intended… “go north”, “run north”, “walk north”, “ambulate north!?!” now it was all pretty much automated and done with clicks of a mouse.  Without that almost debugging element of the game it was possible to really appreciate the humour of Monkey Island, and how could you not, with an entire hour of gameplay devoted to learning a string of insults and the appropriate responses.  This really did define a coming of age for gaming in my life, it was so much more than a text adventure or a space invaders/asteroids clone shoot-em-up, this was an extremely amusing piece of interactive fiction that you could quite rightly be proud of saying you’d played.  As a mark of just how big a deal this game is, I know at least three people (myself included) who have the Monkey Island theme tune as their mobile phone ring-tone, and have met two best friends (interestingly not the people with the ring-tone) as a result of random references to the game in general conversation.

Diablo II

Picture the scene, it was the back half 2000 and I was a first year Uni student who had just replaced his old 1995 edition 7200/90 PowerPC with a much flashier special edition iMac.  This was my time to take up gaming properly, I had all the free time in the world and needed a game to fill that and put the new machine through its paces.  Diablo II was that game.  I’d loved the original, playing it with mates at high school, but had been very disappointed by the failure to bring it out in any reasonable time frame on the mac.  Now Blizzard, a company I’d supported since the original Warcraft had started making hybrid mac/pc copies of games, and I felt almost a duty to support their move.  What followed was the best part of 6 months of fun and obsession, I finished the game at least once with every class (except the necro, which I hated), I collected armour sets, learnt all the best combinations of skills and stats, did experiments to check the ranges of spells, just in case the mac version was different to the PC ones of people on the forums (it wasn’t), used mods, then deleted them when I realised Blizzard was supporting it better than any other company I had ever seen.  In short I lived and breathed Diablo II, and I loved every minute of it, and its expansion.  These really were the months that moved me from someone who merely played games to someone who loved them.  Somewhere in the middle of it I did a couple of months working as a volunteer journalist for InsideMacGames.com, I was hooked.  You can also attribute this game to my agreement to play, at someone else’s request I should add, World of Warcraft (WoW).  I knew that would be a good game because of the item system, the attention to detail, and overall the continued support for Diablo II.  And for the best part of 2 years, 100+ hour weeks, and 2 books full of notes, WoW was another obsession which pretty much confirmed that deep down, I’m a gamer.

Diablo and its sequel wowed Stubbsy before WoW

Honourable Mentions:

Civilization – I remember once pretty much locking myself in my room because I was determined to prove that you could complete a game within 24 hours.  I did, and it was good!

Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution – This was the first console game I ever played.  It taught me pretty much everything I needed to know about Japanese games and consoles in general, endless hours in training modes, learning to recognise the beginning of animations so that I could react to them, collecting costumes for my small Japanese female character.  All these are things that you generally don’t need to worry about in the sorts of games I’d been playing on PC/Mac.  The fact that I actually enjoyed all those things confirmed to me that I would be able to really get some enjoyment out of what for me was a new platform.

Old Gaulian

Super Mario Bros 3

There really shouldn’t be any surprises that the most important game for me was Shigeru Miyamoto’s (and not to forget Takashi Tezuka) 1991 (1989 in Japan) masterpiece.  As a game, it really captures everything I love about videogames today, perfect level design, gameplay variety and a memorable cast of characters.  And at the time, the sheer number of levels (including the bonus ones) was astonishing.  But what really makes me fondly remember this one as a turning point was the perfect balance between difficulty and accessibility.  The game really is a benchmark of polish that I measure most games by since.  Although I think Super Mario World was a better game in the end, this was one game that captured my imagination and it was the first time, for me at least, that I think the Mushroom kingdom was fully realised, a setting that still to this day brings back feelings of nostalgia.

Street Fighter II

My girlfriend often comments that I am ‘too patient’ when I play games.  And it’s true; I am always developing strategies, tactics and taking time to learn the intricacies of games in order to improve my ability.  And I can attribute that all back to Street Fighter II.  I spent countless hours learning every character, developing strategies to win AGAINST every character and to just improve my overall game. It was also through Street Fighter II that I also developed my interest in the minutia of game play mechanics, particularly balance, and how it affects the overall game.  This was a game that had five iterations throughout its lifetime; and I knew the differences between every one of them.  I even bought the monochromatic Gameboy version to have my fix on the run.  So thank you Capcom, for my lifelong obsession.

OldGaulian closely relates to Blanka....

Honourable Mentions:

Chrono Trigger: This game introduced me to the importance of characters, and storyline in videogames (a trait that I consider of the utmost importance in a game these days).  And it had a stellar soundtrack to boot.

Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins: this full fledged experience kicked off my love of portable gaming

We have played countless games between the both of us over the last 25 years.  But without these four games, we probably wouldn’t be playing games now.  And we definitely wouldn’t be writing about it.

Tell us what games were turning points for you in our comments section.  Just promise us it wasn’t Daikatana.

Fake? Possivelmente…Eu pelo menos achei hilário

Speaking of remakes, check this out! It’s a Super Mario Land remake! I’d explain why there are elements mixed in with this, but I’m too busy dancing to the soundtrack to read what it’s all about. Check out the link below and MAYBE it’ll tell you everything.

More Info… I Think… I don’t Know, I Didn’t Read It

Este es un genial recopilatorio , de los 20 videojuegos mas vendidos de todos los  tiempos. Viendolo podemos observar que es Nintendo la empresa que mas juegos  a producido dentro de esta categoria, y esta claro que se  hecha en falta alguno de la vieja Sega, disfrutarlos:

1—wii sports  (40.52 millones de unidades)

Es un videojuegocreado por Nintendo que viene junto a la consola Wiial comprarla, excepto en Japón

Este juego consta de cinco deportes: tenis, boleibol, boxeo, golf y bolos. En cada uno de ellos el mando de la Wii simula ser una raqueta, un bate de béisbol, un guante de boxeo, un palo de golf y una bola de bolos, respectivamente.

2—Super Mario Bros:  (40.24 millones de unidades)

El juego describe las aventuras de dos fontaneros, Mario -quien ya había aparecido en otros videojuegos previos, tales como Donkey Kong y Mario Bros.- y Luigi, quienes deben rescatar a la Princesa Peach, del Reino Champiñón, que fue secuestrada por el rey de los koopas, Bowser. A través de ocho diferentes niveles de juego, los jugadores pueden controlar a alguno de los dos hermanos y deben enfrentarse finalmente a cada uno de los monstruos de cada castillo para liberar a Peach.

3—Pokemon Red / Green / Blue :  (31.38 millones de unidades)

Pokémon (abreviación de Pocket Monsters, cuya traducción literal es “monstruos de bolsillo”) es un videojuego RPG típico, al estilo de las aventuras de link en la Game Boy. Controlamos a Ash Ketchum (Satoshi en Japón), un chico preadolescente que sueña con convertirse en el mejor entrenador de pokémon de todos los tiempos

4—Tetris:  ( 30.26 millones de unidades)

Alekséi Pázhitnov se había inspirado en un juego de pentaminós que había comprado anteriormente. Dato: el nombre “tetris” deriva del prefijo “tetra”, que significa “cuatro”, y hace referencia a la cantidad de cuadros que componen las piezas. Alekséi Pázhitnov programó una versión de su juego en un Electrónika 60, según la leyenda en una sola tarde; aunque quizá la leyenda no sea falsa porque se puede programar casi en cualquier lenguaje de programación en una “tarde”. Hay que tener en cuenta que lo realmente complejo fue llegar a la idea original del juego y no la programación en sí misma. Hoy por hoy la mecánica del juego es muy conocida y es sencillo emularla.

5—Duck Hunt  :  (28.31 millones de unidades)

El jugador debe utilizar una pistola de luz para disparar a los patos que vuelan por la pantalla, obteniendo puntos y avanzando niveles conforme acierta a los objetivos. Existe un modo adicional en el que los objetivos a impactar se cambian por discos.

6—Pokemon Gold / Silver :  ( 23.11 millones de unidades)

Son tres versiones de un mismo videojuego RPG de la serie Pokémon de la compañía japonesa Nintendo para la videoconsola Game Boy monocromática, pero con soporte para Game Boy Color, la excepción sería Pokemon Cristal que solo es compatible con Game Boy Color (y por extensión a Game Boy Advance y Game Boy Advance SP).

El juego es llamado por los entendidos en el mundo Pokémon, como la segunda generación, es decir la verdadera segunda parte de la saga RPG de Pokémon.

7—Nintendogs  :  (21.37 millones de unidades)

Entre sus diversas opciones, está la de interactuar con los cachorros virtuales por medio de la pantalla táctil y el micrófono con los que cuenta el sistema de Nintendo.

Inicialmente estaba previsto que el nombre del videojuego fuese Puppy Times en Estados Unidos, pero finalmente los creadores se decidieron por dejar el nombre japonés Nintendogs, también para occidente.

Existen cuatro versiones del juego, cada una de las cuales cuenta con seis razas diferentes.

8—Supermario World :  ( 20.61 millones de unidades)

Su lanzamiento en Japón fue el 21 de noviembre de 1990 y en Norteamérica el 13 de agosto de 1991, y a este le siguió su secuela Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island.

El juego fue producido por Shigeru Miyamoto, la música fue compuesta por Koji Kondo, y los gráficos fueron diseñados por Shigefumi Hino.

Super Mario World presenta un nuevo personaje muy similar a un dinosaurio de color verde de nombre Yoshi.

El argumento del juego involucra a Mario y Luigi en el rescate de la Princesa Peach y los amigos de Yoshi de las garras del malvado Bowser.

9—WII Play :  ( 19.68 millones de unidades)

Es un juego disponible para la consola Wii, que consiste en revelar todas las cualidades del control remoto Wii mediante diversos y divertidos minijuegos. Este juego vendrá con un control remoto Wii de regalo, con el objetivo de aumentar la diversión entre los jugadores.

El verdadero motivo de su lanzamiento será para que los jugadores (siendo niño o adulto) puedan aprender a utilizar el control remoto Wii, a través de los minijuegos simples y adictivos.

Además, en este juego podrás utilizar tus Mii como personajes del juego, al igual que Wii Sports

10—Super Mario land :  (18.14 millones de unidades)

El modo de juego es muy similar al del original Super Mario Bros., ya que recupera varios conceptos como saltar sobre un enemigo para eliminarlo.

El juego consta de 12 niveles distribuidos en cuatro mundos que son Birabuto, Muda, Easton y Ca Chai.

La batalla final contra el extraterrestre Tatanga es muy recordada ya que es de las únicas batallas de disparos de Mario.

11—New Super Mario Bros:  ( 18.14 millones de unidades)

Este juego, que ha sido supervisado por el mismo Shigeru Miyamoto, creador de Mario, es una de las fuertes apuestas de Nintendo por Nintendo DS y uno de los más esperados por todos los usuarios de la portátil de la doble pantalla. No solo recupera el espíritu de los antiguos Mario Bros, sino que también incluye items, situaciones y escenarios tanto de juegos de NES (Super Mario Bros. y Super Mario Bros. 3) como de Super Mario World y Super Mario 64.

12—Grand Thelf Auto San Andreas  :  (17.61 millones de unidades)

Es un juego creado por la subcompañía Rockstar North, filial de Rockstar Games. Constituye la séptima entrega de la saga Grand Theft Auto, y el tercer título de esta saga para las plataformas PlayStation 2, Xbox y PC. El juego contiene nuevas y numerosas mejoras con respecto a las anteriores entregas, pero con el mismo espíritu que caracteriza esta polémica saga de videojuegos.

13—Super Mario  Bros 3 :  ( 17.28 millones de unidades)

Conocido como Mario 3 o Super Mario 3) fue el último juego de Mario para Nintendo Entertainment System. Se publicó el 23 de octubre de 1988 en Japón y el 12 de febrero de 1990 en América. Fue diseñado por Shigeru Miyamoto, y la música fue compuesta por Kōji Kondō.

Mario y Luigi deberán salvar siete reinos en el Mushroom World de los Koopa Kids (o Koopalings), recuperando las varitas mágicas que robaron a los siete reyes, y salvar nuevamente a la Princesa Peach Toadstool de las garras de Rey Bowser Koopa.

14—Pokemon Diamond / Pearl:  (  17.22 millones de unidades)

En la región ficticia de Sinnoh, los juegos tratan de las aventuras de un protagonista en un viaje para capturar y entrenar Pokémon. En el camino deberá además ayudar a frustar los planes de la organización criminal conocido como el Team Galaxy/Equipo Galaxia.

Pokemon Diamante y Perla, así como las previas generaciones de Pokémon, añaden una gran cantidad de características, tales como jugar online con la conexión Wi-Fi de Nintendo, mientras mejoran conceptos de juego más antiguos, como los concursos Pokémon.

15—Brain Training  :  (16.43 millones de unidades)

Este popular juego salido de la línea comercial de videojuegos Touch! Generations (generación táctil), para la videoconsola Nintendo DS. Consiste en una serie de ejercicios (cálculo, retención de datos, sudokus), para ejercitar la mente. El juego ha sido creado por el doctor Kawashima y una representación animada de su cabeza aparece en el juego dando consejos y explicando el funcionamiento de los distintos ejercicios y juegos.

16—The Sims  :  (16.08 millones de unidades)

Los Sims es el primer juego de esta categoría en el que cada ser vivo tiene personalidad propia y se controla individualmente de forma directa.

El juego consiste en crear personajes Sims y “construirles” una vida, concretar sus aspiraciones, cumplir sus sueños, etc. El juego permite diseñarles a los Sims una casa y abastecerlas con todos los objetos que se requieran para satisfacer sus necesidades.

17—Pokemon Ruby / Sapphire :  ( 15.40 millones de unidades)

Los juegos mejoran notablemente los gráficos de sus predecesores y resultan incompatibles con ellos; Objetos de la segunda generación (Pokémon Oro, Plata y Cristal) han desaparecido a cambio de aparecer otros nuevos; se han incluido más de 130 nuevos Pokemon, aunque intercambiando entre versiones sólo se puede obtener poco más de 200, para tenerlos todos es obligatorio intercambiar con Pokémon Colosseum de GameCube o los remakes de la primera generación, integrada en la tercera que salieron para Game Boy Advance, Pokémon Rojo Fuego y Verde Hoja.

18—Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec  :  (14.87 millones de unidades)

El éxito de la serie Gran Turismo se debe en gran parte por el evidente detalle en la simulación de la conducción y carrera de los vehículos del juego. Cada coche se escucha y se maneja de acuerdo a las características de la vida real. La modificación de los vehículos es realista, por ejemplo, los ajustes a la suspensión afectan el manejo tal y como es en la vida real. Otro rasgo distintivo de la serie son sus gráficos altamente avanzados, todo ha sido meticulosamente detallado desde los coches hasta los entornos. El corazón de la serie es el modo de gt, donde el jugador tiene que avanzar por varios campeonatos que incrementan su dificultad para obtener dinero, habilidad y coches.

19—Pokemon Yellow  :  (14.64  millones de unidades)

Es casi idéntico a Pokemon Rojo y Azul, se le podría decir que es un “director cut” o extensión, de los mencionados videojuegos. Fue lanzado el 2 de septiembre de 1998 en Japón, y conocido como Pocket Monsters : Pikachu, sin utilizar el color amarillo como identificativo. Popularmente es conocido como “Pokemon Show” por basarse algo más a la serie de televisión, que salió después de los primeros videojuegos.

20—Grand Theft Auto: Vice City  :  (14.20 millones de unidades)

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City es un videojuego de acción de tercera persona desarrollado por Rockstar North y distribuido por Rockstar Games. Es el segundo juego en 3D de la Saga Grand Theft Auto y el cuarto título de la misma.

Rating: 8 Out of 10

Wario Land has you play as the final boss from Mario Land 2, Wario. He is Mario’s rival and is very greedy for money and riches. You go through a lot of areas getting treasure and finding secrets. You will face many bosses and he seems to be ready for the challenge. The graphics are good and the music seems fine. The gameplay may get a little bit repetitive for a few. Overall, you like Mario, then you like this.

Pros:

+ Great Graphics, Gameplay, and Music

+ Lots of Levels and Bosses

Cons:

- May get repetitive after a while for some people

Extras:

# Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 Cheat Codes

Rating: 8 Out of 10

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins brings Mario back and is one of my favorite games for the Game Boy. You play as Mario who has to venture out to 6 different zones to get 6 Golden Coins to regain control of your castle from the evil Wario. The graphics and game play are good, but there are no classic Mario tunes in this game. Overall, this is a very good game.

Pros:

+ Play whichever zone whenever you want

+ Great Graphics and Gameplay

Cons:

- Game lacks classic Mario tunes

Extras:

# Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins Cheat Codes

Rating: 8 Out of 10

Super Mario Land is Mario’s first single performance. Your mission is to save Princess Daisy. There are tons of worlds with great music and some good bosses. The only thing I wished for was that the graphics were better. Overall, this game was a great start for the man with the red hat.

Pros:

+ Good Bosses

+ Great Music

Cons:

- Graphics could be better

Extras:

# Super Mario Land Cheat Codes

Ana sorprendeume hoxe con esta xoia. Estou moi emocionado con este galano, a verdade é que non esperaba un agasallo deste tipo polo meu cumpreanos.

Quítome esa espiña que tiña dende rapaz por non ter unha destas. Agora teño que empezar a patearme mercadillos, charities e tendas de segunda man para acadar xogos e darlle tralla.

Por certo, onte enchufei a Wii por primeira vez a internet e descubrin que podes descarregar xogos clasicos da NES, da SNES, da Master System e incluso do Commodore 64 pagando prezos baixos. Están sendo uns días de regreso a miña mocidade!.

The answer is: it depends.  Companies don’t exactly come out and say, “This here handheld game is a full-fledged entry in the series, Goddammit!” or “this is a half-assed sidegame that only the hardcore fans need bother with”.  However, there are clues.  Is the handheld game being developed by the same group of talented folks that design the main console games?  Is the game in question being treated like the next chapter in an epic saga or as a “side story”.  Also, is the publisher hyping it the way they would a console release or just kinda floating it out there?  Finally, does it feel like a cool new game or just a rehash?  The contestants:

SUPER MARIO!

Super Mario Land (Game Boy, 1989)

When Nintendo launched the Game Boy they knew they needed their most popular series to help make a splash.  Did they turn to Shigeru Miyamoto and his team at Nintendo EAD?  Nope.  Nintendo R&D1 took the reigns and made a mediocre game based somewhat on Super Mario Bros. with international themes and sloppy controls.  Verdict: Not a real Super Mario game

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Game Boy, 1992)

Nintendo R&D1 struck again with a much better effort.  It attempts to capture the look and feel of Super Mario World but comes across pretty differently.  A decent game in its own right but not up to the standards of a REAL Super Mario game.  Verdict: Not a real Super Mario game

New Super Mario Bros. (DS, 2006)

Developed by Miyamoto’s Nintendo EAD team, including several of the developers that worked on the Super Mario Advance ports.  It’s too easy, but it’s definitely a satisfying game and feels right.  Nintendo hyped the hell out of it.  Verdict: A real Super Mario game

LEGEND OF ZELDA!

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Game Boy, 1993)

This game picks up right after the SNES game released 2 years later.  It pushes the Game Boy to the limits and has practically the exact same team of developers as the previous game.  Verdict: A real Zelda game

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (ame Boy Color, 2001)

These games reuse the 8-year old Link’s Awakening engine and their development was farmed out to Capcom.  They’re very good games but not exciting or important enough.  Verdict: Not real Zelda games.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Game Boy Advance, 2005) 

Looks nice, is a lot of fun.  Farmed out to Capcom (again).  Doesn’t do too much that’s new.  A very good game but Not a real Zelda game.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS, 2007)

Attempts to continue the story from The Wind Waker but it’s the easiest Zelda game ever.  I never even had to use a guide and I’m pretty stupid.  Not really an epic adventure and not a real Zelda game.

METROID!

Metroid II: Return of Samus (Game Boy, 1991)

Nintendo gives away the answer in the title.  The II shows that they’re treating it as a for-real entry.  It had been 5 years since the first Metroid and this new game was treated like a big event.  Verdict: a real Metroid game.

Metroid Fusion (game Boy Advance, 2002)

Great game with a lot of new ideas, directed by Yoshio Sakamato, the director of Metroid and Super Metroid.  In other words: a real Metroid game.

Metroid: Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance, 2004)

A re-telling of the original Metroid game with a great new chapter added on and new gameplay elements, again directed by Yoshio Sakamoto.  Verdict: a real Metroid game.

Metroid Prime Hunters (DS, 2006)

The gameplay is mission-based instead of exploratory and it was developed by Nintendo STC and not Retro Studios, the developers of the main Metroid Prime games.  Not a real Metoid Prime game.

MARIO KART!

Mario Kart Super Circuit (Game Boy Advance, 2001)

It was developed by Intelligent Systems but overseen by Miyamoto.  It feels totally true to the series, has very high production values and has been referenced in the later Mario Kart games.  Verdict: a real Mario Kart game.

Mario Kart DS (DS, 2005)

This one just has to be real cuz it’s the BEST game in the series.  Developed by Miyamoto’s crew.  Some of its tracks are reused in the new Wii game.  Verdict: the real deal.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Chaos, Sonic Triple Trouble, Sonic Blast (Game Gear, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996)

These games try really hard to look and feel as good as the Genesis games.  The result is that they feel like replications rather than fresh new chapters.  Not developed by Sonic Team, either.  Verdict: Not real Sonic games.

Sonic Pocket Adventure, Sonic Advance, Sonic Advance 2, Sonic Advance 3, Sonic Rush, Sonic Rush Adventure (NeoGeo Pocket Color, 1999, Game Boy Advance, 2001, 2002, 2004, DS, 2005, 2007)

Sonic basically split into 2 separate series: the console series and the handheld series.  They share a continuity but have very different styles.  PS – the console Sonic games of the last few years are terrible while the handheld ones are great.  Real Sonic games.

More later?  I dunno.

kicknz

Heute mal meine persönlichen Top10 für Gameboy:

1. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
2. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
3. Donkey Kong
4. Kirby’s Dream Land
5. Kirby’s Dream Land 2
6. Super Mario Land
7. Asterix
8. Worms
9. The Smurfs Travel The World
10. Toy Story

Das ganze hat diesmal ein bisschen länger gedauert, was teilweise daran lag dass es so viele Gameboyspiele gibt und ich keine sinnvolle Liste aller Spiele hatte. Ich hoffe auch mal dass ich keine vergessen hab.

Table of contents:
1) Top Ten Game Boy Games
2) Analysis of Game Boy and its competitors
3) Top Five Game Boy Color Games
4) Analysis of Game Boy Color and its competitors
5) A note on the Virtual Boy

PART ONE: TOP TEN GAME BOY GAMES

The top ten Game Boy games with, as usual, an emphasis on variety. Some rules and regulations: for this list I am NOT pretending that the Game Boy exists in a vacuum. I will be assuming that anyone involved will have access to an NES or Super NES or emulator, whatever. So this list is not interested in scaled-down versions of games you can already play on a more powerful system. This list primarily concerns itself with handheld exclusives. Another note: if you’ve dealt with Game Boy Color games you know that some of the cartridges are clear and some have a black casing. The black ones work in the original Game Boy so they’re eligible for this list.

#10 OPERATION C (Konami): The title may be confusing but this is a Contra game. It feels a lot like the NES Contra games and that’s a good thing. This is one of the relatively few 3rd party games from established series that feels like a real member of its series and is also not just a port of a previous game. So, do you like Contra on NES? Then you’ll almost certainly like this one.

#9 TETRIS (Nintendo/Bulletproof Software): This was the most widely distributed Game Boy cartridge due to its being the pack-in title for several years. It’s simple and straightforward but strangely addicting. There have been literally dozens of remakes and reinterpretations by several publishers over the years but none are as captivating as the original.

#8 KID ICARUS: OF MYTHS AND MONSTERS (Nintendo): Like Operation C, this plays almost exactly like Kid Icarus on NES but it’s a new adventure. Like the original, it follows a format of 3 side- or vertical-scrolling action levels followed by a labyrinthine dungeon/castle. The final level is not for the faint of heart. Or maybe I just suck at it.

#7 METRIOD II: RETURN OF SAMUS (Nintendo): I remember this being a highly promoted game at its release. With an actual number in the title fans couldn’t ignore this game as a side-story or retread. This was undoubtedly a true blue sequel that Metroid fans were required to care about. Unlike Operation C or Kid Icarus, this game actually offers variations and new ideas when compared to its predecessor. Many of the mysterious exploration elements are reduced, replaced with an emphasis on finding, and destroying, a certain number of runaway Metroids. With the absence of mind-numbing numbness, the final product may be better than the original.

#6 GARGOYLE’S QUEST (Capcom): The title screen adds the subtitle “Ghosts ‘n Goblins” to make sure you know this is a spin-off of that venerable series. In this game you play as Red Arremer, the same flying asshole that plagues the hero of the Ghosts n’ Goblins series. Apparently, the Monster Realm is being invaded by . . . other monsters. The gameplay is features RPG style upgrades and ability-management and Zelda-ish wandering around but always with a clear purpose.

#5 SUPER MARIO LAND 2: 6 GOLDEN COINS (Nintendo): Even a dumb kid like me can feel that this game was not made by the same team that made the NES Mario games. In the end it doesn’t matter as Mario Land 2 develops an identity of its own, with new power-ups, enemies and cool themed levels (like floating in space). This game also featured Wario in his first appearance, serving as the final boss.

#4 WARIO LAND II (Nintendo): This is the only “black cartridge” Game Boy Color game on this list. If you ever wondered what would happen if you combined Super Mario and Metroid this is what you get. There’s a whole lot of hopping and bopping and also a whole lot of exploration and puzzle-solving. It’s surprising how well it all works.

#3 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: LINK’S AWAKENING (Nintendo): Another hyped, true sequel for the Game Boy, made by all the same fellas that made the SNES predecessor. If you enjoyed “A Link to the Past” on SNES then you should definitely track down this cart. It has all of the dungeons, action and puzzles that you could hope for.

#2 MOLE MANIA (Nintendo): A forgotten game but a great one. You play as a mole, having set out to rescue your family from an evil farmer. It’s basically a puzzle action game utilizing a mole’s ability to dig and to throw stuff at bad guys. As the game progresses, the worlds become huge. It’s actually a bit like Zelda but without the item management.

#1 DONKEY KONG (Nintendo): The first four levels are adapted from the arcade original but after that it’s over NINETY new levels of awesome Kong action. Mario can do quite a bit in this game. He can throw enemies a la SMB2. He can do backflips and triple jumps a la SM64. He can even swing on wires a la . . . no other game. You should play it.

Honorable mention: Bonk’s Adventure, Bonk’s Revenge, Double Dragon II, Kirby’s Dream Land, Super Mario Land, Wario Land

Notable Game Boy games I haven’t played yet: Bionic Commando, New Dig Dug, Bubble Bobble Classic, Final Fantasy Adventure, Mega Mans, Tetris 2, Rolan’s Curse

Notable Game Boy games I haven’t played yet:

PART TWO: ANALYSIS OF GAME BOY AND ITS COMPETITORS

Throughout the 1980s, Nintendo released a long series of self-contained LCD screen games as part of the Game & Watch series. The creator of this series, Gunpei Yokoi, designed the Game Boy as the next logical step in the progression: a cartridge-based, handheld system. The technical limitations of the system are immediately obvious – the screen is a puke-greenish black and white and the speaker is ridiculous. These apparent liabilities actually proved to be very wise decisions that contributed to an impressively long career for the original Game Boy, which went on to sell 80 million units.

The black and white, non-backlit screen made the Game Boy battery efficient. Those that could tolerate the screen were able to do so for many hours. The technically-superior competition that closely followed the Game Boy couldn’t come close in the area of battery life or unit price, for that matter.

Most 3rd party publishers treated the Game Boy like a joke for most of its lifespan. Some games were legitimately good entries in their series or original games. Many others were just half-assed attempts to cash in on a proven series (Castlevania) or just adequate but uinspired ports of games already available on NES (Double Dragon, Adventure Island). Another route, falling somewhere in-between, were the games that felt like remixed versions of existing games; not quite new but also not just ports of old games (this category includes the Mega Man games and Kid Icarus).

The original Game Boy was available from 1989 until 1998, a very healthy lifespan.

AND THE COMPETITORS?

ATARI LYNX

Atari was the first to enter the fray with an oversized, full-color system. It was a real battery muncher, making it completely impractical for a portable machine. Kinda dumb considering it’s meant to be a . . . portable machine. The library is full of crap ports of existing games. Nintendo released a lot of great original games for Game Boy but Atari seemed to treat the Lynx as simply an alternative for when you can’t get ahold of a TV-based console to play. It sucks!

SEGA GAME GEAR

This is a system that should have been great but didn’t deliver in any way. Like the Lynx, the vast majority of the Game Gear library is available in either superior form on Genesis or identical form on Master System. So what’s the point? The Game Gear was even more of a battery muncher than the Lynx. Even with all of it’s limitations, the Game Gear could be considered a mild market success, moving about 9 million units.

TURBO EXPRESS by NEC

This was actually a portable version of the TurboGrafx-16 but without the CD functionality or the ability to save. No save? Ugh. This was a very expensive system at release and predictably went nowhere. Also a battery muncher. Foolish.

PART THREE: TOP FIVE GAME BOY COLOR GAMES

Top 5? Why not Top Ten? Well, because I haven’t played very many Game Boy Color games, that’s why. And you can’t blame me. The system’s library, while huge, is mostly garbage. This should be called “the system that crappy, licensed games built”. The whole damn library is SpongeBob and Power Puff girls. Also, I count the black cartridges as Game Boy Original games so they’re ineligible for this list. All right, let’s get on with it.

#5 METAL GEAR SOLID (Konami): This title was merely a cash-in on the part of Konami of America. In other regions it was more appropriately titled Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. So, no, it’s not just a remake of the PlayStation Metal Gear Solid. And it’s also not nearly as good as the PlayStation game, either. Still, it’s pretty deep and full of puzzling moments, punctuated occasionally by fun boss fights. Unlike the previously released Metal Gear games, this one is mission-based, so the free-roaming aspect is gone.

#4 SUPER MARIO BROS. DELUXE (Nintendo): Yes, this is a port/re-release of the original Super Mario Bros. but it doesn’t stop there. The reason why I’m allowing this game on the list is because of the awesome and new “You vs. Boo” mode. This mode consists of 8 brand new levels in which you race a Boo (previously introduced in SMB3). Each level has four different difficulty levels which can only be unlocked by kicking Boo’s ass. Completely clearing this mode takes HOURS. It’s always intense and frenetic. I loved it but probably only SMB pervs like me would feel the same.

#3 WARIO LAND 3 (Nintendo): This game re-uses the engine from Wario Land II but this game is twice as long and has twice as much exploration and puzzle-solving, complemented by all the jumping on bad guys you can handle.

#2 & #1 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: ORACLE OF AGES (Nintendo/Capcom) & THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: ORACLE OF SEASONS (Nintendo/Capcom): These separately released cartridges are like “Use Your Illusion” I & II by Guns n’ Roses – they’re complete works on their own but combine to make a greater product. When you beat one of the games, you’re given a password to use at the beginning of the other. After beating the 2nd game, if you used that password, a whole new dungeon is opened, featuring the true evil mastermind boss behind the madness in both games. The Oracles re-use the engine from “Link’s Awakening” but introduce elements introduced in “Ocarina of Time” on N64. Strangely, Nintendo handed this project off to be created by Capcom, a trend Nintendo has utilized with other 3rd party publishers throughout the decade.

Notable Game Boy Color games I haven’t played yet: Bionic Commando, Blaster Master, Kirby Tilt n Tumble, Mickey’s Racing Adventure, Shantae, Survival Kids, Toki Tori

PART FOUR: ANALYSIS OF GAME BOY COLOR AND ITS COMPETITORS

As I mentioned before, the GBC library is large but drab. That didn’t stop it from selling, though, as it moved about 40 million units over 4 years. Like the GB Original, the GBC was energy efficient, making it a PRACTICAL PORTABLE DEVICE. However, the upgrade from Game Boy to Game Boy Color was really quite minor and, considering how old Game Boy was, totally underwhelming. Indeed, many sources and sometimes Nintendo themselves seem to regard GB and GBC as the same machine. Because there are cartridges that will only work on GBC and not GB I feel the distinction must be made but only barely. It’s not surprising that Nintendo released the much more impressive Game Boy Advance only three years after the GBC.

AND THE COMPETITORS?

After the Game Gear released in 1990, there was a long span before any new systems hit the market. After the Game Gear fizzled out, the Game Boy ran almost unopposed for half a decade. Here’s what the “competitors” offered.

SEGA GENESIS NOMAD

Released in 1996 exclusively at Toys R’ Us, this was a handheld version of the Genesis and used that system’s cartridges as its media input. Apparently, SEGA learned nothing from the Game Gear and this system is even MORE of a battery muncher. Ugh. Completely impractical as a portable system. Predictably, it completely crashed and burned.

TIGER GAME.COM

Remember Tiger? They made those handheld LCD games? They decided to release their own portable system in 1997. No one noticed or cared. Like the Game Boy, the screen is black and white and the system is energy efficient. Unfortunately, the library is very small and notoriously crappy. Of interest was the inclusion of a stylus and touch-screen functions. OMG Nintendo ripped them off!

NEOGEO POCKET by SNK

Originally released in 1998, its initial performance was so weak that SNK re-issued the system with color capabilities and renamed it NeoGeo Pocket Color. This 2nd version was released in the U.S. where it failed to make an impact. This machine is really not garbage and actually has several solid games for it. There are several games I have yet to play for it but it might have even been a better system than the old GBC.

WONDERSWAN by Bandai

Originally released in 1999. Just like the NeoGeo Pocket, Bandai released a color version only a year after release. This system was released in Japan only and many of the games are language-intensive, restricting my ability to play most of them. Bandai was always a crappy game publisher so one wouldn’t expect much from this system except for a couple of key factors: 1) The system was designed by Gunpei Yokoi, designer of the original Game Boy and 2) Bandai actually signed up 3rd party publishers that were pissed at Nintendo, like good ol’ Square Enix. Still, in my estimation, unless you speak Japanese it’s probably not worth it to buy this system. The WonderSwan actually moved a few million units – perhaps a modest mark but much better than Lynx, Nomad, Game.com or NeoGeo Pocket.

PART FIVE: A NOTE ON THE VIRTUAL BOY

In 1995, Nintendo released the Virtual Boy, an attempt to cash in on the VIRTUAL REALITY craze. The system is basically a gigantic Viewmaster. You put your eyes up against the view area and look upon a 3D world of . . . red . . . on a black background. Yeah, there are some interesting capabilities but it can be pretty difficult to look past all that red on black. In fact, it can be downright depressing. Putting ‘Boy’ in the machine’s name was an obvious attempt to associate it with the Game Boy and technically the system is portable but it sure ain’t a handheld. The main console is as large as several Game Boys and there’s a stand plus a controller and cable. Impressively, the Virtual Boy is energy efficient. Easily the biggest strike against Virtual Boy is its library and this is all Nintendo’s fault. Only THIRTEEN GAMES were released in the United States. Another ten or so hit stores in Japan. There’s really no excuse for that. Imagine if you paid full price for this system and only ended up with 13 available games for it. Several of these games are crap, too. The main standout game for the system is ‘Virtual Boy Wario Land’, which I happen to enjoy quite a bit. But should you track down a Virtual Boy to play this game? No. Should you use a Virtual Boy just once to see what it’s like? YEP.

kicknz

Erinnert sich noch einer an diesen einen Klempner, der zwar viel kleiner und dicker als sein großer Bruder ist, aber doch viel mehr Ruhm und Lob bekommen hat? Wieso erinnern? Er war doch nie weg. Stimmt eigentlich. Aber doch hat er sich verändert.

Und weiß eigentlich jemand, was Hedgehog auf Deutsch heißt? Dieses kleine blaue und blitzschnelle Ding. Auch eine eigene Geschichte. Weltberühmt. Aushängeschild einer riesigen Firma. Wannabe-Rockstar und Ikone einer ganzen Generation.

Und jetzt stellt man sich nur mal vor, diese beiden Gestalten vereinigen sich. Nach jahrelanger Feindschaft und Kampf um die Fans. Das wäre, wie wenn The Libertines mit den Babyshamples zusammenarbeiten würden. Viel gemeinsam, aber doch wieder ganz anders.

Sonic, the Hedgehog, ist natürlich der blaue Blitzigel. Segas Aushängeschild und vertreten auf allen jemals gängigen Sega-Konsolen. Zum ersten Mal in Kontakt mit ihm kam ich durch eine Runde Mega Drive bei einem Freund. Hatte schon was das Spiel. Und sein erster großer Auftritt auf der leider klanglos versumpften DreamCast hatte auch bei Sega-Gegnern Entzücken ausgelöst.

Mario, der dicke Klempner und Prinzessinen-Retter gilt auch immer noch als die Figur, die man mit dem großen Namen Nintendo verbindet. Auch wenn seit den glorreichen Zeiten mit Super Mario Bros (NES, SNES), Super Mario Land (GameBoy) und Mario 64 (N64) viel Software ins Land gezogen ist. Aber obwohl Metroid oder Castlevania eigentlich auch mit Nintendo verbunden werden müssten, bleibt Mario der Headchief der Firma.

Und nach dem heftigen und höchst interessanten Videospielcrash Mitte der Achtziger brachte ja bekanntlich Nintendo mit dem NES den Stein wieder ins Rollen. Atari versuchte sich mit halbgarer Hardware. Sega setzte mit dem Master System und dem Mega Drive nach. Und es sollte noch lange dauern, bis auch Sony oder gar Microsoft auftauchen sollten. Und gerade mit den Spielen rund um diese zwei Haudegen kämpfte Sega und Nintendo um die Vorherrschaft am wiederauferstehenden Videospielmarkt.

Doch was liest man jetzt? Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Die beiden also, in einem Spiel mit zwei gleichgestellten Hauptcharakteren. Wie kann es sowas geben. Naja, Sega musste nach dem Dreamcast-Debakel den Konsolenhut nehmen und konzentrierte sich auf die Software-Erzeugung. Und da bot man sich eben auch Sony, Microsoft und Ex-Erzfeind Nintendo an. Und das erklärt nun die Fahrgemeinschaft zu den Olympischen Spielen. So à la Oliver Pocher und Eltern auf dem Weg zur Europameisterschaft in Portugal.

Was darf man sich erwarten. Gewohnte Qualität, denke ich. Aber es ist doch schön, wie sich ehemalige Erzfeinde jetzt gut verstehen. Oder machen sie das wirklich nur wegen dem Geld?