Finally bought a Game Boy Advance...

vsp · 09-23-2002, 01:15 PM

...for the wife, for her birthday.

Up until now, I've avoided contributing to Nintendo's effective-monopoly on portable systems. I own three NeoGeo Pocket Colors (bought long after the system crashed and burned, alas), and have put in ungodly hours on some of its games; I own two TurboExpresses, and still consider it to be the high-water mark of 90's gaming technology. Somewhere, I still have a Game Gear modified by a friend at Sega to include TV-Out cables (even though the only game that's ever been played on it is Bust-a-Move).

I felt the original GB was a cheap hack that sold billions strictly through (a) marketing muscle and (b) having Tetris; I felt the GB Color was an inferior product to the NGPC that sold billions strictly through (a) marketing muscle and (b) having Pokemon. It's ironic that only now, with all US competitors squashed, has Nintendo come out with a portable that interests me.

Why?

* Compilations of arcade games that don't suck. The Midway one is horrible and Spy Hunter was a remake of a remake, but the others I've seen (Konami with six, Atari with six, Namco Museum with five, Pac-Man Collection with two and some originals, the hopefully-US-bound Bubble Bobble pack) have been surprisingly true to the originals. Rock! It's a portable MAME, so to speak, for those of us who won't shell out the bucks for a Palm.

* The usual assortment of puzzle/action games -- Columns, Puyo, Bomberman, Tetris. If Nintendo doesn't rerelease Tetris Attack, Tetris 2 and Dr. Mario in a full-color GBA format, they're nuts.

* Some actual RPGs -- Golden Sun (which the wife's playing through now), some Breath of Fire games, Tactics Ogre (!), Lunar on the way, and FINAL FANTASY F'ING TACTICS ADVANCE IS COMING.

* I don't care much for the Mario-run-and-jump games, but they're there for those who want them. The remixed US SMB 2 does have my interest, however, as that was my favorite Mario game (and, coincidentally, the only one that wasn't originally designed as a Mario game).

* English-translated versions of Fire Pro Wrestling. THAT's a first.

* Doom, Doom 2, and Duke Nukem in (pixellated) portable format. Nothing like a rocket-launcher to pass the time on long trips.

* Advance Wars. I've been playing this on an emulator, and it's just fantastic. Somebody on the dev team played "Military Madness" on the TurboGrafx, because this has all of that game's good points (which were MANY) and takes them to a new level.

* The "Flood Light", by Radica, is the best portable light-source I've ever seen. It's got a little fluorescent light bulb, which can be tilted and adjusted to light the screen well and eliminate all glare as well. Beautiful, even if it does require batteries. If I get another system, I might spring for an Afterburner-ed unit.

* The e-Reader is a wild-card. It lets you scan specially-coded trading cards to play mini-games, connect to select GameCube games, and play early NES games (!!). THAT has my attention, particularly if third-parties get into the act. Konami would be crazy not to rerelease their NES lineup, for instance, but that's some time off. Regardless, this add-on has major potential, even for quick one-off throwaway games from Nintendo like Air Hockey...

* Advance Wars. Did I mention Advance Wars?

perth · 09-23-2002, 02:17 PM

i love my gba. i have 2. bought a card reader the other day and the excitebike pack and have been playing almost nonstop. i do need to get a flood light tho, the POS worm light or whatever its called doesnt cut it.

i think one of the best things about the GBA is that its backward compatible. i love playing the GB zelda games on my GBA.

~james

SteveDallas · 09-24-2002, 09:54 AM

Yeah, I like my GBA too. Though I never heard of this e-reader thing---I'll have to check that out. My taste in games is very old-fashioned. When Defender came out back in the day, I found it way too complicated with all those different weapons & stuff. Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Q*Bert, and Frogger were more my style. So while some people have blasted the GBA as a portable Super NES, I think that's a good thing and I enjoy the retreads. (I admit, if Sony ever came out with a portable that would play PS games, I'd probably get it. I mean a real handheld portable, not the PS One thing.) In fact, the only Advance game I've gotten so far is the Super Mario World one. But since upgrading (I had an original Gameboy from back in the early 90s), I got Super Breakout, Frogger, and Tomb Raider (still fun, tho not as much so as the "real" version) in their Gameboy Color incarnations.

I think I am going for Final Fantasy Tactics when it comes out.

I need to get out my Virtual Boy and play it again.. it's packed up in the basement!!

vsp · 09-24-2002, 10:15 AM

The funny thing is that I didn't care much for the SNES. I own one, but I've barely played it, and most of that time was a couple of Squaresoft RPGs and some shooters. Waaaaaaay too many runny-jumpy games. My favorites on the system were Chrono Trigger (now on PSX), Ogre Battle (now on PSX) and Pop 'n' Twinbee (not released in the US), so there's really no reason for me to go back and revisit it.

Frogger (solid gameplay, tweaked music) is on the GBA Konami Arcade Advanced pack, along with Time Pilot, Gyruss, Scramble, Yie-Ar Kung Fu and Green Beret (nee Rush'n Attack). Likewise, Super Breakout is on the GBA Atari Anniversary collection (with Tempest, Battlezone, Asteroids, and others). There's a Pac-Man compilation for the GBA, though I don't know how authentic it is to the original.

Next project: getting my hands on a Flash cartridge and reader, installing PocketNES on it, and WHAM! One cartridge with hundreds of NES games on a portable GBA. Fun for the whole family. Pity that the Flash kit costs around $100...

Freeeow, someone else has a Virtual Boy? I snagged one and most of the games in Blockbastard Video's clearance section, and played a fair amount of Jack Bros. and Panic Bomber (though the PC-Engine Panic Bomber is far superior).

SteveDallas · 09-24-2002, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vsp
Freeeow, someone else has a Virtual Boy? I snagged one and most of the games in Blockbastard Video's clearance section, and played a fair amount of Jack Bros. and Panic Bomber (though the PC-Engine Panic Bomber is far superior).

Yeppp, I'm fascinated by 3-D imaging and stereo photography, so as soon as I saw a Virtual Boy I wanted one. I ended up buying one from a guy on Usenet (I think this was pre-EBay) for $75, which I considered an OK deal for a used one.... and about two weeks later they were discontinued and everybody had them for $30!!! I should have bought one just to squirrel away in case they became a collector's item, but I was too irked. I'd have to get it out & look at the games... I think I have 6 of them, some that were released in the US and some Japanese.

vsp · 10-08-2002, 11:44 AM

Quick capsule reviews:

* Fire Pro Wrestling -- an absolute gem. If you like professional wrestling AT ALL, this is the deepest simulator available for any American game system. (Fire Pro Wrestling D (a Japanese Dreamcast import) is better overall, but comparing a Dreamcast game to a GBA game is like comparing a fire hose to a slow drip size-wise.)

Hordes of characters based on real-life wrestlers from around the world (nothing some renaming can't fix), hundreds of moves, the trademark Fire Pro control scheme (which couldn't be better), a new Audience Match mode that's quite a challenge, and 70+ edit slots for creating your own wrestlers. VERY very nice, and the sequel just came out.

* Golden Sun -- my wife started playing this, and has barely slept since. Addictive? You might say that.

* Bubble Bobble: Old and New -- This one's not out in the US yet, but will be coming in a couple of months. I got my hands on an import copy, and what can I say? If you liked Bubble Bobble, this is a spot-on conversion. (You have your choice of a scrolling, up-close version or a zoomed-out fullscreen version, which you can shift between at any time during gameplay. Old == classic BB, new == a new version with the same levels but enhanced graphics and sound.)

* Super Mario Advance 2 -- it's Super Mario World in a pocket-sized format. Been there, played it, moving along now.

09-23-2002, 01:15 PM	#1
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Finally bought a Game Boy Advance... ...for the wife, for her birthday. Up until now, I've avoided contributing to Nintendo's effective-monopoly on portable systems. I own three NeoGeo Pocket Colors (bought long after the system crashed and burned, alas), and have put in ungodly hours on some of its games; I own two TurboExpresses, and still consider it to be the high-water mark of 90's gaming technology. Somewhere, I still have a Game Gear modified by a friend at Sega to include TV-Out cables (even though the only game that's ever been played on it is Bust-a-Move). I felt the original GB was a cheap hack that sold billions strictly through (a) marketing muscle and (b) having Tetris; I felt the GB Color was an inferior product to the NGPC that sold billions strictly through (a) marketing muscle and (b) having Pokemon. It's ironic that only now, with all US competitors squashed, has Nintendo come out with a portable that interests me. Why? * Compilations of arcade games that don't suck. The Midway one is horrible and Spy Hunter was a remake of a remake, but the others I've seen (Konami with six, Atari with six, Namco Museum with five, Pac-Man Collection with two and some originals, the hopefully-US-bound Bubble Bobble pack) have been surprisingly true to the originals. Rock! It's a portable MAME, so to speak, for those of us who won't shell out the bucks for a Palm. * The usual assortment of puzzle/action games -- Columns, Puyo, Bomberman, Tetris. If Nintendo doesn't rerelease Tetris Attack, Tetris 2 and Dr. Mario in a full-color GBA format, they're nuts. * Some actual RPGs -- Golden Sun (which the wife's playing through now), some Breath of Fire games, Tactics Ogre (!), Lunar on the way, and FINAL FANTASY F'ING TACTICS ADVANCE IS COMING. * I don't care much for the Mario-run-and-jump games, but they're there for those who want them. The remixed US SMB 2 does have my interest, however, as that was my favorite Mario game (and, coincidentally, the only one that wasn't originally designed as a Mario game). * English-translated versions of Fire Pro Wrestling. THAT's a first. * Doom, Doom 2, and Duke Nukem in (pixellated) portable format. Nothing like a rocket-launcher to pass the time on long trips. * Advance Wars. I've been playing this on an emulator, and it's just fantastic. Somebody on the dev team played "Military Madness" on the TurboGrafx, because this has all of that game's good points (which were MANY) and takes them to a new level. * The "Flood Light", by Radica, is the best portable light-source I've ever seen. It's got a little fluorescent light bulb, which can be tilted and adjusted to light the screen well and eliminate all glare as well. Beautiful, even if it does require batteries. If I get another system, I might spring for an Afterburner-ed unit. * The e-Reader is a wild-card. It lets you scan specially-coded trading cards to play mini-games, connect to select GameCube games, and play early NES games (!!). THAT has my attention, particularly if third-parties get into the act. Konami would be crazy not to rerelease their NES lineup, for instance, but that's some time off. Regardless, this add-on has major potential, even for quick one-off throwaway games from Nintendo like Air Hockey... * Advance Wars. Did I mention Advance Wars?

09-23-2002, 02:17 PM	#2
perth Strong Silent Type Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Fort Collins, CO Posts: 1,949	i love my gba. i have 2. bought a card reader the other day and the excitebike pack and have been playing almost nonstop. i do need to get a flood light tho, the POS worm light or whatever its called doesnt cut it. i think one of the best things about the GBA is that its backward compatible. i love playing the GB zelda games on my GBA. ~james

09-24-2002, 09:54 AM	#3
SteveDallas Your Bartender Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Philly Burbs, PA Posts: 7,651	Yeah, I like my GBA too. Though I never heard of this e-reader thing---I'll have to check that out. My taste in games is very old-fashioned. When Defender came out back in the day, I found it way too complicated with all those different weapons & stuff. Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Q*Bert, and Frogger were more my style. So while some people have blasted the GBA as a portable Super NES, I think that's a good thing and I enjoy the retreads. (I admit, if Sony ever came out with a portable that would play PS games, I'd probably get it. I mean a real handheld portable, not the PS One thing.) In fact, the only Advance game I've gotten so far is the Super Mario World one. But since upgrading (I had an original Gameboy from back in the early 90s), I got Super Breakout, Frogger, and Tomb Raider (still fun, tho not as much so as the "real" version) in their Gameboy Color incarnations. I think I am going for Final Fantasy Tactics when it comes out. I need to get out my Virtual Boy and play it again.. it's packed up in the basement!!

09-24-2002, 10:15 AM	#4
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	The funny thing is that I didn't care much for the SNES. I own one, but I've barely played it, and most of that time was a couple of Squaresoft RPGs and some shooters. Waaaaaaay too many runny-jumpy games. My favorites on the system were Chrono Trigger (now on PSX), Ogre Battle (now on PSX) and Pop 'n' Twinbee (not released in the US), so there's really no reason for me to go back and revisit it. Frogger (solid gameplay, tweaked music) is on the GBA Konami Arcade Advanced pack, along with Time Pilot, Gyruss, Scramble, Yie-Ar Kung Fu and Green Beret (nee Rush'n Attack). Likewise, Super Breakout is on the GBA Atari Anniversary collection (with Tempest, Battlezone, Asteroids, and others). There's a Pac-Man compilation for the GBA, though I don't know how authentic it is to the original. Next project: getting my hands on a Flash cartridge and reader, installing PocketNES on it, and WHAM! One cartridge with hundreds of NES games on a portable GBA. Fun for the whole family. Pity that the Flash kit costs around $100... Freeeow, someone else has a Virtual Boy? I snagged one and most of the games in Blockbastard Video's clearance section, and played a fair amount of Jack Bros. and Panic Bomber (though the PC-Engine Panic Bomber is far superior).

10-08-2002, 11:44 AM	#6
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Quick capsule reviews: * Fire Pro Wrestling -- an absolute gem. If you like professional wrestling AT ALL, this is the deepest simulator available for any American game system. (Fire Pro Wrestling D (a Japanese Dreamcast import) is better overall, but comparing a Dreamcast game to a GBA game is like comparing a fire hose to a slow drip size-wise.) Hordes of characters based on real-life wrestlers from around the world (nothing some renaming can't fix), hundreds of moves, the trademark Fire Pro control scheme (which couldn't be better), a new Audience Match mode that's quite a challenge, and 70+ edit slots for creating your own wrestlers. VERY very nice, and the sequel just came out. * Golden Sun -- my wife started playing this, and has barely slept since. Addictive? You might say that. * Bubble Bobble: Old and New -- This one's not out in the US yet, but will be coming in a couple of months. I got my hands on an import copy, and what can I say? If you liked Bubble Bobble, this is a spot-on conversion. (You have your choice of a scrolling, up-close version or a zoomed-out fullscreen version, which you can shift between at any time during gameplay. Old == classic BB, new == a new version with the same levels but enhanced graphics and sound.) * Super Mario Advance 2 -- it's Super Mario World in a pocket-sized format. Been there, played it, moving along now.

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