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The Official Game Boy Thread


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I have been into gaming circles online since 1995 and back with the modern infancy of emulation the 8bit started the rolls with VGB DOS and then Pasofami for NES out of Japan.  Even back then, a decade later, and since, if you ever bring up Gameboy outside of enthusiast types the same comments get made.

 

As you said, key games very very key ones based on NES franchises are factored in when they did the TV version some respect and didn't come up short, or maybe they were beloved more like Tetris.  But once a game showed being a bit less than the NES stuff like SF2 not made up in some other respect (like Samurai Shodown did with full moves/roster but with chibi visuals) it got dumped on.  The rest largely overlooked or seen as puzzles, bite sized gaming, easy stuff for on the go, short... insert disparaging comment here basically.

 

The thing is, they're not 100% wrong either, but far far more wrong than right, because no one ever looked very deep beyond the surface level.  Spinoffs like Gargoyle's Quest or Kid Dracula were every bit as good, deep, complex as the 8bit home games.  As much as you got from Castlevania on NES, the 2nd and 3rd were easy matches, same with the work on Contra.  Mega Man was a mix of 2 titles and did it in style quite well yet #5 was the only true unique 8bit Mega Man game on the handheld and it outclasses the lot of them.  There aren't a lot of people who bother to look into, let alone do a Gameboy Works level of depth into retrospective of the stuff.  The few like Parish who did that work and still does, ever realize how much is there.  But now with the toxic asinine prices now finally capping and receding as more people are just repulsed and angered by it, Gameboy is becoming a target.  More and more those games are leaving the $1-10 barrier and going for $15, $30, $50 now when it would have been laughable and anyone predicting it in the 201X's as insanity settling in.  People are catching on that 8bit GB/C stuff  isn't so bitsy and bite sized but deep too.

 

GBA went foul before it because there was no myth there, it straight up was a mix of capability of like SNES and Saturn more or less, people ran to it or avoided until GB Player hit so they could deal then if they hated handhelds.

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14 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

GBA went foul before it because there was no myth there, it straight up was a mix of capability of like SNES and Saturn more or less, people ran to it or avoided until GB Player hit so they could deal then if they hated handhelds.

At least with GBA, I think that didn't get dumped on as often as the first Game Boy since SNES is usually more praised that NES in the first place, the earlier of which was compared to GBA, so I think that had more people looking retrospectively at it earlier on, especially today where the 10 year olds buying GBA in 2001 are 31 year olds in 2022 and have firmly gotten ahold of jobs which pay well enough to allow them to buy the games they used to play in their youth too.

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Yeah perhaps, there's the overlap especially since like 100 of the GBA games globally were also SNES, (euro) SNES, and Super Famicom titles to take on the go.  Cross that with the fact most 'retro' games seem to aspire to be SNES wannabes in visual/audio style more often than not on those that do better, and then some still get re-released for $5-20 on ios/android depending how nasty someone wants to price (nasty being Square if you look.)  It's easier to see why the GBA would generally squeeze more coin on more titles across the board, but the 8bit family is no slouch.  There are easily more $100+ titles on the GBA, but I'd think more $2-300+ titles on the 8bit side.  So it's kind of toss up who has the more poison pill effect as a collector, or far worse, someone who wants just legit goods but to actually enjoy as intended...a game, not an investment property.

 

You'd be surprised how much random stuff I've dumped in May/June just locally alone, whole handheld systems and other stuff.  Too toxic to buy, 100% don't want to deal with it anymore, so I'm consolidating.  Helps largely I have a unique store in town that'll pay 50-60% of ebay paid prices.  That may seem bad, but when you look at the 15-20% snap from ebay and their FVF, then them reporting that shit to the US gov't for a 1099k which that is another 15-20% tax on the original value... you're losing 40-50% of what you so called "earn" on ebay... it's a breakeven store. :D  No sharks, no scams for 'issues' on games, no hoping for pay vs deadbeats, mail loss/damage fears...none of it.  Walk in, get paid. :P  Gameboy though, that's goin nowhere.  Evercade, tiger r-zone, a few neo geo mvs games, couple game & watch handhelds, a backup DMG CIB in box, various other bits...it was quite the relief. :P

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On 6/10/2022 at 1:36 AM, electricmastro said:

Always appreciated games like Zool. There's not much to it and could use more polish like in sound, but what's there in an expressive, bouncy platformer is enough for me to stick around. It can be one of those "average" sort of games that's not average for static graphics and overall mundane tone.

The stripped down graphics probably make this by far the easiest port to see what the heck you’re doing.

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17 hours ago, electricmastro said:

Underappreciated motorcross trilogy by Konami. It's like Excitebike, but more free-spirited and with more spark to it:

 

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Its (seemingly) a good series.  Need to check out MMA sometime soon as I have played and enjoyed the first two.

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23 hours ago, electricmastro said:

Ah, just saw that Parodius was on there. Birds in hats are always a delight. lol

 

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Yup, some amazing stuff that usually wasn't put into english which is nice to see.  Sure you have the stuff we did get like Contra, Bikers(Motocross Maniacs), Quarth(block game), both Castlevania and Gradius titles too.  But then you get into the JP/EU weeds of Goemon, Parodius, Twinbee, Guttang Gottong, Antarctic Adventure, and some others.

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Does anybody in this thread read Japanese?

 

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I picked up Naxat Soft’s Collection Pocket (DMG-ACOJ-JPN) recently and would like to know what to call the minigames. Google Translate and a friend have come up with (whole left column first then right):

 

1. Fight Scratch / Faito Kizzu / Fight Kiss? (a semi cute em up with a bullet hell feel and preset level progression)

 

 

2. Crunchy / Baribari (a Gradius-looking shmup with random level order and tight mazes to fly though)

 

 

3. 7 Shot (a slot machine game that uses a lightgun to stop the icons)

 

 

4. MAX Racer (an LCD style racing game)

5. Battle Circuit (an LCD style racing game with combat?)

6. Blackjack (take a guess)

7. Poker (no, really)

8. Big Slot (a slot machine)

9. Bingo (a bingo/lotto number picker, not a game)

10. Pakapaka (a horse racing game that is an actual racing game and not a betting sim)

 

The shmups are really pretty good if a little simple and plain. The car/LCD and horse racing games are fun if you like those respective things.

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I think you got the names right. The first one is confusing because it's definitely not "Fight Kiss" but rather "Fight Kizz" indeed so I don't understand what they were trying to spell. I'm pretty sure "Keys" (kîzu) or "Kids" (kidozu) would have been written in a different way as well. But the Japanese like to invent English words anyway... ?

 

These names are all written in katakana which is the alphabet used for foreign (often English) words. That being said, it was (still is?) sometimes used for Japanese words when the resolution was not high enough to display kanji or hiragana, typically in old video games. I don't think that's the case here; my guess is "Baribari" and "Pakapaka" are onomatopoeia (Japanese has A LOT of those), the latter for horses racing probably.

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7 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

Does anybody in this thread read Japanese?

 

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I think your translations check out.  Katakana is mostly for foreign words so you can sound them out.  Things like pakapaka might be an onomatopoeia that us barbarians can't understand.  Kinda like how we write "woof" for a dog whilst the Japanese write "wan wan"  

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3 hours ago, Gemintronic said:

I think your translations check out.  Katakana is mostly for foreign words so you can sound them out.  Things like pakapaka might be an onomatopoeia that us barbarians can't understand.  Kinda like how we write "woof" for a dog whilst the Japanese write "wan wan"  

“Pakapaka” is clearly supposed to be hoofbeats. Not sure about “baribari” though. Supposed to be laser fire maybe? But that one is more of an evade-em-up.

 

Hmmm. “Work Hard”? https://nihongomaster.com/japanese/dictionary/word/947/baribari-baribari

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9 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

“Pakapaka” is clearly supposed to be hoofbeats. Not sure about “baribari” though. Supposed to be laser fire maybe? But that one is more of an evade-em-up.

 

Hmmm. “Work Hard”? https://nihongomaster.com/japanese/dictionary/word/947/baribari-baribari

 

Could be another ponatoatopea er.. anatamapea..  whatever that word is that I said before!  Something like "Vroom vroom!".  Does that mini game involve a vehicle?  Perhaps a motorcycle?

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6 hours ago, Gemintronic said:

 

Could be another ponatoatopea er.. anatamapea..  whatever that word is that I said before!  Something like "Vroom vroom!".  Does that mini game involve a vehicle?  Perhaps a motorcycle?

Nope, it’s an avoid em up/shmup with lots of tight corridors. Very technical and not hasty game. It’s very fun, though.

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