The Official Game Boy Thread

[SlidellMan]

There were many overhead (and isometric) Run & Gun games on the GBA. I will say this in defense of Tomb Raider: The Prophecy: It looked and played better than the CD and PS2 Tomb Raider titles. (Ditto for the two GBC installments.)

[Tanooki]

If you want to find quite the stunning run n' gun isometric with a dash of bullet time look at MAX PAYNE which was fully converted to the GBA and it oddly works, quite well, at times feels less clunky than the original.

 

 

Rockstar did stunning work on GBA... I mean damn, ever try serious try out Grand Theft Auto Advance?  It's basically a GTA3 sidestory release with only the overhead camera enabled.  Giant 3 part city like the PS2 release.  Anything that moves is sprites, anything that's not like buildings are all 3D models and it works to create some amazing depth.  Solid audio package too even with a few very brief looping bits of speech on some radio stations.  And no, the controls aren't bad, nor do they suffer at all, plays very well.

 

 

[Hwlngmad]

15 hours ago, Tanooki said:

If you want to find quite the stunning run n' gun isometric with a dash of bullet time look at MAX PAYNE which was fully converted to the GBA and it oddly works, quite well, at times feels less clunky than the original.

 

 

Rockstar did stunning work on GBA... I mean damn, ever try serious try out Grand Theft Auto Advance?  It's basically a GTA3 sidestory release with only the overhead camera enabled.  Giant 3 part city like the PS2 release.  Anything that moves is sprites, anything that's not like buildings are all 3D models and it works to create some amazing depth.  Solid audio package too even with a few very brief looping bits of speech on some radio stations.  And no, the controls aren't bad, nor do they suffer at all, plays very well.

 

 

I need to give Tomb Raider: Prophecy and Max Payne a go on the GBA.  But, I did play GTA Advance and almost finished it.  It is a good game and thought it was really well done.  I can definitely recommend it especially if one like the original GTA games.

[+atari2600land]

Two games in the mail today.

I can't figure out Heiankyo Alien.

I got four of a kind in High Stakes Gambling. I couldn't find a camera, but I did save the password.

[Tanooki]

Heiankyo Alien isn't that confusing what's the problem?

 

Might I suggest this as an easier test through windows to figure it out? http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/heiankyo-alien/

 

The game shown in their article hyperware did a JP company that ported the original to Windows, their website is offline, but was up less than a year ago when i linked it in the thread here about oldest living games still updated.

 

The idea is to dig pits, enemies fall in, return quick and bury them to move on.  It's an overhead version of lode runner in some ways, perhaps that designer stole the Japanese ideas of this for their more popular franchise.

 

 

[NE146]

I remember in college picking up a copy of GB Heiankyo Alien for whatever reason.. and at the time (this was circa 1989/90?) I thought it had to be the LAMEST premise for a game ever.. "DIGGING HOLES????"   I could not believe it at the time how absolutely lame it was.  It's funny though how as the decades have passed now I think it's 100% fine. At the time what we were looking for was stuff like the expansive worlds of Blaster Master, powering up your vehicle, or Zelda 2, etc. But now that that's all behind us.. now to me it's Heiankyo Alien.. a classic! lol

 

 

Edited February 27 by NE146

[Hwlngmad]

7 hours ago, atari2600land said:

I can't figure out Heiankyo Alien.

No worries, it didn't grab me either.  However, ironically, Doraemon: Meikyuu Daisakusen on the PC Engine did.  Different games click for different people.  All good.

[Gory-Glory]

I have bought Game Boy Carts from a guy on a Swedish Retrogamegroup on Facebook that costed together 100 Swedish Kronor / 8 Euro / 9 US-Dollar plus postage

 

4X4 World Trophy (UKV) - Game Boy Color

 

 

Donkey Kong Land 3 (2002) - Piratecart

 

 

Godzilla 32 in 1 - Multicart

 

 

New Super 55 in 1 - Multicart

 

 

Game USA Color 92 in 1 - Multicart

 

Edited March 26 by Gory-Glory

[roots.genoa]

On 2/25/2024 at 6:02 PM, electricmastro said:

Yeah, I was surprised in particular that Medal of Honor: Infiltrator isn’t brought up more. I think fans of games like Guerrilla War, Mercs, and Cannon Fodder would get a kick out of it.

 

I got it yesterday. I started playing a little today and it's quite hard for me. 😔

[r_chase]

Maybe I should've posted what I learned today over here because it pertains to the GameBoy Advance...or more specifically the homebrew for it.

Long story short, I learned that the Go programming language can be used to develop GBA games. I would link the article, but I bet you guys can find it easily since I don't want to spam the forums with the same link again.

[SlidellMan]

Sweet Ange by Koei:

This is best described as a Board Game of sorts.

[r_chase]

On 3/26/2024 at 4:47 PM, r_chase said:

Maybe I should've posted what I learned today over here because it pertains to the GameBoy Advance...or more specifically the homebrew for it.

Long story short, I learned that the Go programming language can be used to develop GBA games. I would link the article, but I bet you guys can find it easily since I don't want to spam the forums with the same link again.

Ehh...screw it. Here it is anyway.

[Video]

Nice Gory-Glory, love some multicart action. I still get multicart games when I find them.

 

Got a nes, and Sega master system collection for gba, didn't like they took off the audio Sir the Sega intros, but pretty good otherwise.

[Tanooki]

@Video Ahh fun, PocketNES and SMS Advance... still relevant all these years later.  I used to back on the pre-SD card devices love to build up what I could using those tools nearly 20 years ago now.  What you have there, one thing that blew my mind was the stupid choice on the GG/SMS side to terminate the 100in1 cart for the 106, or are you talking teh shared space cart with both?  The 106 took out a lot of fantastic translated mainline titles like the Phantasy STar pairing, Panzer Dragoon Mini, and others, and put some pretty dumb filth on there in comparison.

[SlidellMan]

3D Sage just released his 3D game engine for Game Boy Advance:

Download link: Gameboy Advance Development (gbadev.org)

I have to say that 3D Sage may be the next Ken Silverman.

[r_chase]

17 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

3D Sage just released his 3D game engine for Game Boy Advance:

Download link: Gameboy Advance Development (gbadev.org)

I have to say that 3D Sage may be the next Ken Silverman.

I kinda want something like this for 2D platformers or top-down action games.

[Tanooki]

I put him on subscribe just to get a notification.

 

I need this tool, i want to use it.  I've struggled to get anything from NES Maker for instance.  I was gifted it last year and I have no idea how to even make textures, tiles, let alone save them.  The fucking menu is obtuse, confusing, and utterly ove rmy head and the how-to videos are shit to be bluntly rude about it.  I need something hands on like this, his video alone is very good, no asinine hurdles, you can get right in and bring your ideas to form without fighting the machine(the creation tool) which is HUGE.

 

His engine looks top notch, on the level of wow factor that TORUS games did with Doom 2 and Duke Nuke Advance on GBA which are out of this world above what others pulled off in a FPS space.  Their only rival really being the v3d french engine and the blue roses one that WIng Commander used.

[r_chase]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I put him on subscribe just to get a notification.

 

I need this tool, i want to use it.  I've struggled to get anything from NES Maker for instance.  I was gifted it last year and I have no idea how to even make textures, tiles, let alone save them.  The fucking menu is obtuse, confusing, and utterly ove rmy head and the how-to videos are shit to be bluntly rude about it.  I need something hands on like this, his video alone is very good, no asinine hurdles, you can get right in and bring your ideas to form without fighting the machine(the creation tool) which is HUGE.

 

His engine looks top notch, on the level of wow factor that TORUS games did with Doom 2 and Duke Nuke Advance on GBA which are out of this world above what others pulled off in a FPS space.  Their only rival really being the v3d french engine and the blue roses one that WIng Commander used.

I guess I could keep an eye on the 3D Sage engine as well. Maybe it'll be like EasyFPSEditor in the near future but for the GBA; as in you can make an entire game with it rather than just levels. It'll probably be a bit until we can do that though.

[SlidellMan]

I'll just leave this here, and I'm glad that Wayforward decided to release this.

[Pixelboy]

8 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

I'll just leave this here, and I'm glad that Wayforward decided to release this.

Too bad they don't accept Paypal, I would have pre-ordered this right away. Oh well, I'll take my chances with eBay once this comes out near the end of 2024.

 

EDIT: I had a look at Limited Games' Amazon.com storefront. They have a section for pre-orders but Shantae is nowhere to be found, even with the pre-order period ending today. I guess they REALLY don't want me to pre-order this game. Alright guys, I won't! 

 

EDIT #2: This reminds me, I should look up what's happening with the physical GBA release of GoodBoy Galaxy. It's been available in ROM format since December.

 

Edited April 7 by Pixelboy

[roots.genoa]

6 hours ago, Pixelboy said:

EDIT #2: This reminds me, I should look up what's happening with the physical GBA release of GoodBoy Galaxy. It's been available in ROM format since December.

They recently sent an email to backers to explain they just sorted out the cart production problem.

[Pixelboy]

2 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

They recently sent an email to backers to explain they just sorted out the cart production problem.

Yep, that's what I was told earlier today.

 

[Tanooki]

Ugh I hate limited run, I don't buy from them really anymore.  I had to with Shantae as F paying $600 for an original, and there's no way to get english Valis Coll 1 & 2 other than from them.  This is another of those cases.  $60 feels a little steep, but Shantae GBC was $45 back in the day and it's less costly parts on the old GBC side of things.  Sigh...I may have to put an order in otherwise that's a lost cause for good.

 

F them, now I can't get the game for GBA.  They took down paypal, and my other avenue is my master card tied to an online banking account which I setup some time ago when ebay forced using bank info vs PP.  It's declining that card despite the fact it's fine which means their preorder broker purplesomething doesn't work with it.

 

...not sure what to do, it's a deal breaker now, but it will come to windows I guess later on steam?  What a bitch move.

Edited April 8 by Tanooki

[Tanooki]

I think this applies well enough to qualify a post.  I by sheer dumb luck of timing and a triple check before leaving a flea market found this gem for $80 with Tetris (selling game, don't need like 3 copies of it.)  It's in stunning shape, always liked the look but when I do see them they're yellowed, dingy, scuffed to death... this is nearly perfect and worth eating it in my book to keep.

 

 

[M-S]

11 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Ugh I hate limited run, I don't buy from them really anymore.  I had to with Shantae as F paying $600 for an original, and there's no way to get english Valis Coll 1 & 2 other than from them.  This is another of those cases.  $60 feels a little steep, but Shantae GBC was $45 back in the day and it's less costly parts on the old GBC side of things.  Sigh...I may have to put an order in otherwise that's a lost cause for good.

 

F them, now I can't get the game for GBA.  They took down paypal, and my other avenue is my master card tied to an online banking account which I setup some time ago when ebay forced using bank info vs PP.  It's declining that card despite the fact it's fine which means their preorder broker purplesomething doesn't work with it.

 

...not sure what to do, it's a deal breaker now, but it will come to windows I guess later on steam?  What a bitch move.

I 100% agree, one of my biggest issues with Shantae and LRG is that I know that soon enough their games are going on sale for like 50 cents each, I even got two of them for free on Xbox Live a few years ago. If they wanted to actually sell as many physical copies as possible they could put all Shantae games in a collection cartridge and sell it for $60 rather than sell each game for the same price, or in this case they could add a physical switch to play either the GBA or GBC game. But it seems like their strategy is to sell less in order to increase the game's value in the future.