Activision Anthology for GBA (My first impressions)

[SmileyDude]

anyone can give us some more detailes about each game...

 

Honestly, unless you're comparing the 2600 version and the GBA version at the same time, you probably wouldn't notice much of a difference. Pitfall II is a bit slower, but that isn't really surprising since there is another chip to emulate with that game.

 

Chopper Command didn't seem any different than I remember, except for the lack of the Activision logo at the bottom of the screen (I don't think any of the games have the logo, but since it doesn't add anything to the game, and the GBA is a bit short on vertical resolution when compared to the 2600, it's not really missed at all).

 

You can't go wrong with this cart -- considering that you're getting 40+ games for the 2600 in one cart for the GBA that you can play anywhere for $30, I'd say that was one hell of a deal. My memory might be off, but that's only slightly more than just one Activision game back when they first came out.

[Albert]

Man, this is classic. I was just looking at Amazon.com, and reviews have started to show up for the GBA Anthology. The latest review (at least when I wrote this) is someone complaining about BUGS in the package. What are the bugs? Let's see, he said that after you get to 1,000 points in Laser Blast, you can no longer move vertically! And that when you get hit in Human Freeway, you get sent back to the bottom. And that the barrels sometimes go through you in Pitfall!

 

Here, let me quote,

 

I have just purchased this game and it is full of bugs. every game has its own set of problems ... playing "human freeway", when you cross the road it either sends you back to the start or it lets you keep going across the road after being hit, ??? , "Laserblast" after about 1000 pts you can no longer move up and down, only side to side, ??? , "pitfall" has times when the barrels go right through you, and it also moves slower than the original, .... thats just to name a few of the 55 problems on this comp ... my advice is to stear clear of this title. i thought it might just be my cartridge that was defective, but 3 of my other friends called me to tell me not to buy because of bugs!!!! too late for me!!! but not to late for you! if i could give it zero stars i would. I guess thats what happens when you buy 3rd party games!! If anyone rates this game higher than 1 star, they must work for "ASPYR GAMES" ....

 

It would be nice if people who actually are familiar with 2600 games and have purchased the GBA Anthology could leave their honest impressions of it. Here is the link on Amazon:

 

Amazon.com: ASPYR Activision Anthology (Game Boy)

 

..Al

[Jess Ragan]

"I didn't realize this was out already, so upon seeing this announcement here, I snagged the ROM from usenet and loaded it into Visual Boy Advance. "

 

Wow, you openly admitted that you downloaded the ROM even while knowing that the producer of the game visits this forum? The last time I saw balls that big they were rolling around in a Lotto machine.

 

JR

[Jess Ragan]

While I would never dispute Al's technical expertise, something completely boggles my mind here.  If the GBA is not a very powerful piece of hardware, and just barely able to emulate a 2600, what does that say about games like Metroid Fusion, Super Monkey Ball Jr. and Golden Sun?  Are we being fooled into believing these games are "Advanced" by some sort of trickery pulling way more power out of a puny GBA than should be possible?  But then, what does that say about Konami Arcade Classics, the Pac-Man Collection, Namco Museum i.e. GBA titles that perfectly emulate ARCADE games, let alone 2600 games?  Shouldn't that be impossible if a GBA can just barely handle mimicking a 2600?  Last but not least, SNES ports like Super Mario Advance 2 + 3 shouldn't even be possible at all.  If it can barely emulate a 2600 it certainly can't be capable of emulating SNES games - yet it does!

 

That's why I'm totally confused.  

 

I think you don't fully understand how emulation works. The games aren't what's push the Game Boy Advance to its limits... it's the difficult task of duplicating the quirky 2600 hardware. The Game Boy Advance is running an environment that simulates the 2600 right down to the last detail, and that takes a great deal of processing power.

 

The games themselves are nothing... if they were written specifically for the Game Boy Advance, you could fit one of them on a single e-reader card. However, expecting the system to do everything the 2600 does, is very taxing. There's a lot more going on than the game itself.

 

JR

[+Nathan Strum]

If the GBA is not a very powerful piece of hardware, and just barely able to emulate a 2600, what does that say about games like Metroid Fusion, Super Monkey Ball Jr. and Golden Sun?  But then, what does that say about Konami Arcade Classics, the Pac-Man Collection, Namco Museum i.e. GBA titles that perfectly emulate ARCADE games, let alone 2600 games?  Shouldn't that be impossible if a GBA can just barely handle mimicking a 2600?  Last but not least, SNES ports like Super Mario Advance 2 + 3 shouldn't even be possible at all.

 

Konami, Atari, Midway, Namco are all recreations - not the actual arcade games (the more familiar you are with the originals, the more glaring the differences become). So they're re-written from the ground-up to take full advantage of the hardware on the GBA. If they were truly emulated, they'd crawl at a snail's pace. Galaga, for example, used three processors in the original arcade machine.

 

I suspect the GBA's SNES ports are just that - ports. Re-writes. Not emulated SNES consoles running the original software.

 

The GBA may be fairly feeble compared to modern consoles, but it has more than enough power for games that are coded specifically for it. Consider an older handheld like the Lynx - that was able to run ports of STUN Runner and Hard Drivin' just fine. Yet to run the arcade versions of those games full-speed under emulation in MAME requires a 1GHz+ processor. Yet that same 1GHz+ CPU can run far more advanced 3D games that have been written specifically for it.

 

With an emulator, instead of attempting to re-write the game for different hardware, you're having a completely different piece of hardware (the GBA) mimic the original hardware (the 2600), so the "virtual machine" can run the original software. There's an awful lot of overhead involved in that, even if the original hardware is primitive by today's standards. The benefit is that the games aren't re-creations that may have subtle (or not-so subtle) differences in gameplay. The drawback is performance. Personally, I prefer accuracy over performance, as long as it doesn't ruin the playability of the game.

 

I just got my copy in the mail today, so I plan to play it to death tonight, and I'll post my review as soon as my thumbs stop bleeding.

[cryptik76]

anyone can give us some more detailes about each game...

 

I'm not an expert with Chopper Command (though I do own the game), but I didn't notice any difference in speed between the GBA version and the original.

 

Even if you're not a fan of the other titles in the collection, you might just find yourself being a fan of some of them after playing for a while. I was never a fan of Dragster, but I am now.

[PongHit]

... you're getting 40+ games ...

 

Isn't there 55+ games in this collection?

 

-PongHit

[SS]

I picked up a copy today and, although I haven’t had the chance to play through all of the games so far, what I’ve seen has been absolutely fantastic! Even the slight slowdown in “Pitfall” isn’t really that jarring after a few screens of getting used to the speed.

 

One of the very coolest things about the package is seeing the AA community so well represented. The ALs an AA get a “special thanks” in the booklet credits. So do many other board regulars. And it’s just mind-blowing to be able to play “Space Treat”, “Climber 5”, “Okie Dokie”, “Oystron”, “Skeleton +”, “Vault Assault”, and “Euchre” on a modern platform!

 

Two thumbs way up for this release!

[cryptik76]

And it’s just mind-blowing to be able to play “Space Treat”, “Climber 5”, “Okie Dokie”, “Oystron”, “Skeleton +”, “Vault Assault”, and “Euchre” on a modern platform!    

 

Two thumbs way up for this release!    

 

I haven't played the other homebrews much (yet), but I've played quite a bit of Skeleton+ and it's incredible! I'm thinking of buying the real cartridge after playing this. It's great to see the homebrews represented.

 

I agree with your "two thumbs way up." I'm a happy camper with this collection.

[MegaManFan]

Konami, Atari, Midway, Namco are all recreations - not the actual arcade games (the more familiar you are with the originals, the more glaring the differences become). So they're re-written from the ground-up to take full advantage of the hardware on the GBA. If they were truly emulated, they'd crawl at a snail's pace. Galaga, for example, used three processors in the original arcade machine.

 

I suspect the GBA's SNES ports are just that - ports. Re-writes. Not emulated SNES consoles running the original software.

 

The GBA may be fairly feeble compared to modern consoles, but it has more than enough power for games that are coded specifically for it. Consider an older handheld like the Lynx - that was able to run ports of STUN Runner and Hard Drivin' just fine. Yet to run the arcade versions of those games full-speed under emulation in MAME requires a 1GHz+ processor. Yet that same 1GHz+ CPU can run far more advanced 3D games that have been written specifically for it.

 

I humbly stand corrected.

 

With an emulator, instead of attempting to re-write the game for different hardware, you're having a completely different piece of hardware (the GBA) mimic the original hardware (the 2600), so the "virtual machine" can run the original software. There's an awful lot of overhead involved in that, even if the original hardware is primitive by today's standards. The benefit is that the games aren't re-creations that may have subtle (or not-so subtle) differences in gameplay. The drawback is performance. Personally, I prefer accuracy over performance, as long as it doesn't ruin the playability of the game.

 

I just got my copy in the mail today, so I plan to play it to death tonight, and I'll post my review as soon as my thumbs stop bleeding.

 

If GameStop or EBGames is getting these in within the next few days, I'll pick up a copy and post a review myself. I tooled around with one in Austin at Aspyr's booth, but it was only a working prototype/demo. I can't wait to see the real thing.

[+Nathan Strum]

Here's a quickie review, I'm sure others will delve into more detail regarding actual game speeds and whatnot. This is all based on my perception, and not on any timed comparisons.

 

First, the games look very good indeed. There are some choppy graphics here and there where things had to be squished into the GBA's resolution. But it's minimal in most cases, and doesn't affect gameplay.

 

The sounds, mostly, are spot-on. There are some exceptions, where sounds are skipped or incorrect, probably due to the speed of the emulation (notably the extra life sound in Laser Blast, and the sound the sticks make in Ice Hockey).

 

Some games run great, and are perfect games for the GBA. For instance: Megamania, Vault Assault (an excellent homebrew), Enduro, SeaQuest, and Chopper Command.

 

(Edit: Add Robot Tank to that list too. Although the radar blip is hard to see, it plays great!)

 

Starmaster, Tennis, Grand Prix, Cosmic Commuter, Skiing and Spider Fighter also seem to run full speed.

 

Laser Blast is mostly full speed, and just as repetitive as the real thing. But it makes for a great mini-game (especially if you just want to mindlessly kill some time). Kaboom works surprisingly well, although the lack of an analog control still hurts the game. But I was never very good at Kaboom to begin with, so I'm not the best judge.

 

Pitfall and Pitfall II are noticably slower, but once you adapt to the pace of the game, they're completely playable. Ice Hockey is considerably slower than normal, and the game suffers as a result.

 

Space Treat and Climber 5 run slower than normal, but it doesn't hurt Space Treat too bad. Climber's first couple of levels are so slow they almost hurt to play.

 

Beamrider is slower than normal, but it still plays pretty well. The main drawback is that the game is too easy now. Same with River Raid.

 

H.E.R.O. is, to put it kindly, dog-slow. It's too bad, but such is life with emulation. It's playable, but the slowness pretty much kills the fun. How slow? You can actually follow your lasers as they move across the screen.

 

That's about all I've gone through at this point (I don't play all of the included games in the first place, so I'm not familiar with the speed of them all).

 

From a presentation standpoint, I like the way the collection is put together. The main menu works well (especially for selecting games), although I'm not real fond of how you have to use key combos for game select, color/B&W and difficulty switches. It's very un-2600-like. Personally, I would have preferred: select = select, start = reset, L and R = L and R difficulty, B = color/B&W, and then to pause the game and access the menus, use a combo like select + start. But what's there works, after you get used to it. (I sure wouldn't want to try playing Space Shuttle though.)

 

One big plus - you can adjust the brightness in the game options menu. All GBA games should have this. Kudos for including that.

 

If you think of it as a mini-game collection, it makes for a very nice package. $29.95 worth? Well... you'll have to make that call. I wish it were $19.95, personally, but I still paid Aspyr the full price, and don't regret doing so. It's worth it just to have even a handful of these games in a nice, portable format. Especially Megamania, which seems very much at home on the GBA. I certainly recommend getting it, since there are bound to be games on here that you'll like, even if some of the others don't run at full speed.

[Albert]

From a presentation standpoint, I like the way the collection is put together. The main menu works well (especially for selecting games), although I'm not real fond of how you have to use key combos for game select, color/B&W and difficulty switches. It's very un-2600-like. Personally, I would have preferred: select = select, start = reset, L and R = L and R difficulty, B = color/B&W, and then to pause the game and access the menus, use a combo like select + start. But what's there works, after you get used to it. (I sure wouldn't want to try playing Space Shuttle though.)

 

I believe Nintendo dictates what the Select and Start keys must do, so I think Aspyr's hands were more or less tied as far as that goes. I know that's one of the first things I brougth up when I first had an opportunity to play it a while back.

 

..Al

[SS]

H.E.R.O. is, to put it kindly, dog-slow. It's too bad, but such is life with emulation. It's playable, but the slowness pretty much kills the fun. How slow? You can actually follow your lasers as they move across the screen.

 

HERO is the only one that I've found the slow-up to really change the nature of the game. You're right that it pretty much kills the game.

[israelg]

How good is playing with the orignal GBA not new SP version ?

 

does the brightness selection really improve the games visibilty ?

 

Israel Geron T.

[+Nathan Strum]

How good is playing with the orignal GBA not new SP version ?

 

does the brightness selection really improve the games visibilty ?

 

Sorry - I've only got an SP. But I tested it with the backlight off, and cranking up the brightness option really does help with visibility there, so I would assume the same applies to an original GBA.

[Flojomojo]

"I didn't realize this was out already, so upon seeing this announcement here, I snagged the ROM from usenet  and loaded it into Visual Boy Advance. "

 

Wow, you openly admitted that you downloaded the ROM even while knowing that the producer of the game visits this forum?  The last time I saw balls that big they were rolling around in a Lotto machine.

 

JR

Jess, why don't you read my whole comment rather than selectively quoting me out of context? I also said that I had bought this friggin' collection in several other formats already (Windows, PSOne, PS2, not to mention quite a few of the original VCS cartridges), hence my hesitation. I also said that the collection so impressed me that I picked up the real cartridge that same evening.

[mechanized]

I was thinking that you could have great fun with this if you've got a GameCube with a Game Boy Player.

 

GameBoy Player is godly.

 

There are so many good GameBoy titles out now, since it is the venue for 2D gaming these days. Problem is, a lot of those games are a pain to play on that little tiny screen. GameBoy Player changes this, and changes it so well.

 

Now I can actually play those longer games comfortably (LoZ, Castlevanias, Metroids, etc) without going blind staring at my unlit screen (not buying the SP after I had just bought an Advance!).

 

I'm not one for portable gaming much as it is. Rarely do I feel the need to plug into something on the go and torture my eyes with gameplay (that I apparently badly crave). However, that's one of the things that's making me eye this collection, since it's not that graphically intensive it'll probably play really well on the go or at home. Can't beat that, nope.

[bdub]

Some of you have figured out that you can use the L and R buttons in Kaboom as well as the D-Pad. You can also use the L and R buttons *combined* with the D-Pad to move super-fast.  

 

Assassin, is it technically possible to include support for the Cube analogue sticks for those of us playing with the GBA Player? That would be great for Kaboom.

 

Maybe an idea for the sequel...

[SmileyDude]

... you're getting 40+ games ...

Isn't there 55+ games in this collection?

 

Well, that's still 40+ Sorry, I was just too lazy to actually look/count

[SS]

I’m sure that there’s a good and easy answer for this question but why couldn’t the old-school emulator trick of using a frame skip have been used to boost the speed of the games that were running slow?

[oesii]

I’m sure that there’s a good and easy answer for this question but why couldn’t the old-school emulator trick of using a frame skip have been used to boost the speed of the games that were running slow?

 

 

Or maybe give you the option of increasing the frameskip for the games you wanted. I bet the answer is that it would have taken longer to program that feature into the emu. They did a bangup job for the limited time they had.

[SmileyDude]

While I'm sure that frame skipping would help, I tend to not like it personally. But, having said that, I think that some frame skipping might have been done (though, I'm certainly not the final authority on this ) -- in Pitfall II, I could swear that when you die on the original, that the score updated quicker than it does on the GBA version.

 

I’m sure that there’s a good and easy answer for this question but why couldn’t the old-school emulator trick of using a frame skip have been used to boost the speed of the games that were running slow?

[oesii]

Man, this is classic.  I was just looking at Amazon.com, and reviews have started to show up for the GBA Anthology.  The latest review (at least when I wrote this) is someone complaining about BUGS in the package.  What are the bugs?  Let's see, he said that after you get to 1,000 points in Laser Blast, you can no longer move vertically!  And that when you get hit in Human Freeway, you get sent back to the bottom.  And that the barrels sometimes go through you in Pitfall!

 

Here, let me quote,  

 

a revised review for this game, it's excellent!, December 8, 2003  

Reviewer: GOOSE from NEW YORK CITY i originally wrote a bad review for this game due to what i thought were bugs ... by my "jumping to conclusions" i feel it is now up to me to correct this. problem is that i have a computer disc with all bad games that i was comparing it to.. ATARI assured me that these games are direct ports and that it was MY disc that had the "BUGS" ... after trying the originals , i can assure you that it is true, this game is exactly like the originals and is by far the best atari compalation to date ... better than any console version ... plus extras not to be released on an other version!!! also try it on your gameboy player to see how perfect it is!!!!! go out and buy it now!!! you will not be dissapointed!! please disregard the last review i wrote bashing this product.. i was WRONG! its really that good!!  

 

 

My goodness, what do you think Al did to this guy to make him recant?

[SS]

My goodness, what do you think Al did to this guy to make him recant?    

 

 

Hmmm ... the guy's from NYC. Maybe Al hired a couple of Rat Bastards to make the guy an offer he couldn't refuse.

[dhowerter]

ALL: Hi I really want this compilation for 3 main games (and getting the others is just bonus stuff - I already have a bunch of 2600 carts

 

Anyway the 3 games are: H.E.R.O., Keystone Kapers and Kaboom

 

SO could people please comment on those 3 games in this GBA compilation and how well the graphics, sound, gameplay, FUN, etc is done compared to the Orginal 2600 carts? :-)

and any othe differences between this version and the original 2600 carts?

 

PLease go into as much detail as possible Thanks