#my only experiences were Mario Bros and Gameboy

[radar-of-the-stars]

Reviewing every Gameboy NSO game after spending 10 minutes with Each

Alleyway: This is a really solid clone of breakout, I was really impressed that level 2 was able to move so fluidly, I wish the paddle was faster

Baseball: This game desperately needs difficulty options, it was my first time playing and I was down 6-0 in the bottom of the second by the time my 10 minutes were up

Donkey Kong Land: Damn this game is ugly and has bad controls, especially in comparison to the SNES version, Pre-Rendered 3D DOES NOT WORK on an 8 bit system with a 144 by 160 screen and 4 colors

Dr. Mario: It's certainly Dr. Mario, a game I'm not very good at, the NES version is better because it has color

Game & Watch Gallery 3: Excellent collection of G&W Games, Egg is easily the best, the modern versions are beautiful

Kirby Tilt 'n Tumble: Really fun novelty. although I wish the jumping was controlled with a button rather than a gesture, the level design was a little simple, but that's probably just because it was the first few levels

Kirby's Dream Land: Amazing game, beautiful, made it all the way to Kabula before I ran out of time and I really wanted to just finish up the game, the movement is almost perfect even if you are familiar with Modern Kirby, one of the best games on the service

Kirby's Dream Land 2: This is Kirby's Dream Land but more and with Copy Abilities, the level design is a little weaker to accommodate the Animal Buddies, another contender for the best game on the service.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakinging DX: Obviously I cannot get a full grasp of a Zelda game in 10 minutes, I've played the game before and Link's Awakening is an Amazing zelda game, but in 10 minutes I can only really experience the controls, visuals, and music, which are all phenominal.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages: This is another great game, but the first 10 minutes were nothing but dialog and walking around the first village. the story was set up in a really interesting way, but there was nothing even resembling the action part of this action game

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons: One thing I appreciate about the Oracle games in comparison to Link's Awakening is that they have a text speed option, meaning I was able to get all the way to the first dungeon, and I can confidently day that the controls are exactly the same as Link's Awakening

Mario Golf: I played the regular golf mode rather than the story mode, and it certainly was an 8-bit golf game, the controls were way more intuitive than I expected

Mario Tennis: This is shockingly well put together compared to NES Tennis, what makes a tennis game had clearly evolved since NES Tennis, the spritework is also beautiful.

Metroid II: Return of Samus: The same thing I said about the weakness of the format applies to Metroid as well. That being said, even with my limit of 10 minutes, this is the best atmosphere on the Gameboy, the controls are heaps tighter than Metroid 1, and the Metroid fights are super fun and chaotic.

Super Mario Land: It's a lot like the first Mario Bros, if that game was way shorter, way less polished, and way more creative. The controls are both stiff and slippery, but the enemies and locations in the game are so much more interesting than anything in most Mario games.

Super Mario Land 2: The 6 Golden Coins: If Mario Land 1 is a version of Mario 1 with worse controls and more creative ideas, then Marion Land 2 is Mario World with worse controls and more creative ideas, this is also a contender for the best game on the service

Pokemon Trading Card Game: I didn't even make it through the tutorial battle, but the tutorial has been very informative as someone who didn't even know the most basic aspects of the TCG.

Quest for Camelot: I have no opinion on this game, I spent the entire 10 minutes doing a fetch quest to unlock the sword. The game looks pretty at least

Tetris: This is my personal least favorite version of Retro Tetris, mostly because of how slow moving pieces is, other than that it's retro tetris

Wario Land 3: Very fun and very creative, the sprite art is amazing for an 8-bit system, although I spent the entire time feeling like I was missing a key part of my moveset, there were all sorts of places and things that I couldn't interact with, no matter what kind of form I was in

Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare: This is a much better example of Pre-Rendered 3D than Donkey Kong Land, although it still looks like a total mess. This type of game works really well on the Gameboy with its limited control, but I don't know how much horror you can actually get out of the system's weak screen and limited color palette

Blaster Master: Enemy Below: This is an amazing Blaster Master game, I consider it to be almost on par with the Blaster Master Zero games; the movement is very fun because of the car's springy animation, and the player wasn't too bad either. I was already lost and backtracking within these 10 minutes. Another contender for the best game on the service

BurgerTime Deluxe: This is very simple arcade fun, there really isn't much to talk about, there are slight puzzle elements in how you drop the ingredients, but other than that, it's not that deep. I got a game over right as my time was running out, giving me a high score of 21600.

Castlevania Legends: one of the more faithful "Gameboy versions" on an NES game, it's like a version of Castlevania III with more focus on exploration, and a slower player character. in 10 minutes I did not die, but I also did not see the end of the first level

Gargoyle's Quest: Way more fun than I expected, the wall jumps were really fun to pull off, although jumps in general were a little stiff and the first level was super claustrophobic

Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge: These handheld Mega Man games are all super weird, makes me wonder why there aren't either of the Mega Man Xtreme games on the service, which are leagues better, anyways, the first handheld Mega Man games has really stiff controls and god awful level design that makes the NES game it's based on feel positively modern.

Mega Man II: This game loves instakill spikes, this is worse than Mega Man 4 NES, visuals are a lot better than Dr. Wily's Revenge. At least the Slide is here

Mega Man III: Of what I played, this is a huge step up, probably because the charge shot being here reduces the feeling of being ambushed by every enemy that the screen crunch causes, and this one is another graphical step up compared to Mega Man II, you can tell the developers are really starting to get a feel for the Game Boy's Hardware.

Mega Man IV: What the fuck happened? This game barely runs, the controls are downright baffling, the charge shot sends you flying backwards in a precision platformer, the enemies respawn the second they go off screen, it's like this game was made by corpses

Mega Man V: This one is a step back up, way more creative, a huge break from NES Mega Man 5, although it does inherit the slow down issues from Mega Man IV

[go-go-devil]

1, 4, 5, 6?

1) Do you try to stay away from walkthroughs?

That depends. If it's a game I started playing than yes. I only resort to using a video/text walkthrough if I'm REALLY stuck in a certain area. However, I've often watched walkthroughs for games I have no means of being able to play simply for the sake of still getting to experience it (this was something I did a lot in my youth/teen years in particular, though not as much now that I had a source of income). I also often check out a game by looking up a video walkthrough of it to see if I'm interested in playing it, then bail on it if I want to immediately go buy it!

4) Worst game you’ve ever played?

Well Finding Nemo for the GC is my personal worst game I played in my childhood. Ghost N' Goblins is a horrible experience but I didn't get very far. I've played a good few dogshit 90's gameboy games that might truly be the worst (played via a modified Xbox original console that contains literally thousands of emulated games installed onto it), but playing some Mary Kate & Ashley platforming cave adventure for the GBC while listing to Prequelle on vinyl was an oddly fun time in a way that probably only makes sense to my college self lol.

I suppose, by all technical accounts, Bubsy 3D is the worst game I ever truly dedicated myself to playing since I DID beat that game on my own after getting it solely to stream w/ my friends some years back. I once heard it described as a kind of "inverse nirvana" that's so bad that it ironically needs to be played to be believed, and I can confirm that! It is possible to have a so-bad-it's-good time with Bubsy 3D, but the fun also wears off after a few levels and honestly shouldn't be completed by yourself on your Mac laptop -_-

5) A popular series/game you just can’t get into no matter how much you try?

A tie between Elder Scrolls and 3D Fallout games.

My friend once gave me a copy of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion for free and I played it for several hours, had a good enough time, but strangely felt absolutely zero desire to pick it up again and ended up giving it back to them.

But at least Oblivion compelled me for that long. I had bought both Fallout 3 AND the internet darling Fallout: New Vegas for myself several years back due to how interested I was in the world of those games, and yet somehow both games were only able to get me 2 hours into them before I got really bored and focused on playing something else instead. It's gotta be that specific first-person style of gameplay, since modern TES and FO share the exact same style. Something about it just really doesn't gel with me...

6) A game that’s changed you the most?

Frankly there's a LOT of choices to pick for an answer here, so to save time I'm just gonna list 15 of the most important games in my life:

Super Mario Sunshine, Zoo Tycoon 2, Pokemon Emerald, Okami, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Katamari Damacy, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, Metroid Prime, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne, Shadow of the Colossus, Dark Souls 1, Super Smash Bros. Melee, & the Spyro the Dragon Trilogy (all tied lol yolo)

Oh and also the Hylics Duology, Sonic Mega Collection, LOZ Twilight Princess, Ratchet & Clank 1 + 2, Jak 1 + 2, the Sly Cooper Trilogy, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, Demon's Souls, and Pathologic Classic HD

...Okay maybe that's over 15. Whoops! You see what I mean though? Video games are too important to me to simply pick just one!

[ferhog]

Getting into Metroid This Past Month:

I first learned about Metroid (as well as most Nintendo franchises that weren't Pokemon and Mario) through my friend's copy of Smash Bros Brawl at around the age of 9. Samus being a hot lady underneath the cool set of power armor left enough of an impression for me to try and draw her from memory, but I otherwise had no interest in actually playing her games for most of the following decade and a half. In that time I learned a bit of her lore from Smash Trophys, Game Theory videos, and watching the first few minutes of Other M cutscenes to hear the lady from Smash Bros talk, but it wasn't until shortly after the release of Metroid Dread when I watched some late game cutscenes from the game and GameXplain's Metroid movie pitch video that I became interested enough in the story of the games and Samus as a character that I decided to downlo- I mean obtain copies of Zero Mission and Fusion for my Visua- I mean Gameboy Advance, which I held off on starting until I worked through my gaming backlog more, and it was earlier this summer that I decided the time had come.

The Metroid Manga: Before starting Zero Mission as my first game I read the manga so I'd get a good sense of Samus' backstory before starting. Now I knew what to roughly expect thanks to the Gamexplain movie pitch adapting much of the story, but overall I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. I probably don't need to tell you that Ridley was the absolute highlight. His pure evil is matched only by Louie from Pikmin in terms of Nintendo villains and it got me very invested in his rivalry with Samus throughout the games. Aside from that, my favourite part of the manga was Samus' characterization and her relationship with her bird dads. I have a real soft spot for all adoption related tropes so I really like the idea that Samus was taken in by what was once the most important race in the galaxy and inherited their legacy of keeping the peace, which she basically turned into a job via bounty hunting. However a lot of what the manga does is better in concept than in execution, as the art is hard to follow a lot of the time and much of the story is sped through quite quickly, no thanks to how much time is spent with the extensive cast of side characters. When Samus started her zero mission I held off on finishing the story until I played the game, and while I'm glad that they went with adapting the game at the end because we got to see a climactic fight against Ridley it is super bizarre that they didn't commit to the idea and just stopped when Samus reached Mother Brain. The manga is absolutely worth reading but best thought of as a companion to Zero Mission, probably best read afterwards.

Metroid Zero Mission: My experience with Metroidvanias was basically just Hollow Knight, the first Dark Souls, and Bloodborne, and while I was excited to experience the same sense of adventure I also feared getting lost as per this franchise's reputation. However I surprisingly managed to make my way though the whole game with only one thing I had to look up, which embarrassingly was the same mistake David Jaffe infamously made in Dread, as I failed to realize I could shoot a ceiling open even with enemies there to hint that I could. I think the game has the perfect balance between freedom and guidance as someone's first Metroid game through the chozo statues that mark your next destination without telling you how exactly to get there. Combine that with it being a remake of the first game and I think it was just the perfect game for me and anyone else to start with. My biggest issue gameplay-wise was just the fights against Mother Brain and the two black Space Pirates were very frustrating, the latter because the combat just didn't feel designed for a fight that reflex based, at least not for a newcomer. After finishing the game I felt compelled to earn the Zero Suit Samus ending, which I accomplished by constantly scouting out the optimal routes and resetting so I could get through them as fast as possible.

AM2R: I wanted to play these games in story order so I knew I had to play some version of Metroid 2 next. After trying out the original Metroid that you unlock after beating Zero Mission I figured the pre-NES games weren't going to be fun for me so I wanted to play either AM2R or Samus Returns, and I went with the former as it would be easier to find and would be closer to the game I just finished. The game is a very impressive feat for a fan-made project, though I think it was the one I had the least fun with overall. A few hours into the game I listened to the Some Call Me Johnny review which mentioned it being very hard, and that made sense considering it was a fan project by big Metroid fans for big Metroid fans, but it did result in a few of the bosses being quite frustrating with how much skill they demanded, particularly with the space jump which I struggled to understand the timing of. I didn't feel like instantly replaying it as I did with Zero Mission but I really loved how they adapted the ending.

Super Metroid: "This SNES game probably won't hold up that well right?" Thought the guy whose first console was the PS2.

Super Metroid is one of the greatest games of all time.

Metroid Fusion: I was real intrigued going into this game given what I'd heard about its linearity and extra story focus compared to the prior games but it was still a shock going straight from 2 playthroughs of Super Metroid to this. It didn't even really feel like Metroid, especially with how you were essentially playing through levels via Adam sending you through specific locations with specific tasks. Eventually I got used to it and fully accepted it as a Metroid game as I was increasingly required to be more explorative, though I think of all Metroid games I've played it has the most needlessly abstract methods for mandatory progression. The example which I eventually gave up on and looked up was the yellow Space Pirate X which which could only be damaged with a shot to the back apparently? There was seemingly no visual hints for that and the doors didn't even open if you absorbed the X before they formed the Space Pirates. While I figured out the other examples on my own I just felt I had to blow up way more seemingly random walls than normal. The bosses were generally very fun except for everything about Yakuza. A super long lead up to a boss that kept killing me super easily before I figured out how to avoid its grab attack, followed by a struggle to regain health for the ensuing SA-X encounter with how little health you get from enemies that could fly in out of nowhere and do more damage to you than you were regaining. Speaking of the SA-X, it wasn't in the game as much as I was expecting, but each encounter was quite memorable, especially when I was hiding behind power bomb blocks and it dropped a power bomb. Overall I didn't like most of this game's choices, but I like it when franchises try new things so I wouldn't say anything should have been changed except for how much health you get from enemies. This was the 2nd game I didn't feel like instantly replaying.

Metroid Prime: As of writing this I am currently a few hours into the first Metroid Prime, specifically having just gotten the boost ball. The Metroid formula was very well translated into 3D and the visuals have aged amazingly. I may be playing a remaster but most remasters still don't look this modern. But curiously this has been the Metroid game I've spent the most time away from during a playthrough, going several days without picking it up again. It's not that I dislike playing it, I just don't feel as much of a strong desire to keep coming back to it. Maybe I just feel the need to catch up on other stuff after playing so much Metroid. I do think I'll get around to playing the rest soon enough.

One of my biggest impressions overall is that Metroid is actually quite underrated despite how iconic it is. Samus seems mostly remembered as a Smash Bros character and her iconic twist as one of gaming's first female protagonists, but it doesn't seem like that many people actually play the games. It's also funny that while Samus is famous as a sex symbol in the Smash Bros and general gaming fandoms, it seems that the actual Metroid fandom prefers their Samus cooler than sexy. Anyway I'm looking forward to eventually picking up Dread, the game which first hooked my interest into this franchise, and the other 2 Prime games. Maybe I'll even pick up Other M if I see it around.

[game-boy-pocket]

Happy New Year.

It was a pretty good year for my gaming hobby and being a Nintendo fan. As usual, I did spend a majority of the year just replaying games I loved, but there were a few new, and new-to-me games that I played this year.

Around this time last the year I was on a Rare kick, playing through all the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, DK64, Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo Kazooie, and Conker. and Mark Kurko's Snowglow Village remake, and this spilled into January.

The Rare stuff also lead to a N64 kick in general, as I found a few decent Mario 64 hacks that worked on real hardware, and I also finished a run of Kirby 64 I started a few years ago and abandoned close to the end.

I managed to make it through a short and easy but very charming Fievel Goes West platformer on SNES. I've got a lot of nostalgia for Fievel so, no regrets there.

I started going back and fourth between The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, and Banjo Kazooie - the Jiggies of Time, and it was interesting to visit areas of the game as Link only to come back to them as Banjo, this also marked the first time I ever replayed a full length romhack from start to finish.

I picked up several Super Mario World romhacks. Some of them worked out, others didn't, either because of romhack difficulty or hardware incompatibility, but it really was kind of a Mario year for me.

Smash Remix got some amazing updates adding Marina, King Dedede, and Goemon, among other things. I can't wait to see where else that game goes. But speaking of Smash Bros, I also discovered the Akenia build for Super Smash Bros Melee, and I was thrilled to play that game with some characters that came later in the series like Lucas, Diddy Kong, Charizard, Sonic, and Wolf.

And I cleared two Gameboy games for the first time, Donkey Kong Land, and Final Fantasy Adventure, hopefully I can get to their sequels in 2024.

From there I marathonned a ton of Mario games... the SNES version of Super Mario RPG ( little did I know a Switch remake would get announced later this year ), New Super Mario Bros U, Mario Kart 8, which I managed to get 3 stars on every cup and every difficulty rating, Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros DS, and Super Mario Odyssey, all in preperation to hype myself up for the Super Mario Movie which, against all odds, was fun as hell and filled my little Mario fanboy heart with joy.

Also found mods for Wario Land and Donkey Kong Country returns that made both games far more enjoyable to me. Wario's default walking speed was increased, and Donkey Kong Country's motion controls were mapped to buttons.

Revisited Sonic Riders again, and sadly kind of realized it was not as good as I remembered, having only two grand prix that are largely copy pastes of each other with different lighting. Still prefer the concept of those games than sticking Sonic in a car though.

I discovered a pretty amazing Ocarina of Time hack called the Sealed Palace, which is a it obtuse, but still very good, and I really need to get back to it, I had nearly finished it but went on a hiatus when other things caught my attention. Will finish it in 2024 hopefully.

And one of the big highlights, I finally became the proud owner of an NES. My family had one as a child but it was more for my parents than for me. I mostly played NES games via Nintendo's re-releases or emulation.

Among the games I played for NES, the whole Mario trilogy, Zelda, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Final Fantasy 1, Dragon Quest 1, Metroid MOTHER, Kid Icarus, Super Mario Bros 3+, Mega Man 2, Kid Icarus, Duck Hunt, and I started up Final Fantasy 2, but have yet to finish it.

And in April I went to Super Nintendo Land. The experience was slightly soured for me but I had fun and got some cool merchandise. The actual ride was a little underwhelming though, and I didn't even get to go to the Toad Cafe.

In anticipation for the Legend of Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom, I replayed Link's Awakening, and Breath of the Wild, had a great time with both of them.

And then Tears of the Kingdom came along and completely absorbed my life for two months. I still miss playing it. Maybe i'll replay it sometime in 2024? It'll be interesting to see if my opinion changes at all, but so far, this one is in my top 3 Zelda games. It's not perfect, but honestly, mention any Zelda game to me and I can give you a laundry list of flaws for each of them, so a Zelda game not being perfect is old news. But it doesn't make them any less great. I think this one is just contentious because 1. it took 6 years, 2. purists of the old Ocarina Cone style of Zelda games are worried that they'll never enjoy Zelda again. They have my sympathies but honestly I don't ever want to go back to the old style of Zelda unless it's for a 2D game.

I actually tried to give Skyward Sword another try, I bought the Switch version, but like with every attempt to replay that game since it's launch, I just find myself really irritated by all the exposition that I just quit playing early on.

Against my better judgement I bought Sonic Origins Plus on Steam, and it has some performance issues. I really didn't need it, I love that Amy is playable but I kind of prefer her Sonic Advance move set, which fans had already modded into the genesis games. I think i'd rather just get an actual Sega Genesis to play these games on someday.

I finished raising every single digimon on my Digimon Version 20th v-pet, which is essentially like completing the "pokedex" but for digimon. Sadly not every virtual pet tracks that information, so I won't get to attempt that again.

There was a double dose of Ninja Turtles with TMNT II the Arcade game for NES and Shredder's Revenge on the Switch, I think a certain movie came out around this time of year that put me into a Turtle frenzy because I also started watching the cartoon around that time of year.

I am not mentioning every little NES game or hack I play but I want to higlight two excellent Zelda hacks called the Legend of Banjo and the Legend of Super Mario, which are exaclty what they sound like, Zelda 1 but with a Banjo Kazooie and Super Mario makeover respectively, both are very well designed and arguably a lot more friendly to players that aren't experts at Zelda 1, and do a great job at selling the illusion that they're intended to be Mario and Banjo games.

One of my big regrets for the year was Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3, Slime Speedway, which I bought because 1. I was done with the Mario Kart DLC and wanted more racing game, and 2, I was on a nickelodeon kick and was hyped up from the pre-release of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2.

Slime Speedway is just not very well made. I am generally accepting of low FPS but two genres of games that shouldn't have them are racing games and fighting games. And it's very sad because I feel like NKR3 could be one of the better Mario Kart clones if it was better optimized and had less annoying sound clips... Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2 was a good game but my hype deflated when I learned it would be cutting ELEVEN characters. Also the Switch version performs like ass but I really wanted to be able to take it to a friends house, so I didn't do the smart thing and buy it on Steam.

October is usually when I do my month long Halloween celebration of only consuming spooky media. But Nintendo and Sega had the nerve to plan big Mario and Sonic releases that month, interrupting my plans. But I did manage to slip in some spooky gaming, with Luigi's Mansion, an Evil Dead hack of Wanpakku Grafitti: Splatterhouse, and a Super Mario World Halloween hack, as well as a Kirby Halloween romhack. There was also the promising Super Mario 64 hack - Super Mario and the Monstrous Manor, but it seemed to lose it's spooky flavoring half way through, so I put it on pause for now and will come back to it in 2024.

I don't need to say much about Super Mario Wonder. It was wonderful. Easily the best 2D Mario in decades. It can definitely stand toe-to-toe with the original NES trilogy and Super Mario World. But Sonic Super Stars on the other hand? It's fine, but the bosses suck ass, especially the final boss, who isn't even interesting since it's just the Sonic 3 and Knuckles final boss again but without the Doomsday Zone sequence.

Super Mario RPG came out in November and it was a delight. My second time playing the game that year, I never would have seen it coming in a million years, but i'm so happy that it did. I already want to replay it.

I was put into the mood for Square RPGs, something I always felt like I missed out on growing up. So I started up Final Fantasy IV, which I played before, but never finished. I need to get back to it but I am officially at the point where I stopped playing last time, about to storm some tower in the underworld while the red wings are being distracted by tanks.

In December I started feeling Donkey Kong again and played the first two DKC games, and a few levels of Tropical Freeze, I thought i'd finally try out that new Funky Mode. I then realized that I was playing the exact same games around this time of year last year. Pure coincidence, but I do kind of want to play the rest of the Rare platformers...

I bought my first ever Mario sports game in Mario Tennis Aces, and I had a blast with it, though the adventure mode was surprisingly difficult, I have also bought Kirby and the Forgotten Land but have not really dug into it much. I guess my appetite for Kirby isn't what it used to be, that and my mood lately has been mostly on Mario. Maybe I should finish Yoshi's Crafted World, I got that in 2022 and have not played it at all this year...

Mark Kurko did his annual Christmas Romhack for Banjo Kazooie. I played it on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Day, I replayed all his past romhacks. I think I might make that a new tradition, to replay all the christmas BK hacks, and whatever else I have. I found a decent Mario 64 Christmas hack as well, though it's only a single level.

And to cap off the new year, I started up a run of Animal Crossing for the Gamecube. I've been at it for a week and a half now. I am curious to see how long I can keep it up. But I have already found two NES games, and I kind of want to see if I can get the whole set and build an NES arcade in my basement, just like old times.

There's not much for me to look forward to in 2024 as far as I know, just the Mario vs Donkey Kong and Paper Mario TTYD remakes really, as I'm not too interested in the Peach game. But I hope we get some exciting announcements. I just am not ready for that announcement to be a Switch 2, I'm so tired of buying new machines.

[bluestarrob91]

Games I beated in 2023. I just wanted to make little comments with the game as well with the small drawings I did. 

 Sonic Frontiers- Jan 2 - The first game I beat in 2023, it was a fun experience, I’m looking forward to the future next mainline game of Sonic to see a more polish version of this game style. I have not finished the final story DLC yet, the master king koco trial is very annoying to do, I’ll try to finish that DLC in 2024.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cowabunga Collection- Jan 11 - This is a fantastic collection of the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Konami, there’s a lot of love put into this collection with the many versions of games you can play. Also the extras in this game are fantastic with the art and designer docs from when the games were developed.

Sonic Origins- Jan 11 - It was really fun to replay the main line sega genesis games and CD again all in one package. The only sad part is that some music tracks in Sonic 3 & Knuckles had to be replaced because of music rights. Besides that it’s a good way to play these games. 

Over Cooked! - Feb 12 - This was a really fun game to play. I was able to play with another person so it made everything very chaotic but it was really fun in the end. I need to play the squeal with that person as well. 

Wario Ware inc. (2nd time beating it)- Feb 13 - I played this again when the GBA app came out on the Switch. It’s still a fun mini game collection. 

Super Mario Land 2 6 Golden Coins 2nd time beating it - Feb 16 - Play this again as well through the Game Boy app. It’s a very fun short Mario game, it’s quite relaxing playing it again.

Tales of Symphonia Remastered (I have beaten this game so much)- Mar 10 - Despite the many technical problems with it and the Switch version having a lot more problems at launch(This has been fixed with updates.) It’s still one of my favorite games of all time. I fell in love with the gamecube version of the game and bought it once more when it came out on PS3. I have beaten all versions of this game multiple times at this point. Even after all these years I still think it’s an amazing game that anyone could enjoy and I highly recommend it. Right now I’m writing something about my favorite aspect of the game so I hope to post that some time this year. It took up most of my game time up this year since I played Symphonia 9 times all the way through in 2023. Eight times to play and watch all the scenes again and my mom happily played it with me for a playthrough, So that was a really nice experience to have my mother experience one of my favorite things ever. I love everything about this game, the characters, story, music, and other things are just amazing.  I’m just rambling here now but I’ll say this, I love Tales of Symphonia. 

Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright Trilogy- Mar 29 - I finally was able to play this series of games, I’ve only watched let’s plays of the original trilogy before getting this collection. This is also another game I played with my mom this year. It was really fun to play it with her as she was going through this blind. The original trilogy still has great stories and the music is great as well. Just something to add, my mother and I played The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles(Fantastic games, I love them and I was so happy to go into those two games blind. My mother really licked as well, she likes the Great Ace Attorney games more than the original trilogy but she liked both.) and finished it in 2022 and played and beat the Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright Trilogy in 2023 and now we get to play and beat the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy in 2024. I just think it’s funny we’ve had Ace Attorney games to play and beat yearly. I can’t wait to play Apollo Justice : Ace Attorney Trilogy with my mom, since I don’t know much about the next set of Ace Attorney games. 

Super Mario Advance 4 Super Mario Bros 3- Mar 30 - I played this version of the game on the Gameboy Advance app on the switch. I did an Luigi playthrough on this run and it was really fun. 

Kirby’s Dreamland (2 or 3rd time beating it)- Apr 3 - I just want to replay a short Kirby game again. It was really fun.

Megaman Battle Network 1- Apr 23 - I was able to play the first game thanks to getting the Battle Network collection ( I’m separating these since they are RPGs and it takes a bit of time to beat them.). It was a fun time. It suffers a bit from the first game syndrome( I have played and beat 3 Blue and 4 Blue Moon years ago.) but still has a nice charm to it and the battle system with the battle chips is still a fun idea. 

Street Fighter 2 Sega Genesis- Apr 24 - I played this on the Sega Genesis app on the switch. It was really fun and I chose to beat it with Ken since I thought it would be fun. I’m not the best at fighting games but I still had a good time. 

Donkey Kong Nes- May 31 - I just wanted to play and beat a month this year, so I played DK Nes on the last day of may. It’s a fun nes game port of the arcade game. 

Sonic Origins plus Amy Rose playthrough- June 24 - I played through all of the games in origin again as Amy, it was really fun to play as her and I’m happy that Amy is getting to do a lot more things in recent years. 

Sunsets Riders arcade 3rd- July 30 - Played this again for a third time in July, it’s still a really beat em up game with western twist. I drew Bob since I played as him in this run. I will say I’m glad that the SNES version changed one stage quite a bit from the arcade version. 

Octopath Traveler 2nd- Aug 8 - When I saw there was going to be an Octopath Traveler 2, I wanted to replay the first game again since I really liked it and wanted it to beat one again before I played two(I’m still playing that right now! Having a lot of fun with it as well.). After playing it and 100% it again, I still love this game. I really like all of the main character stories and it was fun to see them interact in small chances they had. The music is great as well and I’m still really happy about how things came together as well. The reason for the picture I tried to play this run in pairs, that didn’t quite work out but I had Alfyn and Tressa stay a pair throughout the entire run. I also ship them together so I figured it would be nice to give them that pose together. 

Pokemon Violet The Teal Mask DLC- Sep 28 - It was a fun DLC chapter for this game, the story was short and good. I’m still playing the second DLC so I can’t wait to see how this story finishes. I drew my trainer Porfirio with Ogerpon as they went through the festival together. 

Castlevania Legends- Oct 31 - This was my first Castlevania game, it was a fun ride and I hope to play the other games in the series. I also played this on the Gameboy app on the switch as well. 

Super Mario RPG (Switch)- Nov 21 - This was a great remake with some nice quality of life enhancements. I really liked the additions of triple super move and perfect action command. The characters, story and music are charming as ever as well. It’s still a fun short and sweet RPG.

Ghost Trick (Switch) 2nd time- Dec 27 - first time I played this game was when i got it for christmas one year. I only heard that it was really good and went in completely blind, it was fantastic and became one of my favorite DS games. Years later when I saw it was going to come to modern consoles and other things I knew I had to buy it. I even imported a Japanese copy to own it physically. I played this with my mother in December as well, I still had a lot of fun with it, the characters and music are fantastic. My mother liked it as well. I would recommend playing this game and going in as blindly as possible. It's amazing.

Games I beat in 2023.

I just wanted to draw something for each game I beat in 2023. In requote from my main post, I leave a comment or two on each game.

[sneep29]

Hello, Sneep. I've been a fan of your work for a long time and it's a huge inspiration for a beginner like me. If you don't mind, can I ask you 2 questions? 1-What books/videos/content do you recommend for someone who wants to start to animate sprites like you do? 2-How do you make anti-aliasing? I know a bit of color theory, but I struggle a lot to make my lines look smooth. Thank you!

Hey, Anon. Appreciate you feel that way about my work. Means a lot, man.

Your first question is a little difficult for me to answer. I've never looked at books, or videos for animating sprites. I just started doing it back in the day because video games and animation were pretty cool to me, and emulation was a big thing for me in the early 2000′s.

I used to (and still do from time to time) check out a lot of sprite art of classic games on Spriters Resource. I’d look at stuff from the SNES, Arcade, Sega Genesis, PS1, etc. Some of my influences were simplistic and fun stuff, like The Simpsons Arcade and Super Mario World, or other styles like games from Capcom, such as Magical Quest and Marvel Vs. Capcom, and some of Treasure's Sega Genesis game art is really appealing and prolific as well.

I didn't grow up with a GBA, and not well versed with it's library, but it seems like there's a lot of decent stuff on that system as well.

Here’s a link I do remember from back in the day by pixel legend, Cure. Definitely a good place to start. I wasn’t heavy into tutorials, because I’m stubborn and find it hard to buckle down and read, but started reading it seriously a few years ago, and it’s a pretty well written piece:

https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299

Been looking over this guy’s video, Mort Mort. Goes over stuff I don’t wanna clog in here, but he’s got some pretty good information in this, so I recommend to check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWKhytYUGTg

Would also suggest to check this site out, Lospec. It has tutorials, communities you can find, software for pixel art. Seems like you can find some really good stuff hopefully.

https://lospec.com/

Check out youtube videos if you wanna study the motion of sprite art in games. Youtube lets you use the < and > keys to go back and forward with frames. Use 60 fps quality if you can. NintendoComplete is an excellent source for game footage in 60fps and 720p or above from what I’ve seen. Principal’s of animation are important. This has been in my watch later list for what’s felt like 2 or 3 years, so checked to see if it’s a decent source, and it’s actually pretty helpful. Pixel artist use these rules as well, so study stuff like this. I’ve never been well versed in technical stuff. I just liked animating, and learned over trial and error, which is actually bad and wouldn’t recommend being that stubborn.

https://youtu.be/uDqjIdI4bF4

I’d say keep it simple if you’re a beginner, and I’d like to say the same for the subject matter you study. I’m pretty sure you’ll have an easier time starting with pixel art from stuff like NES, Gameboy, or other simple contemporary consoles.

I also feel that you should try looking at simpler stuff like Super Mario Bros. than say starting with something more complex like Shatter Hand. I think Japanese companies like Nintendo, Capcom, Konami, Sunsoft (Japanese only), and definitely some others out there, are the best influence in my opinion when it comes to just good overall design.

Second question, I really didn’t want to answer this question, because AA isn’t the easiest thing to explain, I’ve never really written a tutorial, or talk to people about art. I just do it because I’m just drawn to it I guess.

Really didn’t wanna do this because it takes up some time to explain everything, I do not feel like a tutorial guy or have any experience writing them, and I really need to jump onto other things.

Spent some time putting this together, but I don’t know. I can’t really recommend taking this seriously. If you want to learn about anti-aliasing, I will say go check out the link from above on Cure’s Pixel Art Tutorial. It’s more helpful.

Hopefully, at the very least, the links I sent you can be of better help. Keep an open mind, not all old pixel art is perfect, question why you put down blocks the way you do, and don’t count down the days you been at it and focus on having fun doing and or learning it. Good luck with whatever you do.

[themattress]

My Top 30 Favorite Video Games

Inspired by @ultraericthered’s Top 30 Favorite Anime post. 

Although I’m doing mine in countdown form, ‘cause it’s more fun that way!

30. Super Mario Bros. - Arguably the first “blockbuster” game to be released, not only does Super Mario Bros. still hold up over 35 years later but it’s a gift that keeps on giving with how many different incarnations, remixes, fan games using its assets, etc. that we have now.

29. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - OBJECTION! While I cherish the entire original Phoenix Wright trilogy of the Ace Attorney franchise, I’ll always be the most partial to the original outing. The sheer audacity and hilarity of the concept, which is grounded by endearing characters and compelling mysteries, shines brilliantly in this little, easily accessible game. 

28. Trigger Happy Havoc: Danganronpa - While similar in many ways to Ace Attorney, Danganronpa boasts a variety of more actual gameplay than mere point-and-click text scrolling. But what really makes this stand out, beyond gameplay or even the strength of its concept, story and characters, is the atmosphere it creates. For good and for ill, traversing the pristine, neon-lit hallways of the abandoned Hopes Peak Academy looking for clues as I’m forced to play by Monokuma’s twisted rules is an experience that will stay with me forever.

27. Star Fox 64 - Beyond all the entertainment this game provides through memes, it’s really just a fun, reasonably simple but just moderately complicated enough game that’s accessible to any player even if they usually don’t go for aerial shooters. It’s also one of the earliest console games that I ever played, so of course it’s going to hold a special place in my heart.

26. Batman: Arkham City - It’s an impressive feat when an open world game can still feel so claustrophobic in all the right ways, and that’s what Arkham City accomplishes. This game is essentially The Dark Knight to Arkham Asylum’s Batman Begins, escalating the action, suspense and sheer Batman-ness, providing unlimited opportunities to enjoy yourself playing as Gotham’s defender and facing down the greatest Rogues Gallery in comic book history.

25. Red Dead Redemption - Look, I know that Red Dead Redemption 2 is technically the superior game. But its complicated story, sprawling cast of characters, and vast canvas of a world can be pretty daunting, whereas I feel like the original Red Dead Redemption struck a much better balance. Allowing open world freedom within the confines of the straight-forward story of John Marston’s redemption really makes you feel like you’re in an old Western film, and the way that choices you make as a player impact the way that film ultimately turns out is one of the strongest arguments for video games being worthy of consideration as true art.

24. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - So, ten years ago an open world adventure video game series releases its fifth entry...and to this day, we’ve had no sixth, in favor of expansions and updated re-releases of said fifth entry. But that’s not a sign of laziness; it’s a sign the developers know they hit such a peak in quality that they have no need to rush anything further out the gate, as Skyrim is a gift that keeps on giving. Addictive in how unlimited in possibilities it is, with each playthrough never being the same as the one before, Skyrim is a gaming masterpiece that I don’t think I’m going to get bored with playing anytime soon.

23. Super Paper Mario - This may be an unpopular opinion, but I vastly prefer this game’s action-platform-RPG hybrid gameplay style to the prior installments’ traditional turn-based RPG style, which feels more at home in stuff like Super Mario RPG and the Mario & Luigi series. But gameplay aside, I think this has the strongest story of any Mario game, trading in the usual “save the kingdom/princess” fare for saving all of reality, with legitimate emotion and drama and even character development. It’s one of the Wii’s shining gems, to be sure.

22. Epic Mickey - This game’s graphics are by and large unremarkable, its gameplay is fraught with issues (that camera is unforgivable), and it’s nowhere close to the best on its system or genre. But Epic Mickey is a case study in where the effort put into crafting the game’s world and story, not to mention the obvious love and respect for the material being worked with, pays off. Any Disney fan will love this game for its story, which puts Mickey front and center as an actual character rather than a mascot and dives deep into his history as he meets his “half-brother” Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and its mystical, unique atmosphere - what the graphics can’t deliver, the fucking music more than makes up for. All of the game’s flaws mean nothing compared to the sheer heart on display, and I treasure it greatly as a result.

21. Batman: Arkham Asylum - I already mentioned that Arkham City is the superior game, but as was the case with Red Dead Redemption and its sequel, personal preference strikes again. The simpler story and narrower confines of Arkham Asylum just appeal to me slightly more, and I feel like the borderline horror atmosphere this game has could never fully be replicated by all of its sequels and spin-offs. Also, you can play as the Joker in this. WIN.

20. Metal Gear Solid - And on the subject of Arkham Asylum, it owes much to this game, which created the template of a lone badass hero having to use stealth and weaponry to liberate a government-owned island from the lunatic terrorists that have taken over. Hideo Kojima famously never wanted this game to have any sequels, and I can definitely see his point, as it’s a complete and wholly satisfying experience in of itself and I don’t feel like it’s ever been topped. At the very least, it’s certainly the most enjoyable of the series to me.

19. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Also, speaking of “borderline horror atmosphere”, we have the freakiest game that the Legend of Zelda series ever put out. What was supposed to just be a gaiden to Ocarina of Time mutated into this beautiful monstrosity that’s become just as iconic. Nobody who plays this game is ever going to forget that fucking moon and all the constant jumping back and forth in time across three days as you try to prevent the apocalypse of Termina. It’s the kind of gaming trauma that’s well worth experiencing.

18. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories - Like Majora’s Mask, this game is a case study where you can take a bunch of recycled assets and gameplay, and then make something unique from it if you have a well-crafted story with a dark and disturbing atmosphere. It’s hard to experience or appreciate the transition between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II without playing this midquel, which takes the narrative and characters to deeper levels without being pretentious about it and sets the stage for the proper console sequel perfectly. And if you can’t get into it being on Gameboy Advance, then just play the PS2 remake (which is arguably the superior version anyway) and you’re good! Just...don’t mind the cards, OK?

17. Sonic CD - And now we have another game about jumping back and forth through time to prevent an apocalypse! See the common threads at play here by this point? Sonic the Hedgehog is at his best in 2D gameplay, and I personally enjoy this the best out of all the 2D games in the series. As obscure as the Sega CD was as a system, it was powerful enough to take the blue blur’s speed to its maximum level, set alongside beautiful graphics and a kick-ass soundtrack (well, two different kick-ass soundtracks; and I actually prefer the US one). 

16. Pokemon Black & White - While there were advancements made to story and graphics and gameplay features in the third and fourth generations of the Pokemon series, nothing felt as truly ground-breaking as the second generation games until the fifth gen with its Black & White games. This was arguably the game series’ peak in quality on all fronts, but its specifically the story that lands it on this list, as its well-written and paced, subverts many formulaic elements from the previous games, is set in one of the most unique regions in the Pokemon world, and has a timeless message that has only grown more relevant with age. 

15. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - The whole series could really go here, but fortunately the most recent entry is the perfect embodiment of said series, with every playable character there’s ever been and then some. The sheer variety is unmatched by any other fighting game out there, and its story mode, “World of Light”, is quite possibly the greatest video game crossover in history given how many characters are featured as both fighters and spirits.

14. Super Mario 64 - I’m pretty sure this game used to be higher in my favor, but replaying it on the Nintendo Switch recently has made me aware of how, as the first game on the Nintendo 64 and the first 3D platformer, it’s poorly aged in several areas. However, I must stress that it is still a very good game. The fun of going to the various worlds within paintings in Peach’s Castle hasn’t changed, nor has how smoothly and seamlessly Mario managed to make the jump from 2D to 3D. Just like Super Mario Bros., the number of games that owe something to this one is too great to count, and that’s an achievement that remains timeless.

13. Dark Chronicle - Also known as Dark Cloud 2. I hadn’t heard a damn thing about this game before renting it on a whim many years ago, and I was caught off guard by just how good it was. It’s got a simple but effective story and likable characters, a timeless atmosphere, beautifully cel-shaded graphics, dungeon-crawling gameplay, action-RPG combat gameplay, literal world-building gameplay, and even a fishing minigame! This game can actually stand besides the Zelda series without shame; it’s truly an underrated gem.

12. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Oh, speaking of Zelda, this game goes full Lord of the Rings-style epic fantasy with it and it is glorious. Between the near perfect gameplay, beautiful 3D graphics, and one of the best stories in the series (with one of the best characters: Midna), Twilight Princess’ most prevalent complaint from critics all the way up to its own developers is that it wasn’t even MORE expansive and awesome given how long it was hyped, and if that’s the biggest issue with the game then I’d say it’s in pretty good shape.

11. Super Mario Galaxy - Super Mario 64 may be held back a little by how its aged, but no such thing is holding back Super Mario Galaxy. Super Mario Odyssey might be as good or possibly even better, but I just don’t hold the same feelings of amazement and respect toward it that I do for this game. From the blitzkrieg-style attack on the Mushroom Kingdom by Bowser to the discovery of Rosalina’s space station, this game had me hooked from the first few minutes, especially with it blaring that awesome orchestral score the whole way through. To this day, I maintain that this is Mario’s greatest 3D adventure. It’s simply magnificent.

10. Final Fantasy X - Ha! See what I did there? This game has caught flak for some of the awkwardness that comes from being the first fully 3D entry in the series, but I think that’s tantamount to nitpicking when compared to all it does right. To me, this was the last really good installment of the main Final Fantasy series, with a story and world so brilliantly developed that the game earned the immediate breakthrough success and acclaim that it found in its native Japan. 20 years later and, as the HD remaster has shown, it still holds up as one of the most engaging JRPG experiences I’ve ever had the pleasure of having.

9. Banjo-Kazooie - At the time, this was basically Rare’s copycat version of Super Mario 64, although considered about as good. Now, however, there’s a difference: the aging issues I mentioned for Super Mario 64 don’t apply for Banjo-Kazooie. Whether replaying it on the Nintendo 64 or on whichever Xbox you’ve got, this game is still just as fun, imaginative and hilarious now as it was back then. It’s quite possibly the greatest 3D platformer ever made.

8. Pokemon Crystal - The definitive edition of the Gold & Silver games of Pokemon’s second generation, taking what was already a phenomenal advancement and improvement to the first generation and making it even better with additional features such as the ability to play as a girl for the first time and a more clearly defined storyline centered around the legendary Pokemon featured on the game’s box art. Pokemon had been written off as just a passing fad up until this point. This was when its staying power as a video game juggernaut was proven.

7. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Talk about a win right out of the gate for the Nintendo Switch! This game returns the Legend of Zelda series to its roots while also applying all that has been made possible in video games since the original game’s release, and the result is an enthralling, addictive, open world masterpiece that has set a new standard of quality for both the Zelda series and for many modern video games in general.

6. Kingdom Hearts II - The Final Mix edition to be precise, although in this day and age that’s basically the only edition people are playing anyway. This game is the apotheosis of Kingdom Hearts as both a video game series and as a concept; filled to the brim with Disney magic and Square Enix RPG expertise and paired with some of the most refined action-based gameplay there is. And when it comes to bringing the original Kingdom Hearts trilogy’s story to a close, does this game ever stick the landing. The series could have ended right here and I would have been completely satisfied (and its reputation would be a lot better off, too!)

5. Pokemon Yellow - While I maintain that this game, the definitive edition of the original first generation Pokemon games, still holds up as fun to play even now, I’ll admit that it’s pure bias that it ranks so high. It was the first proper video game I ever played, there was no way I was leaving it off the top 5! Its blissful nostalgic atmosphere is always such a delight to return to.

4. Banjo-Tooie - Remember when I said Banjo-Kazooie was “quite possibly the greatest 3D platformer ever made”? The “quite possibly” is because its in stiff competition with its own sequel! And personally, I’m in Banjo-Tooie’s corner; something about how inter-connected its worlds are and the addition of so many things to do all while maintaining your full moveset from the original game is just beautiful to me. Both it and its predecessor are like obstacle courses that I never tire of running through, which is the hallmark of brilliant game design.

3. Kingdom Hearts - Another case where the sequel may be the superior game, but my own personal preference leans toward the original. And in this case, it’s a highly personal preference: this game and my memories of playing it for the first time are so very dear to me. The characters and worlds of Disney put into an epic crossover RPG was like a dream come true for me and no matter how far the series it spawned has deteriorated, nothing can detract from the magic of this game. It’s got a certain, indescribable feel and atmosphere that’s never truly been replicated, and that feel and atmosphere still holds up whenever I revisit it. The gameplay may not be the best, particularly when compared to Kingdom Hearts II’s, but the charm of the story and the characters and the world and the very concept more than makes up for that. As far as I’m concerned, it’s one of Disney and Square’s greatest masterpieces.

2. Final Fantasy VII - I was aware of the hype this game got and was totally ready to call it overrated, but damn it, it got me! I don’t know what it is about this game with its blocky early 3D graphics, poor sound quality to its excellent soundtrack, and frequently mistranslated script that proved to be so gripping and enjoyable to play through, but man did it ever Limit Break its way into my heart. This is considered a JRPG classic for a damn good reason.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Do I really need to explain this one? It’s famous for being frequently cited as one of the greatest video games ever made, and like Final Fantasy VII, its hype is well-deserved and totally justified. Whether you’re playing it on the Nintendo 64, the Gamecube, the Wii, the 3DS, and hopefully the Nintendo Switch in the future, there is a magic quality to this game that permeates through every step you take in its fully 3D world. It’s a triumph that has stood the test of time, cementing the Zelda series as truly legendary.

[dragon-snoots-a-boopin]

Nintendo recently said that they’re going be shutting down the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eshops. But the weird thing is that these eshops are not really closing down until sometime in 2023 but they’re making it that in March of this year, you will NOT be able to use credit/debit cards to buy games on the eshop. How the fuck does that make ANY sense??? How the fuck are people supposed to PAY FOR DIGITAL GAMES IF THEY CAN’T USE THEIR CREDIT/DEBIT CARDS???

This also comes off the heels of Nintendo celebrating a man going to jail that was selling devices that contain Roms of Nintendo games and of course Nintendo continues to go after Rom hosting websites as well. Nintendo doesn’t give a damn about preserving it’s own older games at all. On my 3DS I have some of the older Super Mario games as well as Pokémon Crystal, games I wouldn’t have been able to experience were they not on the 3DS eshop or on a Rom hosting website. Physical copies of older games is not the answer either, I mean copies of Pokémon Crystal range from $55 (for just the cartridge which is the lowest I could find) to like $500 (for a new in box copy which is the lowest I could find) plus you have to HAVE the thing to play it on and I am sure that not a lot of people have a working Gameboy. 

I just do not understand Nintendo at all. Retail store have been making it difficult to obtain physical copies of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U games. A while back, I wanted to get the first Monster Hunter Stories game for the Nintendo 3DS and not a single Gamestop had a physical copy nor did any other retail store. I knew that the only way I could get it would be the 3DS eshop. First time I tried I was told that I didn’t have enough space on the SD card. So I had to go out and spend like $10 on a bigger SD card and then I could download the game to my 3DS. Would I have liked a physical copy? Yes but did this work? Yes, it did. Playing the first Monster Hunter Stories game made me realize I like this game and then I bought the second game on the Switch.

I really don’t think that the Switch online service is a good excuse either because it’s a subscription service. The eshop, I paid $10 for Pokémon Crystal and it’s mine for as long as my 3DS still works. With a subscription, if I stop paying for it then I lose access to all the older games that are on there. I don’t get what Nintendo expects its fans to do. They only care about their most popular titles. They ported Yoshi’s Woolly World to 3DS, they ported Captain Toads Treasure Tracker to Switch, they ported Mario Kart 8 to Switch, they ported New Super Mario Bros. U to Switch and so on because these were the most popular titles from their respective series.

I will say it, I support Roms as I do believe they are the best way to preserve any kind of game really. The 3DS is what really sucked me into the world of Nintendo games with Pokémon X&Y, Pokémon Alpha Sapphire & Omega Ruby. Pokémon Sun & Moon, Pokémon Ultra Sun & Moon, Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn, Poochy And Yoshi’s Woolly World and Animal Crossing New Leaf and it’s sad that these games are going to get more difficult and more expensive to get these games and really the only way, aside from Roms, is to get them on the second hand market which ultimately doesn’t give ANY money to Nintendo.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #454

Top Ten Launch Games 

Oooh, it’s finally here!  

By the time you read this, the Xbox Series X/S consoles will be out, and the PlayStation 5 will be imminent if not already with us. At the time of writing I’ve yet to sample either console, although hopefully that will soon change. However, it’s a bit of a weird console launch, especially for Xbox owners, as there’s not much in the way of actual launch titles. PlayStation has the excellent-looking technical showcase (in that it shows off their sexy new controller, if not necessarily the excesses of the console’s visual prowess) Astro’s Playroom. But on the Xbox side, the only genuine first-party exclusive (not including the port of rather smashing PC title Gears Tactics) was to be the troubled Halo Infinite, which has now been pushed to next year to deal with some of its apparent graphical deficiencies. For what it’s worth, as a Halo fan, I thought the actual gameplay presented looked as good as it always has, so I’m still very excited, but it’s a shame not to sample something genuinely new and shiny at launch. For me, then – as someone not getting a PlayStation this year – I’m going to have to contend myself with updated versions of older games, and hopefully something like the really exciting-looking The Falconeer or, eventually, Cyberpunk 2077.  

Of course, it’s not always been like this; in the past, a landmark game has often been the core reason to upgrade to a new console. Certain titles have defined their hardware platforms, offering a taste of the experiences to come, be it through revolutionary control systems, previously-unimaginable graphics, or simply by shattering preconceptions and expectations. As such, this weekend I’m celebrating my favourite launch titles. 

Now, a couple of my usual caveats. I’ve hardly owned any consoles in the grand scheme of things; I was a computer gamer until the launch of the first Xbox, and even then was PC-first until about midway through the 360’s life. As such I came to a lot of these late, or played them on friends’ systems. I’m sure a videogame historian would give you another list, one that was able to put each title into its historical perspective. For my part, I’m mostly basing it on how much I like the game, but I am also trying to weight it in terms of its “importance”. I mean, one of my favourite “launch titles” of all time would be Lego Marvel Super Heroes on the Xbox One/PS4, but that seems a bit of a ridiculous game to call a launch title, especially as it doesn’t really show off the hardware or define the generation in any particular way. I just think it rocks. So I’m trying to judge it also in terms of how effective a given game was at being a launch title, as well as my personal preference; as such, some games, which I think are more emblematic of their time or their hardware, might end up higher in the list than if I was otherwise just ranking my favourites.  

Christ, that was boring. Look, here are ten games that I like that came out when a console came out. Have at it. 

Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox, 2001): it’s not just that it made playing an FPS on a console as comfortable and enjoyable as on PC, but it revolutionised what an FPS could do. Expansive open landscapes, dynamic combat with intelligent enemies, an ingenious shield/health combo, two weapons, drivable vehicles, and frankly outstanding graphics. And for Xbox – a curious underdog, a big black sheep devoid of cool or class and feeling like Microsoft was trying to buy its way into the console space with a hefty dose of brute force – here was something unique, something incredible. I don’t think anyone quite expected Halo, and it’s arguable that it single-handedly changed not only Microsoft and Xbox’s fortunes but the entire game industry too.  

Wii Sports (Wii, 2005): the Wii was this strange outlier, a tiny white box that eschewed the grunt and girth of its rivals, and seemingly built around its unique motion controller. Would it work? Wii Sports proved that yes it would, a delightful bundle of games that perfectly showed what the console and controller could do. Immense fun in and of itself, but the Wii’s ability to lower the barrier of entry to non-gamers meant that your dad could thrash your brother at bowling. And that is a thing to cherish forever. 

Tetris (GameBoy, 1989): depending on where you look, Tetris may just be the best-selling game of all time. It’s on everything now, from the Xbox Series X to your watch. But there was a time when “Tetris” meant “GameBoy”; that four-colour greenscreen box of wonder that everybody had but me. It was beyond ubiquitous, and its short-form nature and simplistic styling made it ideal for the portable console, its chirpy and iconic music sounding perfect coming from those tiny speakers. And above all else, of course, Tetris is fantastic, one of the greatest games of all time. It was a perfect marriage of software and hardware. 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch, 2017): so here’s the thing: I like Zelda, but I’ve never fallen in love with it. I didn’t grow up with it, so coming to Ocarina of Time, there were too many old-fashioned trappings in the way; it just didn’t feel as enthralling or as fun to play as, say, Half-Life or Deus Ex. BOTW changed that; the limitations were gone, the world was blown wide open. It no longer felt like an 80s game in three dimensions, it felt new. Better than new – it felt like tomorrow. Despite the Switch being graphically weaker than its contemporaries, BOTW was and is simply gorgeous to look at, but it’s how it plays, how it feels like a vast but real world, how it has its own rules and they make sense instantly. It’s the greatest open world game of all time, and emergent physics sandbox, and yet it’s still unquestionably Zelda, emphatically Nintendo. Okay, it technically came out on the Wii U at the same time, but who the hell played that? This was the game that made you want a Switch.  

Super Mario 64 (N64, 1997): this is often the game people cite as being one of the great revolutionary launch titles, but I must confess its charms were lost to me at first. Taking what was great about Mario and converting it expertly into 3D was a heck of a feat; graphically for the time it certainly impressed in the scale of its worlds, and whilst back then I felt it lacked the detail and granularity of some PC titles, in retrospect it was a perfectly-suited art style, offering smooth textures even when right up close. But it was its precise controls and the open, hub-based nature of its worlds that was revolutionary; many games aped its style, but it took a long time before anything really matched it.  

Hexic HD (Xbox 360, 2005): not every game here has to be some genre-busting graphical powerhouse; they can be simple but quietly revolutionary. Hexic HD is a terrific puzzle game with a simple hook, brilliantly executed, and enough intrigue and nuance to keep you coming back for one more go, to beat your high score, to get to the next tricksy level. But the time and manner of its release, and what that signified, marked it out as something more important. It was the first Xbox Live Arcade title; Microsoft’s curated gallery of smaller, more indie-flavoured games. More than that, it was free, coming pre-installed on all Xbox 360 Pros (the ones with the removable hard drive). It was a taste of what was to come, introducing audiences not only to the idea of playing these kinds of smaller, less intense games on a console, but also the idea of purchasing and downloading them digitally. It was great and ground-breaking in equal measure.  

WipEout (PlayStation, 1995): I kinda missed the PlayStation generation. I was still, more or less, in my PC-centric “consoles are toys” mindset (which I wouldn’t fully shake off till the release of the N64). But I came to appreciate its qualities as a cool, exciting, super-fast futuristic racer. I’m pretty sure it’s not the first 3D hover-car racing game, but it was presented in such a groovy package that it ticket all the boxes, and helped show off just what the PlayStation was capable of in terms of its 3D graphics and CD sound. And, of course, it helped define the console as being a bit more edgy and grown-up than the previous Nintendo and Sega stalwarts. 

Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1988): what can be said about one of the most iconic games of all time? Mario Bros defined not only a console, not only a generation, but arguably an entire artform. Creating what we now know as a platform game, it expanded and surpassed the basic template of Donkey Kong into a roaming adventure, part twitch-gaming reaction test, part puzzle game. I played a lot of copycat games on my Amiga, but even then, as a whiny computer brat, I knew that Mario was better. Even when my cousins got a MegaDrive and Sonic, I knew – deep in my heart – that Mario was better. It's a deep game, an endlessly replayable game, a supremely fair game despite its difficulty. I think it’s hard to overstate just how good, or how influential, Mario was. 

Project Gotham Racing (Xbox, 2001): I tried hard to pick a different platform for every game in this list, but I couldn’t exclude PGR. This may be tied up with my biography a little bit, but my other half and I played this game to death. I never think of myself as a big racer fan, but every once in a while a title comes out that I just really, really get into – Jaguar XJ220 on the Amiga, Midtown Madness on PC, the Forza Horizon series nowadays – and PGR did that in spades. A gorgeous arcade racer, it was a great launch title to show off the sheer grunt of the Xbox; then, as now, the most powerful console on the market. It also offered a terrific four-player split-screen. But its Kudos feature – borrowed from semi-prequel Metropolis Street Racer – offered ways to win outside of sheer racing graft, awarding cool driving. I still love the original, and I kinda wish they’d bring back or reimagine its city-based driving for a future release or Forza spin-off. 

Lumines: Puzzle Fusion (PSP, 2004): okay, so this is a bit of a cheat as I've barely played the original PSP version, but Lumines is just phenomenal; the best moving-blocks-around game since Tetris, and probably the most influential one since then too (for the record, I've played it extensively on multiple other platforms). An excellent spin on a Tetris-a-like, its use of music and colour made it a beautiful, brilliant sensory experience. With Sony entering the handheld market, the PSP needed a USP, something vibrant and cool that suited a portable experience, and Lumines provided it in spades; also its funky visuals and music was a good fit for Sony’s brand.  

Well, that was fun, and a lot harder than I expected. If you’re enjoying a new console this Christmas, then hopefully you’ll have fun with one of the new launch titles too – even if I doubt any (apart from maybe Astro) would trouble a list like this in the future (although I do think The Falconeer looks all kinds of cool). 

[theultimateegghead-blog]

Gaming history and releases in 1990.

Welcome to a new series of mine, a celebration of video games over the last few decades. In this series I will be looking over some major events and releases based off of the year. We will start with 1990 and end with 2012. The reason behind this is because this series is not only meant to celebrate gaming, but also some of my friends as well. Thusly every year is dedicated to all my friends and readers born in that year. I am ending at 2012 because that was the year my sisters were born. If you were born before 1990, you are still an awesome person! Consider this prologue in dedication to all my pre-1990 readers. If you were born after 2012, then how did you get here? Regardless, without further ado, lets take a look at some gaming history!

Some major events include...

The first Nintendo World Championships is held.

The first Nintendo World Championships begins on March 8th, 1990. One of the first ever video game competitions, the world championship would make a nationwide run across the united states. (Somewhat defeating the world title.) Contenders would compete with various games that were made for the tournament and would win various prizes such as trophies, money and Nintendo products. The cartridges made for this tournament are considered to be some of the rarest, if not the rarest, video games. The cartridges were given to winners of a Nintendo power contest and they are estimated to be worth 150 grand!

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THQ is founded.

The video game company THQ is founded in April of 1990. Originally a toy company that occasionally dabbled in video game production, it eventually became a full-fledged game development company. The company lasted until 2016, where it filed for bankruptcy and sold its brand to Nordic Games, now called THQ Nordic. THQ makes licensed games based off animated movies and cartoons, but also has their own original games. Some of there most famous original IPs include Darksiders, Destroy All Humans and Red Faction.

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The Sega Game Gear Launches in Japan

The Game Gear was Sega’s response to the success of the Nintendo Gameboy. It was released on October 6th, in Japan, seeing a release in America in the next year. While it did support full color graphics and had a technical edge compared to the Gameboy, it also sported a cumbersome size, poor battery life, small library and minimal support from Sega. It was rushed in production and was not able to surpass, let alone match the success of the game boy. It would be discontinued in 97, having sold over 10 million copies in those 7 years.

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The Super Famicom Launches in Japan.

The Super Famicom, known in America as the Super NES, was one of the most well known and renowned consoles in gaming history. Taking gaming to the next level per se, it had new advanced hardware that allowed it to process games far better than the original NES. Some of the greatest games of all time, such as A Link to the Past and Super Mario World was released on this system. It sold nearly 50 million units and was available in retail until 2003.

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Some of the most critically acclaimed and important released of this year are…

Super Mario Bros 3

Super Mario 3 would be released to critical acclaim in February 1990. This platforming adventure boast colorful levels and plenty of new things that would become long standing tropes in the Mario franchise. It was one of the best-selling games of all time and had heavy promotion both before and after its release. It was featured in the video game themed move “The Wizard” and then afterwards it spawned a cartoon series that has amassed a cult following in recent years. It is considered by many to be the best Mario game.

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F-Zero

This Super Famicon/SNES game would see its initial Japanese release in November of 1990. While it was not the first racing game, it was in a way Nintendo bringing racing to home console and it was praised by many for pushing the graphical expectation of games to a new level and for spawning the F-Zero IP, which unfortunately has been left neglected for several years now. While it may not have been the first, it has been cited to be the game that set the standard for racing games to come.

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Dr. Mario

Dr. Mario was Nintendo’s attempt to create their own puzzle game. While they owned the rights to Tetris at the time, Tetris was not their original creation. Dr. Mario was released for the Gameboy and super Famicon in July 1990. It received generally favorable reviews and would establish Mario as a doctor as well as a plumber. While the series itself has not seen much flare since the 90s, Dr. Mario is playable in several Smash titles.

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Metal Gear II Solid Snake

Metal Gear II Solid Snake is the second instalment of the Metal Gear franchise and was initially released in July of 1990 for the MSX2. This game would not see an official English release until over a decade later. This game is praised for not only improving on the original Metal Gear game in almost every way, but also establishing the stealth genre. It is considered to be one of the most innovative and advance games of its era, and it was also praised for its more mature theme and story when compared to other titles of that year.

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Smash TV

Smash TV is an arcade game that came out in April of 1990. This game was one of the first twin stick multidirectional shooter and featured cooperative play as well. It was a game that pushed boundaries with its violence but would not spark as much outcry when compared to future arcade games such as Mortal Kombat. Nevertheless, this game did establish a genre that appeals to those looking for classic arcade fun, games like hotline Miami and Call of Duty Dead Ops could owe a part of their creation to Smash TV.

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The Secret of Monkey Island

Monkey Island is one of the most revered point and click series gaming has to offer. With various sequels and remakes this game defined a genre. It was initially released in October of 1990. One of the first major games with an emphasis on character and story, this took gaming narrative into a new spotlight, while it was not the only contributor, it was a major contributor to story driven games. It wasn’t half bad graphically either.

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Railroad Tycoon

The first game in the Tycoon series. This game was a simple railroad business simulator, where you built a railroad empire and try to maintain it. While the concept might sound boring to some, it did herald the beginning of a long running series and could be considered one of the origins of the simulator genre. While I cannot say it is solely responsible for later simulator games like the sims, it could be considered the grandfather of business simulators.

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Alpha Waves

This game is relatively unknown, but it does hold some importance. Released in August of 1990, Alpha Waves is one of the first ever full 3D games. This game was somewhat of an art project and is rather abstract and artistic in design. While it does hold significant importance in the evolution of graphics, it is more of an experience than an actual full fledged game.

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Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light

The Fire Emblem series is a long-lasting series of tactical RPGs that remained primarily in Japan until the 2000s. This is the first Fire Emblem game and it was released exclusive in Japan in April of 1990. This game was deep for its time, featuring a story and characters who could die permanently. While America never saw this title, they eventually got a remaster nearly 15 years later.  This game stabilized the tactical rpg as a genre and is considered to be one of Nintendo’s greatest series.

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This concludes my analysis on some gaming events and releases of the year 1990. If you were born in 1990, then happy birth year to you! See you in 91!

[downloadcracksoftware]

How My Boy Full APK Enhances Mobile Gameplay

My Boy! Full APK is an Android application that provides a comprehensive suite of tools for enhancing the mobile gaming experience. The app contains a variety of features, such as fast-forwarding, save states, cheat codes, and graphical enhancements, that give users the ability to adjust their gameplay in order to get the most out of their favorite mobile games. For those who are looking to speed through levels quickly, My Boy! Full APK offers a fast-forwarding feature. This allows users to speed up the game by up to 16 times the normal speed, allowing them to progress further in a fraction of the time. Save states are a great way to save progress and restart from a specific point in the game. My Boy! Full APK offers users the ability to save their progress on a game-by-game basis, allowing them to quickly pick up where they left off without having to start over. For those who are looking for a competitive edge, My Boy! Full APK also offers a wide selection of cheat codes. Users can input cheat codes to unlock hidden levels, unlock special items, or gain access to special abilities. Finally, My Boy! Full APK also offers a variety of graphical enhancements that can help to improve the visuals of the game. Users can adjust the resolution, add shaders, and tweak the color palette to improve the overall look and feel of the game. In short, My Boy! Full APK provides a comprehensive suite of tools for enhancing the mobile gaming experience. With features such as fast-forwarding, save states, cheat codes, and graphical enhancements, users can make their favorite mobile games even more enjoyable. Exploring the Features of My Boy Full APK My Boy! Full APK is an advanced Gameboy emulator for Android mobile devices. It is highly compatible with the original Gameboy and Gameboy Color, allowing users to play classic titles such as Pokemon, Zelda, and Super Mario Bros. on their smartphones. This emulator offers a variety of features that make it a great choice for gamers and game enthusiasts. The My Boy! Full APK has a fast and accurate emulation of the original Gameboy hardware, allowing gamers to experience the classic titles the way they were meant to be played. It is equipped with a fast-forward feature, which allows users to quickly skip through lengthy cutscenes or tedious dialogues. This emulator also supports high-resolution graphics and smooth sound, allowing players to experience the original games in a way that was not possible on the original hardware. Another great feature of My Boy! Full APK is its save state feature. This allows users to save their progress in the game at any time and resume from that point at a later time. This allows players to pick up from where they left off, without having to start the game over again. It also supports cheat codes, allowing players to unlock hidden features or abilities in the game. My Boy! Full APK is equipped with a wide range of customizable options, allowing users to tailor the emulator to their own preferences. This includes the ability to customize the control layout, the display aspect ratio, and the opacity of the on-screen buttons. It also supports physical controllers, making it easy to use a gamepad or joystick to play games. Overall, My Boy! Full APK is an excellent Gameboy emulator for Android devices, offering a variety of features that make it an ideal choice for gamers and game enthusiasts. Its fast emulation, save state feature, and wide range of customizable options make it a must-have for any classic game fan. Tips for Getting the Most out of My Boy Full APK 1. Make sure you have a compatible device. My Boy Full APK is only compatible with certain Android devices. Before downloading, check to make sure your device is compatible. 2. Enable the app's options for the best possible performance. Within the app, there are several options that allow for improved performance and gameplay. Enable these options to get the most out of My Boy Full APK. 3. Use cheat codes. Cheat codes are available online and can be used to unlock certain features and items within the game. 4. Take advantage of the save state feature. This allows you to save your progress at any point. This is especially useful if you need to take a break from the game or if you want to go back and replay a certain section. 5. Use the link cable emulation feature. This allows you to link up with other players and battle them or trade items. 6. Play online. You can play My Boy Full APK online with friends or strangers. This allows for a more immersive and exciting experience. Reviewing My Boy Full APK’s Pros and Cons My Boy Full APK is a powerful android emulator that allows users to run Game Boy Advance games on their mobile devices. It is a popular choice among gamers who want to relive the classic games of their childhood. Pros: -My Boy Full APK is incredibly user-friendly, with an intuitive interface that makes it easy to navigate. -It supports a wide range of game formats, so you can easily run Game Boy Advance titles. -The emulator has a number of useful features, such as cheat codes, fast forward and slow motion, and the ability to save and load games. -My Boy Full APK is regularly updated, ensuring that it remains compatible with new devices. -The emulator is also very affordable, making it an accessible option for gamers on a budget. Cons: -My Boy Full APK does not support the original Game Boy, which limits its compatibility. -The emulator has been known to crash on some devices, which can be frustrating. -It is not compatible with all games, so some titles may not work properly. -My Boy Full APK does not have a built-in controller, so users will need to purchase one separately. Understanding the Benefits of My Boy Full APK My Boy Full APK is an Android application that provides users with a comprehensive set of powerful tools and features for playing Gameboy Advance games. With this application, users can easily play classic Gameboy Advance games on their Android devices. This application emulates the original hardware and allows users to enjoy the same gaming experience as if they were playing on the original console. The main benefit of My Boy Full APK is its compatibility with a wide range of devices. This application is compatible with both rooted and non-rooted Android devices, so users can enjoy the same gaming experience no matter what type of device they have. In addition to this, My Boy Full APK also supports a wide range of file formats, allowing users to easily play any Gameboy Advance game they have. In addition to its compatibility and file format support, My Boy Full APK also offers users a wide range of features that enhance the gaming experience. This application includes support for cheat codes, as well as the ability to save and load game states. It also includes a fast-forward feature that allows users to quickly advance through levels, as well as a rewind feature that lets them go back and relive certain moments. My Boy Full APK also includes the ability to customize the gaming experience by adjusting the screen size and other settings. It also includes support for a variety of external controllers, allowing users to enjoy a more traditional gaming experience. Finally, this application also includes support for online leaderboards and cloud saves, so users can keep track of their progress and share it with their friends. Overall, My Boy Full APK provides users with an easy and convenient way to play classic Gameboy Advance games on their Android device. This application is highly compatible, and also offers a wide range of features that enhance the gaming experience. With its support for cheat codes, save and load states, fast-forward and rewind features, customizable settings, and online leaderboards, My Boy Full APK is an ideal choice for anyone looking for an easy and enjoyable way to play Gameboy Advance games on their Android device. Comparing My Boy Full APK to Other Mobile Gaming Emulators My Boy Full APK is a mobile gaming emulator that allows users to play classic Game Boy games on their Android devices. This emulator is highly praised for its performance, simplicity, and ease of use. It is often compared to other mobile gaming emulators, such as RetroArch, ClassicBoy, and John GBC. My Boy Full APK stands out from other emulators in several key areas. It is one of the most stable emulators available, running games without lags or crashes. A built-in cheat system is also included, allowing users to easily manipulate the game to their advantage. Finally, the emulator is incredibly user-friendly and intuitive, making it easy to get started with. In comparison to RetroArch, My Boy Full APK has slightly fewer features. RetroArch offers a wider selection of games, as well as the ability to customize the display settings. However, RetroArch is more complex to use and can be overwhelming for new users. ClassicBoy is another popular emulator which has many of the same features as My Boy Full APK. However, it has a smaller selection of games and does not offer a cheat system. John GBC is a less well-known emulator, but it has some advantages over My Boy Full APK. It offers a variety of video filters, allowing users to customize the look of their games. However, John GBC is not as stable as My Boy Full APK and can be prone to crashes. Overall, My Boy Full APK is a great choice for those looking for an easy to use and reliable mobile gaming emulator. Its impressive stability and user-friendly interface make it a great option for those new to mobile gaming emulation. However, those who are looking for more features may prefer one of the other emulators mentioned. Troubleshooting Common Issues with My Boy Full APK Having trouble getting My Boy Full APK to work? Don’t worry, there are several possible solutions to common issues. First, confirm that you have downloaded the correct version and have the latest version of My Boy installed on your device. Check the Google Play Store or the website from where you downloaded the app for the latest version. If the game still won't start, try clearing the app's cache and data. To do this, go to Settings > Applications > My Boy > Clear Cache and Clear Data. If the game still won't launch, try uninstalling the app and then reinstalling it. Make sure you have enough storage space on your device for the app. If the game still won't launch, try restarting your device. This will clear any temporary glitches that could be causing the issue. If you are still having issues, try installing the app from a different source. You may also need to manually adjust the game’s settings to make sure they match the device’s specs. If all else fails, contact the app's customer support team for assistance. They may be able to help you troubleshoot the issue. Exploring the Different Versions of My Boy Full APK My Boy! Full APK is a powerful and fast emulator for the Nintendo Gameboy Advance console. It is an advanced version of the popular and well-known My Boy! Free APK. This powerful emulator allows you to play your favorite Gameboy Advance games on your Android device. My Boy! Full APK comes with a number of features, including a fast emulation speed, instant loading of ROMs, support for Gameboy/Gameboy Color/Super Gameboy games, on-screen controls, cheat codes, and more. It also supports link cable emulation, allowing you to play with your friends over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The latest version, My Boy! Full APK 1.8.0, includes a number of bug fixes and improvements. It also includes a new feature, the "Game Boy Camera" mode, which allows you to take screenshots of your games. The free version, My Boy! Free APK, offers a basic set of features and does not support link cable emulation or the Game Boy Camera mode. It does, however, offer an instant loading of ROMs and is compatible with the most popular Gameboy Advance games. My Boy! Full APK is an ideal emulator for those looking for a powerful and fast way to play their favorite Gameboy Advance games. It offers a wide range of features and is available for both Android and iOS devices. How to Optimize Performance with My Boy Full APK Optimizing performance with My Boy Full APK can help with gaming and other tasks on your Android device. There are several steps you can take to get the best performance out of My Boy Full APK. First, make sure you have the latest version of the app installed. This will provide the best compatibility and performance. You can update the app through the Google Play Store. Next, enable the “Turbo Boost” feature. This feature increases the speed of the emulator and can help with lag and slowdowns. To enable Turbo Boost, open the app and go to the “Settings” tab. Next, select “Advanced Settings” and look for “Turbo Boost”. Third, try to reduce the number of apps running in the background. This will free up more processing power for My Boy Full APK. To do this, open the Settings menu and go to “Apps”. From there, you can select which apps you want to disable or uninstall. Fourth, you can also adjust the system settings for the app. Go to “Settings” and select “Advanced Settings”. From there, you can adjust the CPU usage and the rendering mode to optimize performance. Finally, you can also try overclocking your device. This will increase the speed of the processor and can improve performance. However, it is important to note that overclocking can damage your device if done improperly. Therefore, it is recommended that you only attempt this if you are familiar with the process. Following these steps can help you get the best performance out of My Boy Full APK. However, it is important to note that these tips may not work for everyone. Therefore, it is important to experiment and see what works best for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lIMSzrjUrU Investigating the History of My Boy Full APK The My Boy Full APK is a powerful and popular gaming emulator that has been around since the mid-2000s. It is used to play classic Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Gameboy Advance games on modern devices such as smartphones and tablets. The development of My Boy Full APK began in 2004 as a project by developer Fast Emulator. The original version of My Boy Full APK was released in 2005 and was praised for its compatibility and performance. It was one of the first emulators to be able to emulate the entire library of Gameboy Advance games, as well as many Gameboy Color titles. It also featured a wide range of settings and customization options, making it a popular choice for gamers. Over the years, My Boy Full APK has been continuously updated and improved. The most recent version, released in 2020, includes numerous improvements such as improved graphics, faster loading times, and better battery life. This version also includes support for cheat codes, a virtual gamepad, and the ability to save and load game states. My Boy Full APK has been very popular in the gaming community and is one of the most downloaded emulators on the Google Play Store. Its popularity is due to its ease of use, performance, and compatibility. It is also one of the most stable and reliable emulators available, making it a great choice for gamers who want to play their favorite classic Gameboy games on their modern devices. Read the full article

[longislandloading845]

Pokemon Ruby Download Mac

What Is a GBA ROMs?

Pokemon Ruby Download Apk

Pokemon Omega Ruby Pc Download

Download Pokemon Games For Pc

Pokemon Ruby Download Mgba

ROM or the Read-Only Memory is a storage medium that is widely used with a number of electronic devices. Just look at the name and you’ll understand that the data stored in ROM can’t be modified, it can be read only. Moreover, ROM is non-volatile, which means that it can keep the content safe in any situation.

Pokemon - Ruby Version (V1.1) ROM download available for Gameboy Advance. Download Pokemon - Ruby Version (V1.1) emulator game and play the GBA ROM free. Cross-platform game works on desktop PC. Following the release of Pokmon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire in. Pokemon Ability that increases either the attack or special attack Stat. Learn how to randomize and get rom hacks on Pokemon Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, ORAS, NEO, X and Y using PK3DS and Hans with a hombrewed Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS, XL, 2DS on a Windows or Mac.

What Are GBA (Gameboy Advance) ROMs?

No matter what device you use, all of them initially support ROMs. However, they don’t support Gameboy Advance ROMs. The main goal of GBA ROMs is to enable you to revel in playing your favorite Gameboy Advance games. The main distinctive feature of GBA ROMs is that you don’t need a Gameboy Advance console to start playing. All that you have to do is to download Gameboy Advance ROMs on your device and enjoy your favorite retro games at your convenience. Today, there’s a broad selection of free games that you can download right away.

About Gameboy Advance

This is another achievement of Nintendo. It’s a 32-bit portable game console that saw the world after its predecessor, the Game Boy Color. First, the console came in retail in Japan. In a year, it was offered for sale in the markets of Europe, Australia, and North America. By the way, the company sold more than 80 million units!

It was developed in a “landscape” form factor (the buttons were placed to the side of the device). Due to its portable style, the console immediately gained popularity and became a number one choice for millions of game lovers.

The device had a bright and intuitive design, a built-in speaker, and could easily be connected to Nintendo GameCube. By hooking both devices together, gamers had a fair opportunity to enjoy a new gaming experience. They could unlock new levels, swap data, and use the Game Boy Advance as the main input device.

Best GBA ROMs

The gaming device became popular due to an extensive range of superb GBA games that were released specifically for it. The choice is definitely huge and we can’t mention all the popular titles in this review. However, we created a list of the most superb Game Boy Advance ROMs. Look it through and choose the best one for yourself:

Harvest Moon - Friends of Mineral Town;

Pokemon Emerald;

Pokemon ruby;

Super Mario Bros;

Legend of Zelda;

Super Mario Advance;

Legacy of Goku;

Pokemon Blue Version;

Metroid Fusion;

Spider Man 2.

Pokemon Ruby Download Apk

All these Gameboy Advance games will be your link to the past. Just download the right emulator and jump into an engaging world of retro games.

Platforms That Support GBA ROMs

Though such gaming devices are considered to be an old technology, this doesn’t mean that all these GBA emulator games went out of date too. Due to powerful emulators, you can immerse yourself into fascinating gameplay at any moment. Download and play some of your favorite titles right away! However, besides ROMs, you have to download an emulator that will help you open the chosen title on your device.

It bears mentioning that not all available emulators are compatible with your operating system. Some of them are developed specifically for Windows whereas others run on Mac only.

Android supported GBA emulators

If you used to play on the go, these emulators might come in handy:

PPSSPP;

CoolN64;

My Boy!

EPSXe;

MegaN64.

iOS supported GBA emulators

Hands down, these emulators for iOS provide the best gaming experience on your iPad, iPhone or iPod:

GBA4iOS;

Happy Chic;

Delta Emulator.

Windows supported GBA emulators

If you used to play on Windows, the use of these emulators might be the right idea:

DeSmuMe;

No$GBA.

Linux supported GBA emulators

Pokemon Omega Ruby Pc Download

Linux is not as popular as previously mentioned operating systems, but there are also some tools that allow you to jump into an incredible world of retro games:

Mednafen;

BGB.

All in all, to start playing, you don’t need to buy a subscription or study too complex guidelines on how to use this or that program. All the tools that are necessary for playing are absolutely free and extremely easy to use. Here you can download them and revel in playing at any moment!

Emulator Download

Download the emulator needed for playing THIS Pokemon game on PC, Mac and PSP at » Pokemon Emulator.com

Gameboy Advance

Nintendo 3DS Games

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Download Pokemon Games For Pc

Pokemon Sapphire Rom

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Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire GBA roms, the latest incarnation of the Pokemon series also named as ‘advanced generation’ has come as the third installment of Pokemon series. The game play is almost the same as of its predecessors. The game is also set in a third person overhead perspective and controls are also almost the same. Like all the previous games, the main aim is to catch all the Pokemon and win over the Elite Four. It takes place in Hoenn, a fictional region consisting of nine cities and six towns connected by routes. But in addition to this, it has a lot of new features to offer.

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A slight change in the battle mechanics is done by the introduction of double battles in which the two opponents each can use two Pokemon at the same time. Also, there are ‘innate abilities’ which are same for a Pokemon of same specie and ‘natures’ which is different for each Pokemon. Abilities can endow the holder a certain power like immunity to certain attacks and natures influence a Poke Mon’s strength. Another new feature introduced is ‘Condition’ which is an important aspect in Pokemon Contests which happen during the game. It can be increased by the use of Pokeblocks (candies). Also, it brings up 135 brand new Pokemon making a total of 386 Pokemon. The new subplot involves two crime organizations, Team Aqua and Team Magma who want to change the climate of Hoenn with the help of Pokemon.

Ruby and Sapphire also have e-reader compatibility. Battle e-cards released by Nintendo contain trainer battles in which previously hidden Pokemon can be seen.

[weekendshowcase]

I Dream of Mario

by Antonio Garland

     I didn’t even know this game existed until I was in my teens. I played the Mario compilation game, Super Mario All-Stars, at a friend’s house and saw this as one of the titles on it. I thought it was the strangest Mario game, especially because of how different it was. The game is Super Mario Bros. 2, the American version for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

    The production story is quite unusual. Japan had produced a sequel to Super Mario Bros.; however, Nintendo of America (NOA) thought that because of its increased difficulty and similarities to the previous installment, Mario fans would reject it. There was another game that had recently come out in Japan called Yume Kojo Doki Doki Panic that caught NOA’s interest, so they decided to modify it for an American release, along with adding Mario characters. The result was America’s version of Super Mario Bros. 2.

(Image source: Den of Geek!)          The story revolves around Mario having a dream about going to another world called Subcon. A giant frog named Wart has taken control of Subcon and Mario is requested to help. Mario awakens and tells his brother Luigi, Princess Peach, and a Toad about the dream world and they all decide to assist Mario. All four have the same dream and do what they can to save Subcon from Wart.

    The mechanics for this game are dramatically different from Super Mario Bros. It’s still the ‘keep walking right’ mechanic, while jumping on platforms, climbing, collecting, and defeating enemies. However, the way certain pieces are done is different. There is no longer a timer, so you can now take as much time as you want to complete a level. There’s now backtracking, or the ability to walk back, left. Holding down on the control pad to duck for a second charges you and allows for a super jump to reach higher areas. Originally, it took only one hit from an enemy to defeat you, two if you were big Mario/Luigi. Now there is a health bar that allows for extra hits. Once you only have one more hit to take, you shrink down just as in the first game.

      The main new mechanic is the ability to pick up and throw both enemies and items. A good portion of enemies can be jumped on, but instead of defeating them like in the previous installment, now you simply stand on top of them and ride them. Hitting B on the controller will allow you to pick them up and carry them. They can be thrown and used as projectiles against other enemies. Scattered throughout the levels are plants that, when picked up, can also be used as projectiles for attacking enemies.

    Besides enemies and plants, other items are available for picking up and using. There’s the traditional mushroom that makes you larger and increases your health meter, extra floating hearts that refill your health, coins for the bonus slot-machine game at the end of a level, bombs for attacking enemies and destroying walls, POW Blocks for destroying all enemies on the screen, and keys for unlocking doors. There’s also a magic potion that allows travel to a pocket dimension for bonus items like coins and mushrooms. The Starman returns to make you invulnerable for a few seconds, though this now requires picking up the cherry items scattered through the levels for it to appear.

    Like the warp pipes from the first game, this game features pots that can be entered by pressing down on the control pad. Inside the pots are enemies and items. Sometimes there will be keys; however, they are protected by face-like enemies called Phantos, who chase after you when you have the key, but they vanish once you dispose of or use it. As with the warp pipes, certain pots allow for warp points to skip levels if you know the secrets.

NOTE: Skip to the 6:18 mark in the video below. For some reason, embedding YouTube clips in Tumblr doesn’t work when you set the embed code to start the video at a specific time. Argh.

      The first game had two playable characters, Mario and Luigi. Now there are four, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad. They’re not just pallet-swaps; each character plays differently. Mario is the well-rounded one; he’s not the best or worst in all categories. He’s also the farthest jumper. Luigi is now dressed in his traditional green outfit and is also the highest jumper. When jumping, he gets a bit of a flutter that somewhat allows him to float slowly in the air. It sounds useful, but he’s somewhat difficult to control in the air, which makes attacking enemies and platforming difficult at times. Toad is the fastest lifter; picking up enemies and items can be done near-instantly. Peach is the slowest and it takes a second for her to lift items. However, she has probably the best ability in the game. Hitting A on the controller when she’s in the air allows her to hover momentarily. This makes platforming a breeze and breaks the game in certain areas. Needless to say, Peach is recommended for newcomers.

    Enemies in the game are a mixed bunch. None of the original enemies appear, except for a Koopa shell as a rare usable item. There are too many new enemies to list, but most of them can be jumped on top of and ridden, many of which can be picked up by pressing B on the controller. Like in the original, enemies only require touching you to harm you. This game does introduce several enemies who will become staples in the Mario series. These include Shy Guys, Bob-ombs, and Pokeys. Another enemy introduced here who reoccurs is Birdo, who’s basically a pink evil version of Yoshi, a green dinosaur who appears in later Mario games. Despite these, there is one enemy who only appears in this game, Wart, the main antagonist.

  As mentioned, Wart is a giant frog who took over the land of Subcon. He dubbed himself King and uses a machine to create minions. He’s greedy, self-centered, but for some reason has a bizarre weakness to vegetables. This is one of the few Mario games where Bowser isn’t the main antagonist, nor does he even appear. Actually, this is Wart’s only appearance in a Mario game. He does cameo in a few The Legend of Zelda games on Gameboy. Besides Birdo, Wart’s other minions are Mouser, a giant rat with sunglasses, and Tryclyde, a fire-breathing hydra, all which are fought as bosses.

   Overall, Super Mario Bros. 2 USA is a different but unique experience. Even though it technically started life as a completely different game, it’s still one worth at least playing a few times. It introduced several staples that became reoccurring themes throughout the series, such as differentiations between Mario and Luigi, Peach and Toad being playable characters, new reoccurring enemies, the ability to pick up and toss enemies, and a different setting outside the Mushroom Kingdom. The game has been re-released several times for different systems. It was released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as one of the games for Super Mario All-stars with enhanced graphics and released on the Virtual Console for the latest Nintendo game consoles. The game was specially remade in 2001 for GameBoy Advance, now called Super Mario Advance. This version, too, had enhanced graphics and included voice acting, along with adding several bonus features and tweaks in the boss fights. Super Mario Advance was also re-released on the Wii U’s Virtual Console in 2014. While the newer versions are the more defined versions of the game, the original on the Nintendo Entertainment System is still worth checking out.

     That’s all for now, thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day weekend!

[attract-mode-collective]

Memories Of Mom & Dad Playing Video Games

So no game culture wrap up this week, due to aforementioned on-going health related complications. Nothing serious, though it’s been enough for me to not only miss the majority of Death By Audio Arcade’s latest shindig, Deathmatch By Audio IX (perhaps some of you might recall my mention of XIII), but I also have to sit out on DBAA’s upcoming appearance at the Smithsonian this weekend. And that sucks.

At the very least, I’m able to catch a screening of the one film that truly encapsulates the New York City experience, that being the criminally underrated Bill Murray vehicle Quick Change, with the girlfriend. I should also be able to post something this Sunday, which is somewhat of a special day for Attract Mode, but more on that later.

In the meanwhile, wanted to share something that caught my eye on Reddit, the image above obviously. Not surprisingly, what results are various folks sharing their own fond memories, of mom or dad playing video games. Here are the stand outs…

“In 1989 my parents got divorced. I was 6. My dad went to go stay with a friend who had a kid my age, and we went there on nights we visited him.

One night I was sleeping in my friends room, my dad woke me in the middle of the night and brought me downstairs.

He and his buddy had been stuck on World 2-1 in Super Mario Bros for an hour, and had eventually got so frustrated that waking the kids seemed like the appropriate course of action

I cleared the level for him and went back to bed.”

-

“I was about 6 or 7, my step-dad had rented SMB2 for me. He eventually pried me away and sent us to bed that evening. When I woke up the next day, I found my 4yr old sister playing, and she was in a level I'd never seen before. Next thing I know, she was battling Wart. I knew this thanks to Nintendo Power. I watched in complete amazement as she battled him, but then I realized her movements weren't quite syncing up with what I was seeing on screen.

That's when I realized I'd been had. My step dad had stayed up until 5am beating the game and recording it on VHS - then set my sister up for the ultimate prank. He really had me going for awhile.

Another time he found a clipart collection of popular commercial logos and started sending out letters on official looking letterhead. He sent his cousin one from Coors about getting to attend the SuperBowl, and sent me one from Nintendo saying I'd been selected to beta test their upcoming 32-bit system. It had a secret code I was supposed to use when I called the number on the paper. I ended up calling a vitamin company and repeating my passphrase to one very confused customer service rep.”

-

“I remember my mother waking me on a school night at 2am to watch her kill Chaos in FF. That was pretty cool.”

-

“Dad bought a Gameboy in the early 90s for my brother and I to keep us quiet on road trips (it didn't work cos he only bought one...) And my mom got hooked on Tetris. Most of the accessories we got were bought by mom. Battery pack..a bigger battery pack. The light. The magnifier. All of it so she could keep playing Tetris.

Little while later we got Dr Mario for NES and mom got hooked on that too. I still remember the last time my mom ever played a video game. It was 7am on a Wednesday morning. I walked into the den and there she was sitting on the floor, playing Dr Mario.

‘Mom where's breakfast’

‘What're you doing up? What time is it!? Oh my god!’

She'd played Dr Mario for the entire night. She called in sick to work so she could sleep, and traded the game in for credit at a local game store the next day. Never touched Tetris again either.”

-

“I remember one of the first games I got for N64 was Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire. Sometimes when I'd get stuck on a level I'd ask my dad to beat it for me. I don't think he really liked video games or anything - I'm sure he'd much rather have played catch or something outside - but he'd play for hours to beat those levels for me because he wanted to spend time with me and my brothers, and that's what we wanted to do. It's one of the fondest memories I have of him. Anyway, at some point I asked him to beat the sewer level for me, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't take down that tentacle boss. Then one day I managed to do it for myself. After that I knew what I had to do. I killed him and took his place as ruler of the family. Old man shouldn't have shown weakness.”

Now, this isn’t the first time that such imagery has been shared in such a forum, far from it. And still to this day, my absolute favorite example (as evidenced by the fact that I’ve written about it multiple times, for multiple places, so it’s finally Attract Mode’s turn) remains the time some dude came home to discover his mom drunk and playing Link To The Past, around 2 in the morning. Which he also had to take a picture of and share on the internet. Naturally…

And here we have my favorite responses from that, the ones that are not quite so vulgar…

“I’m just going to say it, I’d bang your mom.”

“I played A Link to the Past with my mom when I was a kid. I used to come home from school and she would tell me about all the progress she made while I was gone. >:c”

“Sweet CRT man.”

“my mom was playing Ducktales when I was conceived.”

“HEY OP THANKS FOR TAKING A SEXUAL PUIC OF YOUR MOM. FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU. FUCK EVERYONE WHO USES THIS SITE”

“Dude, clean your house.”

“Marry her”

“Seriously, Plasma and LCD prices are so cheap now. Buy a new tv, there is no excuse. A buddy and his wife had that exact tv until may this year. I got so sick of watching hockey on it at their place I went to best buy and dropped 800 on a new 50 inch plasma for them just so we could have a proper hockey party. Really people the 90′s are over it’s time to ditch the crt.”

“COMMENTS SUMMARY: EVERYONE WANTS TO FUCK YOUR MOM.”

Oh, so back to the original subject, that being folks sharing stories about a parent playing a Game Boy… I’ve got one of my own.

It was Christmas time, 1996. Up till that point, I was a freshman in art school, in New York City, my first significant chunk of time away from home. But instead of flying back to Washington State, to spend the holidays with my parents, I instead went down south to Louisiana. You see, there was this girl from high school that I was friends with, and we were just friends… until I began to develop feelings during our long phone conversations, which sprung from both of us being homesick in college (she was attending some major school in the midwest).

So the plan was for me to spend time with her, at her parents, who had just relocated down south (since it was a military household, they were reassigned). I came up with a bullshit cover story to my dad, about how I got a gig on a Rugrats motion picture, hence why I was staying put in NYC (it’s worth noting that my first legit job in school was being a telephone psychic and I accidentally predicted The Rugrats Movie years before it actually happened, yes sayin’). I had assumed that my holidays would be spent a close friend from back home, who wasn’t my girlfriend, but would become one.

Well, that didn’t quite happen. I would discover in the most awkward way possible that she didn’t feel that way about me, and early on into my two week stay. So to pass the time, I ended up just playing Game Boy… as in, I played with her dad’s Game Boy. And quite a bit. Tetris was the game, which her dad was obsessed with it. Him and I would pass it back and forth, to top each other’s high scores. The old man basically felt sorry for me;  he knew why I was there, i.e. to have sex with his daughter, but because I was so clearly crestfallen from being rejected, he tried his best to keep me distracted.

Though it’s a safe bet that he would have figured out other ways to keep me occupied if his daughter was indeed into me. Though in the end, I’m happy to say that my Game Boy Tetris skills are so good that it’s enough to beat a legit 4 star general in the United States Army.

Don’t forget: Attract Mode is now on Medium! There you can subscribe to keep up to date, as well as enjoy some “best of” content you might have missed the first time around, plus be spared of the technical issues that’s starting to overtake Tumblr.

[iownmywiiulegit]

Metroid Prime 4: #1- The Lay of the Land

This is the beginning of documentation representing my journey through the Metroid franchise by Nintendo.  First, a warning: This next little bit is a flashback that leads up to now.  

When Nintendo first mentioned that Metroid Prime 4 was in development I thought man, I really should beat the first Metroid Prime.  Back in the days before the Wii I worked my Metroid Prime all the way up to the Ridley battle and then set it down for a few years.  I got into different games like Soul Calibur II and Tales of Symphonia.  Soul Calibur was a great bro bonding game and I still think it is.  The next few years were spent focusing on college and then I bought a Wii.  I thought the Gamecube was obsolete at this point since my Wii could play Gamecube games, but man was I wrong.  Buying the Wii U proved this to me.  I wanted to play all discs on one system but I couldn’t do that.  I wanted (and still want) purity with my consoles.  This resulted in my going hard into my Gamecube again and getting the hardware peripherals that made it stand on par with the Wii, if not debatably better.  I bought the digital component cable for a wildly discounted price on eBay, and the Gameboy player and disc.  I got super lucky in finding the component cables at the price I found them at and I think the seller was in a pinch because it WAS around the holidays and I was just randomly checking the listings and was like “holy crap.”  No bidding, just buy it now.  Can’t say, won’t say.  It was also around this time that Nintendo announced that they were starting development for Metroid Prime all over from scratch.  Hearing this news felt like hearing a referee pistol.  If Nintendo was going to give me a fair warning that shit was getting real about Metroid Prime 4, then it’s up to me to get on the ball and meet Nintendo and Retro Studios in stride.  My instincts told me to go beat my original Metroid Prime file, finally.  My hardware was excellent and Nintendo sent the official signal; let’s go.

Turning on Metroid Prime for the first time in years with my original save file still intact, I expected to me extremely rusty at the controls and traversing the landscape.  Surprisingly it came back fairly quickly and before I knew it I was blasting different colored Metroids away no problem.  What I didn’t realize was exactly how close I was to actually beating the game.  The final boss was all I had to defeat.  Really?  17 years just for that?  If my memory serves me correctly, I simply just didn’t want the game to end.  I do that.  Leave books unfinished, leave movies before the end, compose music and leave the ending open, and I don’t know why.  I want time to soak into the experience and really savor it.  Perhaps I’m not so much a voracious consumer of entertainment but rather an appreciative connoisseur.  Back in 2004, I remember being at a drummer’s house that I was in drum corps with, and he was a stupid competitive type that turned everything into a pissing contest.  Once he found out that I had gotten all the way up to Ridley or something he set out to beat that game asap.  It was when he was at the final boss that I got my first glimpse of the future 15 years later.  Damn.  

Anyway, I beat Prime but I still have this amazing fully loaded Gamecube that has the OEM digital component cable, and Gameboy Advance player.  My next move was obvious.  I wasn’t done with the original Metroid Prime yet, not by a long shot!  If you’re a fan of Metroid, you love finding secrets and collecting all de tings.  To get the full original Metroid Prime experience, I had to play and beat Metroid Fusion for the Gameboy Advance.  I eBay-ed it up asap.  It’s kinda funny- Fusion showed up in the mail right on the day or day after I beat Prime.  Pretty cool.

Getting into Metroid Fusion was something I wasn’t ready for but always wanted.  It was Super Metroid that turned me into a fan.  The music, the beautiful colors, the crunchy explosions, and the search really got me looking in every nook and cranny in each level.  I wanted more and Fusion was it but I didn’t have a Gameboy Advance and wasn’t going to shell out even more money if I wasn’t going hard into games back then.  At that time I was so into music and rocking harder than life could offer that I just could not afford to allocate money toward a handheld that still was not backlit.  Fuck that.  When I saw pictures of Fusion all I could think was that it was Super Metroid 2.  After playing it, man, was I right about that.

Metroid Fusion is so amazing.  I love 2D Metroid-style games.  Hell, I spent a large part of 2018 playing through the indie game A Robot Named Fight on Steam and currently have a thoroughly played but not beaten Axiom Verge save file on my Wii U.  Again, Nintendo gave the signal and I had to run with it so here we are.  What I love about Fusion is quite a few things.  I love the graphics.  The colors are so vibrant and all the sprites look lively.  Even though the Gameboy Advance’s resolution is apparent on a 480p screen, it still plays amazingly.  The controls are tight and intuitive.  I did get lost a lot and backtracked often to find that random wall that needed to be blown through to progress to the next area.  I love how the security levels kept me from progressing just enough to experience the game unfold before me.  Oh man, I loved hiding from SA-X.  What a cool addition.  I swore a lot at the spider boss because it took me the most tries to defeat.  It was somewhere around that point where I thought that this game wasn’t for amateur platform players.  You really had to have a handle on things to get any further.  The moment Fusion Stole my heart was in chapter 11, at Plant Core X.

In Metroid Other M, there were oftentimes feelings of isolation and maybe even mild claustrophobia.  The same could even go for the final boss in Metroid Prime.  There’s something really gross-but-in-a-cool-way about destroying a slimy bug hive in a dark triple sub basement, especially if you have to spelunking your way to perform the extermination.  In Fusion, it’s sooo different, but the feeling is eerily similar in a way that I absolutely love.  When I first experience Plant Core X, I didn’t think I would be emotionally attached to my character.  I didn’t think I was Samus.  But then I kept getting dragged into the poisonous flower swamp that released deadly spores into the air in a wide horizontal sine wave pattern.  The music was minimal and just a little quieter than the rest of the game.  I kept trying to jump out of the swamp but I couldn’t get out.  It frustrated me because it interrupted my flow.  I felt helpless and that my situation was serious, even over my head.  I was suffocating.  I felt connected to Samus and like I had entered an extremely deadly area.  If Samus is an exterminator, this place was ground zero for the cause of everything in Fusion.  Don’t get me wrong- all the other bosses are vital to making up the game but at Plant Core X, Samus gets into deep shit.  Imagine that you’re stuck in a poisonous swamp or quicksand and you keep trying to jump out but the sludge keeps pulling you back in.  Now imagine all that while the air around you is raining poisonous dandelion seeds.  There’s no way you can’t get hit or sucked into the swamp.  What an amazing experience.  I couldn’t believe what I was feeling.  Here’s a YouTube link to this experience but it’s not me playing.  Whoever played in this video did way better than me but I think you can get an idea of what I’m talking about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=347poZRrbrQ

Just last week I beat Fusion but didn’t do so well in collecting all the little things in the game. The final boss was cool and well drawn for the time period and hardware imho.  My main goal was to unlock the original NES Metroid in my copy of Metroid Prime on the Gamecube.  Since I have a Gameboy Advance that my dad found on a school bus and no kids claimed, I used it to link up to my cube with the Fusion cart and unlocked Metroid.  

That brings us to the current moment.  Today I figured out how to save my original Metroid game on the Gamecube.  This was a little confusing because the Gamecube controller doesn’t have a select button like the original NES.  Instead it’s the Z button.  To save while you’re playing the game, you need a second controller, just like in the original Legend of Zelda, and while paused push UP and A to initiate the save screen without dying.  

I can’t wait to get into it.  When the original Metroid screen comes up on my HDTV in a somewhat aliased 480p widescreen picture, I am immediately in a time warp.  Since I never played the original Metroid as a kid, my only memories of that game are from looking at strategy guides that didn’t show you everything.  I didn’t think much of it then because Mario was it.  I used to watch the title screen to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link over and over again as a kid and look into the stars on the screen and just wonder endlessly about anything. It cast a spell over me or something; I was captivated.  With Metroid, the original, it is now happening again. The game is brand new to me and I couldn’t give a care to anything modern as far as gaming and technology if I tried.  The stars in the background, the blinking letters of METROID, the fairly quick opening sequence loop-  all of this shows me that I’ve never grown up from being a kid after all.  I’m still the same after all these years.  The world can only help me build character and deep down I’m just the same kid that gets filled with endless wonder when 8 bit Nintendo does it’s thing.  Amazing.

For a current side note, I’d like to add that in Fusion, you can hear sound effects that are similar to those in the Virtual Boy’s Galactic Pinball.  Although the composer for Fusion was not the same as Galactic Pinball, Galactic Pinball’s composer was the same for Super Metroid and Mike Tyson’s Punch Out: Kenji Yamamoto.  You can hear similarities everywhere like Yamamoto was consulted often.  And if you’re not aware, Galactic Pinball does have a miniature Metroid space shooter game as a bonus easter egg on one of the tables. I like to think that only the hardcore Nintendo fans know this.  

Anyway.  I’ll report back as soon as more progress is made with the original Metroid.  In the meantime, here is my most recent Twitter post with a pic documenting where things are at.  

https://twitter.com/VeryBadTim/status/1100219464585490434

[hellopopculture]

The Best Consoles from Each Generation of Gaming (Part 2) Description: This list will take a look at the consoles from the previous generations and breakdown what made them stand out from the rest.

Fifth Generation-The Sony PlayStation & The Nintendo 64 In this Generation, Nintendo switched places with Sega, and Sony took the role of having all the variety and the extensive library of games. Nintendo's mistake was sticking with cartridges while the rest of the industry had moved on to the CD-ROM format for producing games. That cost Nintendo a lot of 3rd party support, and thus the Sony became a valid challenger in the console market. Sony just did everything they were supposed to do. The Nintendo 64 was very clunky, it's gamepad is maybe one of the worst of all-time, and most annoyingly of all, if you were playing a game that needed a memory card or you just wanted your controller to rumble (which is a basic feature these days) what you have to add would make the controller even more awkward and hard to deal with. Sony at some point released Dual Shock controllers which added analog buttons for the first time but also they rumbled without an attachment. Sony was also the first to drop a "slim version" called the PSONE. Not only did it have the same processing power as the original PlayStation, but it had a screen attached so you could play without even a television. The only thing that saved Nintendo and kept them able to compete with Sony is that their 1st party games were incredible. All your Nintendo favorites like Mario, Link, The Star Fox Crew, The F-Zero Racers, Kirby, and even Pokemon would show up in 3D on the N64 but the console itself came with 4 controller slots from the beginning so that opened the door for "party games". Games like Super Smash Bros. & Mario Party as well as some shooters like GoldenEye were instant classics on this machine.

Fourth Generation-Super Nintendo Entertainment System & The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive At this point I think whatever console you enjoyed more had nothing to do with hardware or the quality of the console. The SNES and The Sega Genesis were rock solid. They were the best pieces of technology that you could get to play games on at that point.  The difference maker was the specific titles and that's where I think Nintendo had the upper hand. Not only did they take their very own titles to the next level but they also had a lot of great 3rd party stuff that Sega didn't get like the Final Fantasy games and the Mega Man X series.   What I believe set the two consoles apart overall wasn't so much the variety of games but the style of their games. Sega's titles had more of that 90's attitude and flavor that kids and teens from the generation would love while Nintendo had more of a classic feel.  That's why I chose Sega over Nintendo to begin with. Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, Toe Jam & Earl, Golden Axe, Awesome Possum & Vector Man among other classics just seemed cooler than what the SNES was offering.

As much as I loved my Genesis though I eventually came around to SNES as I was introduced to my first RPG. Nintendo had the advantage of variety. There really wasn't a genre they didn't cover and cover well, and although their flagship characters such as Mario, Samus, Link & Star Fox were more traditional in terms of style, the games were still fun and innovative for their time. An added bonus for gamers in this era were the add-ons, peripherals and accessories that would eventually be added to the experience for the two main consoles. For those who went the Nintendo route there was the Super Gameboy which just made an already extensive gaming library even bigger. This was really cutting-edge at the time, as it allowed you to play Gameboy games through your SNES on your television. If you remember Gameboy and Gameboy Pocket you know visually it was a pretty weak handheld. Playing those games on your television greatly enhanced how certain games looked and probably your enjoyment of them as well. For those that went the Sega route there was The 32X, The Nomad & The Sega CD. The 32X was a cartridge adapter that allowed you to play games that were above the 16-bit mark graphically as did the Sega CD attachment, they had their own games but they connected directly to the Genesis. The cool thing about the Sega CD though was that it could also play music. The Nomad was a handheld but unlike Game Gear it didn't come with it's own games it simply allowed you to play Genesis games on the go. The battery life was terrible but it’s still a valuable idea.