Game Boy Memories Part #3
May 7th, 2009
Game Boy Advance
It’s getting harder to discuss the Game Boy the further I move along the line of iterations. The quality of games per each platform is increasing, and generally speaking so has my enjoyment with each, yet the nostalgia factor is shrinking too.
My brother had earned enough money through cash-in-hand jobs that he was able to buy a himself a Game Boy Advance within a year of its release. Fortunately for me, I was able to crib off his hard work for a couple of years until the Game Boy Advance SP was released. I originally wanted so desperately to own one of the limited edition, ultra-slick Rip Curl GBA SP units (pictured in the header). Typically I lucked out and most copies were snapped up quickly while I tried to scrounge together another $20 to make up the price tag.
Golden Sun was the first title my twin bought, recommended positive press on the magazine scene. I remember the first time I played it, sitting in my room, in the same spot I am now, with headphones on, juggling the unit to gleam enough of the sun’s rays. The music was incredible, it had a real airy atmosphere to it. I remember pausing for 20 minutes at the end of the first dungeon to sample the musical score. The graphics too had a pseudo-3D look to it thanks to shaded sprites (giving each body part a circular appearance), shadows and other tricks the game employed to create a sense of depth. The battles were dynamic, fast and engaging, a technical powerhouse of ideas and a clear leap above the SNES. Golden Sun was an early look at the future potential of the GBA. It’s a pity there weren’t more titles to peak Golden Sun‘s aptitude to sharp presentation and design – very contemporary for its time.
I sometimes feel trapped in a sad world where Advance Wars fans outnumber Fire Emblem fans. We’re all marching to spanky tunes, sharp transitions and a youthful air. The charisma is undeniable upbeat, perhaps too much so for a game that tackles the topic matter of war. I love Advance Wars for all it offered; mainly busting S ranks off the easy maps in the War Room while failing to worm my way through the main story. Advance Wars had this unshakable layer of intellect to it, the same variation of intellect that makes one a good player of chess – I usually stuck to draughts. There’s just a mentation that I always buggered up when strategizing my units, a way of thinking that is still out of my mind’s reach that make me at odds with this series.
Fire Emblem picked up those pieces, and welcomed me to the opposite end of the SRPG genre from much beloved Final Fantasy Tactics (PSone). This is strategy that speaks to me, well contextualized (steeped in hierarchic Medieval tongue) and better animated. The battle animations still leave me awe inspired, the fluidity of the sprite work encouraged me to to make my own animated gifs from sprite dumps of the game. I’m sure if I were to one day conduct a proper analysis of Fire Emblem it would reveal some embarrassing similarities with the Advance Wars framework. Enough so that I’d realize my fear of Advance Wars is all just in my head. Either way, this title strengthened my love for all things SRPG and instantly turned me into an conscious consumer of Intelligent Systems’ games. Seriously, this developer has breathed much variation into the Nintendo fold.
Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission are another pair of unforgettable GBA classics – seem to be operating it twos today. Purists may balk at the linearity of Metroid Fusion, but the title brought some interesting elements to the franchise, most notable of which being SA-X, the evil Samus. Her presence was unnerving, marked with cold foot steps through the abandoned halls. Haters of Fusion say that Zero Mission is a better game, and they’re probably right. Fusion had a stylish, light-blue elegance to it, the environments felt lived in, a naturally conjoining network of catacombs overrun by vegetation and abandonment – it was a modern Metroid. Zero Mission feels bulky and recycled (as it is) in comparison; cliched and dated. Although some areas of the used map are fleshed out, the core framework is centred around 3-4 core divisions as in the original (this is a remake by the way). The game places you in limbo, balancing sending you back an forth to several divisions of the map. The game only truly comes into its own when Samus attempts to leave Zebes and crash lands back on the planet near the Space Pirate Mothership. Her abilities and power suit are striped and we get to play in an extended episode, where she stealthily infiltrates the alien compound. Playing as the tight skinned “Zero Suit Samus”, the game becomes conscious of the fandom in ways Nintendo normally don’t permit. Nice call.
And then we arrive at Final Fantasy Tactics Advance; the most atrocious abomination ever to be accepted by the video gaming community. No, no, no, that’s enough! I refuse to attach myself to this sin. Post over.
Game Boy Memories Part #2
May 5th, 2009
Game Boy Color Era
Compared to the original, black-and-white Game Boy, the Game Boy Color had a rather short life-span of about 3 years. As a sharp blow to my love of the portable, I never actually owned a GBC, despite the large number of titles that caught my attention. I don’t believe that I could afford it at the time. As I said in my previous musings on the system, the GBC in it’s short life span arguably had a line up better than the past decade of Game Boy titles, which made missing out all the more painful. I did make up for my absence due to the backwards compatible titles, and later playing catch up on the GBA.
The most standout title of the GBC years would undoubtedly be the Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages duo. Originally planned as a trilogy (completing the Din, Nayru, Farore arrangement), Seasons and Ages linked together two games, similar in structure, varying in mechanics. I played this title alongside my brother and a friend so that the three of us could unlock the whole experience. Ages was the more seasoned game, tougher puzzles being a key contributor but both games provided similarly high quality experiences. Capcom took the reigns of these title and did solid justice of the Zelda series, delivering a title to appease more hardened fans of the series.
During the GBC years I use to salvage titles that allowed B&W play, one of these titles was Pokemon Trading Card Game. Sure, it’s a Pokemon spin-off, but it was a bloody good card game too. My brother and I first rented this title (we didn’t rent games that often, mind you) and finished the title as a pair, only to buy the title a few weeks later and finish it individually. I personally detest trading card games, they’re stupid, money-spinning time-wasters, yet TCG I liked, really liked. Even though the game is built around a deck of cards, I never mentally put the two together, which probably explains why I enjoyed it so much. There was no fat to it, go to gym, battle moochers until you reach the gym leader, beat him, go to next gym – it was all about the card battles. I also remember the music being really intense, particularly in important battles, when the bass is rolling and cards are being shuffled, you know this game means business.
Polished in almost every way, the Mario sports series (Mario Tennis and Mario Golf) are both excellent examples of wholesome gaming experiences. Both titles thoughtfully translate these sports into digital equivalents, layer it with content and combine the package in an RPG shell. Golf uses a two-touch bar system where one first lines up a moving power bar, to then again line up the retraction for accuracy. It’s a simple system that works to great effect. The polish is what makes it shine though, smart course designs, a range of clubs and additional spin mechanics vary the experience. Tennis is more or less basic tennis, with effects added to the ball dependent on which buttons pressed. There’s a slight strategy involved in managing the three types of shots, four if you include volleys. The RPG contexts flesh out a storyline and give the game a sense of progression, and something to do outside of the sport itself. They’re a hub to access the gracious amounts of additional training courses and challenges. The Game Boy Advance versions are also well worth a look, even if they are remakes/highly derivative.
Pokemon Gold/Silver still maintained my interest, although by that stage I found myself enjoying the adventure less, it lacked the sense of familiarity that the previous games had. I often found myself unsure on how to progress and which Pokemon I ought to adopt into my party. The series had become too ahead of itself. The Donkey Kong Country port to the GBC was impressive, although hardly worth playing over SNES original, the mini-games and additional content were slick but felt too attached to DK 64 which we won’t discuss. In the past year I also picked up Perfect Dark and enjoyed that quite a bit. It’s a string of interesting set pieces, the standard action was a little clumsy due to the low resolution tightening the amount of visual lead way, but overall it was a very solid, sophisticated little brother to the N64 game.
Game Boy Memories Part #1
May 3rd, 2009
A few Tuesdays ago marked the Gameboy’s 20th Anniversary and as usual I’m late to the party. It’s not because I wasn’t aware of this momentous occasion, rather I’m usually fashionably late. By the time the topic came to me, I needed a few days to reminisce and then finally wait until my writing groove came about. And anyways, where was Nintendo? You’d have thought they’d be joining in the festivities of their biggest money spinner. Despite their no-show and my markedly late arrival, I think it’s time we unpack the memories, here are my personal favourites;
Original Game Boy
My first Game Boy was a Game Boy Pocket. I bought the system in a pack with Super Mario Land and a small carry bag for around $AUD120. Pokemon was one of the key reasons I wanted a Game Boy. My brother had saved up enough for his transparent GBP and Pokemon Red, and sure enough, I wanted one too. Pokemon wasn’t the only game that caught my attention though, I’d previously completed chunks of Donkey Kong Land years earlier, as well as sampling the amazing Zelda: Links Awakening (one of the best in the series). These titles as well as odd bits of Tetris, Mario, Kirby among others all intrigued my small mind.
When I did finally purchase Pokemon, perhaps a good few months later, it was my 3rd Game Boy game, alongside Mario Land and Ducktales (a B&W iteration of the Capcom NES classic). I blasted through Mario Land in a few short days after I picked it up. The speedy pace, and similarity to the original made this an ideal obstacle course to flex my platforming prowess. Ducktales was slower, focusing instead on exploration. Like all the Disney licenses handled by Capcom, Ducktales shared notable Capcom traits. For me, a fan of the series, the well characterized sprites were a highlight, but of course, it’s difficult to ignore divine chip tunes like the famous ‘The Moon’ track. Very iconic that.
Pokemon was a magical game for me. I don’t think I’d every gotten so much millage out of a single title. As I read on a design student’s blog elsewhere (sorry mate, I lost the link, you stopped updating), Pokemon was the ideal Game Boy games because it was really a game for young boys. Pokemon succeeded in digitizing the essence that made the activities of young boys enjoyable, such as adventuring, collecting and playing. Pokemon was the digital playground of its era, and I lost many hours to it.
Zelda: Links Awakening and Wario Land followed suit not long after (it might have been before – little vague). The box-art for the Mario Land titles presented an imagery that weakened my Nintendo-loyal heart. I never ended up purchasing Super Mario Land 2 (the title with the most endearing box-art of the lot) until just a few years ago, the title was difficult to find on store shelves for some bizarre reason. Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land on the other hand wasn’t, it was quite readily available, so I settle for it instead. Availability aside, this game had my interested piqued, I mean, who after all is this Wario character, besides some guy that wants to beat Bomberman at his own game
Wario ended up being one of my personal favourite Nintendo games. The series has always always delivered a strong villainy fibre to it, not just in the designs itself, but by the way the move set represents the design. Wario was a large, Italian tyrant whose anti-hero role was best characterized by the fact that he doesn’t just stomp on heads, he literally attacks enemies. His repertoire of ramming, stomping, ground thumping and apprehending harmless creatures spoke more villainy than his domineering appearance ever could. The two qualities worked together to separate him from another Luigi.
Zelda: Link’s Awakening ushered me into this real-time world of adventuring. It’s a title so far ahead of it’s time, no wonder it was re-released for the Game Boy Color 4 years later. Link’s Awakening is most memorable for diverging from norms. Portablizing a brand new, console-sized game world – an incredible task. Allowing you to steal from the local store and then renaming you to THEIF for the rest of the game as punishment. The inclusion of appropriate 2D platforming elements. In fact, swooping through Wikipedia reveals even more series staples that began on the Game Boy, wow, I’m impressed; item-trading side-quests, assigning weapons to controller buttons, fishing, flying around by rooster and the use of the ocarina. Damn, I want to go back and relive his title.
There were other games that I enjoyed during my childhood. I think Legend of the River King should be the last significant title I point out. My brother and I rented this niche-ly little fishing game during the phasing out of all B&W Game Boy games. The title’s similarities the much loved Harvest Moon series instantly struck a chord, and even though the game is questionably a shoddy, arcane little RPG that wouldn’t garner a passing glance for many, like Harvest Moon, it’s also a niche staple that fits nicely alongside Survival Kids as a cute trio of classics.
Wow, that’ll do more for now, I’ll continue my personal retrospective in the next post.
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