Remember the "Game Boy Around The World" kid? He enjoyed some fame a while back after his father posted photos of the tyke posing with his Game Boy Advance SP in front of famous monuments and areas around the world, like Stonehenge, Big Ben, and Times Square.
It's been almost two years, though, since his dad first put up those pictures, and we thought it would be interesting to see what the lad has been up to since. Is he still traveling the world? Has he given up on the GBA? What does he look like now?
The answers to those questions, in that order -- yes, no, and find out past the break!
Hey, you. Yeah, you reading this right now. Do you want River City Ransom EX sealed for $17? If you're ready to say anything but "yes," we kindly ask that you close your browser window, call your mother and apologize for being such a disappointment.
If for some reason you're not keen on the game and still manage to have a working brain (or, you know, you already own it), there's plenty of other Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games on offer. It's a nice mixture of great first-party and third-party titles, if we may say so. You know, in case you wanted to bulk up your GBA collection.
Those of you who like all-in-one devices might be familiar with Visteon's Dockable Entertainment system. Even though we see this as more of a "we like the idea but wouldn't actually buy one" item, this portable player supports Game Boy Advance games, as well as DVDs and music. Therefore, it's the perfect device for people who were looking for a GBA-meets-music-player-meets-DVD-player to keep them (or their children) busy on long drives.
This is all old news and exposition, though. The interesting part is that Visteon told GamerTell in an interview that they hope to come out with two new Dockable Entertainment systems, one featuring the Wii and the other the DS. These plans are nowhere near definite, but the fact that Visteon is looking into them is enough to get us excited. Granted, a portable Wii device that can also play DVDs and CDs is the more appealing of the two, but a DS version isn't too shabby of an idea, either. Of course, the potential pricing on these devices has us nervous, considering that the GBA version cost a cool $1,200 with installation when it came out.
He kicks his legs back and forth, feet crossed at the ankles and calves kissing cold porcelain. Next to the bathtub, on top of the sea foam-colored bathroom rug, his plastic step stool waits for him to jump off his seat and run to the rest of his day. Tinny video game music and sound effects sputter out of the handheld on his lap, bouncing off the bathroom's tile walls and echoing into his ears.
How do you convince a child filled with energy and plans for adventure to sit still for a few minutes? Join us past the post break to find out!
What do you do with a broken Game Boy Advance? Artist Kenny Irwin threw his into a microwave oven, Gremlins-style, blasting the aged handheld with magnetron waves for three minutes on high. As you can see, the portable came out of the microwave a bit deformed! We're just happy that it didn't sprout legs and scamper out of the kitchen, running around the neighborhood terrorizing locals.
Of course, not everything in the photo was a result of microwave experimentation -- the marshmallowy gunk is actually melted Solo cups, and Kenny brought the screen to life with some Photoshop trickery. The eyes? They blinked open as the portable was pulled out of the microwave, and they haven't stopped staring since. According to Kenny, his Game Boy Advance is now "33% beast, 42% alien, 11% radioactive, and 56% game machine, making it 100% complete for endless hours of eyetone gameplay." Creepy!
If there's one thing we love to cover, it's mature games for immature gamers. Unfortunately, adult games for the Nintendo DS are rare, especially in the US -- some publishers have even made sure to censor the most trivial details in its games to protect our eyes and innocence, lest they suffer the wrath of parental watchdog groups.
Homebrew developers, however, have no such concerns, and have released pornographic projects that no commercial game could ever get away with. We've previewed five of these homemade releases, even providing you with screenshots; the naughty bits are blurred out, of course, but the images are still very much NSFW. Brush your teeth, clip your fingernails, and get down to business past the post break. Oh yeah, it's business time.
Sting is offering a special limited-edition package of their DS strategy game Knights in the Nightmare that honors the game's history, and (sort of) serves fans of the Dept. Heaven series to which the game belongs. We say "sort of" because the Knights in the Nightmare Dept. Heaven Episodes Series Special Pack includes the new DS game (Episode IV in the Dept. Heaven series) and the Game Boy Advance Yggdra Union (Episode II). There has yet to be an Episode III, and Episode I (Riviera: the Promised Land) isn't included.
If you're a fan of Sting's series of tactical RPGs, chances are you have Yggdra Union. And if you're willing to pay 8,190 yen ($79) for a new DS strategy game, you're already a fan. Which means a bunch of Japanese collectors are going to end up with extra copies of Yggdra Union that will never come out of the package.
It's not every day you get surprise homebrew releases like this! Anguna: Warriors of Virtue is a complete action-adventure game for the GBA, boasting five dungeons, unique enemies and bosses, and an expansive overworld. Hidden rooms, secrets, and special weapons -- bear traps, dynamite, and more -- are scattered around Aguna. It's all the work of a single programmer (with sprites provided by Chris Hildenbrand), Nathan Tolbert, who labored over the game as a hobby for the past three years.
Very much inspired by the original The Legend of Zelda, Anguna is an old-school experience that doesn't hold your hand whatsoever. Other than a few sentences to set the plot and a sword, you aren't given much to work with. After you fight your way through the introduction dungeon, you'll need to explore the overworld for a while before figuring out where to head next.
If a lifetime of easy gaming has turned you soft, the official site has a guide for getting started that should help you out. The site also offers physical GBA cartridges of the game if you'd rather not play Anguna on an emulator or off a flashcart, though pricing varies for that option.
To promote Anguna: Warriors of Virtue's release, Nathan is hosting a contest -- the first person to submit proof that they've gathered all of the game's hidden power-ups and items will receive a free cartridge of the game.
For all of you folk who enjoy using that other game slot on your DS, take note: Wal-Mart is having a sale on select titles. Whether you go with the option of picking up 2 games for $20, or 3 games for $25, it's a fairly decent deal, if we may say so.
To sweeten the deal even more, they're allowing you to choose from some compilation games, as well. Titles such as Risk, Battleship & Clue, and Centipede, Breakout & Warlords (!). So, if you're trying to bulk up your collection, you might want to head on over there and check out what titles they have on offer.
Despite its fanboy following and favorable reviews from critics, the GBA adaptation for The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night will not see a follow-up on single-screen portable, according to Sierra's 2008 Spring Event held over the weekend.
Interestingly, of all the platforms The Eternal Night released on (PS2/Wii/DS/GBA), the GBA version, a 2D platformer/brawler some described as Devil May Cry meets Astro Boy: Omega Factor, has the highest average review score by a large margin. Quality doesn't equal quantity sold, however, especially on a dying console, and we're not surprised that Sierra opted to not complete its The Legend of Spyro trilogy on the GBA.
Dawn of the Dragon for the DS is scheduled to ship in fall 2008. Based on the screenshots released so far, it looks to be another 3D action platformer with occasional sidescrolling stages. Mark Hamill will reportedly lend his voice to one of the game's characters, and Elijah Wood will return to voice Spyro. Christina Ricci will take over Mae Whitman's role as Cynder. We can imagine her disbelief over the replacement : "Her?"
For reference, we gave the DS version of The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night a 5.0/10 in our review (GBA version: 9.5).
Remember Samurai Deeper Kyo, that anime-based game released with the Samurai Deeper Kyo DVD set earlier this year? It's a rare cart due to its limited availability with the expensive "Complete Series" collection, and it has the added allure of also providing a solid action experience, despite having been originally released in Japan back in 2002.
Well, those of you who saw the DVD set's exorbitant mark up and resigned yourself to never owning this gem might want to reconsider with Best Buy's sale price: $29.99. While that might seem like a lot to pay for a GBA game these days, that's less than half of its usual list price of $79.99! Plus, you'll also get a heap of episodes from an anime which may or may not be worth watching!
We don't even like yellow that much -- or the Rare-fied Donkey Kong character -- and, still, this limited-edition Donkey Kong-themed Game Boy Advance SP calls to us. It's the allure of the rare item, of course, but it's also that the thing is just so distinctive-looking. Other than the banana color, all that marks this as Donkey Kong-specific is a little "DK" logo.
According to the auction, only 1,000 of these things were produced. And according to the current bidder, it's worth at least $200. For us, it's worth a link to the DK Rap.
What a great time to be a handheld shoot-em-up fan! On the commercial front, Nanostray 2 just hit store shelves and Ketsui DS is still on the way. Homebrew gamers had their lives changes by Super Wings's release last week, and now they have two more titles to play with -- OpenTyrian DS and World Reborn.
OpenTyrian DS (v0.2) is a port of vertical-scrolling shooter Tyrian, originally a PC title. Players pick up cash while blasting their way through stages which they can then spend on ship modifications in between levels. There's a huge variety of upgrades available for purchase -- primary and secondary weapons (with 11 levels), "sidekicks," shields, energy generators, and even alternate ships. If you have a flaschart handy, you definitely need to try this one out.
As for World Reborn, this horizontal-scrolling SHMUP (with an RPG leveling system) was originally intended as a commercial GBA release and even had a DS sequel planned for a minute, but the game never made it to the retail market. Though developer NeoPong (now defunct) had plans to publish World Reborn with DSI Games, that deal fell through, and the studio has decided to put up the ROM for free rather than pack it away in a warehouse, Indiana Jones-style. Jump past the post break for a trailer of the game.
Read - Download OpenTyrian DS Read - Download World Reborn
Posted Mar 27th 2008 6:00PM by David Hinkle Filed under: GBA
Let's face it: we all love the DS, but if it wasn't for the handhelds of yesteryear, we wouldn't be enjoying the dual-screened bliss we do on a regular basis. Instead, our reality would be dark and cold, our fear of what is right in front of us only challenged by our incredible lack of knowing what is right in front of us. It would probably lead us to suicide.
But, lo and behold, the passage of time flowed in favor of Nintendo, as the Game Boy lead to the Game Boy Advance and the Game Boy Advance lead to that stupid Game Boy Micro thing the Game Boy Micro and then, finally, to the DS. But what about all of those great Game Boy games that time forgot?
Well, now is the time to rustle up those nostalgic memories you have pattering around your noggin. The games are:
Rolan's Curse 2
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
Mole Mania
Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge
Mega Man V
Kirby's Dreamland 2
Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land
Personally, we would've liked to see Street Fighter II get some love (kidding!). What do you all think? What games do you like? What does this list need?
As gamers, we can't help but adore chiptunes. That's why we were originally giddy over Pixelh8's new program, Music Tech Pro Performer. Not only is Pixelh8 a respected chiptunes musician himself, but having software that lets us mess around with 8-bit sounds seems right up our alley.
Yet, this software doesn't come cheap. It's not available in ROM form, so you won't be able to download it off the internet like many other homebrew apps. Pixelh8 is looking for some compensation for his hard work -- fair enough. But, the price is pretty steep (£30, approximately $59 USD) for a somewhat limited piece of software.
If you disagree with us and have to have it, you can order one of your own here. As for us, we'll be admiring his work from afar. To admire away with us, check out another video past the break.
