Don't forget to check out the official rules if you have questions.
Posts with tag Gba
DS Fanswag: Give thanks with this three-pack!
Don't forget to check out the official rules if you have questions.
DS Daily: Filling out the GBA collection
With the possibility of cheaper Game Boy Advance games tempting us, we are considering a trip down to the local GameStop to blow some cash. There are plenty of GBA games we never picked up but would like to, including ... well, a bunch of stuff. Embarrassingly, we never got the Mario Advance games (because we have multiple versions of all the Mario games already). We'd definitely consider those at the right price, for portability alone. We'd also be likely to buy every copy of River City Ransom EX we saw and distribute them to anyone nearby, possibly by throwing them from a parade float.What about you? What does your collection need? Are there any GBA games you want, but have yet to get? If so, are you planning on checking out the (potentially) newly-price-dropped stock?
It's the year of the ... Game Boy Advance SP?
While it's possible these are old, we have a suspicion that the Year of the Dog system is recent as of this year, at least. There's also a two-tone Mario edition, and a very cool dragon system that uses the black/red case design from the Boktai GBA. Some of these are available online at amazingly high prices, so we're stuck playing games on our stupid DS Lites.
[Via Siliconera]
Camelot on Golden Sun 3
Back during E3, everyone got all excited because they thought some screens for a new Golden Sun game had leaked onto the intertron. Of course, it was fake as we soon learned why someone would play with our emotions in that way. Shame on them.But, hope returns, as in an interview with Game Informer, Camelot reveals that Nintendo has told them that they want another game in the series. And, like a mob boss running shop on your neighborhood, you best listen to them. Camelot said "We have to do it! Not just that we have to do it, but we want to do it. Nintendo has asked us to please make it. But at the same time we haven't gotten around to making it. We're not really sure why (laughs)...One of the reasons that we haven't made golden sun is because there are so many fans of the game and we don't want to do something half-assed. We want to give it the time it deserves."
While we appreciate the care on their part to create a quality game, one deserving of the Golden Sun name, we think 4 years has been plenty of time to come up with a third installment.
[Via Codename Revolution]
DS Daily: Slot 2
Back when the DS was first released, the Game Boy Advance compatibility was a lifesaver. The Metroid Prime Hunters demo got old very quickly, and we were glad to have the massive GBA library to lean on, so we didn't have to resort to Sprung.But now there are more amazing DS games than there is time to play them all. In addition, the design of the DS Lite makes it less convenient to carry around a GBA game at all times. Do you still find yourself playing Game Boy Advance games on your DS, or has your DS's other cartridge slot fallen into disuse? As for us, we'll keep GBA-ing it up until a suitable successor to Astro Boy: The Omega Factor comes along (which will be never).
The hunt for a KB Toys is on
It's quite possible that you live near a KB Toys store; they must still exist or there wouldn't be anybody to announce these promotions. In our personal experience, however, we haven't seen one in years. Every store near the last, say, three or four places we lived has gone away, taking their giant bins of 3/$10 action figures with them.If, unlike us, you're lucky enough to have access to a KB Toys, you can stock up on DS and GBA games this month. From now until the 30th, you can buy one DS or GBA game and get the second for half-price. And if that's not enough to send you to the mall, the same deal applies to Play-Doh.
[Via Joystiq; yes, that is a real product]
Rare Pokemon cartridge holds a litter of Mews
This special copy of Pokémon Fire Red could make you very, very popular in the GTS or at our own Game Night. That's because it's loaded with Mews. This cartridge was used in one of those Toys 'R' Us Pokémon events, to distribute Mews to store visitors. We don't know exactly how rare something like this is, but there couldn't have been many such cartridges produced for a one-off event at a single retail chain.We wonder if there would be a noticeable change in the GTS once a bunch of "legit" Mews is unleashed into the trading community. Would the relative barter value of Mews adjust? Oh, man, why is Pokémon economics suddenly so interesting? What is wrong with us?
[Via GameSniped]
Protovania: Auction of Sorrow
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is one of our favorite Castlevania games, and one we're happy to have found at all. Our retail copy was difficult enough to track down, but this "debug sample" is really rare. And you get more for your buck than just a messed-up version of the game on a big cartridge: it's got a debug menu that lets you skip to all of the cutscenes, and probably any other portion of the game.
Prototype collecting has tempted us for years; even when we had the money to bid on a rare item like this, we've held off out of fear that it would encourage more eBaying. We're not sure we can resist this, however.
[Via GameSniped]
Top 10 GBA game list is highly selective
Infendo's list of the Top 10 Must-Buy GBA Games definitely includes ten great games. We approve of Infendo's drive to fill the neglected bottom cartridge slot of the DS with excellence. However, it comes off as a list of the Top 10 First-Party GBA games, with no representation of third-party publishers at all. Every single game on the list, even Final Fantasy VI Advance, was published by Nintendo.We know that Nintendo fans tend to be loyal to Nintendo even to the exclusion of other companies that publish on Nintendo consoles, but a list of great Game Boy Advance games should really have at least one Castlevania game on it. Technically, the NES Castlevania is included as "anything from the Classic NES Series," but that's not what we're talking about. We're specifically talking about the three original Castlevania games made for the system. We'd personally include Astro Boy: Omega Factor as well, but we understand that to be a matter of opinion. And we've grown used to not seeing Super Dodge Ball Advance on best-of lists, because the world is a terrible place. The full list is posted after the break.
DS may have killed the 'Game Boy' name
We all suspected that the Game Boy Advance was basically moribund, because it lacks the high-tech money-printing capabilities of the DS. Confirming our suspicions, Shigeru Miyamoto mentioned in an interview with Kotaku that Nintendo basically didn't care about the platform anymore.Now, according to George Harrison, it's not just Nintendo's "third pillar" strategy that's out, but the whole Game Boy line. He told GameDaily that "This year in our marketing you really won't see much push against Game Boy itself, so it will kind of seek its own level. It's hard to say in the future if we will ever bring back the Game Boy trademark."
It makes sense for Nintendo not to bring back the Game Boy name when the DS has so much momentum. But, personally, we think it's quite sad to see a Nintendo standard go away. Oh, well, at least we've got the Wii now to take over as the most awkwardly-named Nintendo console on the market.
Mazes of Fate getting ported from GBA
We're pretty inured to this kind of thing on the Wii, although we still enjoy getting outraged about it now and then. But now we're starting to see last-gen ports on the DS! Sure, we have the Phoenix Wright games already, but they totally get a pass since the ports are new to the US and Europe.
RPGLand reports that Mazes of Fate, the first-person dungeon crawler developed by Argentina's Sabarasa Entertainment, is being prepared for a DS release by publisher Signature Devices and their in-house developer Graffiti Entertainment. Unlike Phoenix Wright, the GBA version of Mazes of Fate did come out in the US-- in December of last year. The DS is a good system for dungeon games, with its map-displaying second screen, and Graffiti is adding new dungeons, characters, and some touch-screen stuff. If you don't already have the game, this is the one to get. Or if you have a DS Lite and you get really embarrassed about the GBA protuberance.
Five handheld accessories you should continue to live without
Why, then, do jackasses feel the need to make accessories for handhelds? Accessories needlessly add bulk to Game Boys, effectively exiling them from casual pocket-drops. Here are five of the most pointless things you could ever graft onto a handheld system. We're giving a lot of attention to the Game Boy Color, as it turned out to be a focal point for idiotic doodads. Hopefully, these companies are still tired from their furious crap-assembling, and will largely pass over the DS.
Continue reading Five handheld accessories you should continue to live without
Buy it while you can: Blast Arena Advance
Developer Matthew Carr (Lemmings DS port) has made available 150 more Blast Arena Advance carts for approximately $14, warning timid buyers that this limited run will be the last for this project. Already, over sixty of the semi-transparent, teal-colored carts have been sold. The penny-wise among you could always download the ROM posted on Matthew's site instead, but you'd have one more hole in your collection of rare GBA games.
From its minimalist-but-stylish graphics to its immediate accessibility, there's plenty to compare between Blast Arena Advance and the bit Generations' series presentations. You can play the entire game using just the D-pad, collecting flanges and dodging debris from exploding stars while the soundtrack -- music so good you'll try your damndest to survive longer just to hear more of it -- paints in the scenery missing from the black background. Fling yourself past the post break for some video we took of us playing Blast Arena Advance.
Import Kururin Paradise for only $10
Long hailed as one of the GBA's best puzzle titles, Kururin Paradise never landed on North American shores, preferring instead to limit its release to Japan. Play-Asia has taken pity on our Kururin-less souls, listing the 8ing-developed game at a dicount price of $9.90! This deal lasts until next Tuesday, so you'll have more than enough time to collect change on the sidewalk for this purchase. Pilot your spinning craft past the post break for a video preview of this simple-but-addictive game!
GBA discontinued at Target?
We'll admit we haven't been in Target for awhile, so this news comes as kind of a surprise to us. Sure, we like to use our DS Lite to play GBA games (even if they stick out some), but sometimes you just can't beat the feeling of pulling a GBA SP out of your pocket, flipping it open and playing some Omega Factor. Apparently, the GBA SP's time on this Earth is limited.Of course, we can understand why Nintendo would discontinue the handheld, but it doesn't mean we're not a tad bit hurt to see the handheld leave our life so quickly.
