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Fan support could lead to SNES, GBA Remix
"If you build it, they will come" doesn't always apply to game development, as NES Remix director Koichi Hayashida recently illustrated. When asked about the possible inclusion of Super Nintendo, Game Boy or Game Boy Advance games in a future Remix game, Hayashida told IGN that "if there's a big enough outpouring of support for these titles, it's something I'd like to take a look at." Nintendo just launched NES Remix 2, which fared much better than the first game in our review. The first NES Remix arrived in December, though its selection of games was lackluster. Both games approach a collection of classic NES titles in a novel way: by issuing brief mini-game-style challenges. While other Virtual Console platforms like SNES and GBA sound like natural fits for future Remix installments, Hayashida said it still boils down to the question, "Does the marketplace want it or need it?" "If we get a big enough cry for that, with a lot of people saying, 'Hey, we'd love to see more of these perhaps for the SNES, Game Boy or Game Boy Advance,' then it would be something we can take a look at," he added. [Image: Nintendo]
The 25 best Game Boy games to play on your iPhone
Nintendo's Game Boy turns 25 today, making it legally old enough to start worrying about retirement. In honor of its epic achievement as a pioneer of mobile gaming, here are the 25 best Game Boy games that you can play on iOS. Don't have your phone set up for emulation? No worries -- check out our handy emulation guide to get up and running in just a few minutes. 1. Pokemon (Red/Blue) - The games that sparked a multimedia franchise. Fantastic stories and laid back RPG gameplay. 2. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins - One of the best platformers on Game Boy, with legendary levels that demand to be played. 3. WarioLand: Super Mario Land 3 - This Mario title doesn't star Mario, but that doesn't stop it from being charming and epic. 4. Kirby's Dream Land - Dream Land is everything you love about Kirby in a compact form. 5. Mega Man V - If you're a Mega Man fan, this is the Game Boy version you need to play. The rest are good, but this one is great. 6. Metroid II: Return of Samus - Not quite as mind-blowing as the SNES darling Super Metroid, this sci-fi adventure is still a treat on mobile. 7. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - You've already beaten it a dozen times, but one more playthrough wouldn't hurt. 8. Dr. Mario - Remember when Nintendo made amazing puzzle games? This one will remind you. 9. Yoshi's Cookie - Remember what I said in #8? That goes double for this one. 10. Donkey Kong Land - Nintendo's Game Boy translation of its then-new Donkey Kong platformer franchise was surprisingly great on the small screen, and still is. 11. Final Fantasy Legend III - By the third game, this franchise really started to take off with a great story and engaging combat. 12. Contra: The Alien Wars - All the fast-paced action of the original in a stunning two-color format. Also, super difficult. 13. Tetris - The game that made the Game Boy a must-have. 14. Adventure Island II - The classic side-scroller puts your wobbly-legged adventurer on a tiny screen with big goals. 15. R-Type - Futuristic space shooting was never so much fun. 16. Mystical Ninja - A top-down action game with large environments and lots to explore. 17. Golf - Ignore the simple name -- this was one of the best time wasters of the early 90s and it still holds up today. 18. Samurai Shodown - A great fighting game with adorable characters who can kick some serious ass. 19. Bomberman GB - Bomberman looks amazing in his Game Boy debut, and the graphics are still pretty impressive today, not to mention how great the gameplay is. 20. Harvest Moon GB - A relaxing farming RPG that will charm the pants right off of you. 21. Super Mario Land - It's not as pretty as the later Mario titles on Game Boy, but it's one that you absolutely need to play at least once. 22. Kid Dracula - One of the first Game Boy action games to really nail the "big character on a tiny screen" style that later became the norm. 23. Dragon Warrior Monsters - A charming RPG that will challenge both your skills and your ingenuity. You can even capture, train, and breed different monsters for added replay value. 24. Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters - Lots of childhood memories with this one, and a great action game to revisit. 25. Micro Machines - Everyone had Micro Machines as a kid, so racing tiny cars and boats around household items was a blast on the Game Boy.
Making Time: Final Fantasy Adventure
This is Making Time, a column about the games we've always wanted to play, and the games we've always wanted to play again. We all have to start somewhere. Yoshinori Kitase has been, more or less, the man in charge of the Final Fantasy series since 1994. Kitase directed the operatic Final Fantasy VI, the gluttonous sc-fi epic Final Fantasy VII, the romantic head-trips Final Fantasy VIII and X, and he's been the producer of the entire hallucinatory Fabula Nova Crystalis pantheon, including Final Fantasy XIII. At this point Final Fantasy is as much Kitase's baby as it was that of Hironobu Sakaguchi, Nobuo Uematsu, and Yoshitaka Amano back on the NES. Back in 1991, though, Kitase started his career with Square on a very different project. He was the designer and writer of Final Fantasy Adventure for Nintendo's old black and white Game Boy. The project's original name was Seiken Densetsu, the predecessor to what we in the U.S. know as Secret of Mana. What's fascinating about Kitase's debut is how it bears all his idiosyncrasies all in one primitive package.
Mega Man X, Game Boy Mega Man $2 each on eShop through Wednesday
Starting today and ending December 18, players can pick up downloadable copies of Capcom's landmark SNES platformer Mega Man X and bite-sized Game Boy series entry Mega Man for $2 each from Nintendo's eShop. The sale discounts the Wii U Virtual Console version of Mega Man X (regularly $7.99) and the 3DS VC port of the Game Boy Mega Man (regularly $3.99). Note that these limited-time sale prices are only available via their respective platforms, as Nintendo does not offer the ability to purchase eShop content via PCs. This week's sale is apparently the first of several "2 Games, 2 Dollars each, 2 Days" deals planned for the eShop, though details regarding future sales have not been revealed. The sale price for both games will remain in effect through 8:59 a.m. PST on December 18.
All-in-one retrogaming console RetroN 5 now available for pre-order
Hyperkin's five-slot retrogaming solution RetroN 5 is now up for pre-order at Amazon ahead of an October 31 release date. The RetroN 5 is compatible with original Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy Advance cartridges, and also supports the Famicom, Mega Drive, Game Boy and Game Boy Color cart formats. The package includes a wireless Bluetooth controller, and the console itself features an array of controller ports, supporting original NES, SNES, and Genesis peripherals. While 8-bit and 16-bit consoles maxed their video output capabilities at S-Video (or worse, composite), the RetroN 5 features HDMI output for all supported games. The platform also offers a number of features common to emulation software, allowing players to speed up and slow down gameplay at will and enabling the use of savestates. Joystiq's JC Fletcher previously weighed in on the console, praising its space-saving form but admitting that it fills a small niche "between pawn shops and Virtual Console." The RetroN 5 is available in black and grey, and is priced at $99.99.
RetroN 5 and the uncomfortable tension between old and new
There are at least two schools of thought when it comes to playing retro games. Let's call it two for the sake of argument. On one side, there are people who want all the modern conveniences, both in-game and out: save states, fast-forward and rewind in the games, and wireless controllers, high definition output, and non-finicky hardware to play them with. These are the people who like emulation the most, either through downloading ROMs or official downloadable re-releases of games.On the other side, there are people who strive for absolute authenticity: real cartridges on real consoles, played on CRT televisions with real controllers. These are the people who, hypothetically speaking, stuff a Twin Famicom in their suitcase while on a business trip to Tokyo.Somewhere in the middle is this thing.
Viewing Wii U through Apple-centric eyes
I had the opportunity to preview the Wii U last night at a Nintendo special event. Bold and bright, with flashing lights and helpful attendants, the preview was designed to build anticipation for the unit's upcoming debut. Does the age of Apple TV and iPad/iPhone AirPlay integration herald a challenge to traditional consoles? Apparently so, as the new Wii U controller seems highly influenced by tablets. The Wii U's large on-board screen offers a portable gaming solution that feels like the offspring that might occur if a Wiimote ran away to Vegas to marry an iPad. The Wii U offered all the standard gaming keys and buttons you'd expect, including switches on the back of the unit. It is very lightweight and rugged enough to use in active living room play. You wouldn't want to swing around an iPad while exercising, but the Wii U is built for use with Wii Fit and other active games. You don't have to worry about cracking glass, or the overall heft of the device, and the in-hand feel was not too far off from many games that use a sideways-held Wiimote. Nintendo had a bunch of new games they were showcasing including an updated Wii Fit, Super Mario Bros, a Karaoke Sing game, a dance title, and a bunch of shooters. I'm not entirely convinced any of these games benefited from adding a second screen. I should add that the console made it possible for a large group of people to play at once on separate devices, which is something the iPad / Apple TV paradigm doesn't support. Throughout it all, I kept asking myself if what I saw was enough to make me want to upgrade my current Wii system, and I'm not sure it was. Although a few of the games looked great, the hardware didn't particularly excite me. Wii U falls somewhere between the GameBoy/DS and the full screen console experience, which is where tablets normally lie, but it didn't define enough of a niche for me. Nearly every game I saw seemed to play just as well if not better using a normal WiiMote. If a unit fell into our lives, I'd certainly use it and enjoy it, but I don't quite understand the big draw. That's in contrast to my iPad experience, which fits so beautifully into work, reading, and play. Once people see you using one, they get how it's meant to be used. With the Wii U, I just kept thinking, "Oh, so now everyone playing in the living room can focus on their individual laps instead of playing together as a group." In the end, I found the Wii U to be cool but not compelling. What's your take on Nintendo's newest gaming device?
Portabliss: Kid Icarus Of Myths and Monsters
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Tumble Pop. Kid Icarus and Metroid are inextricably linked in their early history. The two NES games came out in parallel, as silver-boxed "Password Paks" in the US, and both were produced by the late Gunpei Yokoi. Also thanks to Yokoi, both saw sequels on the Game Boy that maintained the basic gameplay of the original in portable form. For Metroid 2, that meant isolation and exploration. For Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, which has joined it on the 3DS Virtual Console, it means "really weird and difficult."In other words, this Game Boy game is really only recommended to people who have played the NES game and therefore know what they're getting into. Virtually every element that made the NES game such an anomaly are present here, including rooms full of flying monsters or tiles that attack you in large numbers; reapers who freak the hell out and send little flying versions of themselves after you; maze-like ending levels to each world; and eggplants.
Steve Wozniak secretly submitted Tetris scores to Nintendo Power
Aside from his tech eminence having helped found Apple, Steve Wozniak is apparently also a pretty sick Tetris player. He only plays the original Game Boy port, and admits he submitted his scores to Nintendo Power back in the day."I was always #1 in the Nintendo Power listings in 1988, and after they said my name had been in there too many times and wouldn't print it again, I spelled my name backwards (Evets Kainzow) and sent in a photo of my score," Wozniak said in a comment on a Gizmodo piece about him. "When I got the magazine, I'd forgotten doing this and was worried that a foreigner from the next city over (I used Saratoga instead of Los Gatos so they wouldn't catch on) had a score up in my range. I got worried but then remembered my joke. Whew! It's in some old issue of Nintendo Power magazine."Reddit user polar0ids was quick to call Woz's bluff, but it (unsurprisingly) turns out to be a true story. As seen here in this thread, the story checks out. There's Evets Kainzow's score: 546,145 points.[Image credit]
Chiptune album puts a music player in your Game Boy
A 41-track chiptune album created by various artists under the name "Handheld Heroes Volume One" hit the web this week. While the album is on sale for $15, a mere $5 more nets buyers a physical DVD with extra goodies, including books on creating chiptune music and an LSDJ player ROM. Songs on the album use sound chips from a variety of systems, ranging from the Game Boy to the Commodore Amiga.With a little legwork, lovers of music players considerably larger than their pockets can enjoy said chiptunes on a Game Boy system using the ROM, as seen in the video above.[Thanks, Nigel!]
Nintendo patents handheld game emulation on 'low-capability' systems
Nintendo has been awarded a US patent for emulation of handheld video games on other platforms, something that may not impress anyone playing a Game Boy game through the 3DS Virtual Console right now.Nintendo applied for the patent back in 2003, for technology to emulate a handheld game system (examples given: Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance) on low-powered systems like cell phones and displays in airplane seat backs.Nintendo may have been exploring options like in-airplane Game Boy games (SNES-based systems were a staple in airplanes for years), but it's much more likely that the company was attempting to get a footing from which to defend its IPs against other, unauthorized emulation.
Lego Game Boy Transformer uses blocks for more than Tetris
So what's cooler for '80s geeks than a Lego set, a Game Boy or a Transformers robot? Why, a Lego Game Boy Transformer, of course. At least, that's the idea behind the latest pièce de résistance from building-block lover Julius von Brunk, who not only got the touch but also got the power to create his very own Game Boy-inspired Lego Transformer. The "Domaster" -- no relation to the exercise machine for perky thighs -- borrows heavily from fan favorite Soundwave and even features a Tetris cartridge that transforms into a little birdie that looks like Laserbeak. Two fake AA batteries double as blaster cannons so folks can mutter "pew-pew" at pictures of Michael Bay and Shia LaBeouf. Yes, it isn't as big as China's Optimus Prime and it can't play Super Nintendo games like this Game Boy costume. On the plus side, at least this thing won't ruin your precious childhood memories.
Transforming LEGO Game Boy and Tetris carts roll out
Toys are wasted on the children. Their small, undeveloped brains clearly don't have the faculties to appreciate the creativity and power of LEGOs. No kid could create the awesome transforming LEGO Game Boy and Tetris cartridge seen above.The duo are named Domaster and Tetrawing, the result of about a month's effort. Inside the Game Boy, you can actually see two LEGO AA batteries -- a nice touch, if we may say so. To check out some additional shots of the models, hit up the source link below.[Thanks, G W.]
KDJ-One: the Game Boy of music making is real(ly coming, in a bit) (video)
Cyberstep sent our hearts aflutter-ish at last year's NAMM with its prototype KDJ-One, a Game Boy with gigantism that held a portable digital audio workstation inside. Now, twelve months later, the company's pulled the dust sheets from a version that's ready for prime-time. Inside its roomy bowels you'll find a 1.0GHz Intel Atom processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB SSD and a 5-inch WVGA (800 x 400) touchscreen that'll let you control that piano-roll score editor. There's also 15 chunky rubber LED-lit keys, a Jog dial, D-Pad and a rumble pack so you really know when you've got a poppin' choon going. You'll be able to pre-order the vanilla kit for $800, but for $830 you'll also find WiFi baked inside, in either Game Boy White or Black'n'Red -- but be warned, orders are said to be fulfilled within six months. After the break we've got some new footage of the unit being put through its paces, which at no point shows it being used to play Super Mario Bros, shame.
Rad: Bionic Commando swings to 3DS eShop this week
Surprise! The 3DS eShop is getting not-terrible! The original downloadable games are starting to stack up (Pushmo, Mighty Switch Force), and the Virtual Console is home to a lot of interesting games -- like, for example, the Game Boy version of Bionic Commando, coming out December 29 in both North America and Europe. We aren't sure how it's able to make it to the shop when the NES Bionic Commando never could. That's the same day North America gets VVVVVV. See what we mean about the eShop no longer being a terrible destination for games?
Geeks lose minds, recreate first level of Super Mario Land with 18 million Minecraft blocks
There's homage and there's homage. And then there's three guys spending over 500 hours to recreate the first two minutes and twenty seconds of Super Mario Land using more than 18 million Minecraft blocks. The movie, made by carpenter James Wright, Joe Ciappa and a gamer known as Tempusmori, had the guys running the classic monochrome platformer in an emulator and replicating it pixel-for-wool-block-pixel inside a giant Minecraft Game Boy. The team spent approximately four weeks, working six to seven hours a day with no days off, to create the shots, which were then dropped into a video editor and slowed so each frame displayed for one sixth of a second. Take a gander at the final product and the making-of video after the break for your daily dose of mind blowing.
Portabliss: Balloon Kid (3DS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Balloon Kid. Balloon Fight fans take note: Balloon Kid is the Game Boy-exclusive sequel to the original NES' delightful balloon-based actioner that you (probably) never played. I certainly hadn't, and that fact alone resonated enough with me to warrant a purchase when it arrived on the 3DS' virtual store last week. Mechanically speaking, BK is very similar (if not identical) to the first game's single button, physics-based balloon gameplay, with the A button used to add velocity to the kid. Structurally, however, things change dramatically, with levels scrolling from right to left a la "Balloon Trip" mode from the first game, while balloons are collected in static succession along the way.
Your geekiest Halloween costumes
Sure, we may have had our official Halloween costume contest on October's Engadget Show, but who are we to deprive you the reader of taking part in the spooky holiday fun? We've asked everyone to send in their geeky costumes and got some great responses, from the above playable Game Boy, to Barf from Spaceballs, to the requisite Vulcan, to a handful of Steve Jobses. Check out some of our favorites after the break, and continue to send them along to tips [at] engadget [dot] com.%Gallery-137985%
Massive Minecraft Game Boy plays Tetris (almost)
We've seen our fair share of huge Minecraft constructions in the past, and we figured that by now, our jaded hearts would have lost the ability to feel the kind of awe and amazement imbued by truly impressive builds. Thankfully, Minecraft community MinecraftA2Z is here to show us just how wrong we are, by way of their terrifically huge Game Boy reconstruction. While the Game Boy doesn't actually function, the team did create entire screens out of blocks for use as a stop-motion animation, which to us seems even more time consuming impressive. Hop past the break for another video detailing the enormous handheld's dimensions and specs.
