/vr/ - Retro Games

It's where vidya peaked

>>10553998

Honestly, spent most of the time playing my GB and GBC games. I didn't find a lot of the GBA original games to be all that great. I liked the Metroids and MM Zeros, that's about it.

I've been aching to get a GBA SP again so I can replay that Lilo and Stitch Metal Slug clone I still have

i was jealous of everyone having them. but gba sp was around the corner so i waited and then got that instead. then all those people who owned original, were jealous of me

>>10565598
I was playing DKC3, love that version’s ost.

>>10565689
The SP really is just so much nicer, both in looks and everything else
The original GA felt like a fischer price toy

First memory would be someone handing me one on a school bus with Tony Hawk 2 in it, was instantly hooked. Eventually bought my own with Mario advance 4 and Medal of Honor: Infiltrator. Medal of Honor is under appreciated, really fun game if you’ve never played it, kind of a mix between Metal Gear and Ikari Warriors or Guerilla Warfare for NES. I remember how much of a revelation the SP with the backlight was, my buddy and I both ran out and bought the blue SP day one when it came out, we were so hyped. Still have mine. Summer nights in bed playing Mario Golf, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and Mega Man: Battle Network 3 was comfy indeed. God those games were good. I put a couple hundred hours into Mario Golf easily, that game is perfection to me. Somehow lost all my GBA games in a move a few years back so I’ve been slowly rebuilding the collection. That said, I really don’t spend a ton of time actually playing anymore, usually just fire up a game for a quick session to get that little nostalgia hit and then back into the drawer it goes. Thinking back to being a kid with seemingly infinite time on his hands, didn’t know how good I had it.

>>10565629
>lilo & stitch metal slug clone
Damn that sounds sick

>>10565598
>>10565694
I think the original gba was better ergonomically and the buttons were nicer, not a fan of the recessed thing the SP had going on. Its a shame the no backlight makes the comparison pointless.

I was playing fire emblem on NSO for the first time, I put it on hold after I finished the first arc, I will resume after my playthrough of metroid prime which IA also playing for the first time

>>10565774
The GBA might be the only console where installing a chink screen improves the experience. The lag and other weirdness screen mods introduce only start to be a fair tradeoff with a screen as dark as the GBA's. None of the devices that came before it were that bad.

currently I'm playing whatever the sonic pinball game is called. It kinda sucks but I'm addicted

>>10565598
I'm playing Circle of the Moon with an auto running patch and a "cards in fixed locations instead of randomly dropped" patch.
strangely the second one also gives enemies a chance to drop meat, which makes the game a lot easier, but still better than the original.

Currently waiting for pic related to arrive from Germany but has been stuck at postage hell..

>>10565598
The most recent GBA game I played was Mr. Driller A a few weeks ago (bought it mid 2023) played the hell out of it throughout the year. But the most recent game I’ve been playing overall on my SP is Dig Dug (GB), that new mode is so hard, gave up on round 25, will try again.
My first experience with the system (SP, not the original) was when my slightly older cousin had one. I would always ask him if I could play his. I would play Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 on his a lot.
Currently have 25 games for it, as well as 7 GB games and 3 GBC games physically.

>>10565832
It has some good remixes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpb68eblu2w

>>10565598
I recently got my first SP and a flashcart. I’ve barely put the thing down in the past month. I’ve been jumping around a bit, but I finished Bomberman Tournament, and I’m currently about 12 hours into Superstar Saga.

>>10565774
I see people complain about “hand cramps” when talking about some handhelds and controllers all the time, but I had never had a problem until this SP. there’s no comfortable way to hold
It without my fingers basically clasping together behind it. I wanted an original model to replace the one I had but seemed to have lost, but this SP was in far better condition and for a great price compared to everything else I had seen.
I’ve been playing almost exclusively with the backlight off, too. I don’t understand the complaints about the screen. I set up a reading lamp behind and slightly to the side and I’m golden.

i had to angle my hand at like 45 degree angle to press both a and b buttons, in reverse, which was very painful and awkward... biggest shock to me was when i recently found my old gba went to press the same buttons again... only to find out my thumb was covering both buttons now at natural grip. i threw gba back into the box as i teared up. then went back to chinkheld with gba emulator instead

I play on my 3ds. Should I use the original aspect ratio or is it okay to play with it a little biggy? been messing around with Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure lately.

CIMA: THE ENEMY

It is a superb, chunky, Pixel RPG.
It is strategic and has a good story.
I am surprised almost no one know this game.
I am halfway through it but plan to finish it after Final Fantasy VIII.

>>10566456
The aspect ratio is maintained, it’s just not scaled to a full integer. If it doesn’t bother you, who cares. Playing DS games at the larger size can cause issues with accurate tapping, though.

>>10565598
Peak handheld era, I got one for my birthday the year it released and played the fuck out of it. As a dumb kid I saw a megaman game and had to get it (battle network 1) I'm glad I did because while it wasn't what I expected I loved it.

Now I got an OG and SP with ips mods because it's the future. Currently playing pkmn sapphire.

>>10565598
My first experience was with an instore kiosk the week it released. Played some Super Mario Advance and was amazed at playing a SNES game portably. But I was also disappointed Super Mario Advance was just a port of 2 having been bored of Mario Allstars at that point. Then I rented one at Blockbuster with F-Zero and that Jurassic Park sidescroller. Never bothered to get a GBA since I could emulate the Pokemon titles before they released in NA.

Has anyone ever come out with a good cartridge holder for GBA and GBC games yet? I still just have all my games loose in a drawer.

>>10566474
>Pixel RPG
it's called 2D and individual pixels are clear because they couldn't use a higher res

>>10565598
I had the blue SP and at first used it to play my GBC games, at the time I didn't know the cartridge wasn't supposed to stick out like that.
My favourite GBA games were:
>FE 7 & 8
>Ecks vs Sever
>Crash Nitro Kart
>Warioware Twisted
>The SMW port
>The Mario and Luigi game with the beans

I got mine on the UK launch day, arctic white. Played Mario Advance in the shop, then bought Tony Hawks 2.
Last game I played was Astro Boy on my RGB30.

>>10565598
Finished drill dozer recently. Pretty cool. I really wish gamefreak were not stuck making pokemon games

>>10567043
I wonder if Warioware Twisted is in the same universe as Warioware inc?

>>10567447
They made at least 2 games before Pokemon as APE inc.

It'a decent action platformer with decent pixel animation, especially with Pamela Anderson's tit bounce.

>>10567505

>>10565602
Yeah you probably right.
I have to agree with that to a large extent.

People say how great the Saturn was, could have been etc.

The gba was so good for sidescrollers.

Lots to say about that.
Pros and cons.

Most popular handheld of all time.

Watch sharopolis' review. If interested.

It was December 2003. My Nintendo power subscription had expired years ago. Was far from home.
Hadn't read a vg magazine in over half a decade. Had no idea what the internet was.

Bought a gba flip top and Castlevania Aria of sorrow.

Had no idea about symphony of the night or anything. At all.

Had just thought that this was just some stupid old game or a knockoff some company put out. Zero prior knowledge. Imagine that. Nothing being further from your mind in 2003 than video games.

It was so. amazing.

Then you got the Claim Solus and the even had a gun.

Then you find out you got the wrong ending. Good stuff. Only on gba.

And you know what when I left where I was, I just left that game boy behind I thought I'll just leave it here and whoever comes here next gets a free game boy.

Js. Good stuff

>>10567447
They’re not, but the stuff they make that isn’t Pokémon usually isn’t much better.

>>10567447
could be worse, could be hal making nothing but kirby games since melee.

>>10565602
Careful, you'll trigger that old autistic guy for liking things you're not allowed to.

i only had an sp. loved it. warioware was probably my most played game. last handheld i ever bought. havent played it in 15 years probably. i dont really have the urge to revisit those games.

I'm replaying the GBA Spyro games.

Season of Ice is pretty bad, your view of the levels is really cramped and all the levels are designed in a really visually repetitive way that makes them confusing to navigate, on top of just being repetitive in terms of gameplay and objectives too. I don't even want to talk about the speedways either, the speedways are too atrocious for words to convey, you just have to know yourself.

Season of Flame is so much better it isn't even funny. The camera is much more active (honestly kind of aggressive) to make it easier to see where you're going. The level design is just better with much more distinct areas as well has having more varied activities within levels. The only real point against it is the minigame levels, but they're not as bad as they could be.

I don't have a copy of Attack of the Rhynocs, I might go out looking for one when I finish Season of Flame (not like these games are any long)

did anyone else only play with headphones or external speakers to not miss out on stereo effects?

>>10567778
Yep, I had a bitchin blocky adaptor that let you charge and use the headphones at the same time.
I lost it on holidays and never got over it fully

>>10567583
You rang?

>>10567664
season of ice pissed me off more than anything. just nauseating looking levels and awful game design. worst part for me was also those bonus stages, I chucked my GBA playing one. flame fixed a lot of the problems, but the first game really just made me hate seeing an isometric Spyro. I also never got rhynocs. I never saw it in stores or any advertisements about it until much later.

>>10565619
GBA was mostly shit. It was basically marketed as a "portable SNES" so everything was inferior remakes that were redundant if you had SNES, there were a lot of shitty JRPGs too like Golden Sun

>>10566474
I've been wanting to try that one

>>10566760
just hire a manservant

Well not too long ago I "101%ed" Super Mario Advance 2. AKA I got 96 exits on all three SMW save files, maxxed out the score on one of the files, and maxxed out the score in Mario Bros. I'm thinking about eventually maxxing out the score on my other SMW save files eventually.

>>10565598
Fuck it, I'll take an opportunity to ramble about my childhood.

The GBA SP was actually the first console I ever owned, specifically the NES edition. I didn't know what the fuck a NES was at the time, I just knew it looked cool. I still have memories of my dad taking me to Circuit City to get me that and a game (which would be Kirby's Nightmare in Dreamland). Of course it wasn't the first time I ever played video games, but when I was super young I mainly just played N64 at my friends house, who I was with often, so I never really needed my own system. Was addicted to the thing, to the point that when I got a gamecube the following year for christmas with a gameboy player attachment, I used it for gba games more than GC.

Nowadays I'm not super into hardware, mainly using one of those pocket emulators to do all my retro games like pic related. It's hard to really justify the cost and inconvenience of these things in 2024 now that the emulation is pretty much perfect, but I still get super nostalgic thinking about playing Pokemon Red on my dinky crt in my childhood bedroom.

For what I'm playing right now tho, starting another Mother 3 playthrough.

>>10568492
GBA was the first good portable console. The number of worth titles in the gba is greater than the GBC. And Golden Sun is one of the best jrpgs out there still fondly remembered thanks to its animations, combat system with spells and invocations, puzzles and godly dungeons, the best of any jrpg franchise.

>>10565892
Share your rom bro.

>>10565619
Original gameboy has 3 good games.
Gba shits on gbc.

Ace Attorney 1-3
Advance Wars 1, 2
Black Matrix Zero
Boktai 1-3
Bomberman Tournament
Castlevania Aria Sorrow, Circle
CIMA
DBZ Legacy of Goku 2
Drill Dozer
DQ Rocket Slime 1
Fire Emblem 6, 7, 8,
FF Tactics Advance
Frogger Adventure 2
Full Metal Alchemist Rondo & Sonata
Game & Watch Gallery 4
Golden Sun 1&2
Gradius Galaxies
Jake Hunter: Girl with the White Shadow
Kirby Nightmare & Mirror
Klonoa Empire & Dream Champ
Magical Vacation
Mario Luigi Superstar
Mario Pinball
Mario vs Donkey Kong
Mega Man Battle Network 2, 3, 5, 6
Mega Man Zero 1-4
Metroid Zero & Fusion
Monster House
Mr Driller 2
Ninja Five 0
Oriental Blue
Pokémon fire Red (shits on original, cope you hipster faggot), Emerald
Scurge Hive
Shining Force remake
SMT Demikids Light & Dark
Sonic Advance 1-3
Starfy
Super Robot Wars A, D, J, OG 1&2
Sword of Mana
Tactics Ogre Lodis
Tomato Adventure
Wario Land 4
Yggdra Union
Zelda 4 Swords & Minish

>>10569114
some of the shit garbage you're including on this list only to say the original game boy has "3 good games" fucking lol

>>10565724
I also lost 90 percent of my collection when I moved almost 4 years ago. Don't know what the hell happened to them. Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and most of my GBA collection just disappeared :(. I also put a lot of time into Mario Golf, but it was the GBC game (both are fantastic though! The tennis games too) Glad to hear you've been rebuilding your collection!

>>10569116
Its funny because you Gameboy hipsters never list jack shit. We all know you only play the same 3 fucking games over and I over.

>>10569126

My least favourite major Nintendo handheld by far. Game Boy and GBC games often felt a bit hollow and short due to the technical limitations but Nintendo seemed to realise that and tried to make up for it by leaning into making the gameplay as lean and engaging as possible like back in the NES days. Then along comes the GBA, with it's "SNES but not really" technical power, and it just felt like most companies tried to make SNES-tier games that had fucking shocking graphics and sound. The GB and GBC had pleasant plinky plonky tunes but the GBA was pure ear rape. I swear the screen on the original unit was actually darker and worse than the GBC too. Third party games typically were just bottom of the barrel shovelware horseshit with appalling presentation quality. As a kid I often wished I'd just saved up a bit more for a Game Cube game.

My opinion of it now has softened a bit over time, thanks to experiencing a lot of niche and JPN-only titles that I never saw on shelves back in the day. It's a decent console, but it really should have had backlit screen from day one and also a proper fucking soundchip. That would have eliminated almost every issue it had.

Games I enjoyed on it back in the day:
>Metroid Fusion
>Metroid Zero Mission
>Pokemon Emerald
>Minish Cap
>Sword of Mana
>Drill Dozer
>Aria of Sorrow
>Wario Ware
>Advance Wars

Games I appreciate now, thanks to emulation or ports:
>Ace Attorney trilogy (how the fuck did nips play those multi-hour court sessions on the fucking original GBA screen???)
>FF Tactics Advance
>Wario Land 4 (best game on the system, and the best Wario game)
>Dragon Ball Advance
>Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga

The DS was much, much better.

>>10569114
Pretty much all these games either suck, or are inferior to games on the home consoles they're meant to supplement/remake.

I mean, Links Awakening, and the Oracle games are three good games that were original games. That already wrecks about 90 percent of that list.

>>10569140
>I mean, Links Awakening, and the Oracle games are three good games that were original games. That already wrecks about 90 percent of that list.
Good games beat 90% of any list. That's like saying "Resident Evil already wrecks about 90 percent of N64's list".

>>10569143
I mean I feel a little bad I don't want to piss on somebodies love for GBA games, but you gotta be kind of an idiot to think Legacy of Goku is amazing or that people who played Pokemon before the remakes are "hipsters"

>>10569151
And how is that related to my post?.
EDIT: Fuck cloudflare.

>>10565598
I hated the GBA as a kid because I had the OG at the time while most kids had the SP and actually saw what they were playing, the OG GBA screen was so dark, much darker than GB and GBC from my experience, though maybe it's just placebo, I believe that having better graphics and detail is what makes it harder to see with no backlight, if compared to simpler graphics, it was a shame...

Anyways, years later I got into emulation, and a bit later emulating on portables, and now it's one of my favorite consoles of all time, it just had so much good stuff, and every IP I like was in it too.

It felt like a portable PS2 in the sense that it had a bit of everything, just a shame about the light, and it only having 2 face buttons, could've been even better than it really was, but it's still good.

>>10569138
>The GB and GBC had pleasant plinky plonky tunes
>but the GBA was pure ear rape.
Blink twice if 1980s sound chips are holding your family hostage. If you have stockholm syndrome for garbage sound, kill yourself.

>>10565598
Finished Sonic Advance for the first time it was also the first game of the year. I don't know, it seems like the Master System Sonic 1 and the MD Sonic 1 are the only ones I can enjoy.

Must have put in countless hours on Sonic Battle. The GBA might be the 2nd best console for Sonic not including ports.

>>10569290
The GBA SP 101 screen is amazing compared to OG GBA and even the 001. It's a shame I never got it as a kid, but now I can fully enjoy playing GBA. The only downside is the low volume mono speaker.

>>10565598
It must be because I'm more interested and paying more attention these days, but I've seen so many people complaining about both the hardware and software of Game Boys. Meanwhile, I've been rediscovering both and appreciated them far more than I did as a kid. Weird. Maybe it's because most of my games as a kid fucking SUCKED so it's been refreshing to see how much better the library was than what I experienced.

>>10570142
That's what I was thinking. I wish I played when I was a child the games I'm now aware of.

I'm currently running through Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure. Got a deal on it at last and have found it to be more enjoyable than I was expecting. Simple beatemup, but the 1v1 battle mode is a ton of fun.
>first experience
Going to Walmart on launch day with my dad who somehow had a coupon or some shit so we got the glacier version for $10 off, plus Mario Advance and Namco Museum. Great start to a great console.
>>10570142
Okay so it isn't just me. I don't get why people are so picky about the hardware and software when there are so many that just got forgotten that were solid titles. But again, maybe it's just us for buying shit games back then. Discovering things like Boktai or Tekken Advance have been delights, or even older Gameboy titles I never knew about.

Would y'all recommend me play gba games on real hardware or open agb firm on 3ds.

>>10569143
>>10569140
^Here it is folks. The GBC faggots are the faggots who only play 3 fucking games. When they say gbc > gba, that literally just means that it has 1 more Zelda game than gba, and they like crystal more than sapphire. That's it. That's all it means. They call the rest of the games shit but they haven't played them. They never will pay them. They refuse to play anything that isn't mario Zelda pokemon.

Recently bought a cheap copy of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, which obviously I played as a kid. Spent about 3 euros on it. Surprised by how much fun I'm actually having, the great soundtracks helps as well.

>>10569151
>your whole list is shit because i don't like legacy of goku
>even though you only listed legacy of goku 2 which is fucking kino
Kill yourself tranny

Jake Hunter, Ace Attorney 1-3 > [No comparison]
Advance Wars 1, 2 > Gameboy Wars
Boktai 1-3, CIMA, Legacy of Goku 2, Scurge Hive, Sword of Mana > sieken densetsu 1
Bomberman Tournament > Bomberman gb
Castlevania Aria Sorrow, Circle > terrible garbage gb castlevanias
Drill Dozer > [no comparison]
Black Matrix Zero, Fire Emblem 6, 7, 8, FF Tactics Advance, Onimusha Tactics, Shining Force remake, Super Robot Wars A, D, J, OG 1&2, Tactics Ogre Lodis, Yggdra Union > GB literally has no fucking tactics games worth touching
Frogger Adventure 2 > Frogger gb
Full Metal Alchemist Rondo & Sonata, Golden Sun 1&2, Magical Vacation, Mario Luigi Superstar, Oriental Blue, SMT Demikids Light & Dark > Gameboy had no rpgs
Game & Watch Gallery 4 > 1-3
Gradius Galaxies, iridion, metal slug advance, > gb has no shmups
Kirby Nightmare & Mirror > dream land
Klonoa Empire & Dream Champ > no comparison
Mega Man Battle Network 2, 3, 5, 6 > no comparison
Mega Man Zero 1-4 > mega Man world and xtreme
Metroid Zero & Fusion > Metroid 2
Mr Driller 2 > no comparison
Pokémon fire Red (shits on original, cope you hipster faggot)
Sonic Advance 1-3 > mario land 1&2
Zelda Minish > Awakening

Cope seethe sneed and dialate

>>10569140
Because if the original gameboy and gameboy color were known for anything, it was having original titles that didn't try to imitate games on other systems.

>>10570564
notice that this guy didn't try to compare legacy of goku to the CHAD legendary super warriors

>>10570518
>Shitcacy of gokek fan seething even tho 3 is better than 2.
>>10565774
Clamshells are shit. The og gba was perfect the way it was aside from the shit tier screen
>>10569706
>Defending gba music
I like the gba, but holy kek

>>10571803
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD7b16-m8_A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsfaVFSA4c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Al8TKq9F_s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_C93GeSwWA

>>10569842
I just wish we could've gotten the OG GBA with a good backlit screen, I prefer how it feels in the hand compared to the SP for whatever reason.

>>10567043
>>10567642
Warioware was the shit. I still play it on the steam deck. Mega Microgames had a 2-player mini-game unlock called 'dong-dong' & another called 'chiritori'. I often get people to play it when they're at my house. We have a blast. My wife and I always get locked into long battles on those games. Game & Watch Gallery is also great.

>>10565598
I'm playing Advance Wars 2 and Megaman Battle Network 2. My first experience with the GBA was at a local video/game rental store that had a display GBA anybody could play with this bad boy loaded in it.

I played some Pokemon Pinball over the holidays.
It's a bit strange going back to games I played to death as a kid. The game is the same but I've got these giant hands now and I have to fold them like I'm praying to play. Feels kinda like trying to fit back into a crib.
The game is still a lot of fun but it's a bit boring doing the same boss battles over and over, especially when they're so slow. And high scores depend almost entirely on your multiplier, rather than staying alive and doing missions. I still like it but I felt the need to set it down after just a few games.

>>10572591
You are now a big boy.

My GBA screen broke somehow, and I don't think I have the proper screwdrivers or even the money to either repair the screen, or install an IPS screen into the thing.

>>10573378
Get the trimui smart pro.

Hi everyone. What does "GS" mean in the context of the Game Boy Advance? (pic related) I'm using VisualBoyAdvance 1.8.6 beta3 and can't tell if it means "Gameshark" or "Game screenshot". Pressing the left ctrl key during a game doesn't to anything.

Dear GOD/GODS and/or anyone else who can HELP ME (e.g. TIME TRAVELERS or MEMBERS OF SUPER-INTELLIGENT ALIEN CIVILIZATIONS): The next time I wake up, please change my physical form to that of FINN MCMILLAN formerly of SOUTH NEW BRIGHTON at 8 YEARS OLD and keep it that way FOREVER. I am so sick of this chubby Asian man body! Thank you! - CHAUL JHIN KIM (a.k.a. A DESPERATE SOUL)

>>10574718
nvm I just searched online and apparently it's "gameshark" lol

>>10565598
I did not buy much games on it but the few I did were phenomenal. I loved F-Zero and Advanced War especially, FF advance were nice too.

Megaman Battle Network was the game I played almost exclusively. I shifted to the PS2 pretty soon after. Recently I've circled back and playing the other Battle Networks and Pokemon Pinball. I was using an SP but the regular GBA is such a better daily driver.

>>10567664
>>10568456
>Season of Ice
That was the first GBA game I ever owned, and fuck was it a pain to play through again after Season of Flame and Attack of the Rhynocs. It would have benefited from having a map like those games do. I would rather play it than Enter the Dragonfly though.

Well, I was playing pic related until I got to the part where it had fucking trannies in it. I don't mind the rhythmic combat system, but when you put trannies in the game, I'm walking away. This came out in 2006 mind you, so I'd expect shit like that to be in today's pozzed vidya. Seriously, what the fuck was Nintendo thinking?

>>10565602
They have to add Pokemon to that list they gave.

>>10576948
How the fuck are you more sensitive and emotional than ten year olds from 2006