/vr/ - Retro Games

Though I do also have a soft spot for the black GB Pocket.

Here's a website you can make a custom Game Boy with. Show me the best or worst combination you can make.
http://gameboymodscouk.ipage.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=13

Link's Awakening
Donkey Kong
Kirby's Dreamland. 2
Pokemon

Motocross Maniacs
Super Mario Land
Original phat grey bastard.

Game: Link's Awakening

In General: Final Fantasy Legend
Roll your own party, built in single player challenge, open world. I've probably replayed this more often than I've replayed FF3 SNES simply due to solid replayability.

Best Graphics: Race Drivin'
Tough choice for some, but it's actually superior to the SNES version. 3D racing on a GB.
Best Model: GBC -- Even for original GB games, this superior screen wins hands down.

kid dracula and pokemon silver are my all time favourite gameboy games

>>2368828
>FFL
Sounds really interesting, actually. I was aware of it but now I'll have to look into it. I know there's the Legends and the Adventures, one of which is a one-off and another that spawns the Saga series. Which is this?

While I agree with you about the Color's screen, I prefer the larger (if lesser quality) screen and smaller form factor (due to AAAs instead of AAs) of the Pocket.

My favorite game is a tossup between Final Fantasy Legend and Gargoyle's Quest. Played the hell out of both of them when I was a kid.

I made this using the link in the first reply.

I'm just gonna stop by and plug this youtuber
https://www.youtube.com/user/Boyographic
He does a bunch of game boy game reviews which are pretty good

aww yiss, gameboy thread, playing this right now, GF bought me and original gameboy and Blue for christmas since she knew I never got to play pokemon as a kid, I play this think more than my SP, just feels good to hold.

>>2369065
Forgot image.

>>2369068
Pretty sweet man. I've been considering grabbing a brick just for collecting's sake.

>>2369079
Honestly, as much as I love it, I wouldn't pick one up on my own unless I saw a "Can't pass up" price.P Gameboy Pocket had a nicer screen, color was, well color, and they both feel better than the SP does to hold.

>>2369084
I have a small collection of GB models, and the original is a hole in it. I kind of always figured it'd be acquired through a random find at a shop or by a ridiculous ebay deal; either way, via chance.
The Pocket serves my purposes well.

I just got one with silver for 5 bucks

Why do I never hear any mention of battle arena toshinden?

My first gaming experience was an original Gameboy. I think it was Christmas 93 or 94? Pic related is the first game I ever owned, still got it to this day. Sold the Gameboy sadly, but I have since picked up a new one.

>>2369102
Oh, I had that. I played it a lot on car trips and was pretty good at every character. It's a nice fighting game for a handheld. Sort of SF version of Toshinden.

Also, James Bond 007 was a fun adventure game.

links awakening is one of the best zelda games period, let alone GB, i had both the grey original, and green

anyone know where I can get a spare LCD for a Game Boy Pocket? I have a dead verticle line and want to replace it.

Also, I've been wanting to install a backlight, is it difficult to do? If so, is there anywhere I can send it to get done?

>>2369102
I love that game, too bad I can't find my cart

>>2369201
I loved this one. It's the only GB RPG I ever had the patience to finish, because it wasn't fantasy-themed.

I've been playing Amida a lot on an emulator. We've all played this as a minigame before, but this is the first full game I've encountered of "Ghost Leg".

Are Game Boys region-free? I'd love to buy a Game Boy again, and Amida's on my wishlist.

>>2369817
Just get a flashcart. Problem solved.

>>2368704
>Metroid 2
>Oracle of Seasons (if we GBC, if not) Noobow
>Kirbys Dream Land
>Wizards and Warriors X
>Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
>Super Gameboy the best
>Red Pocket/Kiwi Color

i cant remember the name as i have no Japanese language skill, the premise is really simple, dig a hole monster falls in bury monster, don't get eaten by said monster, i sat down to test it played it for a solid hour.

>>2368882
Actually, both are the starting points of two series.

Adventure is the original Seiken Densetsu. In fact, when Nintendo Power first published screenshots and information about what would become Secret of Mana, it was titled Final Fantasy Adventure II. (The first game's subtitle in Japan, interestingly, was "Final Fantasy Gaiden," but clearly they chose to abandon the FF connection after the first game.)

Legend was the first SaGa game.

>>2369843
Heiankyo Alien

>Not one mention of Wario
Come on. Best fuckin' games on the platform. (I mean, aside from Donkey Kong '94.) So damned good.

>>2369857
Hurp, forgot my image.

>>2369843
>the premise is really simple, dig a hole monster falls in bury monster, don't get eaten by said monster

Lode Runner.

>>2369863
really i never played lode runner, maybe ill play it now sounds cool

Here's a fun shooting game from HAL. Like Kirby, it's pretty easy but still quite good.

>>2368721

I couldn't help myself.

>>2369903
HULK

>>2369905

Nope. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coAzgUrXNKE

>>2368721
thanks for posting this site, gonna order some parts in the summer and make a cool custom gameboy, need to dig out one of my old ones for the guts

>>2369903
Thanks, doc.

My humble collection. I mostly aimed at getting games I didn't beat back then. My to do list is getting and beating all Megaman games for GB, not sure what, if anything, I will still get after that. I might want Seiken Densetsu just to have it, I played through it on emulation before.

The GB still surprises me with the amount of depth some games had in them, despite the device being somewhat primitive. Final Fantasy Adventure and Legend both had a lot of stuff going on, Pokemon was fairly deep and lengthy, and all of that was done on a four color 160x144 display.

That little device contained whole worlds within those cartridges.

>>2368704
Favorite game is hard. Probably FF: Legend. There were so many great ones though.

>>2370117
I prefer the GBC. While the DMG is indeed quite a little beast, occasionally it seems a bit too limited in terms of computing power, and I just can't get over the contrast of the display.
The GBC though, is the ultimate handheld for me. Vastly better than the GBA.

>>2370117
I think there are very good reasons for Game Boy having so many quality games. It was developed using a processor that had been available since 1974, meaning the architecture was very well-understood. Moreover, the fact that it was capable of just enough to create games that were similar to those on the NES yet limited enough to require innovative design allowed the best and the brightest to shine. The same kind of gameplay that was already known and loved on the home system just had to be scaled to the smaller screen; technical constraints inspired tighter designs.

In order of hours played
>Donkey kong (1994)
>Final fantasy legend 3
>Revelations: The Demon Slayer (Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible) <-- super fucking awesome game none at my school ever heard of.
>Dragon warrior monsters (not really that great but addictive and the ending is anti climactic)
>resident evil Gaiden
>yoshis cookie
>wario blast

Instead of saving up for a car like I should have been I blew it all on a (green) GBC and like 20 games. My family didnt believe in having the current home console because of the perception they were all too expensive.

It's a real shame the GB homebrew scene is basically dead, with the only homebrew to come out of it in the last 10 years primarily being trackers and sequencers. It probably doesn't help that people like Beware just use #gbdev to spread autism and political ideals.

>>2370317

Two other reasons could be the profitability of making Game Boy games, due to their low cost and high install base, and the diversity of the player base (the GB is the only /vr/ console to have a significant number of female players).

>>2370341
Its kind of inevitable when other newer platforms become easier to work with than the old. I really dug on psp homebrew but even that's kind of dead. I would pay good money for new PSone homebrew games but theres not much of anything in that department

Picked these up at a thrift store, always hated final fantasy but liked these for some reason, come to find out they're not final fantasy games.

>>2370431
>Its kind of inevitable when other newer platforms become easier to work with than the old
But that's precisely the appeal of the GB(C). It's such a simple platform, in terms of feature set, instruction set, architecture. Making the most out of such a small set of resources is exactly the challenge that makes the GB "better" than more recent platforms for that kind of development.

>>2369864
Course dawg, it got a gazillion Japanese ports because it's awesome

>>2370437
I'm pretty jelly. How much did it run you?

>>2370506
$20~, I don't remember but wasn't much.

Bump

>you will never own this

I'm looking at playing some GBC games with particularly good graphics. Other than shantae, what games stand out for you guys?

>>2372104
Fish Files. A point & click graphical adventure using high color graphics and large sprites. It's also fun

>>2372104
Cannon Fodder. A game mostly known for its FMV intro. However the gameplay is solid, the graphics are close to the original, and there is a lot of PCM sound in that thing.

>>2372104
Rayman. The visuals of the original Saturn/PS1 game nicely scaled down on the GBC. Especially Rayman itself is an impressive sprite, but also the environments are pretty excellent. Very colorful, and doing an excellent job at hiding the tiled nature of the graphics.

>>2372104
Dragon's Lair. This is a special kind of "good graphics". Visually it's not too exciting, using fairly standard GBC colors, but the game contains a slimmed down version of the original laserdisk game. A good 10 minutes of interactive FMV is nothing to sneeze at, especially on a cart.

>>2372104
Warlocked. Another special case of good graphics. While it looks fairly normal, this is a real time strategy game. That itself is already quite a feat. On top of that though, the game occasionally shows a really large number of units without much of a slowdown. The game uses a few tricks to bypass the strict sprite count limitations of the platform.

>>2372104
Alone in the Dark. I have not played this one myself, so I can't say too much about its quality. It, like Fish Files, uses a high color display, at least during exploration. It also has odd camera angles and fairly large sprites. People tend to throw around the Resident Evil demo, but this one actually isn't vapor ware, and in my opinion looks better.

>>2372104
Thanks for the pasta, anon. I can personally attest to Warlocked. Also look into the Metal Gear Solid game on the system, which plays like a mix of the original games and Solid.

>>2372139
I can confirm that, a very fun and good looking game. The only Metal Gear Solid game I played, but it stand quite nicely on its own. While it does look good, I didn't list it, because it's not pushing anything in particular graphically.

>>2372114
>>2372115
>>2372119
>>2372121
>>2372126
>>2372130
Well shit, went to get some lunch and didn't expect to come back to so many great recommendations. Thanks a ton for your input, anon. Particularly interesting are the high color games, but I'll be sure to play warlocked and rayman for their beautiful tilework.

>>2372139
I'll definitely give MGS a try too, thanks a plenty guys.

>>2368704
>Best game in general
Kirby
>NES port
Operation C or Double Dragon
>best audio
Sunsoft's Batman
>best graphics
Donkey Kong '94
>Accessory
Headphones
>Model/Color
The original brick model.

>>2372130
This game blew my mind as a young child, there's nothing like it on gameboy.

>>2372149
>Particularly interesting are the high color games
If you're also interested in the technical side of things: The GBC by default has 8 background palettes of 4 colors each, and 7 sprite palettes, of 3 colors each (+ transparency), for a total of 56 on screen colors.
The high color games work around this limit by actually replacing the palettes every single line while the screen is being refreshed. So instead of up to 56 colors per screen, they can use up to 56 colors per LINE. Of course that's a theoretical limit. Most of the time you can not place sprites in such a way that it takes advantage of the extra palettes, and there might even be issues with timing, to replace the palettes during the very brief time between lines. However a couple hundred, or even a couple thousand colors are realistic. The drawback of this high color display is the additional computing power needed during the screen redraw. So that technique is reserved for stills, or non-action sequences. That's also why Alone in the Dark switches to a simpler graphics mode during fights.

>>2372160
>7 sprite palettes
derp, of course it's also 8 sprite palettes.

>>2372160
Just watched some gameplay, it's pretty impressive how they pulled off a game like that on a GBC.

>>2369817
GameBoys are region free, yes.

Fuck yeah, my eBay order arrived.
The game blocked by the glare is Baseball.

>>2368721
Does anyone know if this guy repairs units as well? My Game Boy won't turn on anymore and if I could get my unit re-shelled and repaired at the same time that'd be awesome.

I'm wondering if I should pick up a gameboy everdrive, any opinions on them from people who got them? The only thing I'm not sure of is the lack of a RTC for games like (the only ones I can think of that use it) Pogemans Crystal/Gold/Silver.

>>2372373
Why would you pay for the Terminator 2 Gameboy game?

>>2372705
How soon do you want one? The everdrive is pretty expensive for what it is, and with no RTC all you're really paying for is the ability to have multiple games/saves on one cart.

Cheaper options are the EMS usb 64m flash cart, with two 32mbit banks. Only one save allowed per bank though and still no RTC.

The better option is to wait for the Grail Cart to be released by some of the guys on the gbdev IRC (I forget who, I think DuoDreamer and a few other guys who's name escapes me). It'll be priced similar to Krikzz's carts and supports RTC when a game is being played (Eg. Playing Pokemon GSC would advance the clock when the game is played, but not when the game is off.). The other pro is that it doesn't support Krikzz, who buys old homebrew scene domain names to redirect to his store page, something that makes me feel kinda sour.

If you wanna know more about the Grail Cart, you might wanna ask on the IRC. The Everdrive works fine, but it's pretty expensive, and if you don't mind just loading up a game or two the EMS carts are pretty nice for their price.

>>2372751
It was part of a lot, I mainly really got it for the Marios and Castlevania, and the cases. Including shipping, it was $15.

The Terminator game isn't horrible, LJN production aside. It's just not really great either.

BEST console ever. It truly has everything in a single pack.

My fav are the puzzle games.

>>2368704
>Link's Awakening
>Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
>?
>?
>4-Player Adapter
>Atomic Purple GBC or Pikachu GB Light

>>2370105
How is that Badland game?

>>2370119
I think the sequel is better, if only for being more refined. Both are good though.

I'm really getting into Pokemon Pinball right now. I'm amazed at the scores and captures my younger self achieved considering that back then I had no idea how tilting worked or how any table events were triggered.

What is wrong with Pokemon?
Jesus it's what made the Gameboy so popular

>>2373365
Gameboy was the #1 handheld long before Pokemon. I think it'd be safer to say that the Gameboy is what made Pokemon so popular, because it sure as hell wouldn't have gotten so big on the Game Gear, or a home console like the NES.

>>2372751
T2 on the Game Boy is pretty fucking awesome. Not sure why you'd be bad mouthing it. Probably one of the best licensed handheld ports on the system.

If you want a shit licensed game on the GB, go play Cool World.

>>2373685
The T2 game is playable, but by no means great. There is a wealth of licensed games for Game Boy and many are similiary decent. Jurassic Park, True Lies, Prince of Thieves, probably a dozen more I can't think of right off the bat.

I do like one of its songs, but in a game with just two pieces of music one of them better'd be good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U4ytIS4iYk

Oh wow, I didn't even know it was by LJN. Probably one of their best games.

>>2373365

It overshadows discussion of everything else on the Game Boy. Even some DS emulation boards ban discussion of Pokemon.

>>2372591
Frankly, for what that would likely cost it'd probably just be better to buy a new one from him.

>>2373696
Nah, it was definitely beyond playable. One of the better games on the Game Boy by far. And for being the lowest end port of an arcade game renowned for shitty ports, it was pretty fucking spectacular.

Aww yeah, love me some game boy. had the blue GB pocket since I was a kid and most games were 50p-£1 each at boot fairs in the UK. Some surprisingly good titles to be had - Donkey Kong is a beast and I had no idea when I bought it.

>>2373817
Donkey Kong on the gameboy blew my mind when I got it. It started off as a nice Arcade Port, then it kept going with new stages, over 50. I wasn't prepared for how fun it was going to be. The other nice thing about it is that when played on a Super Gameboy it gives you a beautiful Arcade-like border.

Just bought this on ebay, thoughts?

>>2374808
great port, played both to the end. if you're used to the NES games, the xp and gold rates are much higher and it makes for a faster game. you could beat DQ1 in a day if you know it.

DQ2 is still painfully awkward at times even with the increased rates.

>Please try to keep the Pokemon to a minimum.
>came to check it out because I knew it probably wouldn't work
>scroll through
>one silly post about Pokemon and that's about it
>feelsgood.gbc

>>2374821
And again, it's not than anyone has anything against Pokemon, but it really has been discussed to death.

So this game has been kicking my ass. I'm getting better at it, but it's damn hard, especially when those damn bats home in on you; they'll get too close for you to hit them and will just plink your health down to nothing in a few seconds.

>>2374814
I'm actually using this as my intro to the series. I've been trying to emulate them on my GBA, but the NES emulator just refuses to work properly, so I figured fuck it, why not shell out the $20?

The argument is always there that I could simply emulate on PC, but I have a hard time committing to JRPGs when not on handhelds.

>>2374829
This game is balls to the walls hard. I've gotten to Dracula twice in about 10 runs since I got it and I can't learn him fast enough, then die a couple of times and have to start it over again. Really tough shit, but it's satisfying getting really far, the music is pretty nice too.

>>2368721
Rad

>>2374837
>implying you don't want a Samus themed brick

>>2374808
Second the first guy --- it's probably the best version of DW1 available in a legit way. But, I never finished DW2 ... it was just too tedious. Maybe one day?

>>2374835
I beat that game about one year ago, over 20 years after my first go at it. The music really is pretty good, I especially like the last stage, where it almost, but never quite, uses the themes from Bloody Tears and Vampire Killer.

Drac can be tough at first, but he's easy enough to figure out. Unfortunately you will have to do the entire stage over once you continue. His second form can also be kind of nasty at first.

bump

If I want to hoard a pile of games on one cart, is the everdrive my best bet? I know someone mentioned a new cart coming out soon or something that has more features, but does anyone have any idea on a release window for that one?
Tl;dr: everdrive or hold out for new card (soon?)

My collection.

>>2378432
You know, I've always loved the shade of red they use for the Game Boys.

>>2378275
That, or get a GBA and an EZFlash so you can have GB, GBC, GBA and emulators for NES and SMS/Game Gear.

>>2379073
GBC is an approximation, because the display colors are wrong. The difference is quite a bit.

>>2378432
What's that second Donkey Kong GBC game? Did Japan get DKC2?

>>2368721

I call it the Virtuaboy Pocket.

>>2379417
Looks great!

gargoyle's quest for the gameplay
jurassic park for the music

>he doesn't own a Game Boy Light

ishygddt

>>2379682
I can't justify that much money on a gameboy. If they made it as adorably small as the pocket, I'd get one.

>>2379728
It is exactly the same size as a Pocket. Only difference is that is is slightly larger in the back as it uses two AA batteries instead of the rubbish AAA of the Pocket. And of course, the light.

Mine cost me £45.

>>2379728
Not him, but it IS GBP sized, save for the ass cheeks from the AA batteries instead of the AAAs. Once they start reaching triple digits though it really does become too much to justify.

>>2379682
I don't need one. I already own both a Gameboy and a lamp.

>>2379682
One day I'll grab one on ebay for like 60. I've seen them go that low.

>>2379798
FUCK, just lost an auction. If one of you just got that gold Light from Texas, I hate you.

>>2379682
had one, was stolen

only one I'm planning on getting now is the Pokemon Center Light

>>2380146
>was stolen
How does that work? Who steals game boys in 201X? Or, if it was stolen in a house robbery, that sucks bro, hope you got most of it back.

>>2380146
Ugh, why? That highlighter yellow is just obnoxious.

>>2380158
sister threw a house party while my family was on vacation and I was away at school, some high school kids went into my room and stole it along with most my vidya and Pokemon stuff. Slowly rebuilding my collection but limiting myself to Pokemon stuff for the moment.

>>2380162
it was a gift from a friend, I didn't get to pick it but it was awesome nonetheless.

Why is Gameboy such a fucking hassle? You need a pocket or a light, because the original is "so nerdy xd" crap that not even worth using due to ghosting. Then you need a GBC for a couple of games.

Then there's the whole mess of GBA, where either you use a DS lite or spend stupid money on a rare backlit SP. And you can't play your original GB or GBC games on it, because they look like ass.

>>2380223
Lucky for me I like the franchise, so I just set out to collect all the damn things.

>>2380223
You sound pretty negative, Anon-kun. Just get a GBA SP, that should satisfy your needs.

>>2380223
GB/GBC games look fantastic on the backlit SP, fartknocker. If you can only have one Gameboy, that's the one to get.

these games look legit? I'm ready to pull the trigger on it just so I can finally get a new GBA

>>2380334
I mean, if all you wanna play is nothing but Pokemon, sure. But I know you can do better than that, those games are going to have hiked the price up and you only really need one, unless you're just collecting for the sake of it. I recommend you find a cheaper lot with one pokemon and some other stuff, or get a cheap GBA and spend $35 on a flashcart.

>>2380334
They're fake. Don\t buy them.

>>2380334
Those games are fake as fuck.

>>2380339
I'm collecting Pokemon right now before moving on to another series (already have all the Mario games for GB/C/A)

>>2380341
>>2380342
thanks, guess I'll keep searching

>>2380346
I'm not sure what they're seeing, is it the lack of save battery in the translucency?

>>2380349
labes are supposed to be holographic, those are not

>>2380170
Ouch, that sucks anon. Hope your collection ends up better than it ever was.

>>2380349
should be one of the things you look for and if you have access to a tri-wing screwdriver, the Nintendo stamp on the pcb

I have two original Game Boys which I have a pretty major pair of issues with, they both work and load games but it takes anywhere from two to seven tries before the game actually starts instead of loading a corrupted Nintendo logo.

the other problem is that they both appear to be missing parts of the left and right on their screens. Ones worse than the other and I can't even see the 1 in 1 player at the Tetris start screen.

Are either of these issues fixable?

>>2380363
I'd just like to point out that you can always see the NINTENDO etching on the PCB by looking into the cart, no triwing required.

>>2380372
The first could be, have you tried cleaning the contacts in the cart slot?

>>2380383
I intend to, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't some weird thing plaguing a lot of units. I got these both at the thrift shop in town, and every other GB I see there has the exact same issue.

Once I get a set of gamebits I'll open it up and clean the thing properly.

>>2380378
I was referring to the older carts (RBY, GS), but you are correct

At work right now. Have a request. Can someone give me the dimensions of a cartridge?

Found these little containers but don't want to buy ones that are too small.

Thanks.

>>2380451
should be around 2.5 x 1.5 x 0.5? in inches of course

>>2380349
Look at the ESRB logo. EVERY fake fucks it up somehow.

>>2379343
Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong

Bumping

>>2368721
Somebody should make a Gameboy that has the backlight scroll through rainbow colours.

>>2382991
It'd be possible, but fuck that would be nauseating.

>>2382991
I cannot possibly imagine something worse.

>>2383210
strobe light

>Game: Volley Fire
>favorite NES port and best audio: Jurassic Park (OP, are you me? GB ver > NES ver, holy shit)
>graphics: Metroid II (I love the sprite work)
>accessory: Game Genie (it was fun putting in random codes as a kid and getting super-weird glitchy results)
>color: OG grey (still works, aside from a few vertical dead pixel lines on either side)

>>2384920
OP here. I like most GB versions better than their NES counterparts, there's a sort of forced minimalism that really makes the machine shine. Jurassic Park just has ugly colors on the NES though, and the music sounds way better in the GB version, especially with dat stereo.

I got my Dragon Warrior 1&2, still saves and everything. Music on it is great too, way superior to the NES version. I'm comparing the two now and the GB music has reverb, vibrattoes, tracks that drop in and out to fit the music...it's really something.

Compare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWIXb677sYk&list=PL49207A67C68DE4EB&index=3
to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqIcLFaGBYE&list=PLB0D2EAFBB3450900 (skip to 1:50)

Would anyone be interested in a series of Gameboy Homebrew tutorials? The GB CPU is pretty easy to understand, it might be a nice way for people to get into learning assembly and maybe expanding the scene.

It could start with simple things like binary math, simple assembly, an introduction to the hardware, drawing graphics and backgrounds, moving things around, nothing advanced and plenty of source code and extra reading for those interested.

>>2380372
Isnt the screen issue something to do with the ribon cable not making full contact? I have something similar happening to mine and when i push down on the bottom of the screen it goes away for a second.

>>2387275
Go for it, friend.

>>2387275
I'm mostly interested in the dev environment, the involved assembler/compiler/toolchain. Also, GBC

>>2387275
Just write a GB library in C so anyone can program for it without having to worry about the low level details.

>>2387275
I would be very interested.

>>2368721

I've bought parts from that guy. This is the TMNT Michaelangelo GB I made

>>2368721
>>2387390

And this is the Zelda GB I made a friend to go with his limited Zelda 3DS

>>2369903

Always happy to get my daily dose

Gameboy is love. Gameboy is life. That elegant yet indestructible design. The simplistic yet mesmerizing games. The Gameboy is truly the epitome of gaming.

>>2387343
There's already a C library and compiler for the Gameboy, but generating machine code for a limited system like the Gameboy means you'll have a very slow program, or have to write a lot of inline assembly anyway. Then comes debugging, even if you knew z80 assembly, debugging C generated code is usually a horrible mess.

>>2387303
Thankfully, if you already know an assembly language and just want to learn about the hardware and tools it's much simpler and easier to learn, I'd hopefully cover that too.

>>2387357
>>2387298
I'll see what I can come up with in the coming week and post it here sometime to see if it'll work out. Cheers guys.

>>2387275
>google search gameboy programming tutorial
>524,000 results

>>2387468
>Google "plane flying tutorial"
>74,900,000 results
Shit, that's even easier than programming!

>Game: Final Fantasy Adventure (aka mystic quest in Europe)
>NES port: Parodius
>best audio: Gargoyles
>best graphics: Parodius
>Accessory: Light Boy
>Model/Color: CLASSIC!

>>2387498
>>2387468
>google "number of women raped in the last minute"
>14,300,000 results

Oh god, it's even worse than we thought.

>>2387393
long shot but you don't offer modding services do you? I want to get my Pocket backlit but I already went through two of them with no success. I'd pay you for it of course.

curious to know if Game Boys are easily attainable in Korea. I got a friend stationed out there and wondering if he would be able to find a Game Boy or two that I've been wanting (the Pikachu Game Boy Light and pic related)

>>2387456
>Thankfully, if you already know an assembly language and just want to learn about the hardware and tools it's much simpler and easier to learn, I'd hopefully cover that too.

Problem is that the info seems to be sparse and conflicting. gbdk seems to be confused, with an odd mix of sdcc and lcc inside. sdcc should work, but you already mentioned the issues with C for gb, and there's still non-compiler stuff, like the checksums.
So my question is pretty much, what assembler(s) or compiler(s) would be recommended, what libs for the most common tasks (frankly, the lib in gbdk doesn't look shabby), and what other build tools, for rom tuning (name, config, checksum, etc) would come in handy.

There are quite a few nice tutorial pages out there summing up the GB hardware, and assembly isn't rocket science. However, all that stuff just assumes your environment is up and running. That part is usually left out, or only given a sentence or two.

So, yeah, I'd be interested in that. The available core toolchain, drawbacks and advantages, workflow from the concept to the rom.

>See an image of the Gameboy Light in a gaming magazine
>Maximum hype, want one so badly
>Waiting for stateside release
>Gameboy color announced
>That's nice I guess, but I want the gameboy light more, and that will be out first surely
>Still have never gotten my coveted gameboy light
I want this thing so fucking bad. I always loved those indiglow watches when I was a kid, and this was the type of thing I dreamed of it being used in.

>>2387275
I would skip the "simple things", and probably even the introduction to the hardware. If you are interested in GB development you know the simple things already, because you've programmed before. And the hardware is already rather well dcoumented.
What's far more valuable are tutorials on good practices for common tasks. You already mentioned some, like moving a sprite around (read input, update sprites, handling screen refresh, I have yet to find clear infos on OAM refresh and the purpose of HIRAM), scrolling a map that's larger than the window map (updating the tiles and window offsets, best practice on moving tiles from rom to ram), producing sound (this one's usually skipped in tutorials), even establishing a game loop, or how to set up multiple contexts in a rom (have different screens with different functions, like menu, ingame, inventory, etc), or how to write a state machine (adventures, rpgs). Because that's the kind of stuff you can't learn from the Z80 manual, or the spec sheets of the hardware, and that's stuff that's not necessarily known even by veteran developers on other platforms.
Even off-code aspects, like how to produce assets that can be used in the program. That stuff works vastly different from modern dev environments. That's useful to know for a dev, because that is, in my opinion, what a beginner with ideas is interested in. How to get their imagination turned into a prototype. From there on it's the usual blood, sweat and tears, to make it function how you want, but you have the scaffolding in place already then, and learnt enough about the way the GB "ticks" and how the dev workflow is, to take it from there.
Bonus points if your tutorials take advantage of bugs. Introduce subtle bugs during a tutorial, to teach how to use the debugger to spot and fix them.

I think the usual approach for all that is to "create" a simple game over the run of multiple tutorials. A small adventure would actually touch on all these aspects.

>>2388007
>What's far more valuable are tutorials on good practices for common tasks.
>Read input, Update sprites, handing screen refresh, OAM, HIRAM
>Map Scrolling larger than the window
>Moving tile data from rom to ram
>Game loop, inventories, menus, etc
>State machine
I'd probably be able to write stuff on all of that. Audio I'm not too great on, but I can always give that a go (Most people use an already established audio engine to make noise).

>I think the usual approach for all that is to "create" a simple game over the run of multiple tutorials. A small adventure would actually touch on all these aspects.
This is a good idea. Working on a simple project is a good way to learn common tasks that you can put into anything, and having something at the end makes it more motivating than just following exercises. I could put something together.

>>2387961
>[I'd be interested in] the available core toolchain, drawbacks and advantages, workflow from the concept to the rom.
Sweet, that's something I could easily do too.

I'm confident enough in my abilities that I'd be able to teach the workflow, how the hardware is used, some "game design" basics for the system, the common tasks and building blocks and such. Webm related is something I've made in the last few months. An RPG engine with scrolling maps, an inventory system, intractable characters and objects, and dialogue.

Thanks for the feedback on what you'd like out of it guys.

>>2387986
I'll say this about it (I owned the TRU Green posted earlier):

it could have been a bit brighter. I loved playing Pokemon on it while in bed but it was a bit dim (even with new batteries). It's very easy on the eyes though in comparison to the SP, DS, etc.

I have a spare Light PCB that I'm thinking about fixing (power switch knob broke off, speaker is gone) but I don't have a shell for it. I'm thinking about buying a Color case and modding it to fit; I don't remember the exact differences but it wasn't much modding needed. I just need to get my hands on an EL panel and a screen; screen is the biggest issue since I destroyed 2 of them trying to do a backlight on a Pocket I had. If any of you have one or two screens (or have a backlit screen) you'd be willing to part with, please let me know.

I miss having a Light
;_;

>>2388076
That looks pretty solid. What tools did you use? I'm itching to get a Hello World out.

>wasting time making GB games
>can't even monetize them

Unless you're planning on finding a chinese company that knows how to manufacture GB cartridges, you'd be better off just making GB-themed indie games for the PC.

>>2388120
There's lots of reasons people pick up homebrew programming, 99% of them not because they think they're going to make money. Do the people who make homebrew over at nesdev think they're going to strike rich because they made a new platformer? Likely not. How about all the people who made Virtual Boy homebrew, or the people that worked on Pokemon Mini homebrew? They probably never made a cent.

Retro Homebrew is a fine hobby. Anyone who has the knowhow also knows they're not doing it for money. Rom hacking, programming, whatever, it's all just for fun, a hobby, just like sewing, flying kites, swimming, and jogging.

>>2388120
if your primary reason to develop ANY game on ANY platform is money, don't do it. Pick up another job, another hobby. Game dev has one of the shittiest ROI ever. It's a creative hobby, not a profitable one.

>>2388143
Not true at all. It costs nothing to make pixel platformer #97589710062, so any money made from it is an infinite ROI.

>>2388147
>It costs nothing
What is time and manpower?

>>2388143
Video games are a business like anything else. 99% of all businesses end in failure. Does that mean that nobody should ever start a business with the intent of making profit ever? Of course not, that's stupid.

>>2388150
Not him, but spare time is free since most people would just waste it masturbating or playing MMOs or something anyways. And manpower implies you have a team of people, which isn't true for most indie games.

>>2388143
Go spout your idealistic bullshit somewhere else. Game dev has been about money since the beginning.

>>2388152
>Video games are a business like anything else
That attitude is what causes modern trash games to be so abundant. No understanding at all for the medium.

>spare time
Let's take a closer look at the conversation
>>2388120
>wasting time making GB games
>can't even monetize them

>manpower implies you have a team of people
Not necessarily. You use up your own creative energy, fill your own brain with knowledge and so on. Again, the conversation was about monetization. If you want the most bucks out of your spare time and brain power, video games are not the way to go.

>>2388159
>That attitude is what causes modern trash games to be so abundant. No understanding at all for the medium.

What the hell are you talking about? Virtually every game worth talking about is monetized in some way. All the systems and games you see mentioned on /vr/ were created and sold in order to make money. If you think that inherently makes a game bad, then what the fuck are you doing here?

That idealistic attitude of yours is toxic. You're in for a shock when you move out of your parent's basement and see how the real world functions.

>>2387664

Yeah, but only for people in the UK. Message me on tumblr if you're interested, name there is CategoryQ

>>2388290
>only UK
well, thanks anyway

>>2388223
>All the systems and games you see mentioned on /vr/ were created and sold in order to make money
Not primarily

>you think that inherently makes a game bad
If profit is the primary motivation, then yes. These games though, tend to be forgotten quickly, so you won't find them too often here.

>>2388786
>Not primarily
>the primary motivation of a video game company isn't to make money
You are so fucking retarded.

>>2388786
Your deluded if you think companies dont make games to earn money.

Motherfucking Motocross Maniacs

>>2388786
So naive. You'd think most of the people on /vr/ would be grown ups.

>>2388937
don't confuse being jaded with having grown up

>>2368704
>Game:
Crystal Quest - My first game on any system. Was a very difficult game for me when I was young so I hated it. It wasn't until much later that I appreciated the game and was able to get to wave 99.

>in general:
Final Fantasy Legend III - It was my first rpg for gb and my favorite for any system. Leveled all my characters to 99. Like all other Legend games on GB, it feels epic.

>best audio:
>best graphics:
Bionic Commando for GB - Great atmosphere. Novel game play. Anime-styled characters. Nice cut scenes, though there are only a few of them.

>Accessory
I bought a Super Game Boy, not knowing that it only allowed you to customize 4 colors.

>Model/Color
The original white GB

>>2388941
maybe not growing up, but growing old tends to do that to you

>>2388104
Sorry it took me a while to get back to you. I use RGBDS. https://github.com/bentley/rgbds It includes an assembler and linker, and a tool to fix rom checksums and headers (if you check some source files you'll find the values from $014C-$014F which are Mask ROM, Complement Check, and Cartridge Checksum are all left null for rgbfix to take care of). I also use Jeff Frohwein's Hardware Defines http://www.devrs.com/gb/files/hardware.zip

For the graphics I use Gimp, then use this tile data generator. http://www.chrisantonellis.com/gameboy/gbtdg/
Some people also use GBTD http://www.devrs.com/gb/hmgd/gbtd.html

Now days people use BGB to debug games. Also grab a copy of the pandocs at http://bgb.bircd.org/pandocs.htm and have a read through.

Check out some source code from last year's comp at http://gbdev.gg8.se/forums/viewtopic.php?id=244 to get an idea of how people define the cartridge header and construct their games.

I'll elaborate about it all in my writeup, but that should get you started if you're keen.

>>2389974
That's an excellent post. Contains everything to get started, if you're willing to read, without the time consuming treasure hunt upfront.

>>2388120
>a chinese company that knows how to manufacture GB cartridges

Are there companies that could actually do this for a reasonable cost? I mean authentic looking GB carts, not weird colored oddly shaped chinese crap.

>>2391074
Maybe, you'd probably have to make a PCB at one manufacturer, assemble it at another, then get a case moulded for it at a third and assemble them at home, but if you just wanted to make a few run of a cartridge you might have better luck contacting someone like asmretro.com

>>2391074
Say what you want, but the Nanoloop "cart" looks kind of cool. And yes, that's a GB cart.

>>2391080
>>2391083
Well, I was mostly just thinking about how that guy was talking about monetizing homebrew games. Obviously I don't have any exact numbers, but if clone consoles are profitable to develop and manufacture, then it seems like there'd at least be some niche market for physical versions of homebrew games. I mean, you're not talking about millions of dollars or anything, but maybe enough to keep indie devs or small teams going.

Would be pretty cool if there was a website where you could buy fully boxed game cartridges just like back in the day. At that point I don't know if you'd even call it homebrew anymore at that point, you'd pretty much be legitimate game developers for those consoles minus the official dev kits.

It'd probably require some crazy viral marketing campaign which would attract a pretty toxic community of hipsters, though.

>>2391138
Find a way to reproduce authentic Game Boy hardware - not system-on-a-chip emulation devices - and you'll make bank.

>>2391309
K, I'll just break into Phillips and TI and whoever else were involved in the production of the various chips in the GB and steal their blueprints.

>>2388881
Just bought this shit for $2 at a thrift store. Amazing

>>2368704

>Game:
Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins. To this day I am still finding secret passages and areas.

>in general:
Honorable mention goes to Donkey Kong. It fools me into thinking it was an arcade port, but then I came to realize that it was its own incredibly amazing puzzle platformer. I was heavily, heavily addicted to it.

>NES port:
Megaman II.

>best audio:
Batman. The first level was godly for getting pumped up, and it's amazing how they were able to squeeze out those haunting tunes in the later levels.

>best graphics:
Probably Donkey Kong Country or Primal Rage, but for some reason that feels like cheating. Maybe Wave Race?

>Accessory:
Never had one, but i thought the sticker printer was pretty cool.

>Model/Color
Never had any of the pocket or color editions simply because my old toaster edition never needed replacing. Turned it on a couple of weeks ago and it still works great!

>>2374829
Oh man. Defeating Drac in that game made me feel super heroic. That ending sequence where Castlevania sinks back into the ground blew my mind. My hands were sweating and I was trembling. Fuck those rolling eyeballs in the castle.

>>2392914
>for some reason that feels like cheating
Why?

>>2388076
>>2387275
I love the Z80, having programmed a bit for it on my TI calculator in my high school days.

You can actually program directly on a stock TI83+/TI84 by typing in machine code hexadecimally so as I'm an autist I used to do this with a reference in hand during class/breaks. Programs were stored in RAM so of course everything was lost whenever a jump was one byte off/etc.

I'm very interested in anything you have to share and I agree with >>2388007 that the most interesting would be things you won't know/aren't clear from simply looking at the Z80 manual.

To name a specific area I'd be very interested to hear about: how to write a program using the link cable.

>>2393023
>You can actually program directly on a stock TI83+/TI84 by typing in machine code hexadecimally
asm is just one layer above that

>how to write a program using the link cable
GB seems to have a serial I/O part, that allows to transmit/receive individual bytes. I suppose that would be the starting point?

See also the previously linked pandocs http://bgb.bircd.org/pandocs.htm#serialdatatransferlinkcable

>>2393023
>typing in machine code hexadecimally
>Programs were stored in RAM so of course everything was lost whenever a jump was one byte off/etc.

Shit, that's hardcore man. With Z80 experience you'll have no problems developing for the Gameboy.

>>2387961
>>2388007
>>2387357
>>2387303
All right, here's a quick intro I wrote up. It details setting up an environment and some documentation people should have. I've also got a project template up with a commented ROM Header. Also some recommended reading on the technical sides with some notes of things to consider. We'll get straight to drawing pictures in the next one.

http://pastebin.com/2dWjAkhP

Give me any feedback you've got, whether it's elaborating something, including or removing something, or if it's just plain shit.

I'm pretty sure that I've seen the official documentation leaked from the dev kits. Isn't just that and knowledge of Z80 assembly enough to develop GB applications?

Would be interesting if some actual studios released their old in-house training materials from when they developed games for retro consoles.

>>2393839
You can grab a copy of the official document from http://www.romhacking.net/documents/544/ if you're interested.

>>2371921
As much as I want that, I hated them when I was a kid. It never was comfortable to play.

>>2392914
>Batman
The '89 movie game or the Animated Series game?
Cause I've owned both and the latter is superior.

I want to learn how to use LSDJ. It's pretty hard to understand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vM9FYlSWlY&list=PLiNJTcDqbeBZoVr55yg8GC2BRyxe9PVYf&index=8

>>2394194
It's not too hard, but if you've never used a tracker before understanding the concepts behind it can be tricky. Have you read the official documentation? http://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/latest/documentation/LSDj_4_6_6.pdf

It's pretty clear and could start you out. There's also plenty of other resources out there, like the wiki. They've got some links to some beginner tutorials. http://littlesounddj.wikia.com/wiki/Beginner_Tutorials

Donkey Kong is one of the best games on the system

>>2394194
You would be so much better off using a tracker program on your computer. Or at least learn how to on a pc.

>>2394326
for starters, anyway. On PC you can get the basics of a tracker and write your first couple tunes. It's still cool to run a tracker straight on the GB, due to the particular sound hardware. Given the limited interface though, you should have a solid understanding of tracker software and music, before touching that.

>>2393753
>Disabling the LCD display must be done ONLY DURING VBLANK.
The official docs linked at >>2393845 don't seem to make it such a serious issue. In particular it seems GBC is not affected at all.

>You should only have to disable the LCD once, when you initialise the Gameboy
Ok, I'm mildly puzzled by this statement. Why DISABLE during INIT?

>>2394340
>The official docs linked at >>2393845 don't seem to make it such a serious issue. In particular it seems GBC is not affected at all.
There's been debate if disabling the LCD display could cause permanent damage (I recall conversations on the IRC channel), and though the official document only marks it as recommended, there's no commercial game that disables it outside of V-blank. In the end it's better to be safe than sorry but it's up to you. Waiting for V-blank only takes a few lines. Like you also pointed out it's not important in GBC software.

>>2394340
>Ok, I'm mildly puzzled by this statement. Why DISABLE during INIT?
It's disabled so that you can clear VRAM and Sprite OAM quickly. Sprite OAM in particular is set to random values on start up. It also lets you load up your initial tiles and BG maps without having to wait for the system to be in H-blank or V-blank to copy the data.

If you don't want to disable the LCD you can set the palette to be entirely white, then clear OAM with a DMA call, overwrite VRAM during V-blank, and use H-blank and V-blank to load your initial tiles and maps, but it's quicker and less work just to turn off the LCD and not worry about it.