/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.3816573]

Why does this handheld have such a weak library? The original gameboy outshines it completely.

[Anonymous No.3816578]

I always thought the gbc had a pretty solid library, though that might be because i'm including the black shell cartridges as well as exclusives

also, is there any ideal way to play gb/gba? You seem to either have to deal with fucking ghosting or lack of a backlight, so you can't see anything either way

[Anonymous No.3816586]

>>3816573

because it came out in 1998

[Anonymous No.3816597]

>>3816573
It had a lifespan of about 3 years.
The GB was around for 9 years before the GBC, and even after the GBC's release, many games were still made compatible with it.

[Anonymous No.3816608]

>>3816597
This. GBC is often not even counted as a separate console.

[Anonymous No.3816609]

>>3816573
>The original gameboy outshines it completely.

But the GBC can play GB games, so by definition it has a bigger library.

[Anonymous No.3816614]

>>3816608
The GBC was pretty much to the Gameboy what the DSi was to the DS.

[Anonymous No.3816632]

I mean devs had the choice between making GBC exclusive games or making black cartridges that could *also* work on the older systems. On one hand you get better hardware but on the other you get more customers. I would imagine that's part of the problem.

[Anonymous No.3816657]

Apart from Pokemon there wasn't much else to the GBC. That being said, the color palette was pretty awesome at the time.

[Anonymous No.3816659]

>>3816614
Let's not go that far

[Anonymous No.3816665]

>>3816608
This. What a stupid fucking thread. Anyone who was actually alive at the time knows that it was never considered a stand alone system.

OP confirmed for underage, and possibly retarded.

[Anonymous No.3816668]

>>3816659
Officially speaking, the Game Boy Color was an upgraded Game Boy, just like how DSi and New 3DS were upgraded versions of the original DS and 3DS respectively.

[Anonymous No.3816670]

>>3816614
Did the DSi even have any worthwhile exclusives? GBC had three Pokemon games alone that couldn't be played on a GB.

[Anonymous No.3816674]

The GBC is the point where shovelware started to infest the handheld market. This went on for years and continued on and grew with the GBA, which Is almost definitely the largest shovelware dumpster in gaming history.

[Anonymous No.3816676]

>>3816614
Well, it's an OK analogy, as both were hardware updates, but it's not perfect really. DSi had just 5 exclusive retail games, all shitty. GBC, on the other hand, had 576 games with roughly 75% of them being exclusives, among which were LoZ Oracle and Pokemon Crystal.

That said, DSi had the dedicated DSiWare service; but it didn't really have many remarkable games, as they were mostly small budget titles. Sure there were some nice little ones, but nothing to sell the whole system.

When it comes to hardware updates, they were also different. AFAIK, GBC used exactly the same old Sharp CPU as GB, clocked at the same speed. Pretty much the only thing it did was add color and palettes for previously released games.

DSi, however, had a slightly better CPU and RAM. Moreover, it introduced basic media capabilities to the console, and of course the cameras and the SD slot.

So really, the reason to buy GBC was its new games and better color screen. The only real reason to get DSi was a bit bigger screen and media capabilities; its exclusives were nothing to speak of.

>>3816670
See above. Just 5 shitty games in retail, and some small budget games in DSiWare, with few OK ones. But mostly shovelware like crosswords and such.

[Anonymous No.3816678]

>>3816573
I really enjoyed the GBC. It's got a nice form factor, good battery life on two AAs, reinvigorates the entire GB library with a wide variety of palettes. The system was obviously meant as a stop-gap, which meant it would have a truncated shelf life, but as a piece of hardware it's perfectly fine. As far as the games go, the Deja Vu compilation is great, there's Elevator Action, Solomon's Key, Metal Gear, Shantae, Wendy Witch, Toki Tori, two Zeldas--all kinds of stuff. There are consoles with way, way worse libraries.

[Anonymous No.3816683]

>>3816665
>that it was never considered a stand alone system.

Yeah except for you know, the hundreds of games that could only be played on it at the time. Fucking underaged kids trying to prove their gamercred..... FUCK YOU BITCH I'LL END YOU!

[Anonymous No.3816687]

>>3816668
But going to a color palette is a pretty considerable advance, the biggest advance before 3d

[Anonymous No.3816691]

>>3816668
For DSi, see >>3816676 . As for New 3DS, it actually does sound way more like GBC. Enhanced versions of old games, some exclusives of its own, and an advanced screen, too (well, speaking of 3D). That said, it also improved the specs similar to 3DS, and added C-stick and SNES VC.

[Anonymous No.3816709]

>>3816674
GB had just as much of it if not more.
I think GBA was actually the point when gaming had a small renaissance, with Castlevania, Mega Man and Metroid returning with some great games, Advance Wars and Fire Emblem finally coming to the West, plus great new games like WarioWare and Golden Sun, not to mention all the good sequels and ports.
I think ALL of Nintendo portables had tons of shovelware. GB, GBA, DS, you name it. But this doesn't really matter when all of them had some great games, worthy of buying the system for.

[Anonymous No.3816717]

>>3816668
U needed a gbc for ghost babel tho that shit was dope

[Anonymous No.3816775]

>>3816691
That is actually a pretty interesting thought. Especially since they both introduced a new way to see games on a gameboy.

[Anonymous No.3816779]

>>3816683
>FUCK YOU BITCH I'LL END YOU!

[Anonymous No.3816850]

>>3816691
>>3816687
>>3816717
Yes, I'm aware of GBC-exclusive games and all the hardware differences. I'm just saying it as Nintendo calls it. There's a reason why their Game Boy hardware sales number is inflated as it is. Even the official GBC page on their Japanese website is the same one for the original GB.

[Anonymous No.3816872]

>>3816850
>WiiU

[Anonymous No.3816875]

>>3816578
Either an OG GB SP or a modded OG GBA to prevent hand cramps and headphone jack.

[Anonymous No.3816893]

>>3816850
Speaking of sales: it's true Nintendo doesn't separate the numbers of GB and GBC. But it's interesting to at least estimate how much it sold.

First off, GBC was released in all regions in roughly the same time: around November 1998. Before it, they only released GB Pocket in 1996, with the exception for Japan-only GB Light that was also released in 1998 in April.

Official Nintendo data divides sales divided for fiscal years. Including the period from April 1998 to March 1999, GB+GBC sold 54,57 mln consoles worldwide. Excluding it, you get 41,02 mln.

So IMO, it's not entirely unreasonable to assume that GBC sold roughly 40 mln units or even more. IIRC, it used to be sold at the same time with other GB versions for some time, so obviously not all of these 40–50 mln of GBs sold from November 1998 were GBC only. But it was clearly presented as the superior model.

[Anonymous No.3816920]

>>3816674
GBA might've had a lot of shovelware, but it also had a lot of great games. As far as Nintendo handhelds go, it has the most exclusives I want to go back and replay. GBC is definitely their weakest, though, unless you want to count the VB.

[Anonymous No.3816950]

>>3816920
GBA had 16/32-bit games in the era when 16/32 bit games went extinct.

Also good developers were able to learn from previous generation and make new games in similar style, but better.

[Anonymous No.3816968]

>>3816573
What? For its short lifespan (which makes your GB comparison pretty weak), it had a bunch of great games, hell even if you arbitrarily limit it to GBC exclusives there was a ton of great shit (and yes, I'm including ports, many of which are improvements on the originals). This is just shit I personally like:

LoZ Ages/Seasons
MGS
Mario Golf/Tennis
SMB DX
Pokemon Puzzle Challenge
Pokemon Crystal
Kirby Tilt and Tumble
Shantae
Metal Walker
DQIII
Lufia
Warlocked
Bionic Commando
Crystalis
Hamtaro
Deja Vu

[Anonymous No.3816991]

>>3816968
Pretty much this. People need blockbuster level hype for games, otherwise they assume there's nothing to play. Then they complain about AAA games and the dumbness of mass consumer.

I guess Nintendo is to blame in part for this… I think they could have spent some more on marketing of portable games. Treating them as "small bros" to big consoles didn't do them justice.

>>3816950
I also like GBA for this reason. It's great that most games for it went with good 2D instead of flawed 3D, like most did in PS times. Meanwhile, it had some advantages over 4th gen—better hardware and more available battery saves.

Could it have been better? Surely. The resolution was 2/3 that of SNES. The initial lack of backlight was a pain in the ass; the audio was just mediocre. Some companies' output was a bit underwhelming, like Square Enix. But for all its flaws, it had some amazing titles, showing that treating 2D and old school gameplay as "outdated" was just one big marketing fallacy.

[Anonymous No.3816997]

>>3816578
This video should help you pick a good model: https://youtu.be/BjtD1mOZlPc

[Anonymous No.3817002]

>>3816578
For GBA, DSL is quite fine. At least for me it was perfect. Any GBA flashcart will do, there are ones specifically for DSL too.

As for GBC, on this board I see people recommend GB Boy. See chink shit thread.

[Anonymous No.3817015]

>>3816573

it was out of date from the getgo

hell the Gameboy was out of date in 1989, withered technology and Gunpei Yokoi shit

this was 10 years after that. Zelda DX w that new dunegon couldnt save it.

GBA has a fantastic library. this thing is one step up from the fucking virtual boy

[Anonymous No.3817525]

It's so funny, isn't it? We've waited for AGES for the GBC to come out. All other handhelds had colour for ages and we were like
>When will we get a colour game boy?!
Then we suddenly did. I was shitting bricks because of excitement but what did we get? Here are the lunch titles:
EVERY fucking ONE got Harvest Moon. I didn't because I didn't want to be everyone. I got Turok. Turok was pretty hard to find and sold out in most stores. I had to go to 4 different stores to find something that WASN'T Harvest Moon. I guess stores only bought Harvest Moon. So the music in Turok was amazing and the game play was fun but you can beat it very quickly. Then I purchased a lot of Loony Toons / Bugs Bunny games / Warner games. Damn you could beat those in like 2 hours. Really a let down for that high price. WB's Quest for Camelot was a FUN RPG based on a movie no one ever watched. So that took a bit longer.
I also had a Simpsons Game for GBC. It's amazing. I've purchased it which was a lot of money for little me back then. I would purchase games before we went on family vacations so I had something to play during summer. Anyways I don't remember playing that Simpsons game much. I think only like 2 hours or less. It was a Tree House of Horror game and all I remember was how confusing American fuse boxes are.
Stranded Kids / Survival Kids was the BEST GBC game ever. Also worked on GB though. GOD I LOVE THIS GAME but it's overlooked like fuck. Lost in Blue- the same series just for DS was more popular and had more games but I do not understand Lost in Blue. I've emulated all 3 games and they all seemed to be the same game so that was confusing to me. I also died after like 10 minutes of playing so I guess I suck real bad. Should I try it again? I feel like it.

I also think there were PLENTY of GBC games that never got released outside of Japan giving us even LESS games. Like I am about to play a Detective Conan game on GBC now which luckily got a fan translation patch.

[Anonymous No.3817587]

>>3816676
What? The GBC had the same processor true, but it ran at twice the speed of the DMG with twice as much VRAM and 4 times as much system RAM.

[Anonymous No.3817687]

>>3816683
I completely agree, except the gbc was always seen as an upgrade more than a new handheld.

[Anonymous No.3818023]

>>3817587
Shit, I'm sorry. I looked up the Wikipedia, and it said GBC's CPU was "Sharp LR35902 core @ 4.19 MHz". I'm used to them giving specs in the sidebar, so with no other specs I assumed it was all the same from GB. In reality, it had 2 modes, 4.194 or 8.388 MHz.
The rest that you say is true.

[Anonymous No.3818158]

>>3818023
Whut?
I can't find any sources for the DMG being able to run at 8mhz.

[Anonymous No.3818214]

>>3818158
I meant GBC, not GB.

[Anonymous No.3818230]

> The original internal codename for the Game Boy was "Dot Matrix Game", which its initials came to be featured on the final product's model number, "DMG-01". The internal reception of the device was initially very poor; the DMG even earned from Nintendo employees the derogatory nickname "DameGame", dame being the Japanese for "hopeless" or "lame" in that context.
Trust nobody, not even yourself

[Anonymous No.3819584]

>>3818230
Shouldn't it have been "Ink Based Game"?

[Anonymous No.3819596]

>>3816968
It had lots of interesting stuff nobody cares about.

Merlin
Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit
Aliens: Thanatos Encounter
Keep the Balance
Fish FIles
Azure Dreams
Driver
Harvest Moon
Mooomins Tale
Survival Kids
Wendy
Samurai Kid/Daiku no Gensan


Quite a lot of JRPGs, especially in Japan:
Star Ocean
Grandia
Lufia
Magi Nation
Harry Potter

Think it had Medarot games and some Detective Conan as well.

[Anonymous No.3819672]

>>3819584
It's not ink you fucking retard.

[Anonymous No.3819683]

I never saw the GB and GBC as two separate things.
The way I saw it back then, it was kinda like an upgrade. So I never considered their libraries to be different things. You just had a smaller version of the GB that used less batteries, had color and some improved screen issues.

[Anonymous No.3819923]

>>3816573
It was the dsi of game boys

[Anonymous No.3819937]

>>3819672
u 8 the b8 m8

[Anonymous No.3821085]

>>3819596
>>3816968
I think the big problem about GBC is that even game media often didn't take it very seriously. I used to read IGN back in around 2004: their GBC section was basically "You get 10. And you. And you.". Many saw it as a curious little machine, entertainment for long rides and nothing more.

[Anonymous No.3821097]

>>3821085
To add to this, I feel Western publishers also didn't give a fuck about the quality control on it too. See Western GB and GBC covers, some just scream "PhotoShop 5.0". The port is atrocious too. This carried over to GBA too, unfortunately.

[Anonymous No.3821131]

>>3816573
I just wish the GB library in general wasn't so fucking shit. It's like 96% shovelware. There's good stuff, even a lot of good stuff (entirely because of the sheer volume of GB games), but if you opened up a monochrome Game Boy game at random, it'd likely be a shit one.

Really, the GBC library (read: all the games that run in GBC mode) is fairly solid in comparison compared to the monochrome library, although the odds of getting a good GB game at random don't improve too much if you mix in the GBC games.

GBC stuff I've been playing lately: Pokemon Gold (I like this game a lot more than I should), Daikatana (oddly decent Zelda-like), Wendy: Every Witch Way (very fun platformer), Wacky Races (really nice graphics), Dragon Quest III (turns out, I don't like DQ that much), and Mr. Driller (okay port, although the starting air drain rate is really slow and the playfield is two blocks narrower compared to arcade).
monochrome stuff I've been playing: Money Idol Exchanger (nice port of the Neo game), Twinbee da (the good shit), Kwirk (fun little push puzzle game), Dexterity (okay tile flip puzzle game), and Kid Niki (solid Mario Land clone)
oh, and Motocross Maniacs, which is brilliant, probably my favorite early GB title

>>3817015
it was slightly out of date in '89, rather than obscenely so
the main benefits were low cost and the long-ass battery life, something that pretty much shot all its competition in the dick (the Lynx has a fair bunch of decent games and is let down by the fact that it's dead long before the day is over, same with the Game Gear, although that machine had more shovelware)

>>3816665
it actually does deserve it due to the (somewhat generously) enhanced hardware, with a 2x speed CPU and more RAM
and a fair list of exclusives