/rhh/ Retro Handheld Thread

[Anonymous No.4000216]

Never gonna give you up edition

This is the thread in which we discuss comfy portable game systems, such as the GameBoy and GameGear.

Think of this kind of like a Game Boy general, except handheld systems from any manufacturer can be discussed, be they from Nintendo, Sega, Atari or any obscure off brand, as well as LCD games. Portable consoles like the Turbo Express and Nomad can be discussed as hardware, though game discussion belongs in their respective consoles' threads. Discussing clones are also welcome so long as the other criteria are met.

Discussion of handheld repairs, mods and aftermarket add-ons are also welcome, though for more in-depth repair advice the repair general is recommended.

Handheld emulator boxes (Dingoo, JXD S7800B, modded PSP, etc.) are a gray area. When they are discussed it should be in regards to their use for the emulation of retro games.

Thinking about making some pastebins to put in /rhh/ OPs going forward. Like an FAQ for each major system, including a list of their top games. Open for ideas.

[Anonymous No.4000223]

Nothing comfy about that piece of shit Game Gear. Neo Geo Pocket or Wonderswan were far comfier.

[Anonymous No.4000229]

>>4000223
GG was the comfiest to play in bed, by far. Even a good external light for the Gameboy was generally not very pleasant to deal with.

By modern standards the GG's screen is pretty ugly but in the 90s there wasn't anything better to compare it to.

[Anonymous No.4000259]

I've been playing Tetris DX on computer VS mode. How the hell do I win on medium difficulty?

[Anonymous No.4000301]

Are there any good 'collect-a-thons' for the Gameboy or GBC? I have already completed the Donkey Kong Land trilogy and DKC1 for GBC. Also finished Pokemon RBY + GSC.

Anything else? I'm currently looking at Yugioh GBC or one of the Harry Potter GBC games.

[Anonymous No.4000315]

>>4000216
.Gamegear only good when use adapter in room in car or external battery pack
Grate cpu power and graphics
SO bad in that time smallsize rom are very too limit for color game, that make gamegear ' s games not good as it could be.

[Anonymous No.4000394]

>>4000315
Hypothetically they could have put bigger ROM chips on the GG carts, but it would have required a mapper chip like the Master System, which Sega never bothered to develop a miniaturized version of.

The GG was a miniaturized Master System. Master System was an older system than the Gameboy, and as such the Gameboy had a few tricks that were a little more forwards thinking even though the hardware itself was a lot weaker than the Game Gear's.

[Anonymous No.4002473]

[Anonymous No.4003271]

Is it just me or is Super Mario Land kind of shit?

[Anonymous No.4003293]

>>4003271
just you

[Anonymous No.4003316]

>>4003293
The jump / falling physics are trash and everything is tiny. The music is good which I think is the only real reason people remember it fondly.

[Anonymous No.4003349]

>>4003316
The physics are different than NES SMB, but easy to adapt to. Everything being tiny makes the screen crunch easier to deal with.

It's a fun game, especially for a GB title. It may not be as good as the NES SMB's, but calling it shit is a bit dramatic.

Have you played 6 golden coins? You might like that better, I do.

[Anonymous No.4003356]

>>4003349
6 Golden Coins is great. It's basically the game that I wanted SML to be.

[Anonymous No.4003395]

>>4003356
Have you tried SMB DX for the GBC?
A good game if you're on original hardware. Has SMB1 and nip SMB2 plus some really fun bonus games. I loved the boo-racing game.

And yes, it's screencrunched, but a must have if you actually play on a gbc.

[Anonymous No.4003398]

>>4003271

I like it because it feels like a spiritual successor to the first Super Mario Bros, where the progression is arcadey, no world maps, no going back, coins and extra lives are meaningful.

I'll give you that the falling physics are trash but it's easy to get used to. The tinyness doesn't bother me at all. I'd rather tiny graphics that lend themselves to the imagination, than huge fucking chunky sprites that cause the inevitable screen crunch like Super Mario Land 2.

[Anonymous No.4003417]

Been playing a lot of Hyper Lode Runner, great game even if some of the levels are a bit tedious.

[Anonymous No.4003869]

>>4003398
I wish someone would remake it with color graphics and proper Super Mario Bros physics. Basically like if it had been an NES game.

[Anonymous No.4003870]

>>4003395
SMB DX is one of my all-time faves on the GBC brah.

[Anonymous No.4003929]

>>4003870
excellent taste bruh

I also loved the GBA version of SMB3. I used to spend hours making sick replay vids of the boss bass levels

[Anonymous No.4004240]

>>4003929
I have all the GBA Mario ports. That's some good times right there.

[Anonymous No.4005898]

This game is stupid hard and a bit janky but I somehow still love it.

[Anonymous No.4006778]

[Anonymous No.4006839]

>>4006778
>having a motorised conveyance with no interior lighting

Anyhow, the parents had it far worse
>tfw mopping up the vomit resulting from little Timmy's insistence on playing video games in the car for hours on end.

[Anonymous No.4007436]

So apparently some guy in china created a driver board for putting a backlit screen in the Gameboy Color, but he got sick and was only able to produce like 20 of them. I wonder if McWill might try his hand at making one in the future?

[Anonymous No.4010731]

>>4007436
hed have to get ahold of one of the fuckers first. good luck.

[Anonymous No.4010818]

>>4000301
do the wario land games count?

[Anonymous No.4010819]

>>4003869
well SMB1 was disassembled to hell and back, modding it to behave like SML1 shouldn't be impossible

[Anonymous No.4010841]

>>4010731
McWill has designed PCBs for the Lynx and Game Gear, so I'm pretty sure he'd be able to for the Gameboy Color if he really cracked away at it. The tricky thing is that there's so little real-estate inside of the housing compared to the GG and Lynx, so the driver board needs to be small and thin. I have a feeling McWill would know well enough about how to source one of those IPS LCD panels too, since he uses some fairly specifically sized IPS displays in his Lynx and GG mods.

[Anonymous No.4011409]

>>4010841
His stuff is also expensive and his displays don't have integer scaling.
His stuff is amazing for Lynx or GG because there's nothing else out there that can compete with what he's offering, but Game Boy fans will expect better because they have extremely high standards and plenty of good options already.

[Anonymous No.4011660]

>>4011409
The GBC mod was about $100 which puts it in the same neighborhood as McWill's stuff. The reason McWill's GG mod isn't integer scaled is because the GG had very unusual shaped pixels that make integer scaling difficult even on a larger screen. The fact that McWill was able to solve this problem by including a scaler chip on his board was pretty revolutionary, even if it's not integer scaled.

[Anonymous No.4011663]

>>4011660
Forgot to mention that integer scaling is a matter of being able to source a correctly sized screen, and nothing else. No such "perfect screen" exists for the GG, so McWill had to settle for the best that was available. Obviously, there exists a screen that makes a good integer based replacement for the GBC, and it's all a matter of finding it. If McWill could source the same screens he could design a driver board that does the exact same thing.

[Anonymous No.4011958]

I'm playing SoulSilver, does that count for retro?

I know most people that sit here and talk about FF4 are always talking about their shitty DS remakes.

[Anonymous No.4011996]

>>4011958
Remakes are generally accepted without much screeching.

[Anonymous No.4012000]

>>4011996
Just wait 'til the FF7R comes out

[Anonymous No.4012002]

>>4012000
Even I'll screech about that.

[Anonymous No.4012095]

>mfw my 10 years old SupercardCF has had a NES and GB emulator on it and I only found out now

Having problems getting pokemon blue to save to cf though, it doesnt save sometimes.

[Anonymous No.4012307]

>>4011660
>>4011663

I know that, but how many people are going to pay $100+ for a GBC screen mod when they could get a modded backlit GBA, Modded backlit DMG, GB Micro, or backlit GBA SP and get a more accurate experience at a much lower price and with a lot less work?

He has no competition in the GG or Lynx market, but he has to compete with Nintendo themselves and decades of excellent low-cost mods in the GB space. If someone wants to get a large chunk of the Game Boy audience, "good enough" won't be good enough. You need to make an amazing product, a very cheap one, or both.

[Anonymous No.4012567]

>>4012307
Over 2,000 people ordered that mod from TaoBao. There is clearly a large demand for a product like that.

If it wasn't integer scaled I'd say just pay $30 and get yourself a GB Boy Colour, but if a pixel-perfect backlit GBC is what you're pining for, then $100 sounds about right.

[Anonymous No.4012806]

>>4012567
For a GBC that already has an interger-scaled backlit screen and adapter board fully installed, yeah, that's a good price. For just the kit, it would be too much.

[Anonymous No.4013902]

>>4012806
Again, depends on the customer. A GBC is $30 or less easy, and the guy on TaoBao was selling the modded ones for like $120 I think

[Anonymous No.4016121]

[Anonymous No.4017684]

Anyone have ever played the brick game?

[Anonymous No.4017747]

>>4017684
I used to have one of those things when I was a kid.

[Anonymous No.4017762]

>>4000216
Playing my PSP with cfw running Game Boy, Genesis, and PS1 games. Playing Pokemon Red, Castlevania Bloodlines, and Brave Fencer Musashi all on one device.

[Anonymous No.4018014]

>>4017684
9999 in 1? That's a lot of brick games.

[Anonymous No.4018069]

>>4017684
Mine was also a calculator.

[Anonymous No.4018131]

>>4017684
ิI bought that before gameboy,It very cheap but make you can play Tetris everywhere everytime.

[Anonymous No.4019731]

My boys.

[Anonymous No.4019753]

How are these replacement shells? I want a Black DMG on the cheap, and I know they fucked up the colour of the lettering, but does anyone know if the build quality is shoddier? Any glaring flaws?

[Anonymous No.4019787]

>>4000259
yчить pyccкий

[Anonymous No.4019808]

>>4019753
From what I understand the're not bad. Raspberry Pi builders use them to make Gameboy Zeros.

[Anonymous No.4019810]

>>4019753
The plastic is lighter, smoother, and generally cheaper-feeling on all the Chinese-made replacement buttons and cases. You can tell the difference with a single touch. They look really good if you don't mind them feeling different, though. They're not bad, they're just not as good as the real thing.
I don't know if the stuff from US companies are any better.

[Anonymous No.4019838]

>>4019810
I'll try to hunt down a broken black one then, thanks.

[Anonymous No.4019923]

>>4019753
I got a GBA shell from AE that was pretty nice, definitely cheap,but totally servicable. I put it on a GBA I got for $20 at the local gameshop and then sold it back to them for more than the total cost, it was rad.

[Anonymous No.4019968]

>>4003271
it was the first mario game where miyamoto wasn't really involved, it shows

[Anonymous No.4020215]

>>4019968
To my knowledge Mario Land 2 was the only Mario game produced by Gunpei Yokoi, which is why it's got a rather distinct feel from other Mario games and is all around awesome. It's everything I could have wanted from a Super Mario game on Gameboy.

Also, dat music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x5azjuDYPU

[Anonymous No.4020247]

what's the cheapest flashcart for the gba?

[Anonymous No.4020252]

>>4020247
EZ Flash IV, but the Everdrive GBA is a lot better

[Anonymous No.4020263]

>>4020252
may I ask why?

[Anonymous No.4020279]

>>4020263
Higher compatibility, built-in emulators, and it's a hell of a lot more user-friendly and easy to use.

[Anonymous No.4020283]

>>4020279
okay, thank you anon!

[Anonymous No.4020494]

>>4020279
>Higher compatibility
only game that doesn't seem to work on a EZ IV is Ynggrda Union and games that use those sensors which would about 4 games

>built-in emulators
Like it's so hard to put them on a flashcart

[Anonymous No.4020505]

>>4000229
Lynx screen was better.

[Anonymous No.4020509]

>>4006778
>kids these days

[Anonymous No.4021096]

>>4020505
No-one had one though. I never saw one until I was an adult.

I'd like to get my hands on a Lynx 2 and add a McWill screen at some point, although finding games for one might be a fool's errand with today's prices being what they are. I'll probably have to get a flash cart for it if I do.

[Anonymous No.4021223]

>>4021096
Funny, my neighbour had two back in the day and now I have three myself. 35 individual games too, plus quite a few dupes.

They really aren' t that expensive to buy games for, aside from a few rarities, and the library is tiny. There are also shedloads of NOS games knocking about, again reasonably priced compared to other systems.

[Anonymous No.4021361]

Um.. So, a couple of years ago I found a clear Gameboy Color at my Grandmothers house.. But it didn't work. (Little did I know that the thing probably just needed some batteries)

Because I didn't know that at the time, couldn't find the assumed charger for it, and figured it was broken too.. We just threw it out. It wasn't mine either, it was my older brothers'. And um.. I feel really bad and stupid for not only throwing away something that wasn't mine but that was probably perfectly working too so, how much would it cost me to get a replacement..? (I'm hoping he won't know the difference when he comes back presumably looking for it pretty soon...)

[Anonymous No.4021653]

>>4021223
Cool, I will keep that in mind. I think my best bet is probably to buy one off of eBay that needs new caps, since I've repaired a lot of Game Gears and am pretty comfortable with surface soldering. I did the McWill screen mod on my Game Gear too, so I'm sure I can do the Lynx one just fine.

They even have NOS carry cases on ebay that only cost a few bucks. I'm really particular about what kind of cases I like to keep my handhelds in so that's good.

[Anonymous No.4021660]

>>4021361
You're in luck, because GBCs are cheap. You can get a used one for only about $30.

I would however recommend you give the GB Boy Color on Ali Express a look. It only costs $30 which is the same as a used GBC, and the screen is very nice. I have a front-light modded GBC and I've scarcely touched it since getting a GB Boy Colour. I keep it for old times' sake and the hope that one day someone will sell a proper screen replacement kit for it that surpasses the GB Boy Colour, but until then the GB Boy is fine for me.

[Anonymous No.4021685]

>>4021660
Thank you so much, I'll give them a look.

[Anonymous No.4021715]

>>4021660
That stretched aspect ratio is awful

[Anonymous No.4021717]

>>4021715
It's no worse than the Super Gameboy.

[Anonymous No.4021776]

>>4021715
>>4021717 is exactly right, it's very close to the SGB and no one screams about that. Also the GB Boy is $30, well worth it to play in the dark.

[Anonymous No.4022283]

>>4003417
I got this game, beat the first level, died on the second level after five minutes, then sold the game. It's kind of cool, but everything just takes so long, and I'm not sure I was actually enjoying it enough to justify how life draining I knew it would become.

I think I would have really enjoyed it if it were just a little more straightforward though.

[Anonymous No.4022296]

Can anyone recommend any obscure games for the GB/GBC? Japanese-only stuff is great. I love anything with unique mechanics. And games with shooting are great too.

[Anonymous No.4022865]

What exactly made the original gameboy so fucking indestructible? Today's electronics can't take 1% of the punishment my gameboy took and it still works.

Is it the materials?

[Anonymous No.4022875]

>>4022296
Fuck off, weeb.

[Anonymous No.4022885]

>>4022875
Since when did /vr/ have people like this?

[Anonymous No.4022891,1]

yeah reply to the shitter that'll fucking help.

retards

[Anonymous No.4022891]

>>4022885
Play some REAL AMERICAN games.

[Anonymous No.4023062]

>>4022865
it was really simple, just that man.

[Anonymous No.4023067]

>>4022891
Hogan?

[Anonymous No.4023087]

>>4022885
/vr/ has always hated casuals who talk about "le hidden jims" and "obscure classics" and other collectard bullshit. 4chan as a whole hates people who ask really basic questions instead of lurking or using google. This isn't babby's first forum. The standards are higher than that.

[Anonymous No.4023452]

>>4022875
I hate seemed as much as the next guy but the 80s and 90s were by every measure the golden age of Japanese video games. The American and European console developers had not yet reached maturity and Japan had a major leg up that didn't vanish until games went 3D (because 3D hurts their sensitive Japanese tummies).

[Anonymous No.4023527]

I agree that GameGear is about as comfy as it can get. But this mother fucker right here...

[Anonymous No.4024069]

>>4023527

That's not the Game Gear version, it's the Master System version. He's actually easy in the MS version because it doesn't have that fucking awful screen crunch.

[Anonymous No.4024229]

>>4024069
Yeah, I don't recommend playing Sonic 1 and 2 on GG. They're nearly impossible due to the screen crunch problems. Sonic Chaos and Triple Trouble are the ones you want to play because they were actually designed around the GG screen.

[Anonymous No.4024432]

>>4023527
On GameGear, this boss is harder than the last boss.

[Anonymous No.4024534]

>>4024432
I can't even beat it.

[Anonymous No.4026503]

[Anonymous No.4026831]

Just beat Streets Of Rage 2 on one of the atgames megadrive handhelds (The ultimate one. In particular the model with Phantasy Star 2 and 3 that save)
Its pretty decent if you get one cheap. The sounds awful (though apparently a ruskie managed to tweak that but it doesnt work on my model. Its too new), I'll give you that but the games play pretty responsively.
Got a large way into Aladdin. And trust me, that game, if the controls are bad, is an absolute nightmare to play.

Screens nice, its lightweight. The shovelware is kind of funny to see too.

[Anonymous No.4026839]

>>4026831
You haven't beaten it until you play on Mania.

[Anonymous No.4026846]

>>4026839
Oh wait, you won't be able to unlock Mania on a handheld

[Anonymous No.4026921]

>>4026839
>>4026846
I wish man.
I barely was able to clear it on its default settings. Last continue, last life, last little bit of health.
Those blanka guys mess me up every single time.

I'm not all that good at videogames, admittadely.

[Anonymous No.4028341]

>>4026831
I wish they'd do one of those handhelds with an actual Game Gear slot. I always wanted to see Sega do a pocket version of the Game Gear to answer the Game Boy Color but instead they were banking on the Nomad being the GG's successor, which didn't really work out.

[Anonymous No.4028483]

>>4028341
Do these get better every year? I know the last model I saw had all 3 Mortal Kombat games.

[Anonymous No.4028514]

>>4028483
I got one. The quality isn't great in many ways from my research into it. The screen is nice and the buttons are good, and it feels really light and recent models have decent battery life in it's rechargeable battery pack. But the audio is pretty damn bad.

Ironically it actually does use a system on a chip and not arm. It's from what I gather partially emulated. The menu itself is like a genesis bootrom.
This guy made a menu mod that improves the audio but it only works on certain "gopher" devices (because he's only dumped 3 models' roms that he's edited. He has to literally take them apart and brute-force a dump though):
http://elektropage.ru/publ/sega_suslik/utilitki_dlja_gofera/sega_gopher_menu_forced/23-1-0-174

Those ones it works on seem to be from around 2010-2011. My 2016 model just has a blank screen when I boot any of those modified roms. (But when I go back to the devices menu it does shift the menu's pitch for the built-in games, doesn't improve the actual game's audio though sadly. Just the menu tone suddenly gets higher pitched)

When it's compatible it works pretty good. My model prefers .bin over .smd. Converting those fixed games that originally didn't run for me like Castle of Illusion. Some games won't work because of special chips.

My unit comes with the 3 MK games. MK3 doesn't actually work properly, which is kind of hilarious. You can't pull of special moves.
Mortal Kombat 2 does work when you set it to six buttons however.
This guy explains where some of the compatibility issues come from:
http://vfiuchcikicshuusrch.ddns.net/?post=8

Design flaw. Basically the mode button is tied to the screen and for some reason it's always set to ON. What he does is re-route it and mod in a button onto the top that works as a mode button to switch between 3 and 6 button mode.

http://vfiuchcikicshuusrch.ddns.net/?post=9

He also did a stereo audio mod. Good thing is, it seems these devices are pretty simple, so simple to hack/modify.

[Anonymous No.4028523]

>>4028514
http://vfiuchcikicshuusrch.ddns.net/?post=5

This guy also points out that the chip that contains the built-in roms can be reprogrammed, and that some games work better in the internal memory than they do via SD, like Contra hard corps and Vectorman 1 and 2 (since it has to load SD games into the RAM chip).

Thats probably why my unit has Vectorman 1 and 2 built into it. My version also has Phantasy Star 2, 3 and Sword of Vermillion, which save. (Yet the SD games still don't support saving)

It's still quite an enigmatic machine.

[Anonymous No.4028539]

>>4028514
But also this hacked rom of UMK3 has fixed controls.

http://elektropage.ru/publ/sega_suslik/modified_games/mini_khak_ultimate_mortal_kombat_sega_gopher/22-1-0-54

[Anonymous No.4030378]