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In June 2001 I, and thousands of others, took part in a revolution in handheld gaming. It wasn't going to be the Atari Puma or the Bandai Hyperduck or the Neo Geo Peo Weo. It was the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and it was *long* overdue. The original Game Boy format, dressed up in pretty colours, was twelve years old and first saw the light of day when the NES was king, but the Master System ruled Europe. Nintendo had been working on it for over four years so it kept what made the original Game Boy the most popular console ever. Price and battery life were major concerns and the GBA had been tweaked to perfection. It was going to be 32-bit, like the Saturn and the PlayStation, and it was going to be £80. It was going to have Castlevania and 2D Super Mario and Mario Kart and Game Boy Wars Advance (aka Advance Wars). I had never been so excited about a new piece of hardware.
So I got my launch day GBA home, with F-Zero and Super Mario Advance, and I marvelled at the custard-cream sized cartridges and the wonderful click of the shoulder buttons and the 'budubudum... waaah' startup noise and started playing. And it was fantastic. It was like 1993 all over again. Mario Kart was coming soon and Doom was gonna be there and Breath of Fire and *sob* Super Mario World and... and I suddenly realised I still had a SNES. I had Super Mario All-Stars. I had Doom, and the PC version too. I had Breath Of Fire 1 and 2. I had F-Zero and Super Metroid and Zelda. I even had Seiken Densetsu and the FF games, for an import freak was I. I took it out of its dust cover and plugged it back in for the first time in years and I had a ball. My GBA sat there untouched as I went back on a nostalgic trip through all that pure, unadulterated gameplay.
A week later I emerged and looked at my GBA. What was I thinking buying Mario Bros. 2 and a slightly enhanced F-Zero? I'd already got those on under-the-TV cartridges. I was quite miffed that I had paid £35 a time for these (basically) ten-year-old games. I went back to my local games merchant and selected the newly-released Mario Kart Super Circuit. I had been salivating over the screenshots for months and it looked almost 3D in its detail and light years ahead of my old Super Mario Kart game. But, alas, it was not. I'd been had. It was the SNES game with 2D trees and less weapons and powerups. I could not believe how long I had waited to play this. I could not believe how MUCH I had PAYED to get this. I couldn't believe how much money Nintendo must have been making out of this! I spent another sullen week with my SNES.
Over the next few months my interest in my GBA waned dramatically, apart from my month-long love affair with Advance Wars in January - sadly over all too quickly as I got bored with it. It gained an N64/PS2 style dust layer. The only game I bought in months was Sonic Advance after a wasn't-Sonic-in-2D-brilliant nostalgia trip. And he was. And Sonic Advance wasn't! Sonic suddenly had attitude and dreads and a girlfriend. He didn't stand and scratch his head, he strutted and looked utterly ridiculous. The levels were boring and too easy. I actually took it back for a refund - only the second time I have ever done this (the first being my £40 copy of Daikatana 64).
But I had faith. 3D engines were being shown off. Doom was out and the deathmatches-on-the-bus were brilliant. E3 was coming up and I had heard rumours of Zelda Advance. Metroid 4 (now Metroid Fusion) had been announced. I thought I knew Nintendo, and the Nintendo I knew respected their fans. New material was coming. The GBA was going to get a place on the pantheon of gaming history.
And now it is a week after E3 and WHAT IS GOING ON!???£&!"?! WHY??? do they think I am going to buy Yoshi's Island and Link To The Past AGAIN so I can play them on a crappy screen and with four buttons? WHY do they think people are going to buy Golden Sun 2 after the abysmal original (you WILL fall into a deep slumber!)??? WHAT are Nintendo doing on GBA apart from Metroid? WHY are the games the same price as GameCube games? WHY are they trying to alienate their fans? We didn't do anything to them! Hell, we kept the company alive when we stuck with the N64! We DO NOT deserve such shoddy treatment! We want a NEW Mario game! We want a NEW Zelda game! And we DO NOT want them to look EXACTLY LIKE the SNES versions! We DO NOT want a handheld SNES! We want a proper 3D handheld revolution. And seeing as Nintendo know it's cheaper just to recycle old games there is NO WAY the GBA is going to bring that. As soon as I can I want a Game Park 32. It even has more than four buttons! Revolutionary concept there, Nintendo... the screen is even visible. Sorry Nintendo, you just lost yourself a customer.
So I got my launch day GBA home, with F-Zero and Super Mario Advance, and I marvelled at the custard-cream sized cartridges and the wonderful click of the shoulder buttons and the 'budubudum... waaah' startup noise and started playing. And it was fantastic. It was like 1993 all over again. Mario Kart was coming soon and Doom was gonna be there and Breath of Fire and *sob* Super Mario World and... and I suddenly realised I still had a SNES. I had Super Mario All-Stars. I had Doom, and the PC version too. I had Breath Of Fire 1 and 2. I had F-Zero and Super Metroid and Zelda. I even had Seiken Densetsu and the FF games, for an import freak was I. I took it out of its dust cover and plugged it back in for the first time in years and I had a ball. My GBA sat there untouched as I went back on a nostalgic trip through all that pure, unadulterated gameplay.
A week later I emerged and looked at my GBA. What was I thinking buying Mario Bros. 2 and a slightly enhanced F-Zero? I'd already got those on under-the-TV cartridges. I was quite miffed that I had paid £35 a time for these (basically) ten-year-old games. I went back to my local games merchant and selected the newly-released Mario Kart Super Circuit. I had been salivating over the screenshots for months and it looked almost 3D in its detail and light years ahead of my old Super Mario Kart game. But, alas, it was not. I'd been had. It was the SNES game with 2D trees and less weapons and powerups. I could not believe how long I had waited to play this. I could not believe how MUCH I had PAYED to get this. I couldn't believe how much money Nintendo must have been making out of this! I spent another sullen week with my SNES.
Over the next few months my interest in my GBA waned dramatically, apart from my month-long love affair with Advance Wars in January - sadly over all too quickly as I got bored with it. It gained an N64/PS2 style dust layer. The only game I bought in months was Sonic Advance after a wasn't-Sonic-in-2D-brilliant nostalgia trip. And he was. And Sonic Advance wasn't! Sonic suddenly had attitude and dreads and a girlfriend. He didn't stand and scratch his head, he strutted and looked utterly ridiculous. The levels were boring and too easy. I actually took it back for a refund - only the second time I have ever done this (the first being my £40 copy of Daikatana 64).
But I had faith. 3D engines were being shown off. Doom was out and the deathmatches-on-the-bus were brilliant. E3 was coming up and I had heard rumours of Zelda Advance. Metroid 4 (now Metroid Fusion) had been announced. I thought I knew Nintendo, and the Nintendo I knew respected their fans. New material was coming. The GBA was going to get a place on the pantheon of gaming history.
And now it is a week after E3 and WHAT IS GOING ON!???£&!"?! WHY??? do they think I am going to buy Yoshi's Island and Link To The Past AGAIN so I can play them on a crappy screen and with four buttons? WHY do they think people are going to buy Golden Sun 2 after the abysmal original (you WILL fall into a deep slumber!)??? WHAT are Nintendo doing on GBA apart from Metroid? WHY are the games the same price as GameCube games? WHY are they trying to alienate their fans? We didn't do anything to them! Hell, we kept the company alive when we stuck with the N64! We DO NOT deserve such shoddy treatment! We want a NEW Mario game! We want a NEW Zelda game! And we DO NOT want them to look EXACTLY LIKE the SNES versions! We DO NOT want a handheld SNES! We want a proper 3D handheld revolution. And seeing as Nintendo know it's cheaper just to recycle old games there is NO WAY the GBA is going to bring that. As soon as I can I want a Game Park 32. It even has more than four buttons! Revolutionary concept there, Nintendo... the screen is even visible. Sorry Nintendo, you just lost yourself a customer.
that is true but it isn't a major achievement - it was formulaic and thoroughly dated
Golden Sun was amazing, the only thing wrong with it were the overly long cut scenes. I can't wait for the sequel. Beats any FF game to date.
oh come on. the story?? the battles?? the fact it only lasted 20 hours??
I can see why you're NOW unhappy - due to the un-original games.
But the SNES 'oldies' are gunna be usefull for the people like me who missed Mario World 2 and Zelda back in the day.
I'm sure we'll see more NEW games after this lot, and i'm also sure that Golden Sun is one of the best RPG's around - definitley on the handheld scale! I haven't played it yet, but i've heard LOADS of good things from people I know who have.
The GBA doesn't suck.
The problem is that we're seeing nothing new and original.
We're only seeing the oldies being re-born - exactly the same!
If they were at least slightly different then it wouldn't be so bad.
Just wait, and you'll soon see some games you do want.
And go back into the games you have got untill then - games like Mario Kart can go-on forever!
The GBA will also be usefull with the GC link-up.
But the SNES 'oldies' are gunna be usefull for the people like me who missed Mario World 2 and Zelda back in the day.
I'm sure we'll see more NEW games after this lot, and i'm also sure that Golden Sun is one of the best RPG's around - definitley on the handheld scale! I haven't played it yet, but i've heard LOADS of good things from people I know who have.
The GBA doesn't suck.
The problem is that we're seeing nothing new and original.
We're only seeing the oldies being re-born - exactly the same!
If they were at least slightly different then it wouldn't be so bad.
Just wait, and you'll soon see some games you do want.
And go back into the games you have got untill then - games like Mario Kart can go-on forever!
The GBA will also be usefull with the GC link-up.
How can you saw Golden Sun was abysmal? It was amazing, with tonnes of secrets a great storyline and gameplay and tactical fights.
In June 2001 I, and thousands of others, took part in a revolution in handheld gaming. It wasn't going to be the Atari Puma or the Bandai Hyperduck or the Neo Geo Peo Weo. It was the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and it was *long* overdue. The original Game Boy format, dressed up in pretty colours, was twelve years old and first saw the light of day when the NES was king, but the Master System ruled Europe. Nintendo had been working on it for over four years so it kept what made the original Game Boy the most popular console ever. Price and battery life were major concerns and the GBA had been tweaked to perfection. It was going to be 32-bit, like the Saturn and the PlayStation, and it was going to be £80. It was going to have Castlevania and 2D Super Mario and Mario Kart and Game Boy Wars Advance (aka Advance Wars). I had never been so excited about a new piece of hardware.
So I got my launch day GBA home, with F-Zero and Super Mario Advance, and I marvelled at the custard-cream sized cartridges and the wonderful click of the shoulder buttons and the 'budubudum... waaah' startup noise and started playing. And it was fantastic. It was like 1993 all over again. Mario Kart was coming soon and Doom was gonna be there and Breath of Fire and *sob* Super Mario World and... and I suddenly realised I still had a SNES. I had Super Mario All-Stars. I had Doom, and the PC version too. I had Breath Of Fire 1 and 2. I had F-Zero and Super Metroid and Zelda. I even had Seiken Densetsu and the FF games, for an import freak was I. I took it out of its dust cover and plugged it back in for the first time in years and I had a ball. My GBA sat there untouched as I went back on a nostalgic trip through all that pure, unadulterated gameplay.
A week later I emerged and looked at my GBA. What was I thinking buying Mario Bros. 2 and a slightly enhanced F-Zero? I'd already got those on under-the-TV cartridges. I was quite miffed that I had paid £35 a time for these (basically) ten-year-old games. I went back to my local games merchant and selected the newly-released Mario Kart Super Circuit. I had been salivating over the screenshots for months and it looked almost 3D in its detail and light years ahead of my old Super Mario Kart game. But, alas, it was not. I'd been had. It was the SNES game with 2D trees and less weapons and powerups. I could not believe how long I had waited to play this. I could not believe how MUCH I had PAYED to get this. I couldn't believe how much money Nintendo must have been making out of this! I spent another sullen week with my SNES.
Over the next few months my interest in my GBA waned dramatically, apart from my month-long love affair with Advance Wars in January - sadly over all too quickly as I got bored with it. It gained an N64/PS2 style dust layer. The only game I bought in months was Sonic Advance after a wasn't-Sonic-in-2D-brilliant nostalgia trip. And he was. And Sonic Advance wasn't! Sonic suddenly had attitude and dreads and a girlfriend. He didn't stand and scratch his head, he strutted and looked utterly ridiculous. The levels were boring and too easy. I actually took it back for a refund - only the second time I have ever done this (the first being my £40 copy of Daikatana 64).
But I had faith. 3D engines were being shown off. Doom was out and the deathmatches-on-the-bus were brilliant. E3 was coming up and I had heard rumours of Zelda Advance. Metroid 4 (now Metroid Fusion) had been announced. I thought I knew Nintendo, and the Nintendo I knew respected their fans. New material was coming. The GBA was going to get a place on the pantheon of gaming history.
And now it is a week after E3 and WHAT IS GOING ON!???£&!"?! WHY??? do they think I am going to buy Yoshi's Island and Link To The Past AGAIN so I can play them on a crappy screen and with four buttons? WHY do they think people are going to buy Golden Sun 2 after the abysmal original (you WILL fall into a deep slumber!)??? WHAT are Nintendo doing on GBA apart from Metroid? WHY are the games the same price as GameCube games? WHY are they trying to alienate their fans? We didn't do anything to them! Hell, we kept the company alive when we stuck with the N64! We DO NOT deserve such shoddy treatment! We want a NEW Mario game! We want a NEW Zelda game! And we DO NOT want them to look EXACTLY LIKE the SNES versions! We DO NOT want a handheld SNES! We want a proper 3D handheld revolution. And seeing as Nintendo know it's cheaper just to recycle old games there is NO WAY the GBA is going to bring that. As soon as I can I want a Game Park 32. It even has more than four buttons! Revolutionary concept there, Nintendo... the screen is even visible. Sorry Nintendo, you just lost yourself a customer.
So I got my launch day GBA home, with F-Zero and Super Mario Advance, and I marvelled at the custard-cream sized cartridges and the wonderful click of the shoulder buttons and the 'budubudum... waaah' startup noise and started playing. And it was fantastic. It was like 1993 all over again. Mario Kart was coming soon and Doom was gonna be there and Breath of Fire and *sob* Super Mario World and... and I suddenly realised I still had a SNES. I had Super Mario All-Stars. I had Doom, and the PC version too. I had Breath Of Fire 1 and 2. I had F-Zero and Super Metroid and Zelda. I even had Seiken Densetsu and the FF games, for an import freak was I. I took it out of its dust cover and plugged it back in for the first time in years and I had a ball. My GBA sat there untouched as I went back on a nostalgic trip through all that pure, unadulterated gameplay.
A week later I emerged and looked at my GBA. What was I thinking buying Mario Bros. 2 and a slightly enhanced F-Zero? I'd already got those on under-the-TV cartridges. I was quite miffed that I had paid £35 a time for these (basically) ten-year-old games. I went back to my local games merchant and selected the newly-released Mario Kart Super Circuit. I had been salivating over the screenshots for months and it looked almost 3D in its detail and light years ahead of my old Super Mario Kart game. But, alas, it was not. I'd been had. It was the SNES game with 2D trees and less weapons and powerups. I could not believe how long I had waited to play this. I could not believe how MUCH I had PAYED to get this. I couldn't believe how much money Nintendo must have been making out of this! I spent another sullen week with my SNES.
Over the next few months my interest in my GBA waned dramatically, apart from my month-long love affair with Advance Wars in January - sadly over all too quickly as I got bored with it. It gained an N64/PS2 style dust layer. The only game I bought in months was Sonic Advance after a wasn't-Sonic-in-2D-brilliant nostalgia trip. And he was. And Sonic Advance wasn't! Sonic suddenly had attitude and dreads and a girlfriend. He didn't stand and scratch his head, he strutted and looked utterly ridiculous. The levels were boring and too easy. I actually took it back for a refund - only the second time I have ever done this (the first being my £40 copy of Daikatana 64).
But I had faith. 3D engines were being shown off. Doom was out and the deathmatches-on-the-bus were brilliant. E3 was coming up and I had heard rumours of Zelda Advance. Metroid 4 (now Metroid Fusion) had been announced. I thought I knew Nintendo, and the Nintendo I knew respected their fans. New material was coming. The GBA was going to get a place on the pantheon of gaming history.
And now it is a week after E3 and WHAT IS GOING ON!???£&!"?! WHY??? do they think I am going to buy Yoshi's Island and Link To The Past AGAIN so I can play them on a crappy screen and with four buttons? WHY do they think people are going to buy Golden Sun 2 after the abysmal original (you WILL fall into a deep slumber!)??? WHAT are Nintendo doing on GBA apart from Metroid? WHY are the games the same price as GameCube games? WHY are they trying to alienate their fans? We didn't do anything to them! Hell, we kept the company alive when we stuck with the N64! We DO NOT deserve such shoddy treatment! We want a NEW Mario game! We want a NEW Zelda game! And we DO NOT want them to look EXACTLY LIKE the SNES versions! We DO NOT want a handheld SNES! We want a proper 3D handheld revolution. And seeing as Nintendo know it's cheaper just to recycle old games there is NO WAY the GBA is going to bring that. As soon as I can I want a Game Park 32. It even has more than four buttons! Revolutionary concept there, Nintendo... the screen is even visible. Sorry Nintendo, you just lost yourself a customer.