The "Nintendo Games" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Mr. Whatsthenameiku, President of Nintendo from 2005, looks back at the life of the Game Boy Advance, at the launch of it's successor, the Nintendo GameSphere Mini : (Translated from Japanese Text)
"We are proud to end the life of the Game Boy Advance, with a special treat for all of our players, Super Mario Advance 23. This amazing game, including both "Mario's Time Machine", and the Classic Mario Brothers, is the latest in the popular Super Mario Advance series. The Classic Mario Brothers contains a four-player multiplayer mode, which is actually compatible with Super Mario Advance 22, Super Mario Advance 21, Super Mario Advance 21 Gold Edition, Super Mario Advance 20, Super Mario goes to Paris : Super Mario Advance 19, Super Mario Waters the Flowers : Super Mario Advance 18, as well as the earlier classic Super Mario Advance GBA games."
"We consider the GBA one of our most successful consoles of all time. It's 123,454 classic games range from Nintendo Classics such as Mario Kart, to amazing new Zelda Games, and successful third party titles, such as Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater"
You may have noticed something rather odd about all of the games mentioned here. Every single one of them has appeared on another console (perhaps apart from the Watering Flowers, Going to Paris, etc....). Some are direct ports, which is fair enough, as long as that is clear, the game is worth porting, and people want to play it. What annoys me, however, is the quantity of third-party, mediocre games, which have made no effort to do anything new or innovative.
I've looked in a few Nintendo magazines recently, and the number of recent games is enormous. That would be fine, if many were original or interesting. Instead, we have Attack of the Clones and Scooby Do - very poor film tie-ins. Stuart Little 2, Muppet Pinball Mayhem, The Ripping Friends, Spirit, Dragonball Z, ET. The list goes on... none of these games have got above about 50% in most reviews, and I'm sure that that's an accurate reflection of most of them.
The many piles of poor games is one of the main reasons that I don't own a PS2, and isn't something that has happened to a Nintendo console in the past. As the only portable console, the GBA has been a simple target for companies looking for extra cash, who would otherwise have stuck to the PS2 (or sometimes, just making books / films). I don't have anything against Sony's console - but even the biggest fans can't deny that there are some very bad games on the format.
At the same time, there are some amazing GBA games around. Golden Sun, Advance Wars and Wario Land 4 have shown that the GBA is capable of some great games. It's being let down by too many piles of poor games. Nintendo isn't helping, either, with the many Super Mario Advance games. Fair enough, Super Mario World is a good game, but most people would have preferred something new or original. I hope that some designers will dare to release something fresh on the GBA - but it stands a good chance of being lost in the many other games around.
Perhaps, the future is brighter than this. Perhaps, Mr. Whatsthenameiku ;-) will be able to tell us about an innovative end to the console's life. I certainly hope so - with a few exceptions, it can't get much worse than this.
"We are proud to end the life of the Game Boy Advance, with a special treat for all of our players, Super Mario Advance 23. This amazing game, including both "Mario's Time Machine", and the Classic Mario Brothers, is the latest in the popular Super Mario Advance series. The Classic Mario Brothers contains a four-player multiplayer mode, which is actually compatible with Super Mario Advance 22, Super Mario Advance 21, Super Mario Advance 21 Gold Edition, Super Mario Advance 20, Super Mario goes to Paris : Super Mario Advance 19, Super Mario Waters the Flowers : Super Mario Advance 18, as well as the earlier classic Super Mario Advance GBA games."
"We consider the GBA one of our most successful consoles of all time. It's 123,454 classic games range from Nintendo Classics such as Mario Kart, to amazing new Zelda Games, and successful third party titles, such as Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater"
You may have noticed something rather odd about all of the games mentioned here. Every single one of them has appeared on another console (perhaps apart from the Watering Flowers, Going to Paris, etc....). Some are direct ports, which is fair enough, as long as that is clear, the game is worth porting, and people want to play it. What annoys me, however, is the quantity of third-party, mediocre games, which have made no effort to do anything new or innovative.
I've looked in a few Nintendo magazines recently, and the number of recent games is enormous. That would be fine, if many were original or interesting. Instead, we have Attack of the Clones and Scooby Do - very poor film tie-ins. Stuart Little 2, Muppet Pinball Mayhem, The Ripping Friends, Spirit, Dragonball Z, ET. The list goes on... none of these games have got above about 50% in most reviews, and I'm sure that that's an accurate reflection of most of them.
The many piles of poor games is one of the main reasons that I don't own a PS2, and isn't something that has happened to a Nintendo console in the past. As the only portable console, the GBA has been a simple target for companies looking for extra cash, who would otherwise have stuck to the PS2 (or sometimes, just making books / films). I don't have anything against Sony's console - but even the biggest fans can't deny that there are some very bad games on the format.
At the same time, there are some amazing GBA games around. Golden Sun, Advance Wars and Wario Land 4 have shown that the GBA is capable of some great games. It's being let down by too many piles of poor games. Nintendo isn't helping, either, with the many Super Mario Advance games. Fair enough, Super Mario World is a good game, but most people would have preferred something new or original. I hope that some designers will dare to release something fresh on the GBA - but it stands a good chance of being lost in the many other games around.
Perhaps, the future is brighter than this. Perhaps, Mr. Whatsthenameiku ;-) will be able to tell us about an innovative end to the console's life. I certainly hope so - with a few exceptions, it can't get much worse than this.
dragonball z is supposedly quite good...
There's only so many Snes games that Nintendo can port until they run out and have to start making new games.
There'll be new Mario and Zelda games in no time.
The new Metroid game is looking VERY good...
There'll be new Mario and Zelda games in no time.
The new Metroid game is looking VERY good...
Mr. Whatsthenameiku, President of Nintendo from 2005, looks back at the life of the Game Boy Advance, at the launch of it's successor, the Nintendo GameSphere Mini : (Translated from Japanese Text)
"We are proud to end the life of the Game Boy Advance, with a special treat for all of our players, Super Mario Advance 23. This amazing game, including both "Mario's Time Machine", and the Classic Mario Brothers, is the latest in the popular Super Mario Advance series. The Classic Mario Brothers contains a four-player multiplayer mode, which is actually compatible with Super Mario Advance 22, Super Mario Advance 21, Super Mario Advance 21 Gold Edition, Super Mario Advance 20, Super Mario goes to Paris : Super Mario Advance 19, Super Mario Waters the Flowers : Super Mario Advance 18, as well as the earlier classic Super Mario Advance GBA games."
"We consider the GBA one of our most successful consoles of all time. It's 123,454 classic games range from Nintendo Classics such as Mario Kart, to amazing new Zelda Games, and successful third party titles, such as Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater"
You may have noticed something rather odd about all of the games mentioned here. Every single one of them has appeared on another console (perhaps apart from the Watering Flowers, Going to Paris, etc....). Some are direct ports, which is fair enough, as long as that is clear, the game is worth porting, and people want to play it. What annoys me, however, is the quantity of third-party, mediocre games, which have made no effort to do anything new or innovative.
I've looked in a few Nintendo magazines recently, and the number of recent games is enormous. That would be fine, if many were original or interesting. Instead, we have Attack of the Clones and Scooby Do - very poor film tie-ins. Stuart Little 2, Muppet Pinball Mayhem, The Ripping Friends, Spirit, Dragonball Z, ET. The list goes on... none of these games have got above about 50% in most reviews, and I'm sure that that's an accurate reflection of most of them.
The many piles of poor games is one of the main reasons that I don't own a PS2, and isn't something that has happened to a Nintendo console in the past. As the only portable console, the GBA has been a simple target for companies looking for extra cash, who would otherwise have stuck to the PS2 (or sometimes, just making books / films). I don't have anything against Sony's console - but even the biggest fans can't deny that there are some very bad games on the format.
At the same time, there are some amazing GBA games around. Golden Sun, Advance Wars and Wario Land 4 have shown that the GBA is capable of some great games. It's being let down by too many piles of poor games. Nintendo isn't helping, either, with the many Super Mario Advance games. Fair enough, Super Mario World is a good game, but most people would have preferred something new or original. I hope that some designers will dare to release something fresh on the GBA - but it stands a good chance of being lost in the many other games around.
Perhaps, the future is brighter than this. Perhaps, Mr. Whatsthenameiku ;-) will be able to tell us about an innovative end to the console's life. I certainly hope so - with a few exceptions, it can't get much worse than this.
"We are proud to end the life of the Game Boy Advance, with a special treat for all of our players, Super Mario Advance 23. This amazing game, including both "Mario's Time Machine", and the Classic Mario Brothers, is the latest in the popular Super Mario Advance series. The Classic Mario Brothers contains a four-player multiplayer mode, which is actually compatible with Super Mario Advance 22, Super Mario Advance 21, Super Mario Advance 21 Gold Edition, Super Mario Advance 20, Super Mario goes to Paris : Super Mario Advance 19, Super Mario Waters the Flowers : Super Mario Advance 18, as well as the earlier classic Super Mario Advance GBA games."
"We consider the GBA one of our most successful consoles of all time. It's 123,454 classic games range from Nintendo Classics such as Mario Kart, to amazing new Zelda Games, and successful third party titles, such as Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater"
You may have noticed something rather odd about all of the games mentioned here. Every single one of them has appeared on another console (perhaps apart from the Watering Flowers, Going to Paris, etc....). Some are direct ports, which is fair enough, as long as that is clear, the game is worth porting, and people want to play it. What annoys me, however, is the quantity of third-party, mediocre games, which have made no effort to do anything new or innovative.
I've looked in a few Nintendo magazines recently, and the number of recent games is enormous. That would be fine, if many were original or interesting. Instead, we have Attack of the Clones and Scooby Do - very poor film tie-ins. Stuart Little 2, Muppet Pinball Mayhem, The Ripping Friends, Spirit, Dragonball Z, ET. The list goes on... none of these games have got above about 50% in most reviews, and I'm sure that that's an accurate reflection of most of them.
The many piles of poor games is one of the main reasons that I don't own a PS2, and isn't something that has happened to a Nintendo console in the past. As the only portable console, the GBA has been a simple target for companies looking for extra cash, who would otherwise have stuck to the PS2 (or sometimes, just making books / films). I don't have anything against Sony's console - but even the biggest fans can't deny that there are some very bad games on the format.
At the same time, there are some amazing GBA games around. Golden Sun, Advance Wars and Wario Land 4 have shown that the GBA is capable of some great games. It's being let down by too many piles of poor games. Nintendo isn't helping, either, with the many Super Mario Advance games. Fair enough, Super Mario World is a good game, but most people would have preferred something new or original. I hope that some designers will dare to release something fresh on the GBA - but it stands a good chance of being lost in the many other games around.
Perhaps, the future is brighter than this. Perhaps, Mr. Whatsthenameiku ;-) will be able to tell us about an innovative end to the console's life. I certainly hope so - with a few exceptions, it can't get much worse than this.