Nintendo Handheld Gaming Thread (Game Boy to DS)

[ExedExes]

As a pinball fan, there's so much out there in the portable world, and most of it is pretty good. Revenge of the Gator is a great first gen GB grab.

[Tanooki]

No doubt on both points. Gator when I got back into snapping up GB games for fun a few years back was one of my firsts I did as it's pure awesomeness in its simplicity. HAL really knew their stuff like that or being goofy with the adventure pinball Kirby's Pinball Land.

I love digital pinball and I have since the earlier/mid 90s. I recall in high school someone warezed the old Pinball Fantasies and Pinball Dreams DOS packages which were direct Amiga ports using MOD samples. Despite being on a PC speaker at school we ran that stuff on their hardware and it was wicked out of that usually annoying beepy mess.

I still in fact own those games on the EU only re-release for GBA called Pinball Challenge Deluxe which is hard to come by. Also from that area is Pinball Advance which are some of those Spidersoft DOS/Windows pinball tables remade on there in fine form. GBA also has a really nice Pokemon Pinball and Pinball of the Dead package I have and a poorer Sonic Pinball which I dumped. I still want Hardcore Pinball as it's excellent but rare to pop up on ebay. Other than that GBA wise pinball with that Pac Man and Mario Land titles both suck as does Pinball Tycoon. I hear the Muppet one is pretty solid but never tried it.

GBC was a bit weirder, not much. The first Pokemon Pinball which is fantastic, as is 3D Ultra Pinball Thrillride. There is a really well made but kiddie looknig Little Mermaid 1 and 2 Pinball I picked up for my kid as she loves that movie. GBC didn't have much else I don't believe, it was thinner pickings but not garbage at least.

GB though was a blind crap shoot of greatness and awfulness. Kirby, Gator, good stuff. But the conversions of Pinball Dreams and Fantasies are so bad the developer should have been forced to apologize and return peoples money.

Not sure if I'm missing any from the Gameboy family. I do recall that the DS didn't get much either but there is the Metroid adventure pinball title, and also a conversion of the PC game Dream Pinball 3D which has solid tables. 3DS got less, as things went digital to cut corners but at least Pinball Arcade showed up with 6 original tables on a card.

[BoneSnapDeez]

As far as the Dragon Slayer series goes, I was only familiar with Legacy of The Wizard, but this game looks really tedious, but I understand because it was a originally a NEC PC game. He made a good point comparing it to Tower of Druaga! I guess you've played this game before?

Dragon Slayer and The Tower of Druaga are aesthetically similar but play differently. Dragon Slayer is a crusty old ARPG, while The Tower of Druaga is a dungeon-crawling arcade game that's plagued by tedious and nonsensical "puzzles."

Honestly, the first three Dragon Slayer games were pretty groundbreaking in their day, but would be tough to recommend to someone who isn't already heavily invested in old ARPGs. If you like stuff like Hydlide they may be worth checking out. Otherwise Legacy of the Wizard is a fine place to start.

[casterofdreams]

I visited a retro game shop in Manhattan and noticed that they carry third party faceplates for the Game Boy Micro. I dont know who makes them or how good they are but knowing about the faceplate scarcity in the past, this is pretty cool.

[Tanooki]

Are they the ones in the generic looking white boxes with blank print? They're crap. Most people at least who have any level of pickiness or taste tend to have rated them on many sites like 1 or 2 out of 5 stars. They scratch very easily, usually don't quite fit as perfectly as the Nintendo model (so dust gets in even easier to the screen inside), and they're more brittle so I guess they can crack or lose a clip that holds it inside off easier.

You're better off blowing $20 on a less desirable flower print one or something used on ebay with some light scuffing than those pieces of garbage.

It has surprised me why no one has bothered for years to make them despite the price the things sell for they attach to, and yet when someone does, they're awful.

[casterofdreams]

It's these guys: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0136JPI ... ref=plSrch

The reviews are echoing as much. Poor quality. It took this long to get a product like this out and it's crap.

Edit 2/3: So I was interested in collecting four Yugioh games for the GBA for awhile. The games were Worldwide Edition, and the Championship 2004 to 2006 games. After my last acquisition I can say that I've got them all. I enjoyed the hunt. I noticed that the DS championship games are going up in price. Thats 2007 to 2011. The last one commands close to $50 cart only. I had no idea that was the case.

[retrosportsgamer]

As a pinball fan, there's so much out there in the portable world, and most of it is pretty good. Revenge of the Gator is a great first gen GB grab.

I had been meaning to check this game for some time, and after playing it a bit oday, couldn't agree more. Really good stuff.

[ExedExes]

Yeah, it's one of the best portable pinball titles of all time. It's also highly original and not a port or adaptation. Good stuff's across all of the Nintendo portable generations.

[Tanooki]

Conversion or original the Gameboy line into the DS has had a good track record of mostly solid pinball games. There have been a few trash titles going into the GBA and GBC though, but then again also surprises too. You'd think a PC conversion of Ultra PInball Thrillride would blow but it's actually probably more fun on the go than stuck on the PC even if it is less eyecandy friendly. GBA got one of those dos/windows spidersoft pinball (pinball mania) packages only in the UK called Pinball Advance and also the Amiga/DOS/SNES/GB/etc Pinball Dreams & Pinball Fantasies set of 8 total tables thrown into Pinball Challenge Deluxe.

If you're into those adventure style stuff you got Kirby which was unique, Pokemon Pinball, LIttle Mermaid (despite disney license is solid), Muppets Pinball on GBA (again license hides good), House of the Dead Pinball, and on DS also that Metroid Prime Pinball too. DS also got that odd PC release of Dream 3D Pinball and it still lends fairly well on there.

[casterofdreams]

I have lots of good memories from playing Kirby Pinball.

Pokemon pinball on the GBA is good fun. It's only got two tables (I think) but the tables change and catching Pokemon keeps things interesting with a collecting element.

Metroid Prime Pinball was awesome! As a fan of the Prime games on the Cube I liked the different take on the original classic. I wish more games used the rumble pak that came with it.