Why Isn't There a More Prominent Game Boy Scene?

[dsheinem]

DS: GB World. I was close friends online with Martin of nesworld.com and ended up working with him originally taking over all the publishing and some development of music for the NES World Jukebox. I was huge on GB then with the N64 floundering and with him set up a companion site GB World which had news, stories, and GB/GBC game reviews and it ran for around 2 years. It wasn't huge, but I had a good steady base of readers and on occasion got a few people who would submit reviews to the site too.

I assume you mean GB Zone? You must have been VmprhntrD, no?

[Tanooki]

Oh man my memory is shot, yeah that, and that was me. It was my old irc efnet handle that was limited to 9 characters and I kept with it through the 90s. It's up there on gamefaqs too with the NES header format guide, a few other game faqs and random stuff.

GB Zone is the name it started under. Martin and I were forced to go our separate ways as I also worked for Dave of Dave's Video Gaming Classics, the 90s largest emulation website online as both those two got into a huge fight (had it not been online it would have been fists.) I kept the page, renamed it to GB World and self hosted it, but all record of it is gone and wouldn't be listed on NES World by that point.

I'm doing a little digging and even under my old irc nick which surprisingly had thousands of hits, I can't find it. I forgot as far back as 1996 I had been doing full manual write ups in basic text for NES and GB games. The longest one I ever did was the 80 page Final Fantasy NES booklet. Back in the day I did naughty ROM hacking(headers) and releases for NES, rough translated a Japanese emulator menu(best at the time), manual write ups, XM music creation, GB World reviews and stuff in that, FAQs and guides, and more I am forgetting.

[ExedExes]

One of my favourite GBA games...oh the hours that have been wasted on it. Without spoiling what they are, in addition to the six games advertised on the box, there are actually a whopping 14 unlockable, bringing the total to 20 games on that cart. A must have for any G&W lover.

Tons of unlockables, I was pleasantly surprised. The modern remakes are really good too.

[samsonlonghair]

Back in the day I did naughty ROM hacking(headers) and releases for NES, rough translated a Japanese emulator menu(best at the time), manual write ups, XM music creation, GB World reviews and stuff in that, FAQs and guides, and more I am forgetting.

Now I know where that "super penis bros" ROM came from.

[Tanooki]

Hey at least it's not Super Mario Fights the Dick Nazis.

[TSTR]

the last two posts are relevant to my interests

[Nintendork666]

So I spent a bit of my tax refund finally and picked up a few gifts for myself.

On the top left is Trip World, which I'm excited to play through once I beat Kid Dracula. To the right are Mother 1 + 2, and Mother 3 repro English carts which I got from an Etsy store. You can't tell from the picture but the carts are translucent and Mother 3 is blue.

Last but not least is a CIB, Japan exclusive, motion controlled puzzle game which I imported called, Koro Koro Happy Puzzle Panechu. Thankfully there's an SP option to prevent me from playing upside-down.

Altogether, I spent just over $200 shipped from three different merchants. Not bad considering how hard a nice copy of Trip World can be to find.

[Exhuminator]

Trip World is great fun, highly unique, with killer production values. But play it as slowly as you possibly can, take time to smell the digital roses and such. Because it's a very expensive, very easy, very short game.

[Tanooki]

Yeah right there is its only failing. Collector tax. It's so short the price isn't justified if it's not just a wall trophy to say you have it. I'd love to own Trip World, but I'm not going all 3 digit wallet damage for it, same with mediocre Shantae which people gush over which I only had for a time because it was a five buck flea market game as the seller didn't know any better like 5 years ago (even then it was nearly a $100 game.)

I've actually got a nice little supply of fun here in a tray I've picked up and just added Bionic Commando Elite Forces (GBC) to it. Damn that game is well made, but also infuriating since it saves too much for its own good (including how little life and lives you have left.) NO game should do that. >:\

Tomorrow the wife takes the kid and goes to Indiana, so I"m going to take on both flea markets and see if I can dumpster dive more GB deals. I know the couple of regular vendors have a supply and they just get dusty, so who knows, as I never looked but in passing as I never cared before.

[Exhuminator]

Bionic Commando Elite Forces (GBC) to it.

I'm a big fan of the franchise, but I found the GBC version to look, feel, and play in a way that felt ramshackle and amateur. It's like Capcom got a bunch of interns to make the game or something.

However, this Bionic Commando game is awesome on Game Boy:

It is basically a futuristic remake of the original NES game.