Game Boy Player Land (my blog)

[noiseredux]

added a post about GCN Shmups.

[dsheinem]

I mean WOW, they really squeezed every last ounce out of the Game Boy's capabilities that they could.

That was the great thing about that era of gaming. We didn't have some artificial 'cycle' where hardware was replaced every 4-5 years. Programmers got to know every nook and cranny of the gameboy. If you look at the launch titles of the game boy and then look at the last few entries before the color system came out...it's stunning.

LOL this still happens. Look at launch PS2 games vs something like God of War II, launch 360 games vs. their most recent titles, etc. Sorry, I don't buy that programmers used to explore more "nooks and crannies" than now.

Also, I now want an English muffin.

[noiseredux]

@dsh, the PS2 is a lot like the GB in the aspect that it had an abnormally long lifespan. Don't you think?

[dsheinem]

@dsh, the PS2 is a lot like the GB in the aspect that it had an abnormally long lifespan. Don't you think?

Sure, that's another reason I disagree with Flake's statement. I don't see these 4-5 year cycles he refers to.

Xbox - 7 years
Gamecube - 7 years
PS2 - 10+ years
DC - 9+ years
PS1 - 12 years

The Saturn and N64 had 5-6 year spans, but I'd chalk both up to poor sales relative to their competitors. Nothing "artificial" about the need to produce a new console.

FYI, the original GB's lifespan - including the GBC games, was ~13 years. From what I can tell, the last original GB game (gray cart, no GBC features) was released about 9 years into that system's cycle.

[noiseredux]

GB 1989-1999 (Pokemon Yellow is last US cart)
GBC 1997-2002 (Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets)
GBA 2001-2007

[Flake]

I think I made that 5 year cycle comment too literal.

And I agree that with any console (even one that only stayed on the shelves for a couple of years like the Dreamcast) developers improve over time. I'm merely talking about the degree of the improvement. Look at launch NES games and compare them to late life-span games like Kirby's Adventure? Or Mario Land 1 to Wario Land 3 on the gameboy hardware? You didn't see that on the oXbox or the 'Cube. Sure, the programming got better but the differences were never jaw-dropping.

I'm not saying the gameboy is unique in this, just that developers pushed it farther than almost any system released in recent generations (except the PS2. I'll grant you that) and that a lot of that had to do with the span of time it enjoyed.

Edit: Realistically, a lot of it had to do with economics as well.

[lisalover1]

Great post, noise. I really ought to give Chaos Field another chance; I never really adamantly sat down and played through it. Good luck in finding that Fumiko figure; I really wanted an Aita Tadayo figure before I realized they don't make them. I think the reason that I'm not crazy about Sikigami No Shiro is that I was raised on SNES and Dreamcast shooters; so the SHMUPs I like are generally either Bullet-Hell or really simple, and rarely anywhere in-between, where I would say SNS would be.

[fastbilly1]

As much as I liked Shikigami no Shiro on the consoles, PC version is where its at. Give me my full tate and arcade controls! (without the slowdown the console versions gets sometimes)

[noiseredux]

This month the Game Boy Player Land blog will be heavily focusing on the macabre. As a huge horror movie fan, I've always had a soft spot for horror-themed games. And though I've wanted to write about them in spurts all month, I thought it would make for a really fun October if I just saved all the posts up for this 1st annual Spooktacular. All month long I'll be bombarding the blog with posts relating to ghosts, goblins, witches and the like. This month on the Game Boy Player Land blog, everyday is Halloween.

[dsheinem]

This month the Game Boy Player Land blog will be heavily focusing on the macabre. As a huge horror movie fan, I've always had a soft spot for horror-themed games. And though I've wanted to write about them in spurts all month, I thought it would make for a really fun October if I just saved all the posts up for this 1st annual Spooktacular. All month long I'll be bombarding the blog with posts relating to ghosts, goblins, witches and the like. This month on the Game Boy Player Land blog, everyday is Halloween.

Looking forward to it, noise.