It's about time, Nintendo! (Nintendo Write Off)
Written: Jul 19 '03 (Updated Sep 19 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Discover over a thousand great Game Boy games all on your TV.
Cons: Loading cartridges is a little annoying.
The Bottom Line: You can finally see them on the big screen, what more to you want?
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| StarSoldier1's Full Review: Game Boy Player for Gamecube |
"Are you a Nintendo maniac?" For my part in the big 'Nintendo Writeoff' I'm doing a review on a little device that Nintendo fans are going to go crazy for.
I've been waiting for this add on for a while but it's finally here! Your Nintendo Game Cube can now play those once portable only Gameboy video games thanks to this handy Game Boy Player add on. Not only can you play almost EVERY Game Boy out there from the older Black and White gray cartridges to the recent 32-bit Advance carts on your GC but now we can finally play all the Game Boy games on your easy to see Television set. Is the 'Player' here the ultimate accessory that will set the gaming world on fire or is this going to be another poorly supported Nintendo gimmick like the GC Modem, Super Scope, and the R. O. B. robot were?
All you need to get started is to screw on the GB Player to the bottom of your Game Cube. I did this with a quarter in my pocket and in a few seconds that was done. Just make sure you disconnect the Game Cube Modem first if you have one on of course........... all three of you! Secondly you must load a special disc that comes with the GB Player before you can start playing but to my surprise you didn't have to go through any annoying interface screens or loading menus, the GB Player was all ready to go at this point. The GB Player wasn't too difficult to set up at all to be honest but it was a little annoying that I had to lift the Game Cube off the floor if I wanted to insert one of those cartridges each time.
Moving on to the games themselves here is what Game Cube owners now have to look forward to. 5 Super Mario games, 3 Gradius shooters, 10 Pokemon titles, 12 Mega Man games, 4 Zelda adventures, and so many more. The Game Boy itself as over 13 years of history and that equals somewhere around 1, 200 titles alone! This ranges from the original Black and White gray carts, the Game Boy Color games, and the latest 32-bit GBA paks. With so many Game Boy games out there where to you begin? Maybe I can help pick out a few here:
Game Boy Advance Recommendations:
CastleVania Circle of the Moon
CastleVania Harmony of Dissonance
CastleVania Aria of Sorrow
All three of the CastleVania games for the Game Boy Advance are excellent action/role playing games and now they look a lot cleaner on the big screen especially the once very hard to see Circle of the Moon.
Mario Kart Super Circuit
For anyone who can't wait for Super Mario Double Dash for the Game Cube then there is this cool GBA exclusive! This Mario Kart game not only has great controls and a good selection of weapons but there are several new racing tracks.
Phantasy Star Collection
There are not too many Role Playing games on the Game Cube at the moment but on the GBA, Sega gives you three of their best on one cart. This includes the first three Phantasy Star games in one impressive set. This maybe my favourite Game Boy game!
Game Boy Color games:
Super Mario Brothers Deluxe
Nintendo gives you the original NES Super Mario Brothers, The Lost Levels (the Japanese Super Mario 2), a challenge mode, and a new Vs. Mode in one package. A fun remake with a ton of bonus material.
Legend of Zelda: Seasons/Ages
These two Zelda adventures are great for people looking for more Zelda based game play after they finished the Wind Waker. Sure the graphics are much weaker but these games are still very challenging.
Tetris DX
I said it before and I'll say it again: "This is the ultimate Tetris!" You can even save your high scores to the cart if you use it on the Player, which is something you could not do on the Game Boy Advance for some odd reason. A excellent test of skill but good luck tracking one down.
Black and White legends:
Mega Man Dr. Wily's Revenge
Although this game is over a decade old now, this game still has some brilliant level design. Bomb Man and Guts Man are missing in this game's line up but the other four are still here and the usual four levels are now altered from their NES counterpart to offer a different experience for Mega Man hardcore fans. Don't expect a cake walk either because this is one of the toughest games of the series. Also look for the other Mega Man GB games out there, some of them are quite rare.
Pokemon (anyone)
Kids love them but these games are great for anyone searching for a interesting and time consuming collecting/role playing adventure. Can you catch them all and can you stand for some mediocre graphics and sound? Pokemon is a great series despite some similar titles.
Ones to AVOID! Original Game Boy duds:
Blaster Master Boy
Like Blaster Master for the NES? "Well, you won't like this!" Another bitter disappointment from this once great series. Plays like a hard to control game of Bomberman and not Blaster Master on NES which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so slow. Not a fun game at all.
Double Dragon 3
Easily one of the worst games for the Game Boy, in fact, I bet there is no bigger piece of crap for the ol' black and white. The enemies rule in this game, but you don't. The first time I played this the street thugss just drop kick you all the time and there is little you can actually do about it, the game never did get any easier nor did it ever get fun to play. An awful game with poor programming.
CastleVania Adventure
Beware! Not all the CastleVania's on Game Boy are so hot. This is a very basic Castlevania game starring Christopher Belmont (Simon Belmont's father). Sadly this adventure game only has four very linear levels and slow overall game play. Could have been way better but it's one of the worst of the popular series unfortunately.
Game Boy Color losers:
Galaga
This GB Color game is not the same 1981 Galaga that ate a lot quarters in the day. This is just a poor man's Galaga with fuzzy new graphics with unimaginative enemy bugs plus since the game has been 'upgraded' there is new slowdown and flickering effects to really annoy all you gamers out there.
Mortal Kombat 4
Some games just don't belong on 8-bit and the Mortal Kombat series is one of them because this game is super slow and very hard to play thanks to some unresponsive controls.
Game Boy Advance shovel ware:
Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones
Don't be fooled by some of the screen shots on this one, this is actually worse then the movie itself. This Episode II 2D action game sports some awful animation and terrible collision detection.
Tetris Worlds
OK, this looks slightly better than Nintendo's Tetris DX but why in the world is there no save option? Is this the 21st century, isn't it?
XXX
Before you get any sick ideas, this game is based on the popular but cheesy hit movie starring Vin Diesel as a secret agent. If you want another typical platformer with boring level structure then buy away, morons.
While you're playing a game, the Player also lets you open up a special menu any time during a game (whether the game is paused or not). Here gamers can do things like alter some of the buttons, change a border size, and pick from 20 different frame designs. There is also this strange feature to set a timer. This may either be for parents worried about their kid's eyes going bad from playing too long or maybe it's there to act as a warning for game's where it is important to beat the clock like in Metroid Fusion. The list of options don't end there because Nintendo even lets you switch GB cartridges without turning off your Game Cube. This is a nice touch because that Game Cube loading screen is annoying to sit through every time you want to play a new game. Let's move on to the price. Surprisingly this GB Player is only $69.99 bucks Canadian. Although that may seem like a lot of money for a mere accessory, remember that's actually cheaper than the real Gameboy Advance and the newer Gameboy Advance SP plus those were portable only units meaning you could never before play the Game Boy Advance games on a TV.
Sadly, we all know just how difficult it can be to see a particular game on the portable screen especially on the older model Game Boy units. Even the 2003 Game Boy Advance SP has its problems even with it's superior back lit screen technology. Why? It can still be a little hard to see the action because the thing is just so small. Now when you play those GB games you are only limited by the size of your TV. It's the ultimate revenge when you can play a certain game on a slick Wide flat screen HDTV or cool Projector, after being forced all those years to finding the perfect light for a tiny screen. Don't forget you also have the option to play your GB games with any Game Cube controller available and this is great news for people with bigger hands. I recommend getting a controller with a half decent Digital pad, the one Nintendo gives you on the standard controller is disappointingly the same size as the Game Boy Advance pad. "That's weak, man!"
Bottomline: This little device is easily one of the best gaming accessories to ever be released in my opinion and this just may change your mind about not getting a Game Cube in the first place. The only serious drawback to this add on is that some gamers may not like playing games from a limited 32-bit or even 8-bit era especially if they are looking for cutting edge games in particular. The GB Player is a great buy for current Game boy owners who wants to re-experience their favourites all over again (believe me, they look way better on TV) plus the Player is also great for new fans a like because there is a massive brand new library of great video games that open up for Game Cube players now. Imagine finally being able to play Role Playing Games like Golden Sun, Final Fantasy Legend, or Dragon Warrior III plus if you're a Metroid Prime freak then why not play the other GB Metroid games? The GB Player is the total package and it's easily a 5 star product all the way!
This review is part of the 3rd annual Nintendo Write Off by Rock_On and TheGeniusX
Participants:
Rock_On (3 year participant) - Wario World - Gamecube
Xeno3998 (3 year participant)
TheGeniusX - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - N64
OneException
Minorthreat78 - Kirby's Avalanche - SNES
Titan45
Awoolcott
Stellarsight
Wandering_Mage - 2002 Nintendo Power Awards - Article
NetNut746
Pavona21 (2 year participant)
ChromeKiller (2 year participant) - Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - Gamecube
Swanton00 - Super Mario 64 - N64
PacManY2J - Mike Tyson's Punch-Out - NES
Jeremy1456 - Gameboy Advance SP
Mike_Bracken - Super Mario Sunshine - Gamecube
T13Monkeys - Metroid Prime - Gamecube
Rice75 - Metroid Prime - Gamecube
Kittyokc - Pokemon Puzzle Challenge - Gameboy Color
32_Footsteps - Earthbound - NES
StarSoldier1- Game Boy Player of course
Kjell1979
Bounty628 - RBI Baseball - NES
JiggyJay - Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - Gamecube
Kenshin-Guy (3 year participant) - Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Advance Wars 2, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Gameboy Advance
Itltfan - 007 Goldeneye - N64
Pixta - Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons - Gameboy Color
Rader6795 - Super Metroid - SNES
BaronSamedi3 - Gameboy Advance
Bowenkge - Super Mario RPG - SNES
Original release: June 23, 2003
-StarSoldier1 2003
(Ryan Genno)
http://www.videogames101.com
http://www.gamingtarget.com
Recommended:
Yes
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StarSoldier1
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Member: Ryan Genno
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