A series of these classic game compilations has been released for the GBA, apparently to compete with Nintendo’s re-release of their own titles. Where Nintendo only put one game on a cartridge, many of these compilations have two or three titles to choose from. This one contains Paperboy and Rampage.

These two games debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) back in the late 80’s and could also be found in various arcades around the country. Paperboy spawned at least one sequel and has been a fan favorite for some time, though I was never really a big fan of the game. Rampage has spawned many sequels and variations across most of the major console systems over the years, and it is still a great title. It’s the reason why I got this game.

Once you pop in this GBA cart and go through the company logos, you are given a simple menu where you select which game you want to play. There are no extras or options. From within each game you can quit back to the menu and play the other game, so at least you don’t have to power cycle the GBA to play the other title.

Paperboy is a game where you get to play a paperboy in the most dangerous city in America. You ride down the street on your bike and must deliver the papers while dodging cars and other obstacles, plus picking up money and other items along the way. It’s a very fast-paced game that relies on quick reflexes.

This game is presented using an isometric view that was revolutionary at the time of its release, but nowadays makes it hard to play. Part of what makes it so difficult is that the controls are not very responsive and you tend to crash into things before hitting them. You also don’t have much room for error in that your bike will crash and explode very easily. For example, trying to jump a curb will kill you.

The graphics in this one look just like an early NES game. While it has been a long time since I played the original, I can’t imagine it being too different than this. In fact, I’m sure it is the same game. You’d think the low-res graphics would seem tighter on the small GBA screen, but they really aren’t. This game is 8-bit and still looks it.

Rampage has long been a personal favorite of mine, just because the concept is so cool. You can play either King Kong, Godzilla, or a giant Wolfman, and your goal is go from city to city smashing buildings and eating people. The game plays off the famous ending of the King Kong movie where Kong climbed the Empire State Building and swatted at airplanes.

The controls in this game are a tad sluggish, but so were the originals. You just move up and down the sides of buildings and try to grab people out of the windows and eat them. You have to be careful who you eat or you might get hurt, such as when you chomp down on the guy with the flamethrower. After a certain number of hits, the buildings come crashing down.

The gameplay can be very repetitive in this game, but it is still pretty fun. I get bored after several levels, but it is still a nice release to play a game where you can eat or destroy everything in sight. As the levels progress, the size and number of buildings increases.

The graphics look very good on the GBA, and there seems to be an edge smoothing effect used to make the characters seem sharper. This game was released after Paperboy and that is why I think it looks much better.

Paperboy and Rampage are both pretty faithful to the original games, which can be a good or bad thing depending on how much you liked the originals. Rampage looks and plays much better than Paperboy, but then again I am pretty biased towards the former. The bottom line here is that if you liked playing these games from yesteryear, you’ll probably still like them now, but don’t expect to see any improvements in this GBA collection.


Recommended: Yes