duff beer

I loved GBC and feel it is underrated, our 2D gaming fix is newly being provided with 32bit SNES style graphics with GBA, and now with 64 bit new handhelds, but we passed by the 16bit color handheld era too quick. I'm still trying to find some good games on GBC and wish more games were remade on GBC and new ones at that.

Some games i feel that should have been ported to GBC:
Dragon Warrior IV, the greatest DW of them all
Metroid 2, in glorious color!

What do you think?

Jeremy517

I think the GBC was released years too late. It seems like technology would have allowed for it sooner. If that had happened, there would probably be a much bigger library.

duff beer

Funny thing is the Game Gear was in the highlight of that era you speak of, which is probably a reason why it was so successful! But then again GBC was too, just the GBA came too quick ...

Gizmo

I agree with Jeremy. GBC came out in what, 97? The original GB came out in 1989 I beleive.

jeffdsmith

I agree that more GBC games would have been beter at the time, but to be fair your look at history is not accurate.

While the GBC did support a slightly faster processor and more ram, all that really did was allow it to handle the color information and display. It was not the "16bit" era of handhelds.

With the GBA has offered similar performance to that of the SNES, it is actually inferior to the SNES in several ways. One major omission is the lack of and true 3d rendering capability. (Mode7 on SNES)

The DS offers similar graphics to that found on better PS games, and is a true 32 bit machine not 64bit. There likely will not a 64 bit core processor handheld for over 10 years.

jaeufraser

Yeah, the gameboy color was more like...well, gameboy with color. The gameboy advance is basically 16bit gaming in a handheld. It's a bit more powerful then the Snes, but it's no 32bit machine.

The DS is basically a vamped up N64 handheld, which is a tad stronger than the 32bit era machines.

So, we never really skipped a generation. I mean, look at the Gameboy Advance games. A LOT of them are just direct ports of the big hits from the 16 bit era.

Matthew Chmiel

1988: Nintendo's Game Boy released to the US.

1991: Sega's Game Gear released to the US.
1996: Nintendo's Game Boy Pocket released to the US. Nintendo stops producing the original Game Boy.
1997: Sega stops production on the Game Gear. The Game Gear is dead.
1998: Nintendo's Game Boy Color released to the US. Nintedo still continues to produce the Game Boy Pocket for a brief period of time there afterwards, before stopping production on it.

2001: Nintendo's Game Boy Advance released to the US. Nintedo still continues to produce the Game Boy Color for a brief period of time there afterwards, before stopping production on it.
2003: Nintendo's Game Boy Advance SP released to the US. Original Advances stop being produced.
2004: Nintendo DS is released to the US. Game Boy Advanced SP still continues to be produced along side with it.

Whereas the Game Boy had ten years to create numerous games for the system, the Game Boy Color lasted for a little bit less than four years. In all honesty, both Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color were late to the game; especially when Game Gear had a full 8-bit color handheld system out the gate in 1991. Of course, Game Gear never took off as Game Boy did due to various reasons (*cough*Sega's shitty marketing skills*cough*), but have it as you well.

Then again, look at the Advance. Nintendo has had it out for less than three years before coming out with the DS. A hand-held system which not only plays DS games, but blows the system's capabilities out of the water and then some only for $50 more. While Nintendo still (somehow) sells SP systems, I don't see the Advance lasting much longer. I'm sure sometime around (early) 2006, Nintendo will declare the Advance dead and focus more onto the DS.

Gallant Pig

The Turbografx handheld was the shizzat. I didn't own it, too expensive. I owned the Lynx though.

Breakfast with Girls

Fixed.

Also, according to Nintendo, the DS is a parallel system, not a replacement.

Joe Molotov

I think the GBC's time had come. Although Nintendo and a few 3rd parties were able to pull off some suprisingly good graphics considering what they had to work with, the Gameboy Color was still basically running the same ancient hardware it started out with in 1989, just with a few minor tweaks and the color. I think it was time for something with a little more power.

duff beer

Nah the GBA should've been released a year later.

Get Me Coffee

Thought this died too fast too




ouch my eyes

jeffdsmith

Ouch is right, how about a picture of convienant size?



apparently the VB is still hot in some circles, exspecially collectors looking for rare ad posters:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...164355048&rd=1

I actually have this game and box (I have most games domestic and import)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...165512571&rd=1
Perhaps its time to sell? I bought my system and all games (~23) for under $100. Not to shabby...

Ralph Wiggum

The GB Color is the only piece of GameBoy hardware that I've never owned, so I'm okay with its demise. There are several GB Color games - Zeldas, MGS - that I would love to see on DS, though.

Matt

And actually, the GBC didn't come out until very late 1998, and the GBA arrived in the middle of 2001, so really there was only about a 2 1/2 year difference between the two.

The GBC was terrific at the time of it's release, but it should have (and probably could have) been released a year or two earlier.

Breakfast with Girls

The screen was also a million times better than the original's.

marioxb

Is that the same as the US game Nester's Funky Bowling? I have all 14 US games and V-Tetris.

drmoze

AMEN to that!! The TurboExpress ruled the handhelds in terms of sheer excellence. Plus it used the same HuCards as the console (TG-16) giving it a big library with tons of top-notch shooters and rpg's. Add in the Japanese games (with a card adapter) and the library is *HUGE*. (Yes, I have a boatload of TG and PC-Engine games, 2 Expresses, tv tuner, and even a still-shrinkwrapped Duo system.) Great stuff.

The :ynx rules too. Only really playable handheld version of Robotron I've found. (Great control system.) Plus tons of other greats. I miss multiplayer Warbirds.

milo bloom

The only thing that bothers me about the DS is it can't play the older GB games. My wife and I really enjoy playing the older games on the SP. We have two SP's right now, and and a GBC gathering dust (there's a local used shop that sells them for $7, that's right seven), and we've got the GB player for the cube. I got a Game Gear back in the day, and did enjoy it, esp when I got the Master Gear convertor. Turns out the GG was basically a portable Sega Master System. There was an adaptor that converted the pins down, and you could play the SMS games on your GG. I also have the TV tuner which is pretty nifty.

Also have a NeoGeo Pocket Color with Sonic. I tried to sell it, but there doesn't seem to be much of a market. Anyone know the best place to pick up a few games for it?

As for the original question, I think if they had made it backlit, it would've survived a lot longer. Didn't they do that in Japan towards the end of it's life cycle?

marioxb

No. They made the black and white GB pocket backlit. (Actually indiglow) and called it Game Boy Light. Only in Japan. I have one of those too.

kvrdave

All handhelds without backlighting should have died a week after they hit the market, imo.

Jeremy517

GBA SP doesn't have backlighting

BeckysBoy

I still have all of my Game Boys, including the GB Light. It was a cool offshoot (but man was that screen smear-tastic...I'm not sure how we used to play back in the day without doing serious damage to our eyes). I only had it for like two months before the GBC came out.

Chris_D

Milo, for the neo geo pocket ebay is probably the best place to go. There were actually a number of games translated and released in the UK which never came out in the US. Also the UK games come in this cool hard plastic case, rather than the cheap and nasty cardboard box.

The lynx was a great system, just not particularly portable. Basically every game I bought for it was awesome, chips challenge, blue lightning, gates of zendacon, gauntlet, electrocop. And of course the brilliant california games, hrs spent on the bmx as well.

Never owned a GB until the SP. After having a lynx I could never lower myself to the crappy B&W graphics .

kvrdave

Okay, those are fine, too.