PocketGamer Blog discovered something pretty amazing: two lovely keychain sized remakes of the classic Zelda and Donkey Kong Game & Watch handhelds. Apparently, they are for sale too. Lovely and tiny as can be.
Stranded, another well-polished glu game for mobile phones, starts off quite a bit like Lost and evolves into a rather interesting cross between Lost and Robinson Crusoe. You -the heroic protagonist- and a few survivors are stranded (hoho) on a mysterious island and have to make sure a) you survive b) you find out what's going on c) you get the feck outta there. Oh, and it's not a plane that miserably failed you, but more of a ship.
Besides the very interesting -though rather cliched- plot that spans six chapters (and will last you quite a bit more than your average mobile game) and gets progressively more engrossing, the game does feature quite a few sidequests and tons of animals and plants to discover and take advantage of, which do add to its replay value. Gameplay mostly consists of exploring, talking to characters, fighting (in brilliant arcade sequences) boars and snakes, hunting, making arrows, cooking, planting watermelons and basically completing quests that will advance the story. Oh, and despite being on the more repetitive side of things, it's fun and addictive enough to keep you playing even in those post-midnight hours, while quite a few of the quests are perfect for 5-minute long bus-waiting playing sessions.
People have been asking, you know... They all started when they just couldn't get their freeware Dragon's Lair DS fix. Well, here's the answer: Nintendo DS Homebrew @ MetkuMods. Read it and learn all about the hardware, the tools, the SD cards, the software and anything else you might need in order to run (mostly freeware) homebrew games and emulators -even DS Linux- on your beloved DS.
Being 100% compatible with the original Game Boy, Nintendo's Game Boy Color was also one of the first consoles to actually improve older games simply by sucesfully colouring them in. Don't believe me? Well, better load that Tetris cartridge into your GBC then and see for yourselves. But, even if the colors the GBC chooses aren't to your liking, you can easily choose a different color palette. According to Wikipedia all you have to do is press certain key combos while the GBC is loading (better have them buttons pressed before you turn it on) and a palette of your very own fancy will take care of your old(er) Game Boy games.Related posts: the Game Boy Color feature, Link's Awakening DX map, GBA Sega Smash Pack review
- Up: Brown
- Up + A: Red
- Up + B: Dark Brown
- Down: Pastel Mix
- Down + A: Orange
- Down + B: Yellow
- Left: Blue
- Left + A: Dark Blue
- Left + B: Monochrome (Original Colors)
- Right: Green
- Right + A: Dark Green (Default Palette)
- Right + B: Inverted Monochrome
In addition, most Game Boy games published by Nintendo have a special palette that is enabled when no buttons are pressed. Any game that does not have a special palette will default to the Dark Green (Right + A) palette instead.
Retro gaming is fun, nostalgic, wholesome and good for your lungs. Occasionally free and portable too, as the following 5 quite excellent, definitely freeware and nicely perky emulators for Pocket PC will demonstrate. Just make sure you click the proper links...
Here they are, craply photographed on my Nokia N70...
Related posts: SEGA Game Gear, Game Gear TV, Game Boy Color
I'm pretty sure playing Mario 64 using the PSP's analog stick should be quite irritating, but then again I can't quite imagine how anyone could say no to enjoying Goldeneye, Ocarina of Time, F-Zero X or Super Smash Bros on Sony's shiny portable. Hence the Daedalus open source Nintendo 64 emulator for PSP. Get it for free - get it here.
Jazz Jackrabbit (MobyGames entry), the DOS/PC answer to Sonic, Mario, James Pond and Zool (Zool who? Ha!), has at last and following years of rioting and guerrilla warfare hit the Pocket PC. In freeware form no less. Grab it here and prepare yourself for some classic platforming action.
The VoIP Service Blog is apparently your friend dear Nintendo fanboys (and girls). You see, they just came up with 4 pretty interesting (one of them mentions Metroid Prime: Hunters) ways to utilize the wireless capabilities and the microphone of the DS and turn it into a communications device. A phone of sorts. Read more here.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX is -to this day- one of the most elaborate, smart and deep games available for any handheld console. It also is one of the first games to feature lovely colors on the one and only Game Boy Color. And in the extreme case you'd like to use a nice and fully interactive map to help Link get around this game, better try this link (mind you, a Zelda NES map can be found here).
Qj.net has good news for you Sony PSP users. You are so very close to actually using a keyboard (it'd better be a Palm (One) Universal Wireless Keyboard) in order to create lovely .txt files on your Memory Stick. Yes, indeed! More info on the homebrew application that can make your PSP do such wondrous things and on PSP keyboards in general is available here.
Peter Molyneux's classic Theme Park, the wacky amusement park sim first released back in the mid-90s, made it to the Nintendo DS. Hoorah! Hop over to GoNintendo to see more screenshots of the Japanese version of the game.
Well I'd hoped to show you some actual photos of my newest accquisition. You know what it is... I just blabbed it on the last post... Yes it's a TV adaptor for my Game Gear! I took some lovely photos of it on my camera phone, but when I tried to email it to the site, the network was down or something. (Or at least thats what THE MAN says...)
Anyway, I can make do with some photos ripped off Google Image, to show you this lovely piece of peripheral... The story of how I came across my Game Gear can be found here...
Now the above establishment, whilst stocked with great stuff, not available elsewhere, has never been the cheapest place to boost your console collection. However, Mr. Kahn is getting out of the used console business and is selling off all his stuff at bargain prices. Being a regular and trusted customer, Mr. Kahn very generously sold me 'San Fransisco Rush 2049' for the DC for £2 (a quite rare and most excellent racing game I've been after for ages) and also a boxed up, brand new looking Game Gear TV adaptor for £15. I also got a beautiful lecture from Mr. Kahn on the commonality between Muslims, Jews and Christians. (And that was free!)
Fat racist bigot Jade Goody....
Not so much as a review as an advert... having just got my Nokia N70 phone repaired (I dropped it in a rockpool on holiday DOH!) I decided to celebrate by downloading a new game. Whilst looking through the selection of games on Orange World, this little beauty caught my eye.
So, how would you improve on a handheld console that was able to sell way over a hundred million units worldwide (130+ according to Wikipedia)? What could you possibly add to the monochromatic, ridiculously successful, Lynx and Game Gear crushing Gameboy and make it even better? Well, color (colour even) apparently.
Its specs weren't spectacular compared -say- to Atari's Lynx, but still weren't to shabby either. The GBC, like the GameBoy before it (despite the fewer MHz), was built around an 8MHz version of Zilog's Z80 processor, featured 4-channel stereo sound, run for more than 15 hours on two AA batteries, was slightly smaller than the Game Boy, and most important of all sported a nice 2,8" color screen able to show 56 colors (out of a 32k palette) at an almost impressive 160x144 resolution. On the more gimmicky side of things, the GameBoy Color provided gamers with a crippled and quite underused infrared link. Thankfully the older linking options weren't done away with. Oh, and its controls remained the same, consisting of a directional pad, A and B buttons, Start-Select buttons, a volume control and an on/off switch.
As for this blog... well, as the beautiful Lady of the Mountain provided me (a humble gnome, let me remind you) with a Game Boy Color and as I've already bought quite a few dead-cheap games for it and even rediscovered my forgotten Game Boy, you should expect full GBC coverage and a healthy dose of retro-reviews. Better yet, get one for yourselves too and we could have some group GBC fun (ahem/cough). Shouldn't cost you more than 30$/25 euros; maybe less.
Lucky owners of the Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus scientific calculator will at last be able to enjoy their very own, very scientific version of Pokemon: Pokemon Purple. It's a freeware homebrew little RPG of a game, it's almost entirely coded in TI-BASIC, and it should soon be available here.
Strange World is a pretty interesting and very freeware 2d RPG game, that's allegedly a remake of an older German Amiga/DOS game for the Pocket PC. Must have been Fremde Welt, but it doesn't really matter. Simply click here and get the game.
Who knows what one might need? Who knows what one's PSP might need? Well, I do. I actually think your little Sony PSP might need a nice LCD replacement. Here's how to actually do it, courtesy of the Some Life blog.
HaHaUK has done the retro handheld thing and taken a look back at the evolution of the handheld, which amazingly began back in 1978, when Milton Bradley released the Microvision. The HaHaUK full and quite illustrated post can be found here, and it includes such rare treasures as the (horribly horrible) Supervision, the Sony PocketStation and the Timetop Gameking. But, really, where is the ultra-obscure Gamate?
Whilst sitting blogging for the fledgling retro extravaganza The Saturn Junkyard , I suddenly became aware of a series of tiny high pitched squeals, whoops and laughter. This seemed to be offset by the bleeps, electronic buzzes and crackles that one might expect from a handheld video game console. You can imagine my surprise then, when I walked into my living room, only to encounter several short ethereal beings, all gathered round a PSP playing "Football Manager '07"! On being disturbed by the flash of my camera the little fellows abandoned the console and fled to the darker corners of the room and ensconced themselves under furniture! Try as I might, I could not persuade them to re-emerge...
Somewhat flabbergasted by what I'd seen, I returned to compile a list of my favourite Saturn titles on that most noble of Sega fansites The Saturn Junkyard . About half way into my post, I was sure I could hear strange noises again,( although somewhat more retro by the nature of their tone) this time eminating from my kitchen area... I stole, cautiously up to my kitchen door... I could scarecly believe my eyes when I saw another tiny figure, this time enjoying a game of "Terminator" on the under-rated Retro handheld the Sega Game Gear! The tiny chap seemed to be proudly patriotic, as blow me down, he was festooned in an England football supporters shirt! However, like his PSP playing comrades, on noticing my arrival, he quickly fled, making a Herculean effort to drag the cumbersome console with him, whilst I believe, trying to complete the level he was on!!
I began to question my senses... Surely these were hallucinations brought on by withdrawal form alcohol after years of abuse? Yes they must be I thought to myself...
My senses reeling, I decided to contact a good friend of mine, an expert in all things mystic and other worldly, called Konstantinos, who resides in a Shaman's lodge hidden away in the Atlantean Mountains... He was as matter of fact about the episode as I was bemused...
(The second part of this frankly lame and half arsed joke will be appearing on this very site some time soon, unless Paypal donations are payed into Father Krishna's Swiss Bank Account...)
There are -it seems- tons of excellent freeware applications for your shiny Sony PSP. Apparently you'd also like to know how to actually use them, right? Right. Well, you'll need PSP Memory Stick, a USB cable and to have a look at those two excellent tutorials:
According to the brilliant handheld-oriented blog Qj.net, the Crazy Taxi franchise will soon be dropping by the Sony PSP. This means, that all you SEGA Dreamcast lovers and the rest of you who criminally ignored (despite obvious reasons) SEGA's marvel, will soon be able to enjoy ridiculous downtown taxi racing in the palm of your hand. Great!
In case you didn't fully get it: Call of Duty 2, the acclaimed (86% meta-score at metacritic) World War II shooter, is coming to the Pocket PC. In January. By aspyr. More information is available for manic clickers exclusively.
