PowerPandaMods

@h3s A lot of retro handhelds include an HDMI port. For example, I can put a DS game on my Retroid Pocket 4 Pro, and then connect it to my TV, using the Retroid as the controller.

This is one of the few GBC ports that doesn't appear to suffer from screen crunch. I'm looking forward to this one.

This is amazing news. These games went from being lost media to being re-released in a matter of 2 years. If only Steam Workshop allowed for fan translations.

I would love to see M2 take on Boktai and Lunar Knights. I've long thought that the Switch and Switch 2's light sensor could be a good substitute for Boktai's solar sensor, if the right developer were behind it. Plus, the West never got Boktai 3, which is the best in the series.

The screen itself doesn't rotate, meaning that you can't change it by 90 degrees while the controls are exposed. The screen rotates on an offset pivot point to reveal the controls.

The 1:1 screen will be good for vertical shooters, gameboy, and also Pico-8. That being said, I already have 2 retro handhelds, and do not see the need to keep buying more.

"Classic." You keep on using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

I jest, of course. Thanks for covering things that other sites don't cover.

In the toy and game world, there's a time-honored tradition called "kit-bashing", where you modify a commercially-available product to create prototypes and pitches. You would never actually steal someone else's work, but when you are trying to convince someone that the idea is worth backing, it's understood that you'll have to use a few shortcuts. In my opinion, this is the role of AI within creative industries. Instead of kit-bashing, you're generating something that will look or sound like the final product in order to secure backing, either from a studio/publisher or from crowdfunding. Totally cool. But don't use it in the final product.

There are several musicians who composed in this style for the Toree 3D series, games that sell for literally $1, (when the developer charges at all). Contact them, or reach out to them to figure out if they're part of a community of similar artists. People trying to get their start are often willing to work for a small upfront plus royalties. That is, I'll pay you $200 now, plus X% of profits. That way, they get compensated for their work whether the game sells or not, but have the opportunity to make more if the experiment becomes a hit. You can also do things to sweeten the deal, like allow them to retain rights to publish digital and physical albums. Just make sure to write the contract in a way that re-releasing or porting your game doesn't require their prior written approval.

@frei and @QuentinLM, I was living and working in Tokyo when the iPhone was released. It's hard to characterize i-mode's death to a "failure to adapt". There was practically no time to respond. iPhone took over the market in less than a year, and it felt like i-mode disappeared overnight. I went from seeing ads for i-mode games everywhere I went to struggling to find someone using an i-mode phone in public. I was actually pretty mad about it, because iPhone was missing some key quality of life features of Japanese flip phones.

Amazing! When I lived in Japan 2007-2011, I bought a copy of this, but was never able to make much progress because of the language barrier. I just finished the Pied Piper recreation 2 days ago, so there's no time like the present for this!

This has the same niche as Chrome's T-Rex jumping game.

For me, GBA was important because it allowed developers to return to prioritizing good gameplay over 3D graphics and environments. Early 3D games were a bit rough, but releasing a 2D game on the Gamecube or PS2 was market suicide. By dipping back into the SNES/Genesis roots, there was a viable, marketable way to continue to iterate on those ideas.

As far as deluxe editions go, a plastic model kit is SO much cooler than a massive resin statue.

I am sorry that a fan project lost all motivation. That's never fun. But I agree that the way to handle stuff like this is collaboration. Someone finished up an earlier build? Go back and merge your later work with theirs. I have over 30 romhacks to my name, and I can definitively say that ego is the death of fan projects. Everything I put out, I allow others to make forks and addendums of. It's not like I own the original games!

@shiningpikablu252 honestly that was just a typo. I played a fan-translation of Sabata's Counterattack and it was fantastic. The best of the 3 GBA games!

The Switch and Switch 2 contain a light sensor on the front to help with auto-dimming of the screen. I'd bet there are ways to use that sensor to make a close approximation.

That's a nice reminder to me that Boktai 1-3 and Lunar Knights need their own collection! These were great games.

(Edit: I originally had a typo declaring Boktai 1-2. I have corrected it)

Very cool! The dedication of fans is incredible.

RockmanCosmo does it again! So glad to see these semi-obscure games live on, and be enjoyed by English speakers.

I got my game running on the PC last night, and it worked without issue! I'll say again that this is great. I've JUST started MegaMan Battle Network for the first time, and am about halfway through the first game. Imagine my surprise when the gameplay was way better than MMBN1!

Thanks again to StraDaMa!

@slider1983 Turrican 3 for the Amiga is listed in the article, but it comes after Super Turrican, so it is out of place.

I've been wanting to mod mine for a while, just adding simple stuff. It's just such a high barrier of entry.

@MarkyVigoroth the person who did the level editing on Reborn is the one who put out Plus, so he could certainly merge the two. Reborn looks to be adding in cut content, whereas Plus is adding new content. Those are different focuses, so it will probably mean that Plus would come out with an update incorporating Reborn's content.

Just a reminder that gender ambiguity is a trope in Japanese media, and has very little do to with western concepts of gender. Translators have been having difficulty with it since games and anime started being brought to the west. Using "they" in a translation isn't a statement of a political leaning; it's problem-solving.

@Peteykins they're not hard to find, but from what I understand, as a person who is not a Sonic fan, is that these ports contain extra content.

Cool stuff! What does it get the player beyond the emulated version?

This is great! I also played on my Wii through Nintendont, and who doesn't love more F-Zero and Mario Kart?

I would love to see a cup/course list for this!

@GeneJacket Let us not forget XF - Extreme Formula. It's more of an F-Zero GX inspired game, but it's an impressive project.

Well that's an interesting factoid. Thanks for sharing!

Hey, this is incredible! This is the only game from the original run of Ys (I through V) that hasn't gotten a canon remake. I know that this isn't quite the quality of the Napishtim engine, but from what I've heard it beats the SNES version. I'll definitely play this soon!

@Llamageton as a US resident, and especially a Minnesota resident, I can't help but agree. But there are many parts of our country that the federal government hasn't screwed up yet, and the Video Game History Foundation has laid a lot of groundwork for preservation and digital archival that GPS will get to piggyback on and hopefully help advance.

@Ruka The archival of games from before that law has largely been because of the GPS, which is why they were given government funding. They've been trying to walk a very tight rope, and I think this gives them the freedom they need to accomplish their goal.

@Por-E-Gone Oh I'm not trying to defend it. I'm glad the workers are being rehired. If I could go back to "no AI" I would. But saying that AI has no return on investment is also not accurate.

@Exerion76 But I bought my Retroid Pocket 4+ TWO YEARS AGO! I must immediately drop another $250 to buy a new device that can do the exact same thing, slightly better, before the RAM is gone!

While I agree with the sentiment of this article, in that tech giants are plowing forward with little regard to the impact they are causing, it is simply bad journalism to say that there's zero return on investment yet. My company is slowly and carefully rolling out AI tools, and it's actually resulting in quite a bit of cost savings. In 5 years, it's going to change the way business is done, in some good ways and some bad ways. But there IS a reason so many people are on the bandwagon.

@rosscjr I was looking in the wrong place. I was checking romhack websites, but it was released for free to his personal website.
https://www.marcrobledo.com/game-boy/ninja-gaiden-shadow-dx/

He clarified in the comments of a Youtube video that his patrons do NOT get early access. The beta testing process is not handled through patreon.

@Serpenterror everyone has their one game that they'd like. There are a few that I think really need colorization. Kid Icarus is one of them. Operation C (Contra) is another. I have been waiting a couple of years for "The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls DX", but the creator of that keeps getting hired to do official colorizations. It's truly a good time to be a GB fan.

I don't think the main problem with Knuckles Chaotix is the banding system. I actually think that added a unique gameplay mode. The main problem is the character selection with 2 dud characters, and the random level selection.

That being said, it's always fun to see levels in a new light, and this will be appreciated by many.

@PopetheRev28 People who "only play the originals" have such a limited understanding of how projects are managed and products are released. I don't know of a single author, musician, artist, or game designer who thinks that the version that was released is the best possible version. It was simply the version that existed on the release date.

I personally LOVE hacks like this, and have been waiting for a MM1 hack that brings it more in line with the rest of the series for a long time.

@Fighting_Game_Loser It's more that Capcom took the approach of "Let's throw 100 games against the wall and see if any of them stick." So there are simply more Capcom games to FIND.

I think there's plenty of room left for Megaman. It's an extremely flexible franchise, moreso than even Zelda. Roguelike or Mario Maker style? 30XX and Mega Maker have proven those work. 2p simultaneous puzzle like Portal 2 Multiplayer? Could be great. Multiplayer co-op real-time open-world city defense game (how's that for a word salad)? Megaman could make it work. Traditional JRPG based on the storyline of Megaman 1-3? Fans would jump at it. I've long thought of the Megaman franchise as never fully reaching its potential.

@JJtheTexan Yuji Hori probably played it in Japanese.

Even still, that scene is a great example of the perfection. Such a beautiful scene, full of character depth.

Now the second fight against Seymour and the fight against Yunalesca... those could use a little more work.

Such a hidden gem of a series. Sabata's Counterattack is an excellent game too. The best of the GBA ones.

This interview was such a treat. All of the retro collections we have these days... so much of that is owed to ZSKnight making emulation possible on crappy computers. This brought emulation to the next level, and spawned the fan translation community, keeping a console's game library alive and relevant long after the next console generation had been launched.

Knowing Kojima's flair, he'd have probably pushed for players needing a neural implant in order to play.

I have fond memories of the first one. I didn't know that BAT4 existed until today, but it seems a REALLY odd exclusion, particularly since it is also a PS1 game. Even if it's not a great game, a series that has 4 games shouldn't have only 3 in the collection (Looking at you, Mario 3D All-Stars).

As someone who creates US box art for games that were only released in Japan, I have been hands-on with this design aesthetic, and how strong it is. By the time you get to SNES/GB/GBA, you can slap almost anything on the box and it will look more or less official. But the other touches... what's allowed to break the frame... where the icons for things like Super FX go... it's such a strong design language that it just flows out of you.

Also, that Key Art was so good I thought was official!

As basic as these minigames seem to be, it's cool to get them in English.

it looks like the Captain N version of Mega Man. Also, Rush is a bulldog?

Red Viper on the 3DS feels like the perfect way to play the games, and I can't imagine any other way to play these, including original hardware, even coming close to the experience. My only hope for the Nintendo Switch Online version is that we'll finally get the games that were finished, but never printed.