I’ve been playing Mole Mania, Pax Softnica’s last GB game until Hamtaro. It’s kind of exhausting! Not because it’s mentally demanding, but like other Sokobans, it takes a lot of moves to finish some puzzles. I’ll do it all anyways because I want to help this mole family. When the mole children jump into their dad’s arms at the end of a stage, I feel that all my work has been worth something.
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I love how GBC and NGPC games look. The little dioramas and sprites express so much.
The comparison between vibrant FG/desaturated BG and text on paper is really enlightening.
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What a glorious thing to see at the end of each world.
I take back what I said earlier. I don’t think I need to help the children anymore. I don’t need to be treated like this at all.
This is why I do the work now. I need to help this mole.
ethicsingaming.jpg
I take back what I said earlier. I don’t think I need to help the children anymore. I don’t need to be treated like this at all.
This is why I do the work now. I need to help this mole.
ethicsingaming.jpg
I actually finished Mole Mania. I wasn’t expecting it but I guess all sorts of things can happen during summer vacation. The low point of the game are the bonus stages. I got the impression that completing all of these would get me something nice but I was wrong. The high point is the old man mole and all of the boss stages. The bosses are really great. Sorry I didn’t take pictures. Sorry you can’t experience them for yourself without playing the whole game. They included one of my favorite tropes of having a big muscly man with a little muscly man helping him out. There’s also a snowman who breaks into smaller pieces the more I hit him. Classic stuff.
I think if Pax Softnica were to make another game with cute rodents, maybe with more color, more talking, and fewer puzzles, they’d really have something. Gosh I really hope that exists.
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Do you get yelled at by an old horse when you fail?
Nice switcharoo there - something throwing wrenches at the moles instead!
Someone that can handle 90s computer jank play this and report back. I saw a dragon in the sky (skie?) and could not navigate to it and then step on a farmer’s turnips.
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Hyper Black Bass 95 had cool 3D but could not even begin to snag a fish.
Super Black Bass Pocket has a precocious child. I kept tangling my line and he would call me an amateur. And the kid was right.
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I played three separate fighting games and they were all pretty great. It was a nice window into what was possible before the NGP revolutionized everything forever and set the paradigm we now live within.
Out of the three Toshinden was the coolest to mess around in. It wasn’t too hard and it has all of these secrets you learn about every time you beat the game. My toolkit is huge for something with so few buttons. There are desperation moves, sidesteps, hidden supers and I can knock my opponent out of bounds. It’s a novel experience that is more than just an arcade fighting game on the GAME BOY.
King of Fighters is also really good but it’s too fast! My thumbs can’t move like that while holding the screen in place!
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I played several snk ports on this the other day and it was thoroughly demoralising.
I inevitably whiffed my opening attack and then got trapped in a corner until k.o’d.
Hmph!
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That’s why Toshinden is good. You can just spam fireballs and kick for a ring out. It really let’s you embrace dirtbag strategies.
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i’ve long been an advocate for gb toshinden. it’s actually weird how good a game it is, considering its host hardware and series heritage
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I know! That’s actually another layer of its appeal for me. Because I don’t care for the main series, this portable version feels special and new.
Guess I’ll have to find the time for JP Pokemon in July as it is…July.
It’s only JP July
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1997 Japanese Game Boy Releases
Noting:
Game boy Gallery 2
Doraemon Study Boy Series
Pocket Love
Mahaa Go Go Go
Kawa no nuritsuri 3 (River King I think)
Mini 4 Boy II Final Evolution (???)
Kuramu Cho no Daijiken
Super Black Bass Pocket 2
Ganbare Goemon Kuro Fune something (some adaption of the first n64 game?)
Castlevania Legends (98 for the west)
Next year gets GBC but as for 97 pretty slim pickings. Good month to go back and try stuff you missed.
Still trying to work my way through Dreamland 2, Donkey Kong Land 2, and Wario Land.
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I’m personally interested in these:
- Legend of River King
- Harvest Moon
- Medarot
- Kirby’s Star Stacker
- Chalvo 55
- King of Fighters Heat of Battle
- Game Boy Wars Turbo
- Money Idol Exchanger
- Tamagotchi
- Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
- Castlevania Legends
If I knew Japanese, I’d probably spend some time in Mini-Yonku. It was made by Jupiter! And it appears to be an RPG about slot car racing.
I’ll probably also waste a good chunk of time playing Game & Watch Gallery.
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Only 18 releases for north america.
| Disney’s Hercules | THQ | 1997-07July 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Disney Interactive | 1997-03March 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[241]
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| Donkey Kong Land III | Nintendo | 1997-10October 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[242]
|
| Dr. Franken II | Jaleco | 1997-10October 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[243]
|
| FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 | THQ | 1997-12December 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[244]
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| Game & Watch Gallery | Nintendo | 1997-05May 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[245]
|
| Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball | Nintendo | 1997-10October 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[246]
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| Kirby’s Star Stacker | Nintendo | 1997-04April 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[247]
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| Mole Mania | Nintendo | 1997-02February 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[248]
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| Mortal Kombat I & II | Acclaim | 1997-11November 1997 |
[249]
|
|
| Superman | Titus Software | 1997-12December 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[250]
|
| Tamagotchi | Bandai | 1997-10October 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[251]
|
| Taz-Mania 2 | THQ | 1997-01January 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[252]
|
| Tetris Plus | Jaleco | 1997-08August 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[253]
|
| The Fidgetts | Jaleco | 1997-10October 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[254]
|
| The King of Fighters '95 | Nintendo | 1997-02February 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[255]
|
| The Lost World: Jurassic Park | THQ | 1997-12December 1997 | 02Kids to Adults |
[256]
|
| Turok: Battle of the Bionosaurs | Acclaim |
Woah, Jaleco made a version of Tetris Plus for the GAME BOY? That’s one of my favorites.
I guess Pokemon hadn’t come out yet so there was no hype to cash in on.