Ah SAGA 1 (I think that’s the Japanese name for FFL), You’ll just LOVE Asura!
(I beat it, and Legend 2+3 back in like the 5th grade…)
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I’ve updated the top post to include a list of games released in 1990. There are substantially more releases than there were in 1989, a lot of it is glorious trash but there are some honest to goodness gems as well.
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One of the few original game boy games not compatible with the game boy color in my experience. the bullets were invisible.
what’s the deal with all these cave(wo)man games
oh hell yes, i’ll probably play this and take some screenshot for the thread, i love this game
this also looks intriguing, mostly quoting this as a reminder to myself
give serpent a try
it looks like snake or that old tron 2600 game, but it’s actually pretty unique
I just played Maru’s Mission the other day and it is absolutely worth spending an hour to run through.
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Maru’s Mission
It’s a Jaleco game and so an automatic must play.
I love how each of the characters in the intro have completely different proportions. The long, slender arms on Cori are really something.
This part had me hootin’ and hollerin’. I couldn’t connect Romania with anything when this came up and it seemed like a total non sequitur.
This is the screen you get if I fall down an endless pit. However, the game doesn’t restart as it does when I usually die. It seems like there’s no punishment for seeing hell.
I jump through the stages and shoot my shuriken. I jump surprisingly high. When most of the enemies die, their souls float on screen and I can absorb them to heal myself. Some enemies drop power-ups instead and these are really fun to use. One powerup is a bag of bomb; another is a wall of lightning; my favorite carries me to the end of the level.
While traveling to Romania, sharks attack me and I have to harpoon them multiple times. The harpoons stick out of them at multiple angles. This is bullfighting in the Atlantic.
This world is so beautiful.
Cerberus is incredibly cute here.
The writing is strong.
I waited on this screen for a long time. Eventually, the sun starts to set. Then I walked off screen with Cori. The sun sinks further and the screen gets darker. Even the turtle swims away eventually. I guess I’m the only one who does not want this game to end.
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can’t believe how preciously adorable catrap is! love how all the movement and music is just so upbeat and full of energy. don’t even push blocks, you tackle them just to move them one tile, and its somehow the best rather than obnoxious
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It even has a nice rewind button making it one of the chillest puzzle games on the GAME BOY.
5 year glowup
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Astro Rabby makes a great first impression with its unique perspective. It’s scrolling platformer that I look at from a bird’s eye view. Like in Jumping Flash, I play as a robot rabbit.
I jump around on these pillars to find the exit to the stage. Some pillars add extra time while other just give me points. After the first stage, I get bullets and a gun. I can shoot the flora and fauna of these planets to jump higher and run faster. After every two stages, there’s a bonus stage where I have to jump on matching platforms just by listening to their tones. It’s so close to being good enough.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t really develop its mechanics through level design. Each stage is more or less the same. Sometimes there are more enemies, sometimes more holes, maybe more platforms to test for an exit, but nothing that’s really challenging to think about. There’s an enemy that comes up again and again that looks like a twister. To my horror, I could not jump over it. Touching it, I’m immediately pulled down to death. I…don’t want to die.
I love this little Dortoise Troop head and the respectful decision to write a letter to the person he just robbed.
Find yourself someone who looks at you the way the doctor looks at Astro Rabby.
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Go! Go! Tank is a fun little action puzzle game, the kind of which the GB seems to excel.
You control an airplane with a kind of hook connected to it. Your goal is to pick up blocks and drop them back to earth in order to create a path for your tank on the ground.
Your plane is constantly gaining altitude so you are frequently tapping down on the d-pad to control the ark of descent/ascent to pick up/drop a block. This sounds incredibly boring but it works somehow.
The only power-up I have discovered is actually a nerf because it simply attaches a second plane with a hook to your airplane with a hook meaning that control becomes impossible. I spent a good hour with it this morning and made it to stage 3!
The JP box art is cute in a sort of Robin Williams Toys kind of way:
The US version is Operation Desert Storm:
Go! Go! Tank!
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too lazy to look this up rn, but i’m curious if this has any relation to the unreleased (but preserved) VB game Bound High
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I started Final Fantasy Legend II and it is going great. The team mostly reused the system from the first game and focused on tightening everything up. So far, that has led to a more polished experience which makes things more bearable but also less surprising. Still, it is very charming.
There is a new class that can be chosen, the robot. It’s quirk is that it halves the uses of any equipment added to it, but every weapon added gives it extra power. All the other classes have little tweaks as well. I decided to start the game with one character of each class.
My band of adventurers appear to all come from the same school rather than some guild. When I prepared to leave town, each member of my party had family or friends they could say goodbye to. The teacher joined up with me, and for the first stretch between towns, he stayed on my team and wrecked every group of monsters we encountered. I wonder if the Dragon Quest V team took notes.
In the town we arrived at, there was a cafe where adventurers typically go to ask about the general direction that other towns can be found in. This cafe had a jukebox and the selection here is truly amazing.
It’s been a tightly paced shonen anime so far. I can’t wait to tune into another episode.
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I am loving Heiankyo Alien.
Old is a port of the 1970s Heiankyo Alien.
New is a beautiful remake.
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I fucking love Heiankyo Alien. One of the all time games that is at the root of everything. Spent so many quarters on it in the back of Nacho Villa back in the day.
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I made this gif so everyone could see how great it looks when you get chomped.
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I love this game.
After confronting the early big bad, I learn that my priestess friend has been poisoned Fantastic Voyage-like. That sends me on a trek to the giant’s world and there is a beautiful nugget of a story here. There are no more giant’s to be seen even though their houses remain. It’s because they have all shrunk themselves to human size.
After entering some rather large buildings, I left with a potion that would make me small.
The dungeon map is mostly shaped like a human body. The paths fork off at the arms and again at the fingertips. I encounter enemies like worms and grippe. Ki is not doing well.
I want to make it a bit further before the end of the month, but I don’t think now is the right time for me to go through it all. The encounter rate is pretty high. It’s not that bad because the game let’s me run away more often than not and my party members don’t have limited lives or need to be resurrected like they did in the last game. It’s just that I think this game is meant to be played in stolen moments or during vacation. I really ought to just get the Switch collection because the design demands to be played in one’s hands.
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91 was a good year for the Game Boy.
Some great completely original titles like Trax and Aerostar.
and some strong unique entries in popular series’;
Operation C is a great Contra.
Battletoads is my second favorite Battletoads game after Battlemaniacs.
Metroid II is a great Metroid.
Choplifter II is a fine Choplifter game.
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This wave’s awesome game I’d never heard of before is Tail’Gator.
You go to an area filled with treasure chests and enemies.
When you bust open all the chests you get a key to go to the next area.
Some areas are water allowing you to move freely, while other areas are land based.
The graphics are good which is to be expected for a Natsume game.
It’s cute and fun.
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That gator looks goooooood
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