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Joe Chill
Mar 21, 2013

"What's this dance called?"

"'Radioactive Flesh.' It's the latest - and the last!"
Back of the box is here:

http://www.jonritman.f2s.com/games/max/bcover.jpg

Btw, missions 3-2 and 3-3 are tough...

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Doom Goon
Sep 18, 2008


I've been meaning to do this post since I looked all this junk up after beating it. Something on the Wikipedia page caught my eye so I found the article it referenced. Weirdly there's a bunch on Archive.org although this issue wasn't one of them.

Joe Chill posted:

Thanks for for the explanation! I'm going to try low next time because I keep accidentally pressing the diagonals.
Funny enough the article mentions the control scheme: "When researching this feature, we discovered a 20-part complete walkthrough of Monster Max... and asked Jon if he'd seen it. 'Well, I had to do something like that myself, to submit the game to Nintendo,' he says, adding that was a 'a nightmare' because the kit used was actually a converted NES. 'The D-pad is different and it's far easier to accidentally change direction. This is why the game offers two control options, purely so I could make that bloody video, even though the alternative controls were entirely pointless on the Game Boy.'"

Oh, but why did I find the article in the first place? Because, just think, in an alternate universe: "Intriguingly, Jon reveals Monster Max could have found its way to market in a very different form: 'I had the opportunity - and I would have taken it, had I known Titus was going to hang on to the game for a year - to change the graphics, drop the Monster Max character, use one of the Mario stable, and have Nintendo publish it.' Jon says he doesn't know for sure what changes to the other graphics Nintendo would have demanded, but he imagines it would probably have been a lot, and that was what put him off at the time: 'You get to that stage where you think, "we've finished it now," and any major changes would just feel like starting again. I know Shigeru Miyamoto played the game, and that there are aspects of things that he didn't like. I suspect whatever changes he would have wanted would have required rejigging all of the puzzles."

Angry_Ed
Mar 30, 2010




Grimey Drawer
Wario Land came out the same year so just for a thought experiment imagine Wario having an isometric looting adventure. Even makes sense with the whole money/bounty system.

bear named tators
Dec 16, 2006

.:.::HONKIN A POTATO::.:.
What are all of your .~*EsSeNtIaL*~. OG Game Boy games? I've currently got:

- Donkey Kong '94
- Link's Awakening
- Pokemon Blue
- Tetris
- Wario Land II

These are all pretty obvious choices, but I think they're also a pretty well-rounded collection of games that share essentially appealing Gameboy-ness:

1. Designed with portability in mind. These are all great subway games that you can enjoy and/or meaningfully advance in 10-20 min increments. In Donkey Kong you can practice 4-5 stages at a time until you've figured them all out and blaze through in one go. And there's something kinda magical about saving Zelda at any time by pressing all of the buttons.

2. Not crippled by the hardware. These all play as smoothly as any top-tier console game without sacrificing aesthetics while many GB games feel super choppy. The enemy designs in Nemesis are detailed and awesome, but in motion it looks like a slideshow of another game.

3. The best (or among the best) in their series. Super Mario Land 2 is pretty cool, but I'm not sure I'd particularly play it over SMB3, SMW, etc. Same goes for Metroid II, the Contras, the Castlevanias, the TMNTs...

I've got space for two more carts in my carrier pouch. What am I missing?

Turbinosamente
May 29, 2013

Lights on, Lights off

bear named tators posted:

What are all of your .~*EsSeNtIaL*~. OG Game Boy games? I've currently got:

I've got space for two more carts in my carrier pouch. What am I missing?

I've always liked Heiankyo Alien and Elevator Action, they're generally my go to games. For some reason I find the shotgun in Elevator Action one of the most satisfying video game guns and it is the version of the game that finally got me to like it. I never played the arcade original and I recall disliking the NES port for some reason. Trax is another one people swear by but I haven't played much of it. It's a short tank shooter made by Hal Laboratory. Oh, there is Battle Bull as well for combat arena/Pengo game play with tanks, I enjoyed what I played of that as well. I should probably stop here before I poo poo up the thread with game recommendations.

I'm still a failure at this thread btw, haven't gotten around to grabbing a ROM of Monster Max. It looks and sounds so much like Solstice judging from videos and posts here and that is a game I dislike greatly except for its awesome title screen music.

Angry_Ed
Mar 30, 2010




Grimey Drawer

Turbinosamente posted:

I've always liked Heiankyo Alien and Elevator Action, they're generally my go to games. For some reason I find the shotgun in Elevator Action one of the most satisfying video game guns and it is the version of the game that finally got me to like it. I never played the arcade original and I recall disliking the NES port for some reason.

I'll second Elevator Action for the Game Boy. The NES version feels slow and clunky, the Game Boy version by contrast is smooth and the shotgun is amazing as stated before. As soon as I'd get one I'd basically never try to swap it for another weapon. It's head and shoulders above every other weapon in that game.

For those who want a bit of sports in their life, the game boy version of Blades of Steel is a great port of the NES version and also has the option to play the Penalty Shot and Fight minigames at any time.

And for those who want an improbably good fighting game, King of Fighters '95. It's fast, fluid, plays well, has a decently-sized roster (with hidden characters!), and because they weren't trying to do a 1:1 graphics port it doesn't suffer the pitfalls that many other fighting games for the OG Game Boy suffered.

Also I'd say R-Type II is a pretty good shooter (either the regular GB version or the R-Type DX re-release that also contained the GB originals of R-Type I and II), but that might be bias on my part because it's literally the only shmup I've ever beaten without having to resort to freeplay cheats.

Angry_Ed fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Jun 27, 2019

Joe Chill
Mar 21, 2013

"What's this dance called?"

"'Radioactive Flesh.' It's the latest - and the last!"
I liked Cave Noire. It's a roguelike made by Konami. It was only released in Japan but it's very english friendly. There is a translation patch available if you are using a flashcart or emulation though.

Turbinosamente
May 29, 2013

Lights on, Lights off

Angry_Ed posted:

And for those who want an improbably good fighting game, King of Fighters '95. It's fast, fluid, plays well, has a decently-sized roster (with hidden characters!), and because they weren't trying to do a 1:1 graphics port it doesn't suffer the pitfalls that many other fighting games for the OG Game Boy suffered.

I recall Battle Arena Toshinden on Game Boy being better than it had any right to as well, for fighting games on the system.

Doom Goon
Sep 18, 2008


Funny enough since I last posted about it SameBoy added high level emulation of the Super Game Boy (all versions w/ SGB 2 running at the correct fixed speed). You won't get any sort of border selection (it'll run SGB-enhanced ones though) or ability to change the palette but it does have game colorization. Also, apparently BGB is also supposed to have some sort of support as well but it apparently has a bug unless it's a SGB-enhanced ROM.

Mode 7
Jul 28, 2007

Sorry I've been out of touch, thread, real life intrudes. I've played through Monster Max here and there where I can but I'm sadly going to fall short of Level 2 or Level 3 this month. Congratulations to Doom Goon however for their spectacular completion of all levels of what at times can be an obtuse and unforgiving game!

It's been interesting reading various people's reactions to the game - a lot of the things that people criticize as unfair or unpolished seem fitting to me for a game designed by the team behind Head over Heels and with a lineage of various British isometric ZX Spectrum adventure games. I assume that sort of gameplay was never as popular in the US (where microcomputers were a distant second to consoles as I understand it) whereas the UK had a much stronger focus on microcomputer gaming. Australia from what I remember was a very mixed grab-bag of both because we'd take whatever we could get our hands on, but a lot of it was before my time or when I was quite young so I only have hazy memories of what the times were like - feel free to correct me if I've made any incorrect assumptions.

For my part, I'll readily admit that a heavy coating of nostalgia means that I'm always likely to continue to love Monster Max and think fondly of it, even with its occasionally bullshit random enemy movement and level requirements.

On a different note some minor housekeeping: If you check the second post you'll see I've now linked to a Google Sheets document with everyone who participated this month and the level they attained.
If I've missed you off or you should be a higher level by all means please let me know!

For those of you turned off by Monster Max, rest assured that we have a very different game starting in just under 24 hours that may tickle your fancy a little more...



Thanks to everyone who has participated or stopped by the thread to talk about the Game Boy, it's been great to see.

RodShaft
Jul 31, 2003
Like an evil horny Santa Claus.


I played a little more of Monster Max on vacation. But not enough to improve my opinion. Looking forward to next month. I've played a bunch of DK. But I'm pretty sure I never finished it.

Angry_Ed
Mar 30, 2010




Grimey Drawer

Mode 7 posted:

It's been interesting reading various people's reactions to the game - a lot of the things that people criticize as unfair or unpolished seem fitting to me for a game designed by the team behind Head over Heels and with a lineage of various British isometric ZX Spectrum adventure games. I assume that sort of gameplay was never as popular in the US (where microcomputers were a distant second to consoles as I understand it) whereas the UK had a much stronger focus on microcomputer gaming. Australia from what I remember was a very mixed grab-bag of both because we'd take whatever we could get our hands on, but a lot of it was before my time or when I was quite young so I only have hazy memories of what the times were like - feel free to correct me if I've made any incorrect assumptions.

I mean a game can be hard without feeling unfair, but Rare loves to straddle that line with a lot of their games, this included. I'd say it's not one of Rare's most egregious examples at least. I liked it, I just didn't have the time to continue playing it and get past that pixel-perfect jump gap.

Mode 7 posted:

For those of you turned off by Monster Max, rest assured that we have a very different game starting in just under 24 hours that may tickle your fancy a little more...



Thanks to everyone who has participated or stopped by the thread to talk about the Game Boy, it's been great to see.

Oh nice I literally just bought a cartridge of this the other day!

Mode 7
Jul 28, 2007

July's game is Donkey Kong (a.k.a Donkey Kong '94). A much less obscure title than Monster Max, this game is - in my opinion at least - the second greatest puzzle platform game on the Nintendo Game Boy (the first is Wario Land 2).
I've put the information up now as I likely won't have time to edit the posts/graphics in the morning - we'll kick off at midnight GMT sharp.

I've managed to mod my Game Boy Color with a Bennvenn Freckle Shack backlit screen, so I'm hoping to play this one on (near-)original hardware, I just need to track down a copy of the cart.

For those of you who don't have a physical copy and don't want to engage in :filez: I believe it was also released on the 3DS eShop, so that might be another way to get involved!

The Postman
May 12, 2007

... I'm ashamed to say I've never actually played Donkey Kong '94. Monster Max beat me down very quickly so I'm hoping to keep some momentum with this one throughout the month!

Sway Grunt
May 15, 2004

Tenochtitlan, looking east.
I've already kicked off cause I got some time. Despite this being considered a stone-cold classic I didn't actually play it back in the day. So far (up to 2-7) it's fun, and Mario's got a surprisingly elaborate moveset. It does strike me as a little funny that, had this been released today, I would not have given it the slightest time of day. We've had such a glut of puzzle-platformers over the past ten years that I feel completely done with the genre. But this is ~retro gaming~, so somehow it's acceptable.

Illuminado
Mar 26, 2008

The Path Ahead is Dark
My cousin had it, and I got to play it over one summer, had a lot of fun with it, but never beat it.

Looking forward to hopefully finishing this one.

Looper
Mar 1, 2012
I'm glad I'm not the only one who hasn't played much of gb donkey kong :shobon: i didn't have it as a kid and only checked it out on the 3ds after hearing people gush about it. i liked it! but for whatever reason only played about an hour. looking forward to fixing that

Pablo Nergigante
Apr 16, 2002

Donkey Kong 94 is awesome

Illuminado
Mar 26, 2008

The Path Ahead is Dark

Doom Goon posted:

Funny enough since I last posted about it SameBoy added high level emulation of the Super Game Boy (all versions w/ SGB 2 running at the correct fixed speed). You won't get any sort of border selection (it'll run SGB-enhanced ones though) or ability to change the palette but it does have game colorization. Also, apparently BGB is also supposed to have some sort of support as well but it apparently has a bug unless it's a SGB-enhanced ROM.



Donkey Kong also was purpose built for the Super Gameboy with tons of little extras such as this border:

Angry_Ed
Mar 30, 2010




Grimey Drawer

Illuminado posted:

Donkey Kong also was purpose built for the Super Gameboy with tons of little extras such as this border:



The Super Game Boy started (continued?) Nintendo's long tradition of cool and functional tech that nobody really took advantage of for various reasons.

bear named tators
Dec 16, 2006

.:.::HONKIN A POTATO::.:.

Pablo Nergigante posted:

Donkey Kong 94 is awesome

:yeah:

This game rules. I'm on World 6 right now and it's one of the best things I've ever played.

Thanks Mode 7 for setting up this club. Monster Max wasn't a game I was ever gonna try on my own, but even though it's not something I'm gonna go back to, it had some really interesting ideas and atmosphere in it. Looking forward to getting a better badge this month, though!

Moop Moop
Aug 26, 2006

I really tried to get further in Monster Max. I did.

I'm glad this thread got me to play an obscure PAL only Gameboy release (maybe not that obscure after all?). I enjoyed it and the soundtrack is really well done. Parts of it were a bit too frustrating for me to power through and maybe I'm just bad at video games but I honestly got stuck on a few levels. I ended up pooping out somewhere on the fourth floor so not even that close to the end. Maybe one day I will return.

Now Donkey Kong 94 is a game I played when it came out. I believe it was bundled with my super game boy. I may have actually played more game boy games on my SNES than actual SNES games. Donkey Kong definitely holds up pretty well still, I remember playing through it a couple years ago. I'll definitely give it a shot again.

Pro-tip - Mario can do hand stands and back flips in this game. My mind was blown the first time I figured that out (I doubt that I read the manual).

Playing original Gameboy games on my freckleshack Gameboy color kinda rules.

Illuminado
Mar 26, 2008

The Path Ahead is Dark
Speaking of... Manual can be found here:

Donkey Kong Manual (1994)

Here's the highlights:



Mode 7
Jul 28, 2007

I’ve put a link to a copy of the manual (yours looks better quality though so I might replace it) and also a cool article by Christine Love about the capabilities and underutilisation of the Super Game Boy in the OP under the current game section!

The Postman
May 12, 2007

These backflips are sick! I'm working through stage 2 right now. Unless things get really difficult later on I'm hoping to get that level 3 badge this month.

Zushio
May 8, 2008
Well, I've beaten Dk'94 like a dozen time but I guess I've got a few hours to kill.

Doom Goon
Sep 18, 2008


Oh yeah! Loved Donkey Kong '94, somehow I got it in a trade (or a borrow gone wrong really) and played it countless of times on my Super Game Boy. I even have a good idea where that copy might be stored right now in fact!

Just some random VG history, I remember being excited when Mario vs. Donkey Kong was released for the GBA but unfortunately it was pretty bad (apparently originally it was an enhanced version of DK '94 with GameCube/GBA link capabilities called Donkey Kong Plus). And then they turned its sequels into a Krusty Funhouse/Lemmings-like game featuring wind-up toys. Yeck. It was done by an American subsidiary of Nintendo who imo had a long series of duds and gimmicks.

Angry_Ed
Mar 30, 2010




Grimey Drawer

Illuminado posted:

My cousin had it, and I got to play it over one summer, had a lot of fun with it, but never beat it.

Looking forward to hopefully finishing this one.

My cousin also had it and I never got past the first 4 levels (because for some reason the mechanics of Donkey Kong escaped me at the age of 10). So learning about what it turned into afterwards was very much an eye-opener.

UnkleBoB
Jul 24, 2000

Beginner's Version, Copyright,
1991 - Please Copy and Distribute
Oh good, DK94 is a game I picked up recently and haven't played yet. I didn't own a Gameboy back in the day, so I'm going to have fun playing through it. Hope to get started tomorrow.

Mode 7
Jul 28, 2007

I’m trying to track down a physical copy at the moment as this is definitely something I’d like to play on the original hardware curled up on my couch. Nostalgia central.

Sway Grunt
May 15, 2004

Tenochtitlan, looking east.
Airplane was trash. 6-6 can gently caress off.

Other than that this game is very good.

flavor.flv
Apr 18, 2008

I got a letter from the government the other day
opened it, read it
it said they was bitches




Doom Goon posted:

Oh yeah! Loved Donkey Kong '94, somehow I got it in a trade (or a borrow gone wrong really) and played it countless of times on my Super Game Boy. I even have a good idea where that copy might be stored right now in fact!

Just some random VG history, I remember being excited when Mario vs. Donkey Kong was released for the GBA but unfortunately it was pretty bad (apparently originally it was an enhanced version of DK '94 with GameCube/GBA link capabilities called Donkey Kong Plus). And then they turned its sequels into a Krusty Funhouse/Lemmings-like game featuring wind-up toys. Yeck. It was done by an American subsidiary of Nintendo who imo had a long series of duds and gimmicks.

Really? That's my favourite game on the GBA. What didn't you like about it?

Joe Chill
Mar 21, 2013

"What's this dance called?"

"'Radioactive Flesh.' It's the latest - and the last!"
Donkey Kong is really fun. I wonder how many people passed up on it thinking it was a standard arcade port.

RodShaft
Jul 31, 2003
Like an evil horny Santa Claus.


Joe Chill posted:

Donkey Kong is really fun. I wonder how many people passed up on it thinking it was a standard arcade port.

Me. Except, I had multiple copies and just never played past the first couple levels.

Zushio
May 8, 2008
I also enjoyed the first Mario vs. DK. It basically is the exact same as DK94, but the Minis add another layer to the puzzles. I will agree that after the first one they got Mini obsessed and started turning out lovely Lemmings clones.

HMC
May 18, 2009

I've beaten this game a few times before. Let's do it agaiiiiiiiiin



Made it up to World 4 last night. I'm reluctant to call this my favorite Game Boy game, but it IS the perfect kind of game for the platform. I like how versatile Mario's moveset is for such small, compact levels. I also never really appreciated before the little touch of consistently using the little sound effect for successfully jumping over a barrel, even after the initial arcade-style levels.

Zushio posted:

I also enjoyed the first Mario vs. DK. It basically is the exact same as DK94, but the Minis add another layer to the puzzles. I will agree that after the first one they got Mini obsessed and started turning out lovely Lemmings clones.
I've played this game a little and I still can't quite put my finger on why DK94 works for me but this game just doesn't, even though they're very mechanically VERY similar.

bear named tators
Dec 16, 2006

.:.::HONKIN A POTATO::.:.

HMC posted:

I've played this game a little and I still can't quite put my finger on why DK94 works for me but this game just doesn't, even though they're very mechanically VERY similar.

MvDK's not nearly as good. I bounced off of it hard years ago, but giving it another shot now that I've played DK 94... it's really floaty and gummy feeling; The only thing control-wise I see that's an improvement over 94 is that you can grab onto ladders by jumping onto them. And the presentation just isn't as perfect; the between-level cinematics where they show you new moves aren't as good because they aren't framed (at least in the beginning) as confrontations between Mario and DK, just as "Tutorials". Rescuing Mini-Marios is a weird premise to begin with and alternating that in with finding keys to open doors isn't as straightforward as the door > door > door> door > Pauline progression in 94. It's not a terrible game, but it's overall just as mushy as its pre-rendered graphics.

PaletteSwappedNinja
Jun 3, 2008

One Nation, Under God.
Everything about Mario vs DK feels cheap - the graphics, the music, the UI, it reeks of the java flip phone game era to me.

The later Mini-heavy games are slightly more interesting, I guess, and they did manage to change the mechanics from game to game which probably isn't obvious just from looking at them, but the sound design in particular never improved, everything sounds placeholder.

flavor.flv
Apr 18, 2008

I got a letter from the government the other day
opened it, read it
it said they was bitches




Mario vs DK is good because it follows the canon Donkey Kong from the Simpsons episode where Bart shoplifts.



"It's the company's fault for making you want it so much!"

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Sway Grunt
May 15, 2004

Tenochtitlan, looking east.
All right, so here's my end screen with a little bit of this thread around the border for extra proof. :)



I thought it was very good and you can tell why it's a classic. Thinking a little bit with modern design sensibilities in mind the only things I would change are quicker restarts and maybe remove the life penalty when the timer runs out, as that seems a little outdated but the game constantly rains lives on you so in practice it's not a big deal. It should be a comfortable three points this month for anyone who goes all the way, as save states really aren't necessary for this one I think.

My favorite level was the ship, and of Mario's many moves I most liked him climbing quicker when he's holding two ropes. It wasn't used much in puzzles but I appreciated it being there.

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