Nintendo Switch Online: Game Boy / Game Boy Color

[Dcubed]

We doing MG vids? Yeah, we’re doing MG vids.

Here’s a nice Chip Shot Montage for you…

 

 

Also…

Why does Luigi look so buff in this game!?

[Dcubed]

Oh and here’s another one I just got! (And it’s the shot that clocked Tiny to boot!)

Also I’m posting this shot I took earlier on in the game ‘cause funnies…

 

[Julius]

Super Mario Land, Alleyway, and Baseball are all making their way to the service as part of celebrations for the console's 35th anniversary. 

Quote

Celebrate 35 Years of Game Boy With Super Mario Land and More Games, Now Available on Nintendo Switch Online!

To properly celebrate 35 years of the Game Boy™ system, we have to take it back to year one! Game Boy launched in 1989, and with it arrived classic titles such as Baseball, Alleyway and the first Super Mario game available on the system, Super Mario Land™. Today, Nintendo Switch Online members can play all three of these original launch titles as the latest additions to the Game Boy Nintendo Switch Online library. All just in time for the system's 35th anniversary!

 

Edited May 15 by Julius

[Jonnas]

Quote

Alleyway

It is the year 1990, and the war on drugs from the late 80s draws to a close. Opioids have finally been eradicated from Reagan's utopian America, but what to do when you feel the itch? Mario had fought valiantly in this war, apprehending every mushroom he could find, and yet he had become hopelessly addicted himself. "To do God's work, you must become closer to the Devil", he thought to himself, every time he popped another shroom in his ironic fight to end them. Soon enough, he was doing hard drugs like Cannabis ("Fire Flowers", as they were known back then) and Marijuana ("Tanooki leaves", a name given to them by his Yakuza providers).

Obviously, nobody knew. Mario was too big to fail. What would the kids say? What would Luigi say? Mario looked cheery when baking pizzas for his fans, yet he knew this act was cheaper than a clown's smile. If he didn't kick the habit soon, all he had fought for would come crashing down. And yet he couldn't seek treatment, not with those paparazzi following his every move.

One day he found it: the Alleyway. Used to be just a dirty alley behind his house, but a recent demolition nearby had filled the area with bricks that needed cleaning. As if he didn't have enough problems. Furious, he threw a "pinchona" - one of those tiny bouncy balls that had gotten so popular as of late - at pile of bricks in front of him, pulverizing one of the bricks. Pleased with himself, he continued to do so.

As he kept trying to hit the last brick, he felt... catharsis. For the first time since what felt like forever, he didn't need to feel the sweet embrace of a Fire Flower. He had smashed so many bricks before, but this time, things felt different. He might be crushing rocks, but in his mind, he was crushing through Koopas and Goombas like a hot knife through Mozzarella, all of his visceral desires being quelled at the same time. He knew then that, if there was any salvation, it would be in this Alleyway

Mario came back, time and time again, to destroy every brick he could find. He even started to destroy bricks in nearby buildings, and yet all that was on his mind was "Nice Play!". He couldn't even hear anything besides the sound of his "pinchona", music was non-existent when he was in the zone. It was just him and bricks.

After 24 days of this routine, a paparazzo finally found him. Mario felt like his time had finally come, that his legacy would come crashing down... And yet, his brother Luigi saved his bacon, by claiming responsibility for the damages and covering up his brother's screw-ups. The paparazzo's story turned far tamer than the ugly reality of the situation, and Mario's reputation survived unscathed.

Luigi knew of his brother's issues, and always had been supportive. After all, he was the one cleaning up the bricks, shooing the paparazzi, and even picking up his brother when Mario was Missing. At this point, Mario understood that no man was an island, and that if he was to stand up on his feet, he would need to accept help from his loved ones. No more kicking the habit in dirty silent Alleyways, from now on, he'd quell his addiction with Tennis. To be Continued...

...

Anyway, that's the plot I came up with when playing this game, and I still have no idea why the heck Mario's riding a capsule.

Source

Apparently, Mario actually went on to play Baseball before Tennis. My bad.

[Helmsly]

I had never played Super Mario Land until today, so it is a first for me. I've only played a few levels and it seems incredibly easy but at the time i remember how impressive it was to see a Super Mario Bros game running on a handheld device. Whats funny to me is that I am familiar with the music from the first levels because it was released as a pop song in the early 1990s, so i keep thinking of this while I am playing:

 

[darksnowman]

Just now, Helmsly said:

I had never played Super Mario Land until today, so it is a first for me. I've only played a few levels and it seems incredibly easy but at the time i remember how impressive it was to see a Super Mario Bros game running on a handheld device. Whats funny to me is that I am familiar with the music from the first levels because it was released as a pop song in the early 1990s, so i keep thinking of this while I am playing.

I like that song too. The Super Ball (with music) is in Mario Maker 2. I'm surprised this is a blind spot for you, though it's cool to have some fresh perspective on it! There's a hard mode if you play it again after completing it—but it won't be much harder with all these years of platforming under your belt.

Mario Land and Tetris were the Gameboy combo to start off with. I played ML at home, in the back of the car and on the go repeatedly back on Gameboy and tons more on 3DS. 

[Glen-i]

Mario Land is still the weirdest Mario game. As Brawl In The Family demonstrated so well.

[darksnowman]

20 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Mario Land is still the weirdest Mario game. As Brawl In The Family demonstrated so well.

Mario Land 3 is a pretty weird Mario game.

Hope that link doesn't spoil the end credits music for Helmsley before he gets to bask in it in-game.

[drahkon]

Super Mario Land is the second third best Mario game.

Awesome OST, too.

 

BAP-BAP-BADAP...DU-DU...

Edit: Should've read the earlier posts

Edited May 16 by drahkon

[Dcubed]

Personally, I think that Wario Ware 2 (Twisted): Wario Land 6: Mario Land 8 is the weirdest Mario Land game, but Mario Land 1 is pretty weird too I suppose.

Edited May 16 by Dcubed

[darksnowman]

19 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Personally, I think that Wario Ware 2 (Twisted): Wario Land 6: Mario Land 8 is the weirdest Mario Land game, but Mario Land 1 is pretty weird too I suppose.

I left the door open for World 2 but to each their own.

[EEVILMURRAY]

During a fine night of power cuts I blasted through Mario Land, because I knew it was short, and never died thanks to the rewind feature

 

Next on the list was the Pokémon TCG GBC game. I had heard the main way was to make a Haymaker or Rain Dance deck, and they loved talking about Alakazam and Chansey damage fap about, but I never got an Alakazam, and never got another Blastoise save the one I started with, there was little "new" cards being pulled from the boosters, and mainly getting the same stuff. I pretty much plowed through it all with said Blastoise deck but mostly with a nice Dugtrio deck I made, I didn't need to make anything else. A little disappointing, but I put that down to my decades of Pokémon TCG experience, even though the rules have changed a lil since then. 

[Helmsly]

5 Mega man games were just added to the Gameboy NSO:

Quite interesting that we got some more Capcom games, i hope there will be more in upcoming months

Edited June 7 by Helmsly

[Glen-i]

9 minutes ago, Helmsly said:

Quite interesting that we got some more Capcom games, i hope there will be more in upcoming months

These days, with third party games from the big publishers, I imagine they look at it, decide that no-one would buy a collection with them, and decide to just make a quick buck putting it on NSO.

It's why Square allowed something like the first 2 Breath of Fire games, but you'll never see the likes of Final Fantasy there.

[Helmsly]

11 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

These days, with third party games from the big publishers, I imagine they look at it, decide that no-one would buy a collection with them, and decide to just make a quick buck putting it on NSO.

It's why Square allowed something like the first 2 Breath of Fire games, but you'll never see the likes of Final Fantasy there.

I always found it a little odd that Capcom released Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition for MegaDrive on NSO but not any SNES Street Fighter games.

I hope this will change in future though.

Edited June 7 by Helmsly

[Glen-i]

29 minutes ago, Helmsly said:

I always found it a little odd that Capcom released Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition for MegaDrive on NSO but not any SNES Street Fighter games.

I hope this will change in future though.

I hope, but I do not expect.
Big hitters like SNES Street Fighter II have the clout to get money without having to give Nintendo access to the game. I imagine Nintendo have a stipulation that games stay on the NSO app indefinitely, which while great for the consumer, probably doesn't help matters for negotiations.

Still, silver lining is that Capcom doesn't think Demon's Crest is worth trying to sell, and that game's great, so there's some quality there at least.

Edited June 7 by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

Another thing that factors into these games coming to NSO instead of being a seperate collection is that the GB MM games aren't really that great... would be a tough sell as a standalone collection, when they could much more easily just make some free money by letting Nintendo do the legwork for them.

They've also previously been re-released via the 3DS' VC service before, so there's already some prescedent there.

[WackerJr]

I haven’t looked into the Mega Man GB games before.  Are they close approximations of the NES games (with reduced screen space) or are they standalone games?

[Dcubed]

11 hours ago, WackerJr said:

I haven’t looked into the Mega Man GB games before.  Are they close approximations of the NES games (with reduced screen space) or are they standalone games?

They’re sort of remix games that take bosses/weapons/items/themes from their NES counterparts, but have unique levels of their own.  They weren’t made by Capcom, but they’re neat curios that offer an alternative take on the NES series; essentially they’re official fan games.

Don’t go in expecting anything approaching the quality of Capcom’s own NES titles, but they’re worth taking a look at at least.

[WackerJr]

22 hours ago, Dcubed said:

They’re sort of remix games that take bosses/weapons/items/themes from their NES counterparts, but have unique levels of their own.  They weren’t made by Capcom, but they’re neat curios that offer an alternative take on the NES series; essentially they’re official fan games.

Don’t go in expecting anything approaching the quality of Capcom’s own NES titles, but they’re worth taking a look at at least.

Cool, thanks @Dcubed, that’s great & really helpful to know. 👍🏻

[Jonnas]

So, after some lengthy holidays in Milan, I check back to see what's happening in the world of videogames, and...

On 07/06/2024 at 3:11 AM, Helmsly said:

5 Mega man games were just added to the Gameboy NSO:

Fuck. YES. I've wanted a collection of those 5 games since forever!

In the meantime, I had already purchased (and replayed) MMV on the 3DS, but hey, not gonna complain.

On 07/06/2024 at 3:23 AM, Glen-i said:

It's why Square allowed something like the first 2 Breath of Fire games,

They didn't. It's not a Square franchise. BoF is Capcom. Unless there's some weird publishing shenanigans going on...

On 07/06/2024 at 1:27 PM, Dcubed said:

the GB MM games aren't really that great

On 07/06/2024 at 10:56 PM, WackerJr said:

I haven’t looked into the Mega Man GB games before.  Are they close approximations of the NES games (with reduced screen space) or are they standalone games?

Allow me to give you a more accurate answer: The first 4 titles have their own identity, though they take heavy inspiration (and reused assets) from the NES games. In that sense, it's fair to call them remixes. However, Mega Man V is 100% a standalone game, entirely original experience (and fun fact, the only classic MM title to not have Wily as the final boss).

@Dcubed claimed they aren't as good as the NES titles. I disagree. These games build upon the originals in interesting aspects, and in several points, surpass them. There's also plenty of original content in these GB titles.

More details about each one:

• Mega Man: Dr.Wily's Revenge - My first ever MM game, and first GB game I ever owned, so I'm biased. It is sadly quite short (only 6 levels total), but it's well polished. All of the levels are entirely new (Cut Man's stage actually has good design now, and conveyor belts, and new cut-themed enemies). The music from MM1 (NES) is much improved in both quality and arrangement, and the original tunes are bangers as well. I also really like the original enemies and bosses featured in this title.
• Mega Man II - Unlike the other four, this one was made by an entirely different team. This is the one I know about the least. Every time I tried to play it, I quit halfway through (I plan to rectify that soon). The music is entirely original, but it is awful (as in, poorly mixed, excessively high-pitched). From what little I remember, the levels were basically truncated versions of the NES titles, with nothing new in the way of assets, or even remixed concepts.
• Mega Man III - I did finish this one, but it's the only one I never replayed. It's a lot more polished than the previous title. The levels generally feel like their NES counterparts, but the specific designs are new. I'd say this is the most forgettable one (and the one that most feels like a fangame), even though it's quite solid. It doesn't help that it's in direct comparison to both MM3 (NES) and MM4 (NES). I ought to replay it.
• Mega Man IV - Considerable improvement! The levels are similar to the previous title (in the sense that they are similar-but-different to their NES counterparts), but there's plenty of original content this time around (including collectibles), and even new ways to use old weapons (Ring Man's weapon can now collect items like a boomerang, Charge Man's weapon can now break blocks and open secret passages, etc.). It's a definite improvement over everything that MM5 (NES) was trying to do. And the biggest feature yet: the shop! This is the first Mega Man game to feature a currency, and the option to purchase items from Dr.Light with it. If you thought Mega Man 7 (SNES) was the first game to have that feature, well, it wasn't, it was this one.
• Mega Man V - Like I said, entirely new game, entirely new levels, bosses, music, and weapons. It also features a shop, a new helper character (the robot cat Tango), and a new mechanic where a charged shot turns into a rocket punch (can be upgraded in the shop). Very much worth playing.

So yeah, give them a try! They're good even if you weren't familiar with NES Mega Man, and they're interesting even if you were!

[Hero-of-Time]

4 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

So, after some lengthy holidays in Milan...

Did you see @drahkon on your travels?

[Jonnas]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Did you see @drahkon on your travels?

I did glimpse a few German tourists here and there, but none of them were playing Balatro, so... no?

[Julius]

4 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

I did glimpse a few German tourists here and there

German?

No no no, I'm not sure quite where you got that idea from, but @drahkon is a little robot with a tiny blue cape, have you not seen his profile pic? No wonder you didn't spot him! 

 

(hope you had a nice time in Milan )

[Glen-i]

3 hours ago, Jonnas said:

They didn't. It's not a Square franchise. BoF is Capcom. Unless there's some weird publishing shenanigans going on...

Yup, I misremembered. To be fair though...

Must have mixed up the ordering, it was Square, but then Capcom from 2 onwards.

I'll take any excuse to post that hilariously awful box art, though! That's "American Kirby" to the extreme!