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Namco Museum (GBA)
by mundy5
Namco museum on the Gameboy advance features 5 classic namco games. These are galaxians, galaga, ms pacman, dig dug and pole position. Galaxians is very similair to the classic space invaders where you move your ship side to side shooting aliens which is also very similair to galaga with only a few very small differences.
Ms ... Pacman is almost identical to the old classic pacman. You move around the maze eating all of the dots and avoiding ghosts. Once you have collected all of the dots you move on to the next level. This is where ms pacman varies from the original game. Instead of the same level repeating ms pacman features 4 different levels. Also the ghosts behaviour has been improved and several other features such as fruit placement has changed.
In Pole Position you control a formula one car. The game starts in a time trial where you race on your own to qualify for the race. The game features one track which is the Fuji Racetrack. After qualifying you race against other drivers and try to win.
And lastly the legendary Dig Dug! The objective of this game is to destroy underground monsters. This is acheived by inflating them until they pop or by dropping rocks on them. Two enemies feature in the game. Pooka's which are round red monsters that dont particullary do much and Fygars which are green dragons that can breathe fire. Dig Dug is killed if he is caught by either Pooka or Fygar, burned by a Fygar's fire, or crushed by a rock. The further down you go the more points are awarded for destroying monsters.
Overall the port is done well though unfortunatley all of the games except pole position were played on verticle displays on there arcade machines. Luckily most of the games feature multiple views such as ms pacman having a scrolling screen option or a shrunk down option. Also on galaxians and galaga they have shoved a bar that displays your score and lives to fill in the extra space.
The graphics obviously remain the same as they were on the 1980's arcade machines so its no suprise that by todays standards there shocking but this is to be expected. The games also retain there classic sound effects.
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Game Boy Advance in General (GBA)
by Siibillam-Law
Back in the early 2000s, this was one of my favourite consoles. I remember having played with classic Gameboys and their colour counterparts but never quite liking them. Even though they were both a huge step forward in the handheld gaming industry I never quite felt that I was really getting into the game much.
But then this ... beaut came out. I didn't get one until a few years after its initial release, but it was still going strong then. And how to describe it? It was the best handheld console I'd tried and I absolutely loved it.
The console featured a 2.9 inch screen, going at a resolution of 240 × 160 pixels. Nothing extraordinary, but the in game graphics of most games were really quite sophisticated for such a small screen, at the time. While the Gameboy Colour had only a very limited capacity for colours, the GBA held so many more. The device fit neatly into both hands, designed more like a classic controller, unlike the phone-like appearance of the other two. On the left you had the directional pad, start and select while on the right you had your A and B buttons. There was also the addition to L and R buttons for added functionality.
The console had (although games are becoming hard to find, even second hand) a huge array of games, with a GBA version for almost every PS2 or Xbox game released and although a lot of the time they were not nearly as good as the console versions (see Lord of the Rings or Dragonball games) they had a sort of quaint charm about them. Sure, looking at it now, it falters in comparison to the PSP or the DS, graphics and sound-wise.
I think, for a while, it was definitely my favourite console. You could bring it anywhere and the huge range of games that came in tiny cartridges (the last one to do so) meant you could take a few with you everywhere you went. It also came with a ridiculous amount of accessories from TV show episodes that came in cartridges, to actual TV tuners.
If there were any problems with it, despite its limited capacity in graphics and sound, it was that the thing didn't come with a backlight. A strange decision on Nintendo's behalf which was fixed in the SP GBAs that were released some time later.
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Doom (GBA)
by illogicology
Continuing my adventures through my shoebox of old Game Boy Advance cartridges, I was quite surprised to see Doom. I'd been a big fan of Doom on the PC back in the day so it wasn't much of a surprise to me that I'd pick it up on the Game Boy Advance but for the life of me I couldn't remember buying it. So, I plugged it into my faithful ... ol' DS and got to work.
I remember a time when Doom was pushing the concept of video gaming on the PC. An early example of the first person shoot genre, coming after id software's prototype Wolfenstein. Doom took Wolfenstein's basic gameplay, tweaked it to create more open, flexible worlds and filled it with terrifying monsters. Doom was an action packed, exciting and sometimes frightening adventure for grown ups. A first for the industry. Now, as strange as it may seem, Doom is seventeen years old. The first person shooter has moved on from tight, perfectly square corridors to truly atmospheric, realistic affairs. Is there any room for Doom in today's market?
Doom follows the adventures of an unnamed marine on the planet Mars. Trapped inside a giant installation that seems to be swarming with demons, imps, possessed soldiers and other bizarre looking creations, you must work your way through the facility while trying to stay alive. A selection of weapons are yours for the taking including all the basic weapons that would go on to define a whole genre of games. By the end of the game you can expect to be carrying a pistol, shotgun, machine gun and rocket launcher as well as a selection of more colourful weapons even more lethal. The game also includes a primitive puzzle element in that most levels require you to collect a series of colour coded keys to open colour coded doors and reach the exit. The whole thing is wrapped up is an incredibly loose storyline that sees you eventually descend into the pits of hell and fight a giant robot brain spider (no kidding, that's really an accurate description.)
Firstly, and quite remarkably, this port is very impressive. Back in the 90s the Super Nintendo received a port of Doom but the results were poor. The system just couldn't handle the level of detail while simulating 3D and thus made several major sacrifices to visuals and size. On the Game Boy Advance, visuals look largely identical to the original PC release. Playing far enough into the game reveals that some of the more complex tricks of the original Doom engine have been eliminated. Largely this consists of certain rooms with crushing ceilings and other such traps. The wider game however is mostly intact and provides an authentic recreation of the original experience.
Unfortunately Doom itself has not aged too well. While the primitive 3D effects are something of a wonder running on the Game Boy Advance, they don't hold up to well in comparison to other 3D titles at the time of release. They look even worse now. A console with the power of the Game Boy Advance is not intended for 3D games and so it is only with reluctance that games like Doom appear on the system at all. However, graphics are not the only feature of a game, nor the most important. At its core, the gameplay of Doom is just too outdated to enjoy these days. The lack of an attempt at a coherent story means the player is always detached from the game which becomes a sequence of tedious monster fights. And speaking of tedious, searching for colour coded keys is painfully boring and really offers nothing in terms of fun. I'm sure it would put off new players immediately.
It isn't all bad, Doom still has some truly innovative level design and a style that has never really been replicated. It's also good fun for the first person shooter fan to look back and see the roots of the genre, it's remarkable really how well defined it was at this point. Of course, old Doom veterans who still enjoy a nostalgia trip on the PC will probably get a kick out of what is a very well put together handheld version.
Doom on the Game Boy Advance can be found at the usual places for retro games, Amazon or eBay. It'll probably set you back around Ł5-Ł10 as the name still carries a bit of weight. If you've never played Doom before then I can really recommend it unless you're desperate for a first person shooter on your Game Boy Advance. As usual this cartridge will run on Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Micro systems. It will also run on the original Nintendo DS and DS Lite but not the DSi or DSiXL which don't included a GBA slot.
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