N E W D I S C O V E R T H E M O S T I C O N I C P O R TA B L E C O N S O L E S E V E R M A D E

132 PAGES OF
POCKET
POWER
Edition
Digital

NINTENDO • SEGA • ATARI • SONY • NEO GEO & MORE!

EDITION
FIRST
 While home consoles and computers were at the
apex of videogaming power, handheld machines
were the innovators. These plucky portable pioneers
empowered us to take our favourite titles on the go;
meanwhile, game developers had to deftly think
outside the box to adapt their projects to the smaller
screens and economically cut-down host hardware.
What ensued is a subculture of videogaming that
is one of the more unique and fondly remembered
areas of the medium’s entire history.
In this special edition, we will celebrate the retro
handhelds of yore, from the Microvision and
Game & Watch to more recent rogues like the
Nintendo DS and PSP. We will spotlight some
off‑the‑radar knickknacks, well-established success
stories and the occasional unfair failure.
Grab a few packs of AAs because you are about to
embark on a vast journey across time into the world
of retro handhelds!
 48

30 T
 HE IMPACT 66 PERFECT TEN
06 OF THE GAME BOY
A true cultural phenomenon, the Game Boy
GAMES: GAME GEAR
Despite the Game Gear failing, it did have
changed how we perceive videogames. We some essential titles worth playing
celebrate over 30 years of the handheld
68 HIDDEN GEMS:
40 TOP 25 GAME BOY GAME GEAR
GAMES We dive headfirst into the Game Gear back
Learning about the console is all well and catalogue to deliver these low-key killer apps
good, but what about the software that made
it sing? We’ve got you covered 72 HARDWARE HEAVEN:
NOMAD
46 HARDWARE HEAVEN: This portable Mega Drive devoured batteries
MEGA DUCK as fast as a Sonic spin dash
This strangely named console looked to cash
in on Nintendo’s success 74 RETROINSPECTION:
GAME.COM
FEATURES 48 RETROINSPECTION: Tiger’s strange console was both ahead of its
ATARI LYNX time but also rigidly stuck in the past
06 CLASH OF THE Perhaps one of the most ambitious consoles
HANDHELDS of its time that didn’t receive the support it 80 GAME BOY COLOR
We raid our archives to spotlight the best and needed, we pay tribute to the plucky Lynx After the Game Boy’s decade or so in the
worst handhelds in videogaming spotlight, Nintendo finally relented and made
52 PERFECT TEN the move to colour graphics on the go
16 ONE VISION: A GAMES: ATARI LYNX
MICROVISION Here are ten of the best games for Atari’s 86 THE STORY OF
RETROSPECTIVE NEO GEO POCKET
Explore the story of the first handheld
superpowered handheld
One of the most undeserved failures in 92
gaming console, complete with its innovative 54 HIDDEN GEMS: gaming, we sing a eulogy for the NGP
swappable faceplate-style games ATARI LYNX
22 RETROINSPECTION:
Still hungry for more Lynx? We delve deep 92 SWAN SONG: A
GAME & WATCH
into its library to deliver these deep cuts WONDERSWAN
RETROSPECTIVE
Nintendo’s electronic handheld range kicked 58 HARDWARE HEAVEN: While the Neo Geo died, the WanderSwan
off a long association with portable gaming R-ZONE fared better… but no one could stop Nintendo
Tiger’s strange electronic VR-like handheld
28 HARDWARE HEAVEN: went through a few iterations 96 GAME BOY ADVANCE
GAME POCKET Burning bright and fast, the final Game Boy
COMPUTER 60 T
 HE STORY OF was a remarkable piece of kit
Epoch’s console preceded Nintendo’s GAME GEAR
Game Boy by five years, but it didn’t manage
to capture the market
Sega hoped to take on the Game Boy, 104 TOP 25 GAME BOY
but colour graphics couldn’t topple the ADVANCE GAMES
monochrome menace There was no shortage of amazing titles for
this much‑loved handheld

112 HARDWARE HEAVEN:

22 N-GAGE
Spying a gap in the market for a gaming- 86
focused phone, Nokia entered the market

114 HISTORY OF THE

NINTENDO DS
Why Nintendo’s DS deserved to top the charts
and win the hearts of seemingly everyone

120 H
 ISTORY OF THE
PLAYSTATION
PORTABLE
We explore the only console to take a real
swipe at Nintendo’s handheld dominance

126 HARDWARE HEAVEN:

GIZMONDO
Why this newcomer console fell on its face

4
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 CONTENTS

96

120

It’s a matter of pride that

no one created anything
better for 12 years
RJ Mical

60

5
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 ua l. S om e are ure
crea tedeq th er s c apt
d h re , o
elds a run for minutes ust technical
Not a ll ha n nly anj
tha t ca n o th more th rc h of the
ou se s e rs w i in s ea
powerh ginations of play aid the archives ver…
the ima . Join us as we r rst) handhelds e
wizardry greatest (and wo

6
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 CLASH OF THE HANDHELDS

Game Boy One of the most famous consoles Despite its shortcomings, the Game Boy became the BATTERY LIFE 
of all time, the Game Boy occupies dominant force in Nineties gaming, enjoying almost a Turns four AAs into about 20 hours of gaming
the same upper echelon as the Sony decade of success thanks to the timely introduction ERGONOMICS
Walkman and Apple iPod when it of Pokémon Red & Blue in 1995, a title which would Hardly a design masterwork, but certainly functional
comes to brand awareness. Released in 1989, the kickstart a global phenomenon and sell over 23 million
SUPPORT
brick-like portable embraced creator Gunpei Yokoi’s units. Prior to that, the console played host to some Loads of great games, from licensed titles to awesome originals
philosophy that cheap tech could be harnessed in amazing pieces of software, including Super Mario
unique ways. Outgunned right from the beginning by Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s TECH
The first truly viable portable gaming system
rivals such as the Lynx and Game Gear, Nintendo’s Awakening, Metroid II: The Return of Samus, and
handheld was primitive but had what mattered most; many more besides. Hardware revisions, such as the IMPACT
The bedrock of Nintendo’s handheld empire
namely amazing stamina and a killer library of games. Game Boy Pocket and Japan-exclusive Game Boy
Powered by four AA batteries, the console was capable Light, helped to prolong the lifespan of the range, while SCREEN
of providing between 15 to 30 hours of play, eclipsing 1998’s Game Boy Color upgrade paved the way for Did the job, but susceptible to ghosting and blurring
its competitors when it came to staying power. even more commercial success.

We speak to the Rare coder behind

Beetlejuice, WWF Superstars and the
Donkey Kong Land about the Game Boy
What made the Game Boy so special?
In today’s smartphone-obsessed world It’s very easy to
underestimate the impact that Nintendo’s Game Boy had
in 1989. Before the Game Boy, handheld gaming systems
were crude, with basic LED lights or finite character frames
prebaked into LCD screens to represent all elements of
gameplay. A console was the whole game, nothing could be
changed, and the form factor for each often reflected that.
Nintendo brought us a portable device which ran for many
hours, could swap game carts small enough to drop in your
pocket, and you could hook them up for multiplayer.

What was it like to develop for?

Relative to normal consoles of the day, pretty much the same.
Apart from swapping from the NES’s 6502 to a Zilog Z80
processor, dropping colours and fiddling around with specs,
the general layout was that of a NES with character banks,
memory bank switching, VRAM access confined to VBlank/
HBlank timings, etc. Even the control layout was familiar.

What’s your favourite Game Boy title?

It’s not possible to answer this without citing Tetris. It became
apparent that a lot of people were buying Game Boys without
having any previous gaming interest. In fact, lots of early
customers probably never bought another game. I’m sure
it was lost on many that they could take Tetris out and put
another game in. The Game Boy was revolutionary, but what
would it have been if Tetris had not existed?

Of the games you developed yourself, which are you

most proud of today?
I’d have to say Donkey Kong Land as it was the most
technically achieved Game Boy title I wrote, though the engine
I created that drove it had been born and iterated on through
four Battletoad games previously. It also sold north of 4 million
copies which is never bad validation!

Do you think Nintendo will resurrect the Game Boy name?

TETRIS Nintendo is a forward-looking company, and one that is very
■ There have been plenty of great pack-in games over the years creative. Its successful franchises recur to show off new
but none even comes close to the replayability of Alexey Pajitnov’s hardware or gaming elements, but they tend to move on with
timeless puzzle game. Even if you owned every Game Boy release, their main hardware. We’re in a world now where everyone
you’d still find yourself putting more time into Tetris than any other has a powerful computer in their pocket, so I think producing a
© Getty

game – anyone can shift blocks around to clear a few lines but once standalone gaming-only device may now be a hard sell.
the speed starts creeping up, it becomes immensely satisfying to
see a perilous block-covered screen cleared in a few smart moves.
Just never make the mistake of saying you’re going to have ‘one
7
quick game of Tetris’… that never ends as you originally planned.
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 Microvision Neo-Geo Pocket Game Boy Color
■ Released in 1979 and predating ■ Launching a console to compete with ■ Whether smart play on Nintendo’s
the Game Boy by a decade, this is the Game Boy may have seemed like part or fortunate coincidence, most of
the grandfather of handheld gaming. a good idea in 1998, when SNK was in the focus testing for Game Boy Color
Naturally, it’s enormous and the display – a position to capitalise on its 2D game had been done by other systems. It
a mere 16x16 grid of black pixels – proved experience with a 16-bit handheld as was clear that players wanted portable
extremely limiting, but the games came the arcade market shifted towards colour games, but not at the expense
with a built-in workaround of sorts. 3D. Unfortunately, the Osaka-based of bulky form or pitiful battery life.
‘Cartridges’ replaced most of the front of the device, changing what manufacturer had timed its decision poorly and the Neo-Geo An affordable system that ticks those boxes can still fail without
the 12 available buttons would do and altering the screen slightly Pocket ended up hitting the market a week after the Game Boy brand recognition, so for its true upgrade to the Game Boy,
via overlays. Not only that, each cartridge even housed its Color. After five months and ten game releases, SNK delivered Nintendo went down the checklist leaving hearty thick ticks along
FIRST own CPU, hence why they were so expensive (£16 or so, the the Neo-Geo Pocket Color to replace it. Despite flopping, the the way. Name and shape were familiar, backward compatibility
HANDHELD equivalent of around £75 today). Build quality was less than Pocket’s good form factor and battery life were both positive meant Game Boy owners could enjoy an instant library, colour
Released: ideal and between problems like screen rot and delicate traits that carried over to the upgraded machine. Additionally, its screen and great battery life: the holy grail for handhelds at the
1979 cartridges, it’s difficult to find one in good working order. small library is compatible with the updated machine. time, achieved. Just another Nintendo success story, then...

BATTERY LIFE  BATTERY LIFE  BATTERY LIFE 

A single 9V battery (two for early versions) could last for ages Two AAs will last you an astounding amount of time Excellent longevity, largely due to not having a backlight

ERGONOMICS ERGONOMICS ERGONOMICS

Chunky and awkward, but it was first on the scene… Slightly boxy, but the clicky stick is great An improvement over the original grey box, for sure

SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORT

Only 12 games were ever released Backwards-compatible colour games aside, dire Loads of existing games, plus cross-compatible and exclusive titles

TECH
TECH
TECH
A portable device with interchangeable games was huge at the time A capable device hampered by black-and-white graphics Not hugely impressive but the logical progression for the brand

IMPACT
IMPACT
IMPACT
A true pioneer in the handheld gaming market Barely any, but it did spawn a successor The days of monochrome were finally over for Nintendo

SCREEN
SCREEN
SCREEN
A tiny monochrome 16x16 pixel LCD display Reasonable, but it’s monochrome and past its time No backlight, but the quality isn’t too bad

PSP Sony had been rumoured to venture into

the handheld market since it first arrived
on the gaming scene. So while the reveal of
the PSP at E3 2004 didn’t come as a surprise,
what did surprise us was how seriously Sony was taking this
debut. Looking more like a high-end multimedia gadget than a
traditional games machine, Sony was attempting to reproduce
the magic that had given it the lead in the console race – by
making handheld gaming ‘cool’, it was looking to attract players
that might have been put off by the design and marketing of
most alternatives that had always been aimed at the younger
end of the demographic.
To this end, the PSP was indeed developed as a multimedia
platform rather than a regular console, its proprietary UMD
disc format serving not only as the primary system of software
delivery but also for TV shows and movies, with over 650
releases globally for the brand-new format. The system could
also run media, such as movies or music, direct from the
memory stick, effectively combining the functionality of devices
like the iPod and high-end phones with the best portable
gaming hardware on the market.
BATTERY LIFE 
All of this could have been an incredible recipe for success for Not terrible, but drained quickly by UMD spin-up and/or high brightness
Sony, only Nintendo had other plans… well, possibly. Whether
ERGONOMICS
by design or by pure fluke, the DS would attract the attention
Looks pretty cool, but the shoulder buttons and analog nub are nasty
of players of all ages, a range of accessible games pulling
in younger and older audiences alike while Sony was laser- SUPPORT
It launched a bespoke media format, Sony must have done something right
targeting the young adult market. Nintendo’s universal approach
worked and its DS was a phenomenon, leaving the PSP – TECH
Few who saw it running early could believe their eyes
despite being the most successful challenger Nintendo had
ever seen – to feel like something of a failure. Which, having IMPACT
shifted over 80 million units, is pretty darn far from the truth. A Arguably the only handheld to ever give Nintendo a good fight
wonderful handheld with a cracking library, even if it still couldn’t SCREEN
quite escape from Nintendo’s shadow. Bright and clear – does the hardware justice

8
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 CLASH OF THE HANDHELDS
Game Gear
■ Sega’s most notable handheld had a BATTERY LIFE  TECH
far better run than many give it credit You’d be lucky to get over three hours out of six AAs... Effectively portable Master System tech – not too shabby

for – with over 10 million sold over ERGONOMICS IMPACT

its seven-year lifespan, it was pretty Chunky and heavy, but not all that uncomfortable Never stepped out of Game Boy’s shadow, but highlighted a demand for colour
successful compared to most of the SUPPORT
SCREEN
other consoles featured here. There Sega backed it well, but standout exclusives are quite rare Pretty good, but also the primary reason for the power thirst
are several possible reasons for it to be
overlooked – the Game Boy was dominant on the scene and the
Lynx had already beaten Sega’s machine to wowing the world by
offering a colourful alternative. The software also counted for a
lot and while looking back there are many important and fondly
remembered titles for Nintendo’s system – primarily in the fields
of stacking blocks (sorry, Columns...) and catching monsters – the
same really can’t be said of the Game Gear’s library. That’s
not to say there weren’t still great games and exclusives,
because there were... they were simply, like the handheld
itself, not quite as mainstream as the competition.
As with other systems on this list, the Game Gear could
be seen to be ahead of its time. In fact, both systems
did well enough to prove that there was a market for
more advanced handhelds, albeit one that would take an
ironic twist. Nintendo followed up its Game Boy with a
well-received colour version once its rivals had pulled the
plug – a cheaper price point, existing brand and library and
generous battery life helping it succeed where its rivals had
fallen a few years earlier.

■ Sega and Sony believed they could extend the

gaming experience beyond the home console, resulting
in the Visual Memory Unit and the PocketStation. These
devices functioned as memory cards, and you could save
minigames onto them from your games. These would
often allow you to make progress while you were
away from your console. Both were very limited
pieces of hardware, and the idea didn’t catch
on as memory cards would become
extinct years later.

GRAND THEFT AUTO: LIBERTY CITY STORIES

■ While Monster Hunter may be the bestselling franchise on
the system, that’s hardly reflective of worldwide sales – Japan
accounts for around 90% of PSP Monster Hunter sales. In any case,
what better example to present for a console boasting that it could
do console-standard games on the move than a console‑standard
game? Sure, it’s not exactly the full-fat mind-blowing, detail-
packed savage satire of modern culture that the main games
deliver but considering the limitations of the hardware, this open-
world crime spree is absolutely outstanding. With a few more titles
of this scope, scale and stature throughout the PSP’s life, it could
© Getty

quite easily have enjoyed far more success than it actually did.

9
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 WonderSwan Color N-Gage GP32
■ Bandai didn’t have a great deal ■ With the mobile market booming ■ Korean firm Game Park and its
of luck with the WonderSwan, first and Nintendo still unshakeable at the follow-up companies produced a
assuming that a budget monochrome time, Nokia decided to bring the two number of handhelds along the same
system would still have a chance audiences together and the N-Gage lines – powerful devices with minimal
when the Game Boy had already was born. And while it was successful support in terms of bespoke games
gone colour, then dropping its own in uniting phone and gaming (having any of these was what qualified
colour version of the WonderSwan enthusiasts, they were primarily united this for inclusion in the first place) but
mere months before the arrival of the more powerful Game Boy through mockery of this device. The concept was a good one, but an amazing potential for custom software. In truth, this power
Advance. For all this misfortune, however, Bandai managed to the execution left much to be desired – as a games platform, the was (and is) largely used for emulation, with both the GP32 and
make a relative success of things, with some excellent licensed awkward button layout, irregular screen format and the fact that the GP2X being ahead of the rest of the pack tech-wise and being
titles and established brands joining its library to help the system you have to remove the battery to change game cards were huge relatively easy to fill with homebrew and ROMs that would run
claim nearly a 10% share of the Japanese handheld market at turnoffs. Although most of these issues were addressed with excellently. Today, Android tablets and portables still fill this same
its peak. But in Japan the handheld would stay, sadly – despite the QD revision, reduced functionality made it less attractive as a niche – the GPD XD is a notable example of something that builds
discussion of a broader release, it never came to pass. hybrid device, and the damage had already been done. on the legacy that Game Park and its stablemates created.

BATTERY LIFE  BATTERY LIFE  BATTERY LIFE 

20 hours or so from just one AA battery Around three hours for gaming; more on the QD Two AAs offer 6-10 hours, varying with strain

ERGONOMICS ERGONOMICS ERGONOMICS

The curious shape allows for several configurations The worst parts of handset and handheld design, thrust together Ridged triggers are nasty, but sits comfortably in the hands

SUPPORT
SUPPORT SUPPORT
A fair few big names were on board, if not for long A modest library, but it attracted some big names Few original games – primarily used for homebrew and emulation

TECH
TECH
TECH
Surprisingly good, although quickly surpassed Competent 3D visuals for a non-dedicated device Extremely powerful for its time, as were its successors

IMPACT
IMPACT
IMPACT
GBA absolutely stole its thunder Ahead of its time, in a way – the smartphone revolution followed The first in a long line of homebrew-led handhelds

SCREEN
SCREEN SCREEN
Okay on the basic model, really nice on the Crystal variant Decent quality, but a portrait screen isn’t ideal for gaming Good clarity; available unlit, frontlit or backlit

BEST
SELLING
Units sold:
154 million

PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLIAGE

■ While perhaps not the best game on the system, Level-5’s
wonderful puzzle-adventure game is a great showcase for the DS
as a platform. Combining the lateral thinking of the Brain Training
games that helped popularise the twin-screen handheld, charming
presentation that helps the game appeal to players of all ages and
smart use of dual-screen setup to present elaborate brain-teasers
without needing to get bogged down in menus, there’s a reason
that the good professor and his sidekick, Luke, were so busy on
DS – the developers found a great formula that was a perfect fit for
the platform and the franchise found great success.

10
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 CLASH OF THE HANDHELDS

Vita
■ ‘Give customers what they want,’
says common sense when it comes
to introducing a new product. But
with the Vita, Sony went with the
somewhat riskier ‘give customers
what they probably don’t want’
approach, ignoring lessons learned
from the PSP’s relative failure, despite technical supremacy, to
create the most powerful handheld on the market once again. As
impressive as it is – the small, beautiful screen allows for almost
PS3-quality visuals and functionality is excellent – the rise of the
smartphone made this leap in power decreasingly relevant with
each passing year, once again allowing Nintendo’s weaker, more
affordable system to dominate the market.
MOST
■ For this rundown, we limited inclusions to only
POWERFUL BATTERY LIFE 
Burns bright, but burns out pretty fast
those devices that run games on dedicated removable Up to 2 GHz Quad
-co
media. One emerging sector of portable gaming this ARM Cortex-A9 re ERGONOMICS
MPCore Comfortable and wonderfully designed
precludes is gaming on mobile devices. Both the Google
Play Store and the App Store operate much like the digital SUPPORT
marketplaces available on modern consoles, albeit with First-party love dried up quick, but indies keep it alive

a shovelware quotient that even the DS would balk TECH

at. There are plenty of awesome games out there Outstanding hardware allows for actual console-quality visuals
– you just typically have to wade through IMPACT
lakes of dross and money leeches It seems highly unlikely Sony will try this a third time…
to find them. SCREEN
OLED perfection – the literal centerpiece of the system

Nintendo DS
Abandoning the Game Boy name was always
going to be a risk for Nintendo and the company
knew it – hence the fact that its new and rather
odd-looking, dual-screen handheld was positioned
as a ‘third pillar’ at the time of release in 2004,
alongside the GameCube and the refreshed Game
Boy Micro handheld, a miniaturised revision of the
existing Game Boy Advance. This move indicated
a lack of faith in the platform, and the fact that the
DS was going up against Sony’s PSP caused some
industry experts to cast doubt over its prospects, but
almost from the beginning, it was clear that Nintendo
worked its magic yet again. While technically inferior to
Sony’s handheld, the DS offered touchscreen control, of advanced years, who were no doubt influenced by
a genuine innovation for the time. The two screens the proliferation of brain-training titles for the console.
were also put to good use in games, granting players While it’s tempting to label the DS as a ‘casual’
two perspectives on the action or offering space for system, there were plenty of solid triple-A titles on
inventory screens, maps and menus without having the format, including Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow,
to pause the game. The DS also illustrated Nintendo’s The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Phoenix
BATTERY LIFE 
understanding of portable play; the clamshell design Wright: Ace Attorney, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Eight hours or so with the backlight on per charge
protected the screens when in transit, meaning that Wars, Chrono Trigger and more besides. Then there
ERGONOMICS
players would be more inclined to carry the unit around were the mainstays of Nintendo’s catalogue, such as
Horrible original design, redeemed by the Lite and DSi
with them than owners of the PSP, which felt positively Super Mario 64 DS, Mario Kart 7 and – naturally – the
fragile in comparison. The original DS model had all prerequisite Pokémon outings. 2008’s DSi hardware SUPPORT
An insane library spanning every genre imaginable
the hallmarks of a design rush job, but the subsequent refresh would offer twin digital cameras and an online
refresh – the gorgeous DS Lite – took inspiration from app store, as well as a revised design, larger screens TECH
An affordable precursor to today’s tablets and smartphones
Apple’s range of desirable tech to present consumers and the ability to insert removable memory cards. With
with a machine that looked attractive, even when it over 154 million units sold worldwide, the DS range IMPACT
was switched off. Touch control broke down barriers ranks as the second-bestselling console of all time – a Smashed age barriers to open gaming back up to everyone
when it came to grabbing an audience, and the DS solid indication of its rightful position as one of the SCREEN
© Getty

was snapped up by gamers of all ages – even those undisputed greats of the portable arena. Clear top screen, touch-capable lower screen – a solid combo

11
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
Lynx
LARGEST
HANDHELD
Dimensions: 32
8x
172 x 106mm

Developed by the same team as the

groundbreaking Commodore Amiga,
the Atari Lynx was the world’s first
colour handheld, being released just a
few months after the Game Boy in 1989. Originally
named ‘The Handy’ while in development at Epyx, the
Lynx boasted several incredibly advanced features for
the time, not just for a handheld but for any system
out there. As well as featuring a vast palette of 4,096
colours, the Lynx’s graphics chip, called Suzy, could
also display many sprites as well as being able to
scale and rotate objects – something that could only
be found on state-of-the-art arcade hardware at that
time. Mikey, the Lynx’s sound chip, was no slouch
either, being able to play high-quality sound samples
across any of its four channels without any burden
on the CPU. Add in a blitter chip, 16-bit data bus and
the ability to link up to 16 consoles together (which is
where the Lynx gets its name) and surely you have a
winning package.
However, the Lynx was let down in several key
areas that stopped it from being the huge success BATTERY LIFE 
Incredibly power-hungry, even more so with rechargeable batteries
that it deserved to be. The first was the size, it was
far bigger than the Game Boy with the original model ERGONOMICS
Somewhat large, but Lynx II was a marked improvement
being near enough a foot long. The revised model
went someway to correct this but it was still bulky in SUPPORT
comparison. The Lynx’s fully-backlit LCD screen also A fairly small library, but some big titles in there
destroyed batteries with ease, and its five to six hours TECH
of play just couldn’t compare to the Game Boy with The first colour portable – that’s a pretty big deal
over 20, although it should be noted it was better than IMPACT
the Game Gear in this regard. The biggest downfall of Didn’t help Atari much, but proved demand for colour
the Lynx, however, was Atari’s inability to support the SCREEN
machine as well as was needed with only 72 games Fair for the time, but doesn’t hold up well today
being released during its commercial lifetime.

Supervision Pokémon Mini Nomad

■ For Sega and Atari, the solution to ■ There are a few handhelds on ■ Introduced more as an addition
the Game Boy problem was to out- display here with small libraries, but to Sega’s family of consoles than
muscle the competition. Watara didn’t this oddity has the most modest of the a successor to the Game Gear, the
agree with that approach – it reasoned lot – only ten games exist (several only Nomad is a curious beast. On the one
that the best way to compete with released in Japan) and all are incredibly hand, it has power on its side – based
Nintendo was to undercut it on price, simple in order to accommodate the on the Mega Jet (Sega’s portable
and the Supervision was the result of small screen and buttons. Nobody is Mega Drive for in-flight use in Japan),
that line of thinking. It was a decent bit of kit, only let down by a going to tell you the Pokémon Mini is their favourite console but it’s a portable Mega Drive. But that came at a price, namely a
screen that was prone to blurring. Of course, the price had to be it just goes to show the dominance of Nintendo at its prime that it chronic thirst for fresh batteries, a small screen that can make
appealing because the software had zero name value. Third-party was able to create a spin-off handheld system for one of its most text difficult to read (and that doesn’t cope well at all with fast
developers included Thin Chen Enterprise/Sachen (known for its popular brands. Pokémaniacs will have enjoyed the little thing scrolling) and a limited, US-only production run. An extremely
unlicensed NES games), the UK studio BITS and obscure studios as an item of curiosity, but we’d be surprised if some people had late release (it actually launched after the PlayStation) and a high
Bon Treasure and GTC. As a result, the system hosted a decent even seen one before – it’s hardly the most well-known Nintendo price point didn’t help its cause much at the time, but it remains,
number of clones of popular games before fading away quietly. handheld of all time, after all. as it was then, a desirable and undeniably cool piece of kit.

BATTERY LIFE  BATTERY LIFE  BATTERY LIFE 

20-odd hours from four AAs, comparable to the Game Boy One AAA battery goes an unbelievably long way Two hours out of six AA batteries… ouch.

ERGONOMICS ERGONOMICS ERGONOMICS

Not as awkward to hold as it looks Surprisingly usable for something so very small Bulky, heavy and awkward to hold

SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORT

Nothing of note, but some decent clones Ten games total, limited visibility outside of fans No original titles, but full Mega Drive game support

TECH
TECH
TECH
Not that bad for such a low-budget device Not bad at all, considering the size of the thing Portable Genesis tech was certainly an impressive feat

IMPACT
IMPACT
IMPACT
At least it tried… Neat for the fans, unknown to everyone else Limited and late US-only release, and hardly practical

SCREEN
SCREEN
SCREEN
Rather blurry, but to be expected for the price Simple and tiny, but it got the job done Bright and colourful but blurs heavily with quick movement

SMALLEST
12 HANDHELD
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION Dimensions: 74
x
58 x 23mm
 CLASH OF THE HANDHELDS

We speak to the genius behind three

of the Lynx’s best arcade ports in
RoadBlasters, Toki and S.T.U.N. Runner
What makes the Lynx so special?
It was way ahead of its time – portable, colour,
networkable, left and right handed. It had
fast multiply and divide hardware, impressive
multichannel sounds, copy-protected
cartridges and, probably most impressive to
me, were the innovations in graphics. True
bitmapped graphics with hardware collision
detection, the ability to draw compressed
sprites with skew and scale which can be combined to do rotations
and lots of other tricks. It was possible to render triangles and
real‑3D models on the platform for games like Hard Drivin’ and
Steel Talons. And as if the hardware wasn’t enough, it was the first
system I used that had complete documentation and a full SDK.

What is the Lynx hardware like to work with?

It was a dream! It was great to program for and when I had a crazy
idea of how to make the hardware do something new, it usually
S.T.U.N. RUNNER yielded the results I hoped for.
■ Although the Game Boy and Game Gear had a host of impressive
arcade conversions in their respective libraries, Atari’s Lynx Why do you think the Lynx should be remembered?
thrived on them. Access to the Atari vaults ensured Atari Games I think every game platform should be remembered for its games.
had access to a whole host of gems and many of them made Nothing else matters if it doesn’t entertain people, and by that
the leap over to Atari’s powerful console. While the likes of Klax, standard I think the Lynx was an exceptional platform. For me
Rampage, Toki, Robotron: 2084 and Rampart were all highly personally, there was more to the Lynx, I think the Lynx stands out
impressive (and hold up well today) it’s perhaps S.T.U.N. Runner in videogame history for being one of the most forward-thinking,
that summed up everything that was great about Atari’s machine. ahead-of-its-time platforms. More advanced platforms came later,
It delivered cutting-edge technology, intense gameplay and but I can’t think of a single one that contained as many leaps and
virtually every aspect of the original arcade game. It also put all the innovations in so many areas, and in a way that was so well done.
home ports to shame, too. Working on it really was like working on videogames for the future.

3DS
■ Following its successes with the
Wii’s motion control and the DS’s twin
screens and touch control, it feels like
Nintendo got a tad carried away with its
gimmicks. The original 3DS model and
its early games could be difficult to play,
but later games and hardware revisions
would refine the effect. Despite the 3D functionality reducing its
technical capacity, the combination of the brand and Nintendo’s
franchises would be enough to carry it, with the likes of Mario,
Pokémon and Zelda all well represented. Well, that and a deserter
from the PSP camp – Monster Hunter, the bestselling handheld
series in Japan, journeyed across to Nintendo’s handheld shortly
after its release, injecting a level of confidence into the system.

BATTERY LIFE 
Poor, but improves when you have the 3D turned off

ERGONOMICS
Just like the original DS – clunky at launch but vastly improved later

SUPPORT
The leading handheld of its age, with a great library

TECH
Glasses-free 3D was neat, although tech is still behind its peers

IMPACT
Could this be the end of the road for traditional handhelds?

SCREEN
© Getty

With the right game, setting and hardware revision, the 3D effect is ace

13
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 Gizmondo Game.com TurboExpress
■ One of gaming’s greatest disasters, ■ When Tiger Electronics left LCD ■ While the Game Boy was offering
the Gizmondo was sent out to die. games for handheld console gaming, an affordable low-end hardware
Having somehow found a name even we never thought the company would option, NEC came stomping into the
worse than the originally-planned mess things up as badly as it did. The playground with the opposite – a
Gametrac, its creators went about external promise was enticing – apart full-colour handheld that cost three
showcasing how not to release and from having a touchscreen interface times as much. From a technical
support a system – a star-studded and various built-in functions, the standpoint, this thing was crazy – at a
launch party and premium London retail outlet perhaps weren’t machine could connect to the internet. What’s more, Tiger’s time when portable games were either monochrome or much
the savviest investments for a device with only a handful of licensing work allowed it to draw on a dream of top franchises, simpler than their home counterparts, to have console-standard
games, with the limited production run making it impossible including Sonic The Hedgehog, Mortal Kombat, Duke Nukem and visuals and gameplay in your pocket was an incredible feeling.
for the ill-fated handheld to ever turn a profit. The company Resident Evil. The reality was less exciting. The internet cartridge Sadly, it wasn’t one that many would have had the privilege of
behind the system declared bankruptcy less than a year after the required a fixed modem, the touchscreen was fiddly and was knowing while growing up – it never had the same visibility as
European launch of the device, bringing the tale of gaming’s least- rarely used in games, and the screen was so blurry as to make all its competitors (hardly surprising, given the price) and ended up
successful handheld to the conclusion everybody saw coming. but the slowest of games unplayable. coming in fourth place behind Game Boy, Game Gear and Lynx.

BATTERY LIFE  BATTERY LIFE  BATTERY LIFE 

Around four hours of gaming from a full charge Four to six hours from four AAs, but why? Six AA batteries allow for up to three hours of play

ERGONOMICS ERGONOMICS ERGONOMICS

Ugly and overcomplicated, but not all that uncomfortable to hold A big ol’ slab of disappointment Quite large and heavy, but that was the price of power

SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPORT

Only 14 games released, discontinued in less than a year A modest library, and almost universally awful Full TurboGrafx-16 HuCard support, but little bespoke

TECH TECH TECH

Modest hardware, especially next to the PSP Some neat ideas, but wrecked by dire execution All the power of a PC Engine… in your pocket

IMPACT IMPACT IMPACT

Awful sales, zero legacy At least it showed the world how not to make a handheld… Carved itself a small niche as a high-end option

SCREEN SCREEN SCREEN

Adequate but not great, especially for media playback A blurry monochrome mess Generally pretty good, but small text can be an issue

■ Things like the Game & Watch and one-off LCD

games have coexisted with handhelds for a long time.
Some of the Nintendo ones are classics, simple games
that demand constant replay to master, while others
are appalling. Cost plays a huge part in the differences
between these units and consoles but there are few
examples where we can say we’d rather take
the cheap device than save up and invest
more interesting catalogue…

POKÉMON: FIRE RED & LEAF GREEN

■ If you’re starting out your Pokémon journey today, you might
be tempted to pick up one of the original monochrome Game Boy
games – but that would be a big mistake. The remade versions
for the Game Boy Advance are superior experiences, thanks to
improved creature balance and additional features, as well as the
obvious graphical upgrade. You might not find many players to
trade with these days, but it doesn’t matter too much – you can
preserve your GBA Pokémon by transferring them to the later
Nintendo DS games, and onwards to the 3DS games and beyond,
14
meaning that anything you catch still has value.
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 CLASH OF THE HANDHELDS

WonderSwan
■ Launching a black-and-white
handheld five months after the Game
Boy Color launched may seem foolish,
however, a low price and some strong
licensed software kept Gunpei Yokoi’s
last piece of hardware in the running for
over a year and a half until its successor
emerged. While the WonderSwan never carved out more than a
small share of the market, it did have some excellent qualities. 20
hours of battery life off a single battery was superb, and the ability
to run games in vertical orientation was cool. With over 100 titles
on offer, including backwards-compatible WonderSwan Color
games, it was well supported. Unfortunately, the tech was dated on
arrival and the screen was highly prone to blurring.
Neo-Geo
Pocket Color
BATTERY LIFE  BATTERY LIFE 
20 hours off a single battery? That’s pretty incredible Makes wonderfully frugal use of two AAs

ERGONOMICS ■ SNK couldn’t seem to catch a break with its own console.
ERGONOMICS
Nice to hold, but the rear battery bulge is awkward Looks boxy, but smart rear design means it sits nicely in hands
Replacing the black-and-white version mere months into its life,
SUPPORT this colour variant is, like SNK’s other systems, something of a SUPPORT
Lots of games, but the successor arrived in under two years First-party games everywhere, but not a great deal else
cult favourite. That’s probably because pretty much every major
TECH SNK franchise is represented here, and rather well – third-party TECH
Nice hardware, but black-and-white visuals in 1999? support wasn’t awful either, with Sonic and Pac-Man showing A lovely piece of kit, although quickly left behind

IMPACT up alongside the first-party titles. With its great battery life and IMPACT
Established itself as a credible Game Boy alternative, but only in Japan satisfying clicky control stick, it’s easy to see how devotees fell Didn’t leave much of a mark on the bigger picture
in love with this, and hard to see how the world didn’t, aside from SCREEN
SCREEN
Widescreen is nice, but there’s blurring Nintendo’s obvious chokehold on the market. Unlit, sure, but it’s crisp and clean all the same

Game Boy Advance

It’s said that the flame that burns
twice as bright burns half as long, and
the GBA may be proof of that. The DS
arrived just three years and eight months
after the GBA, making it Nintendo’s shortest-lived
The veteran coder explains the technicalities
handheld – but with three major models and a library of
of working on the Game Boy Advance
hundreds of games, it’s easy to forget that fact. Many described the GBA as a portable SNES. Is it a fair
It’s also easy to forget just how much of a shock assumption to make?
the machine itself was when it was unveiled. For the Yes and no. It is a fair assumption to say that the GBA was like a
first time in over a decade, Nintendo had altered the SNES in the video modes it had, but it was way more [than that]
form factor of its handheld, with the controls placed as its processor was more capable, it had multiple screen map
on either side of the screen, rather than below it. And layers and alpha transparency as well as many hardware sprites.
while the idea of a handheld without a rechargeable
battery or an illuminated screen seems ludicrous today, What was the GBA like from a technical point of view?
the GBA lacked both in its initial form. The SP model The GBA was awesome, I loved programming on it. It was also
added both features in 2003, as well as a clamshell getting towards the tail end of writing routines in assembler to
design. The final revision, the minuscule Game Boy get the all important performance boost, which, to me, is the fun
Micro, kept these features but dropped backwards part, as you’re having to optimise your tight render routines to
compatibility with older Game Boy cartridges. get the most out of things. This was before the bigger and more
BATTERY LIFE 
But if Nintendo never quite found the perfect form Not super long, but rechargeable models added value powerful processors came into play, with the extra 3D hardware.
for the GBA, it didn’t matter – the 32-bit tech under Not that it’s the end of being able to add assembler, but it’s not
the hood was capable of delivering fantastic games, ERGONOMICS needed as much lately, and, from a technical point of view, it
No model was perfect, but you’ve got options
and developers capitalised on that. Portable versions had many 2D graphic modes, like the SNES, but with the extra
of SNES hits such as Super Mario World and Donkey SUPPORT processing power you could draw bigger sprites and move a lot
Hundreds of games over five years
Kong Country gave nostalgic gamers plenty to love, more around on-screen than you could with a SNES.
alongside a new generation of classics like The Legend TECH
Of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Metroid Fusion and Wario A big upgrade over its predecessor and competitors Which model of GBA is your favourite and why?
Ware Inc. Third-party developers were on fire, too – the IMPACT The original GBA was my favourite model, because it felt better in
likes of Astro Boy, Golden Sun and Ninja Cop provided Inspired a brief, but satisfying, 2D renaissance your hands, and it was the original one. Okay, it wasn’t backlit or
original properties to love. A line-up like that is going to SCREEN anything, but it was the first GBA and it was a huge improvement
© Getty

deliver fun, no matter which device you prefer to use. Anywhere between poor and incredible, depending on the model over the Game Boy Color. You now had something that could
perform like a SNES in your hand, it even had a bitmap mode, and
was fast enough to do software polygons.
15
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
ONE
VISION
A MICROVISION RETROSPECTIVE
Often billed as the first true handheld game console, the
Microvision is an evolutionary step in handheld electronic games,
those distant cousins to videogames. Marty Goldberg reveals the
history behind this pioneering product

16
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 ONE VISION: A MICROVISION RETROSPECTIVE

E
lectronic gaming in the palm
of your hand has been around
almost as long as videogames.
While the latter required a
TV, the former arose in the
mid‑Seventies as a way to use up
excess calculator parts gathering
dust in a market recently taken
over by Japan. The class of games was created in
the US by Mattel after exec Mike Katz saw a new
opportunity for those stagnant parts by repurposing
them to play games on. Assigning some engineers to
the project, they came up with a novel way of using
microcontrollers (a small single-chip computer) with
on-board game code to drive an LED display and
the Mattel Electronics group was born. Comprising
nothing more than glowing LED segments housed
in patterned plastic, they were a far cry from actual
videogames, but these small electronic games caught
the imagination of a generation of kids.
As other companies began to enter the market, a
funny thing had happened by 1978: in the US, sales of
electronic games actually outsold home videogames.
In fact, while the magazine Newsweek was
celebrating the high-tech toys and games on its cover
that Christmas, home videogame sales were hit hard.
Additionally, a display shift had been brewing in the
calculator market as LED-based calculators gave way
to both vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) technologies
– with crisp, glowing elements – and liquid crystal
displays (LCD) offering lower power consumption.

[The chemicals’]
speed determined how
many lines you could
have in the display
Jay Smith

The stage was further set by the appearance of the

handheld Merlin that year. Designed by Bob Doyle, this
handheld electronic game was released by Parker Bros
and went head-to-head with Milton Bradley’s tabletop
format Simon (designed by the legendary Ralph Baer)
that Christmas season. Merlin’s big advantage? It
could play more than one game – switchable to several
different built-in games, much like the dedicated
videogame consoles of the mid-Seventies.
It was during this backdrop of portable electronic
dominance that the next generation of these handheld
games was being designed at a small firm in Santa
Monica, CA called Western Technologies. Jay Smith
had founded Western Technologies on 19 September
1978 as an engineering firm to design electronic
games and toys for the major toy companies of the
era. A ‘toy think tank’ of sorts. Jay had come up with
the concept of what became the Microvision thanks
to a small side-business of the company. “We were
creating the chemicals that went into an LCD display
and were selling them to Hughes Aircraft, a major
mos

manufacturer of LCD displays at the time,” says Jay.

an-A

At the time, LCD displays were limited to a three-

© Ev

row display. As Jay illuminates, “Depending on the

make-up of the chemicals, their speed determined
how many lines you could have in the display. In

17
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 We created a display
system that only
governed the rows
being addressed
Jay Smith

Connect Four. Following Mattel’s lead, it tentatively

stepped into the electronic toy and game market in
1977 with the tabletop Comp IV (released in the UK
as Logic 5). A number-sequencing game that was
more an educational toy in the same class as Texas
Instruments’ Little Professor, it comprised a series
of LEDs housed in a case meant to look like a child’s
» Sea Duel is essentially a one-player version of Milton Bradley’s version of a computer. It was joined that year by an
popular board game Battleship. It’s certainly worth seeking out. updated electronic version of its classic board game
Battleship. In 1978 Milton Bradley followed up with
a new electronic board game called Laser Attack, a
general, three rows was about it.” Realising of the handheld electronic games industry and the futuristic Star Wars-influenced electronic toy space
that three rows of dots were not enough to do a electronic toy industry as well. fighter called Star Bird, and the aforementioned Simon.

T
meaningful game display, he came up with a novel It was Simon, though, that Milton Bradley knew it
idea akin to how today’s 3D graphics engines ‘clip’ he actual software that was had a hit with, and so it pulled out all the stops for
graphic elements not being used in order to save to run on the microcontroller its introduction. The game of glowing coloured lights
processing speed. “We realised the was usually packaged within and musical tones made its debut at New York’s own
graphic displays at the time counted the microcontroller IC itself in location for dancing lights and musical sensations, the
every pixel every minute, whereas in ROM format, further adding to the iconic Studio 54. When Jay approached Milton Bradley
a game display, we would only use compactness of the device. However, with the concept for his handheld electronic game with
about 20% of the pixels at a time. Why just like all the other resources in the switchable games, the firm knew it had an appropriate
worry about rows not being used? So microcontroller, this meant you had a limited follow-up to Simon.
we created a display system that only amount of ROM space to work with. The The designers of the system – Jay Smith, Gerald
governed the rows being addressed.” programmer of Mattel’s Auto Race, Mark Karr and Lawrence Jones – were awarded US patent
In this method, pixel rows that are on Lesser, had to fit the game (logic, scoring number 4359222 for the Microvision. Entitled ‘Hand-
most of the time and static require the etc) into 512 bytes of code. A feat that held electronic game playing device with replaceable
least amount of attention. Rows with makes the 2K available to Atari 2600 game cartridges’, it was originally filed on 30 October 1978.
semi-moving objects require a little more, developers of the time seem spacious.
and rows with regularly moving objects Jay Smith’s solution was to
(a shot, a ball etc) require the most. This leverage microcontrollers in a way not
advancement allowed a formerly unheard unlike dedicated videogame console
of 16 rows of pixels and in turn created an manufacturers had looked at that year with
LCD display that was much more viable their single-chip ‘Pong-on-a-chip’ based
for playing games on. systems: create the illusion of switching
Having to come up with a custom out games by switching out the dedicated
LCD driver chip, the thought became that systems themselves. In that format, the
if they were advancing the technology system is really just the controller and display
this much display-wise they might as well make it a mechanism and the ‘guts’ are all on the part being
programmable system that could swap out cartridges. swapped out. Companies in Europe like Hanimex
The problem was, once again, the technology (and had started releasing SD 050-based consoles in
cost) wasn’t there yet to support a full microprocessor 1977 that did just that, and Atari had its Game
with swappable game ROMs in a handheld format. Brain it showed at the summer 1978 CES but
Most LED handheld games of the time (and chose not to release. In the case of Jay Smith’s
electronic toys in general) used what are called proposed device, the handheld unit would only
microcontrollers. A microcontroller is a chip that is contain the electronics for the LCD and controls.
essentially a full ‘computer’ on a single chip. That The microcontroller that contained the system’s
means the processor, RAM, input/output and other main circuitry and game itself would be located on
related technologies that are all separate in a traditional a portion of the unit that would swap in and out,
computer are combined in a single chip. Now, that plugging into the other circuitry when docked.
chip and its resources were nowhere near as powerful Building a prototype, Jay Smith shopped it
and plentiful as a regular microprocessor-driven around and Milton Bradley wound up biting at the
system at the time, but they weren’t intended to be. opportunity. Milton Bradley had started in 1860
Microcontrollers were created to be used in small, as a board game company located in Springfield,
compact devices. Devices such as… you guessed it, Massachusetts. By the early Seventies, it had
calculators. That’s one of the reasons why Mattel’s released board and novelty game titles that
first handheld electronic game (Auto Race ) uses a had become staples of many a person’s youth,
microcontroller and the technology became a staple such as Mouse Trap, Operation, Battleship and

18
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 ONE VISION: A MICROVISION RETROSPECTIVE

T
Described as a “compact hand-holdable electrical he main unit itself houses the LCD, its in the same family as the 8048 processor used in
toy game assembly”, the drawings show the initial special controller chip, the controls and Magnavox’s Odyssey 2 console (Philips Videopac
proposed format for the Microvision which included the connection to the system bus that series) and introduced in 1976. With 64 bytes of
both a primordial version of a ‘d-pad’ thumb controller works similarly to a cartridge slot. It’s RAM and able to address a game up to 1K in size (the
and a spinner for playing paddle-style games. An used for nothing more than I/O and power (Tiger’s typical game size up to that point had been about half
alternate version shown in the same filing is a little R-Zone console in the Nineties is similar in construct, that), it held enough resources to get the job done.
closer to what became the actual Microvision, including but with an LCD contained on the removable portion). Interestingly though, the 8021 has a higher power
a 12-button keypad, spinner and removable faceplate. The most interesting addition, though, which shows requirement than the typical microcontroller used in
The development, from concept to full product, led a lot of insight into its replayability potential, is the these devices and, combined with the requirements
to some interesting design work and changes from control pad. Instead of a defined keypad with raised of the LCD, it made the Microvision require two 9V
the initial concept. At first glance, the Microvision looks buttons (as shown in the concept drawings) it features batteries (which added to the size of the unit as well).
like an oblong version of the typical handheld electronic a flattened pad, allowing it to be defined as needed The 8021 was replaced with the Texas Instruments
game of the time. This certainly wasn’t needed for the by the faceplate. Combined with the spinner control, TMS1100 not long into the system’s lifetime, however,
electronics, as they take up about the same space (if it provides custom control options on a per-game thanks to some ordering issues for the Intel chip.
not less) as the other games on the market. According basis. A feature not matched until touch-based games A 4-bit microcontroller that’s part of the TMS1000
to Jay Smith, the primary reason for all the extra space proliferated on smartphones and tablets. series introduced in 1974, the 1100 has less RAM and
fell on Milton Bradley. Its reasoning being that the The microcontroller initially chosen by Jay and processing power but can address up to 2K in ROM
projected price would dictate the need for a larger size, company was the Intel 8021, an 8-bit microcontroller space. The other plus it brought was the lower power
as if the consumer would not understand they were requirement, allowing the Microvision to need only one
paying for higher technology. 9V battery now. Milton Bradley responded to

INSIDE THE
MICROVISION
Thanks to its rarity, it’s not often
you get to see the innards of this
remarkable handheld

CASE
■ Here’s what’s holding the Microvision together. It’s worth LCD CONTROLLER CARTRIDGE SLOT
noting that the bottom half of each front faceplate is typically ■ The custom controller ■ This is where you can
different for each game. Connect 4, for example, has six chip for driving the attach new cartridges for
control points while Block Buster only uses four. then‑groundbreaking LCD your handheld. In total, just
display. Commonly covered 12 games were created
with a wound copper- for the machine, making
backed foil sticker to protect it an unique challenge
from static discharge. for collectors.
CONTRAST KNOB BATTERY
■ A feature rarely seen STORAGE
on even later LCD-based ■ The original Microvision
handhelds, this enables needed 9V batteries. LCD
the Microvision owner Changes during the ■ Custom 16x16 LCD display designed by Jay Smith and
to adjust the contrast of production run lowered his team. Unfortunately, because of early manufacturing
the display – important power requirements. The limitations, it’s prone to breakdown and a condition known
considering it’s not backlit. second slot became extra as screen rot.
battery ‘storage’.

TOUCHPAD (12 KEY)

■ 12-key touchpad, which has its
areas defined by the faceplate.
Technically similar to number
pads on console controllers like
Intellivision and ColecoVision.

PADDLE
■ The Microvision’s mounted spinner control. Its functions
differ on a per-game basis and include everything from a
traditional paddle control to adjusting range settings.

19
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 protectors; however, that’s not its function. While the
problem of static discharge on the exposed contacts
was solved in videogame consoles, it was a major
issue for the Microvision. One wrong touch and ‘poof’
it would go, wiping out the game and microcontroller.
The cover that flips off to expose the contact was
meant to protect it from this mishap.

T
» [Above] The TMS1000 he Microvision was released in
microcontroller in all its glory.
November 1979 for around $40 (about
$165 today) along with another high-
» [Right] Block Buster is Milton Bradley’s take
on the arcade hit Breakout. tech toy offering by Milton Bradley, the
programmable Big Trak. It came with the Breakout
the dropping of one battery by leaving in the clone Block Buster along with three available launch
extra battery port instead of redoing the system titles: Bowling, Connect Four (a version of Milton
moulds, simply unwiring it. The old battery port Bradley’s popular 1974 board game) and Pinball.
was now redubbed as “extra battery storage”. They The Microvision was of course not the only
couldn’t escape the need to recode the software for next-generation electronic game to hit the market in
the games, however, for the more primitive TMS1100. 1979 with an advanced display, as toy manufacturer
The microcontroller, as mentioned, is housed in a MEGO (famous maker of superhero toy dolls and
removable faceplate. Each faceplate is designed to dolls based on movies like Planet Of The Apes) came
give a custom experience to the game, not unlike the out with the Mini-Vid series of tabletop two-player
elements of an arcade game. The game’s name is games. Featuring a 16x20 VFD display, it came in
provided in a unique and colourful ‘marquee’ and the versions for four different games: Break Free, Dodge
screen bezel contains colourful surrounding graphics City Gunfight, Sea Battle, and Spacewar. In fact, 1979
and sometimes overlaid markings relevant to the turned out to be the year of the two-player handheld
gameplay. Finally there’s the control area. Using electronic game: Coleco had the ‘Head to Head’ series
a combination of moulded plastic to ‘expose’ the of tabletop sports games, while Pulsonic released its
relevant spots on the touch pad and coloured text classic two-player Baseball game.
or graphics that describe the button’s function, the While the ability for two players (one on each
control customisation available for each game was end of the unit) to play head to head was certainly
unparalleled. On the reverse side of the panel is what an advantage, you still had to buy four separate
looks like a ‘dust protector’ similar to the Atari 2600 units. Though Microvision was only one-player, the

ESSENTIAL GAMES If you do find a working machine, play these…

BLOCK BUSTER SEA DUEL COSMIC HUNTER ALIEN RAIDERS STAR TREK:
■ Use the console’s built-in paddle to ■ A one-player version of Milton ■ In this space game, you’re hunting ■ A Space Invaders clone, it’s just PHASER STRIKE
hit the ball and knock away bricks. Bradley’s Battleship board game. alien creatures while avoiding different enough to avoid any legal ■ The only licensed game on the
What else can really be said of this In fact, many of the games on the barriers, hidden traps and being issues. Horizontally orientated, Microvision, it was developed as
pedestrian Breakout clone? What Microvision were versions of MB captured by said aliens. You only ‘aliens’ race across the screen from a tie-in to the film Star Trek: The
really makes it a notch above the rest board games and toys (much to the get five hunters and once they’re all right to left and try to reach your side Motion Picture. By the time of its
isn’t the version of the game itself, dismay of Jay Smith who wanted captured, your game is over. By the of the screen. They don’t fire, they European release, however, the Star
but the fact you can use an actual to expand beyond those offerings). same token, you get to capture as just try to get at you before you can Trek licence was dropped and the
spinner to control the on-screen Here, a destroyer is pitted against many aliens as your hunting heart shoot them. With gameplay that’s game was renamed Phaser Strike.
paddle. Digital thumb pads and a submarine with an emphasis on desires. A fun little game combining more of a cross between Space The premise is what you’d expect for
analogue joysticks found on regular tactics. Designed for two players, shooter and strategy mechanics. Invaders and Midway’s then-recently a Star Trek game: shoot Klingons.
handheld videogame consoles two both opponents separately ‘program’ Cosmic Hunter is notable for released arcade game Space Zap, It plays a lot like Atari’s Missile
decades later just don’t cut it for their movements and fire shots providing the earliest instance of a your only recourse is to fire at them Command meets Midway’s Sea
accurate control of the paddle. You ahead of time, then watch the game d-pad (directional pad) in a game, a from one of three preordained spots Wolf. As the Klingons fly horizontally
need a spinner for the proper timing execute them. It plays similarly control Gunpei Yokoi used to great with a variable-length laser beam across the screen, you get to shoot
and feedback needed to enjoy paddle to some of the American Football effect on Nintendo’s Game & Watch (whose length is decided by the at them from any one of three
games, and the Microvision has it! slideshow games of the Seventies. handhelds starting in 1982. system’s spinner). phaser banks.

20
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 ONE VISION: A MICROVISION RETROSPECTIVE

advantage of being able to play different games on the rarity of working models. Because of the ‘primitive’
unit outweighed that fact for parents. Likewise, the manufacturing methods behind the groundbreaking
appearance of the Microvision disproved the statement LCD display, they are highly susceptible to temperature
by Dick Dalessio, Parker Brothers’ director of product changes. The chemicals in the display are also prone
planning, who revealed in the December 1979 issue to leakage, a condition known as ‘screen rot’ that
of Popular Science that: “The electronics are basically eventually destroys the display.
the same as last year, but the programming makes Milton Bradley released a European version as well
them entirely new.” Although that was certainly true (which came with its own vinyl slip-on cover), along
in relation to the expected updates to already popular with European versions of the US games plus one
Football and Basketball games by Mattel and Coleco, exclusive: Super Block Buster. The Microvision might
and the onslaught of Simon competitors. not have been the huge enduring success that Milton
The Microvision was a big success that first year, Bradley was hoping for, but it remains an important
and according to some reports earned $8 million footnote in gaming’s rich history.
in revenue. Over the next two years the library
expanded to include Mindbuster, Baseball, Seal Duel, Special Thanks to Scott Schreiber, Benj Edwards
Alien Raiders, Cosmic Hunters and the licensed and Dan Boris
Star Trek: Phaser Strike. However, beyond that initial
year, the sales continued to steadily decline. Thanks
to the runaway success of Atari’s release of Space
Invaders for its VCS console, the problem was that
actual videogame consoles were fast becoming INSIDE THE FACEPLATE/
CARTRIDGE
king again in 1980. The entire handheld electronic
game market started dropping drastically and was

Each faceplate houses the main electronics

A compact of the unit and plugs in like a cartridge
hand-holdable
electrical toy
game assembly
The Microvision’s US patent description

relegated to a cheap portable gaming accessory for

much of the Eighties until Nintendo released the first
actual handheld console in 1989, its monochrome
LCD‑driven Game Boy (followed shortly after by Atari
Corp’s full-colour LCD Lynx handheld console). Milton
Bradley stopped manufacturing the Microvision in the
US in 1981 and dropped it in Europe in 1982.
Jay Smith had actually proposed two updates to
the Microvision – one with a larger display and another
with a colour LCD – but Milton Bradley declined,
feeling the format had run its course. Not one to rest
on his laurels, Jay Smith did move on to create an
LCD game watch for manufacturer GCE and then the
equally innovative vector gaming console the Vectrex.
Milton Bradley wound up picking up the latter for
European distribution, and Smith even looked at doing
a portable version of the Vectrex in the late Eighties
that never panned out.
Microvisions are actually extremely collectable items
today, not as much for their uniqueness but for the

BATTERY SYSTEM BUS CONTRAST KNOB GAME CODE

CONNECTOR CONNECTOR ■ Being able to change the ■ The all-in-one
■ These leaf terminals ■ The part of the faceplate brightness of your screen microcontroller that
connect to the battery that plugs into the main when there’s no available includes the game ROM
leaf terminals in the main unit, these edge connectors backlight is always handy. code as well. Originally
unit when the faceplate is provide the microcontroller Needless to say, you’d often based on the Intel 8021
plugged in, providing power with access to the controls be fiddling with this quite a and later replaced with
to the microcontroller. and display. lot while playing. the TMS1100.
» A view of the faceplate’s edge connector, normally
covered by a retractable spring-loaded cover.

21
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 22
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 RETROINSPECTION: GAME & WATCH

At the dawn of the Eighties, Nintendo was exploring the industry it would one
day dominate. Long before the NES, Mario, and Zelda there was the Game &
Watch – the series of handheld titles that would ultimately sire the all-conquering
Game Boy. Damien McFerran explores the history of pocket-size gaming
Year released: 1980 - 1991
Original price: Around $30
Buy it now for: Around £60+ (depending on the model)
Why the Game & Watch range was great… The range offered true portability
for the first time in the history of the videogame industry. The units were small,
durable and the cell batteries lasted for ages before they needed to be replaced.
Forced to work within the confines of the crude LCD technology, Nintendo
succeeded in crafting some truly mesmerising gaming experiences, the vast
majority of which stand up to scrutiny even by today’s standards.

W
hen you look back on the history of videogames
it’s not uncommon to discover amusing anecdotes
regarding defining moments in the industry. For
example, rumour has it that Namco’s Pac-Man was
conceived when the game’s creator Toru Iwatani glanced
at a pizza with one slice missing, and there’s an equally
famous tale that suggests that Nintendo’s renowned Mario was named after the
landlord of the company’s American offices, who happened to bear an uncanny
resemblance to the Italian plumber. Whether or not these stories are actually
true is a moot point but it’s impossible to deny that they lend our hobby a sense
of wonderment, and it’s remarkable to think that these staggeringly popular
ideas can be born from such humble beginnings.
The genesis of Nintendo’s Game & Watch series of handheld gaming
INSTANT EXPERT devices is recounted in an equally whimsical tale. According to legend, Nintendo
The official mascot of the
range is Mr Game & Watch, who engineer Gunpei Yokoi came up with the concept after observing a bored
famously appears in the Super Japanese salaryman absentmindedly playing around with his pocket calculator
Smash Bros crossover series. while travelling to work. If this story is true, then this seemingly innocuous
60 Game & Watch games were
released in total, although only encounter ultimately gave birth to portable videogaming as we know it today.
59 of those were ever on sale to Yokoi was tragically killed in a roadside incident in 1997, and although he would
the public – the 60th game was
limited to 10,000 units and given
gain worldwide fame and adoration as the creator of the Game Boy, many view
away free as a prize. his earlier LCD legacy with the most fondness.
The Silver game Helmet was Yokoi started working at Nintendo in 1965, assuming the modest role of an
renamed Headache in the United
Kingdom because distributor assembly line engineer. The Nintendo of that era was a very different beast
CGL believed people would from the one that we know today; the main focus of its business was Hanafuda
be offended by the sexual
connotation of the original title.
playing cards. According to yet another of those irresistible yarns, Yokoi created
Micro Vs Boxing was an extendable arm in order to amuse himself during the long working hours and
re‑branded as Punch Out! in this device happened to catch the eye of company president Hiroshi Yamauchi,
America to tie-in with the popular
arcade game. who was inspecting the factory at the time. Yamauchi was on the lookout for
Game & Watch titles make a product that could turn around Nintendo’s fortunes; the playing card market
cameo appearances in the
WarioWare series.
had slumped badly in the mid-Sixties and the president had tried all manner of
In the late Nineties, several different tactics to turn a profit.
classic Game & Watch titles were Yamauchi was instantly intrigued and tasked the young Yokoi with turning
re-released as part of the Mini
Classics key ring range. his extendable arm into a bestselling product. It was a risky move that was by
Some Game & Watch titles no means guaranteed to succeed, but the renamed ‘Ultrahand’ proved to be
included battery cover stickers
a runaway success, shifting more than 1.2 million units worldwide and would
which could be applied to prevent
babies from removing the prove to be the first in a long line of popular toys to spring from the mind of
battery cover and swallowing the Nintendo’s new star employee. These novel creations would eventually earn
batteries contained within.
Some Spitball Sparkey units the enterprising Yokoi his very own department within the company, known as
were produced with white casing Research And Development 1 Group.
as opposed to the usual silver – Towards the end of the Seventies, Nintendo started to wind down its
understandably, these are worth
a bit of cash these days. association with toys in favour of videogames, and it was during this time that
The game Egg is identical Yokoi had his aforementioned chance sighting of the bored businessman and
to Mickey Mouse in terms of
gameplay – it’s speculated that
his calculator. It was ideal timing: LCD technology was cheap and videogames
it was produced for release in were big business. However, up to this point, quality gaming was restricted to
territories where Nintendo’s either the arcade or the home. Several companies had already produced portable
licensing deal with Disney
didn’t exist. games, but they were usually rudimentary LED-based units with uninspiring
Just like regular games, some game designs and were too bulky to be deemed truly mobile. Yokoi watched the
of the Game & Watch titles have
cheat codes that allow you to
efforts of companies like Mattel and Tomy with keen interest. He had his own
start on later levels. ideas for the portable gaming industry.

23
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
I
t was during the development of the Game & Watch that Yokoi
laid down principles of hardware design that would echo through
Nintendo’s history right up to the present day, dubbing it
‘Lateral Thinking Of Withered Technology’. “Essentially, Lateral Thinking
Of Withered Technology boils down to using mature technology in novel or
radical applications,” Journalist and all-round Yokoi admirer Lara Crigger explains.
“At the time of the invention of the Game & Watch, LCD technology was
everywhere. It was a well-understood process and because prices for individual
components had dropped so much, integrating LCD into a product was relatively
inexpensive. Some people at Nintendo wanted to use fancier technology in the
Game & Watch, technology that would have reduced battery life and raised
costs, but Yokoi insisted that affordability was key and that the player cared
more about fun gameplay over flashy technology.” Yokoi would later apply this
philosophy to the production of the Game Boy, and Nintendo has taken a similar
stance with hits such as the DS, Wii and Switch.
Yokoi faced a tricky conundrum when it came to deciding upon the best appeared,
Tabletop series
interface for his new product. He quickly decided that a conventional joystick Game & Watch wide
» By the time the a bit more hands-on with world
ng
would impede on the Game & Watch’s portability, so he began looking for Nintendo was bei proves.
advert
solutions that would take up less space. Many of the early machines simply distribution, as this
possessed a couple of buttons with which to control the game, usually
corresponding to simple actions such as moving left and right or jumping, but
1982’s Donkey Kong Jr changed all that. Although it was actually four buttons
arranged in a cross shape, with each one corresponding to up, down, left and
right, it would later evolve into what we now know as the direction pad, or
‘d-pad’ for short. This was a development of truly seismic proportions, as Lara
acknowledges, “The entire portable games industry wouldn’t exist if it weren’t
for the invention of the d-pad. It was that first, necessary invention that made
all portable gaming devices possible. It comes down to basic ergonomics: the
d-pad eliminates the need for a joystick, thus streamlining the controller interface
and facilitating portability. A controller with a d-pad simply takes up less physical
space.” Compared to other methods of control available at the time, this new
interface presented undeniable advantages. “The d-pad is a more intuitive
method of controlling gameplay, compared to the alternatives,” continues Lara.
“Look at a joystick: to manipulate it, you have to use the sides of your thumbs in
as these appeared
and fingers – or in some cases, your palm or whole hand. That takes more » Light-hearted adverts such
UK comics like Eagle.
manual effort than just pushing buttons with a thumb tip.”
There was also an element of convergence with this new range of handhelds.
Although it seems like a trifling addition in today’s technologically advanced COUNTERFEIT FIX
As is the case when any product
world, the inclusion of a digital clock in each game (therefore giving rise to the becomes valuable, the Game
name ‘Game & Watch’) was a major selling point back in the early-Eighties. & Watch market is highly
susceptible to fakes. “We’ve
Although LCD watches were commonly available, they were outside the seen a lot of counterfeit items
reach of most children so the Game & Watch was a useful device as well as a appearing,” reveals Andy
source of entertainment. A handy alarm feature was also available – possibly to Cole. “It’s mostly boxes and
instructions – having a box,
wake up the owner after a particularly heavy night of gaming. especially one in good condition,
Arguably, the most vital piece of the hardware puzzle was the choice of adds greatly to a game’s value.”
These high-quality
power source that would bring these tiny games to life. Yokoi opted for ‘button reproductions of original
cell’ batteries, previously seen in digital watches and calculators. Not only were packaging have caused a
these cheap to replace, but they were also small and therefore fitted snugly serious headache for dedicated
collectors. “Most collectors
within the machines without breaking the sleek, straight lines of the casing or look for mint items and have
adding any additional weight that might hinder portability. Yokoi’s laser-focused paid great amounts of money
to acquire them,” explains Mike
drive to ensure his products would be inexpensive to run and not require a » The man himsel Panayiotakis. “Finding original
f–
constant supply of fresh batteries played a vital part in ensuring the success of the Game Boy, bu Gunpei Yokoi created Game & Watch boxes intact isn’t
t sadly died in 199
the range – a fact he was sure to remember when he came to create the Game 7. an easy task, but if someone
started selling perfect counterfeit
Boy almost a decade later. boxes or games, your collection
But there was much more to the appeal of the Game & Watch range than would be instantly worth one
twentieth of what you had paid
just mere interface design and long-lasting power. Because LCD technology for it because the market would
granted the developers a very limited amount of on-screen real estate in which be flooded with perfect items.”
to place their action-packed gaming experiences, the games themselves Mike is in no doubt as to what
effect a wash of fakes would have
tended to be extremely focused. “There was little room for design screw-ups,” on the collecting community.
says Lara. “If the game mechanic wasn’t simple enough, or addictive enough, “Perfect counterfeit items would
make the task of collecting
then the game failed. It couldn’t hide behind flashy FMVs or intricate storylines. authentic games very difficult,”
It was just player and mechanic, and that’s it.” The experiences offered by the he says. “I don’t think there
Game & Watch range may seem primitive by today’s standards, but that very would be any point in collecting
the games after that, if such an
same simplicity was a major factor in the ultimate success of the lineage and event ever occurs.”
it’s a testament to the concept that the games are still eminently playable even
today. “They’re appealing for the very same reason that Tetris will never really
die: simplicity is addictive,” comments Lara. “People love activities that are easy
to learn, but hard to master.” e & Watch kicking arse
» LCD will never die: Mr Gam
l.
in Super Smash Bros Braw

24
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 RETROINSPECTION: GAME & WATCH

FROM A TO B
Mindful that each Game & Watch could only offer one game due to the
limiting nature of the LCD display, Nintendo decided to include two different
difficulty settings for each machine, thereby increasing the long-term appeal
of each title. Known as ‘Game A’ and ‘Game B’, the player had to press the
corresponding button before starting play to decide which challenge they
wished to face. Game B was usually faster and more demanding, but there
were exceptions – Flagman, for example, had two different games and the
‘B’ variant is generally seen as the more enjoyable. Multi-screen release
Squish is another and in Judge, Game B is actually a two-player version of
‘A’. Although it was a neat concept and added hours of playtime to each
release, not all titles carried this feature – Climber and Super Mario Bros
do not possess Game B options.

25
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
GAME BOY GALLERY
Should splashing out cash on original Game & Watch devices not appeal to
you, then you can always search for one of the compilation packages that
were released for Game Boy machines. The series debuted in 1994 (in Europe
and Australia) with Game Boy Gallery. The sequel, Game & Watch Gallery,
followed in 1997 and was granted a global release. The third and fourth
games were released on the Game Boy Color in 1998 and 1999 respectively,
and a Game Boy Advance instalment hit shelves in 2002. In many cases the
games in these collections were visually upgraded variants of the originals.
Nintendo followed these efforts up – and sort of came full circle with the
concept – with Game & Watch Collection for the DS (only to members of
Japan’s Club Nintendo service, but copies can be found on eBay), which
replicates three Multi Screen titles – Oil Panic, Green House and Donkey Kong.

The first Game & Watch title was the simplistic Ball. Released in 1980, off bulky C batteries. Sales of this machine were steady but nowhere near as
this endearingly basic game showed only faint glimmers of the kind of depth impressive as its Wide Screen and Multi Screen cousins, and therefore only four
later Game & Watch titles would possess. The screen was completely Tabletop titles were ever produced. A refinement of the technology resulted in
blank, the game design was unsophisticated and the LCD character graphics the more mobile ‘Panorama’ series a few months later, which used a foldout
somewhat crude – clearly a case of the developer finding its feet with new mirror to enhance the vacuum fluorescent display. Nintendo’s pursuit of colour
technology. Sales weren’t astonishing but the game seemed to strike a gaming culminated in 1984’s ill-advised ‘Supercolor’ range, which was in fact
chord with consumers and this was enough to persuade Nintendo that it just a standard LCD with a colour overlay. Only two games were ever produced,
was worth creating further titles. Ball marked the first release of the ‘Silver’ making this the least successful entry in the Game & Watch canon. Sensing that
series of Game & Watch titles, so called because of the colour of the metallic gaming was also a social pastime, Nintendo decided to publish the ‘Micro Vs’
faceplate. The next step was the ‘Gold’ series, which was fundamentally the series in the same year, which offered simultaneous two-player action thanks to
same machine but with a different faceplate and a smattering of static colour a pair of small detachable controllers.
on-screen to make the games seem a little more vibrant. This range spawned Also in 1984, the final hardware revision was released in the shape of the
a mere three titles before it was superseded by the ‘Wide Screen’ variant in legendary ‘Crystal Screen’ machines. These were more traditional games
mid‑1981. As the name suggests, the display was a whopping 30% larger than in keeping with the Wide Screen style, but they possessed a transparent
the one seen in the Silver and Gold range. LCD display. Sadly, these screens were susceptible to damage. Marketed as
a luxury item, the range didn’t achieve the same kind of fame as the more

T
he limitations of the LCD meant that Nintendo was always traditional Wide Screen games, which by this point had been relaunched as the
looking for ways to innovate, and the next logical step was to ‘New Wide Screen’ range.
add another screen to double the amount of gameplay each Although it’s strange to think about it now, Nintendo didn’t really command
title could potentially offer. The Multi Screen series kicked off with much of a presence outside Japan at the time, so worldwide distribution of early
Oil Panic in 1982, but it was the release of Donkey Kong that really cemented Game & Watch machines was handled by other companies. These included
the success of the range. Easily the biggest selling of all the Game & Watch Mega (USA), CGL (UK), Ji21 (France), Videopoche (Belgium) and Futuretronics
titles up to that point, Donkey Kong was a startlingly faithful representation of (Australia). Many of these firms would repackage the devices and in some cases
the arcade hit. Iconic in design, the Multi Screen range would influence future remove the Nintendo logo altogether, instead replacing it with their own.
Nintendo design choices. “It’s no secret that the Nintendo DS was based on the By the mid-Eighties Nintendo had released the NES home console and the
original Multi Screen Game & Watch design and that just shows how far ahead Game & Watch range took a backseat role. As the decade drew to a close, the
of its time this idea was,” says collector Mike Panayiotakis. seemingly vast reserves of innovation began to run dry, but it was ultimately
Released in 1983, the Tabletop series was something of a departure from Yokoi himself that would deal the death blow to his beloved pocket-sized
the norm. It sacrificed portability for more impressive colour visuals and ran offspring. Zelda, the penultimate release in the range, hit shelves in 1989 – the

26
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 RETROINSPECTION: GAME & WATCH

DIFFERENT VERSIONS
Silver Range
The one that started it all.
The Silver range consisted
of five different titles and
lacked the colourful screen
overlays that would be seen
in later titles. Five games were produced in
low quantities, and as a result, they’re pretty
rare these days.

Multi Screen
Predating the Nintendo
DS by over 20 years, the
Multi Screen version
various effectively gave twice as much
al erasers of shame to
ese are actu ta action by adding an additional
or not, but th ctly formed, it’s almos
» Believe it rfe LCD display. Because the device could be
ch titles. Pe ose.
Game & Wat em for their actual purp closed when not in use, it made it even
th
actually use more durable. A smaller version that opened
sideways was also released.

Tabletop
Bulky, power-hungry and
practically un-portable,
the Tabletop range was
something of a backwards
step, recalling memories of
the unwieldy electronic games of the late
Seventies. Unsurprisingly, the range didn’t
sell as well as the traditional G&W machines,
although in terms of gameplay these are still
wonderful machines to own.

Micro Vs
Providing much-needed
multiplayer action, the
Micro Vs range featured two
small joypads that could be
stored within the system
pany that distributed when not in use. The thin screens were less
» Time Out was another com
in the US – note the lack of welcome, however, and the series was not as
Game & Watch machines successful as might have been expected.
machines.
Nintendo branding on the

same year as Yokoi’s newest pet project: the Game Boy. It was instantly obvious to locate. “This is the Holy Grail of Game & Watches and remained almost
that the writing was on the wall for the videogame-and-clock combo. The completely unknown in collector’s circles for over a decade,” explains Andy.
very last entry in the series was a loving homage to the game that started it “It was produced as a prize for a competition for owners of a NES F1 racing
all – 1991’s Mario The Juggler recycled the gameplay from Ball but showcased game. Ten thousand were given away in Japan only, making this by far the rarest
gorgeous screen artwork. It was the end of an era, but with the new-fangled Game & Watch title. Only in the early 21st Century, when collectors in Japan
Nintendo wooing gamers the world over, few seemed to mourn its passing. spread the word, did this game become widely recognised. Because of its rarity,
its value is higher than that of any other game in the range – expect to pay about

G
iven the durable nature of the Game & Watch range, the £500 just for an unboxed specimen.”
appealing design of the casing and the desirable Nintendo Another aspect that makes the range so appealing is the durability of the
branding, it’s little surprise that a truly hardcore collecting devices. “As can be seen by the number appearing in auctions, they are still
scene has risen up over the past few years. The reasons for this going strong, thanks mostly to their extremely simple electronics,” comments
Special thanks to Andy Cole for providing exclusive hardware photography
differ depending on which collector you happen to speak with. “For most of Andy. “They are probably more reliable than a games console of today. I expect
today’s collectors, it’s simply nostalgia,” comments Game & Watch fanatic that they’ll still be around long after the last PlayStation is in landfill.” Martin for this feature and thanks also to Justyn Chan for additional images.
Andy Cole. “People now find themselves with the resources to buy the games expands on this: “The games were intended for kids and fit inside your pocket.
they lusted after in their childhood, which their meagre pocket money couldn’t If you keep them safe, they will last for ever even if you play them regularly.”
buy them.” Others do it more for the love of the brand, such as Dutch collector Has our gang of Game & Watch experts got any advice for prospective
Martin Van Spanje. “I have always loved Nintendo games and the Game & collectors? “A potential collector should first set a target,” advises Mike. “There
Watch series are basically where it all started for that company,” he says. “I are many things to collect and buying everything isn’t an option unless you
want to see them all, and find out how Nintendo made progress.” have unlimited money. Do you wish to collect boxed games? Do you wish to
Whatever the reason, amassing all 60 of these unique devices isn’t an easy get special versions of the games? Do you wish to get all 60 games? You need
(or cheap) feat, especially with the coveted handhelds becoming more and more to focus on specific items and create a list of things you wish to collect.” Andy
rare as time marches on. “Even though many of the games can be found for a gives similar guidance: “The answer I always give to this question is to go
fiver, you need lots of cash if you want all 60 of them,” explains Martin. “My slowly, as it’s possible to get a complete collection of every title in as little as a
collection has already cost me around 3,600 euros, and I’m still missing four month or two if you have the money, but where’s the fun in that? Decide on a
of the more expensive games. Also, I don’t collect mint-condition games and goal before you start. For example, decide if you want loose or boxed games,
I don’t care about the packaging and user manuals. If you want all of that as special or regular editions, then stick to your goal and be patient to wait for the
well, you need to at least double your piggy bank.” Indeed, boxed specimens in right games to come along. My collection took me about five years to complete
pristine condition can fetch prices well into triple figures and the elusive ‘60th’ but I got some extremely good bargains and that is more satisfying than blowing
game – a special edition of Super Mario Bros produced in 1987 – is very hard a few grand all in one go.”

27
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
Game Pocket
Computer
» MANUFACTURER: Epoch » YEAR: 1984
» COST: ¥12,000 (launch), £120+ (today, boxed), £60+ (today, unboxed)

A
fter achieving initial success in the home gaming
market with Pong consoles and the Cassette
Vision, Epoch decided to branch out into a
largely unexplored area of gaming with the Game
Pocket Computer, a somewhat bulky handheld console
which sported a similar look to the company’s Super
Cassette Vision home console. Though its design is largely
unremarkable, the system features a window through which
the label of the game cartridge can be read and includes
a graphics tool and a simple puzzle game as part of the
system software.
The Game Pocket Computer was a capable little
machine for its day and launched at a fairly high price –
just a few thousand yen less than the home consoles
of the era. The console was not at all successful, and
as a result, only five games were released for Epoch’s
system – Astro Bomber, Block Maze, Mahjong, Reversi and
Sokoban. Those with the means to use Japanese auction
sites should therefore find that it’s very feasible to pick
up a complete collection, though it will inevitably require
patience and a deep wallet.

ESSENTIAL GAME
Astro Bomber
All five of the Game Pocket
Computer’s officially released
games are fairly basic versions of
well-known game templates, and
three of them are puzzle games. If
you’re looking for something with
a bit of action, the system’s only
shoot-’em-up is a better choice
than Block Maze. Astro Bomber
is effectively a clone of Konami’s
arcade hit Scramble, and sees you
shooting down airborne targets
and bombing missile and fuel
silos. While it’s not an original
concept, it’s a well-executed
version of an arcade favourite and
that’s always welcome.

28
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 HARDWARE HEAVEN GAME POCKET COMPUTER

Game
Pocket
Computer fact
■ Epoch would experience much greater success
in the Nineties with a less traditional handheld
gaming device – the infamous Barcode Battler.
PROCESSORS: 8-BIT NEC ΜPD78C06 (6MHZ)
GRAPHICS: 75X64 BLACK AND WHITE LCD
MEDIA: ROM CARTRIDGE (UP TO 16KB)
AUDIO: ONE CHANNEL BEEPER
SYSTEM SOFTWARE: 4KB ROM
RAM: 2KB RAM

SYSTEM
29 SUPPLIED BY
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION EVAN
AMOS
 OVER THREE DECADES AFTER ITS LAUNCH, THE
GAME BOY HAS BECOME MORE THAN A GAMING
ICON – IT’S A TRUE CULTURAL PHENOMENON.
WE LOOK BACK AT HOW NINTENDO’S MACHINE
ACHIEVED SUCH A FEAT, AND SPEAK TO THOSE
STILL FLYING THE FLAG FOR THE HANDHELD TODAY
Words by Nick Thorpe and Martyn Carroll
The Impact Of The

30
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 THE IMPACT OF THE GAME BOY

» [Game Boy] The Game Boy’s array of licensed

» [Game Boy] Avenging Spirit is one of the great rare games for Game Boy collectors to hunt down. games were popular with younger gamers.

W
hen the modern handheld console a result, more than most pieces of videogame to be associated with the platform didn’t always
market developed in the late Eighties hardware, the Game Boy is a product of get a great first impression. “I do remember
and early Nineties, it quickly became compromise. Where other handhelds had colour when a neighbour classmate showed off his
clear that one of the manufacturers screens, the Game Boy had four greyscale shades Game Boy to me. I’d guess this was summer
was significantly more attuned to the (or green, if you’re staring at that original screen). 1991, since he was playing Blades Of Steel,”
challenges of creating a portable platform than The other machines were backlit, and Nintendo’s says Johan Kotlinski, author of the Game Boy
the others. The designers of the Atari Lynx hardware relied on getting just the right level music tool Little Sound DJ. “Being outdoors in
focused on pairing the familiar 6502 CPU with of light. Nintendo even opted for a custom the sun, it was rather difficult to see what was
high-end custom graphics tech, with Epyx giving processor based on the Z80, rather than the 6502 [happening] on the screen, and it did not come
the system arcade-style graphical features like used in the NES, meaning that its developers off as a particularly compelling entertainment
sprite scaling. Sega and NEC focused on how couldn’t simply reuse code. But it didn’t matter option. As you might remember, there were a lot
they might leverage their existing hardware in a if it couldn’t play Super Mario Bros – Nintendo of competition at the time – most of us kids had
new environment, ultimately basing the Game could just make a new Mario game tailored to a Commodore 64, NES or even an Amiga, and
Gear and PC Engine GT on the Master System what the machine could do. for mobile gaming the Atari Lynx seemed more
and PC Engine respectively. All of these consoles Not everybody was impressed – it has been desirable, even if too expensive. I already had my
seemed to be born of similar thinking: they were said that there was even some deal of scepticism Tetris needs served by an original C64 tape, and
consoles designed in service of the games. They prior to launch. Even those who would later come the Game Boy did not seem like an improvement
allowed players experiences close at the time. Certainly the load times
to what they’d get elsewhere, and
allowed developers to continue
BOY WONDERS were much faster on the Game
Boy, but we kids had lots of time to
using the techniques they had waste anyway.”
elsewhere. With the Game Boy, But Nintendo had made a
Nintendo approached the problem judgement call, and it paid off.
from the other end – the company “Even though it was underpowered
designed the hardware in service of and its screen had issues with
the gamer. ghosting and no lighting, all
Nintendo reasoned that the those things that kind of worked
ability to actually play the machine against it also worked in its favour
was more important than what it Gaz Thomas, Jeremy Parish, Mathew Boyle, – it made a very economical
could play, and that less impressive Developer of Author of Game Boy system,” says Jeremy Parish, a
software was a worthy sacrifice. As Owyn’s Adventure Game Boy Works collector veteran videogames journalist

31
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
MINI MAKING OF...

PRINCE
“It was the first time I had
ever seen a console, let alone a
OF PERSIA handheld, and it was very exotic”
ED MAGNIN CONVERTED Gaz Thomas
JORDAN MECHNER’S
CLASSIC TO THE GAME BOY
and creator of the Game Boy Works video and showing my dad and I,” says Gaz Thomas,
How did you end book series. The Game Boy was half the price an indie developer whose work includes
up working on the of the more impressive Atari Lynx, and would Owyn’s Adventure as well as contributions
Game Boy and coding run three times as long on fewer batteries. This to Hydroventure and Stealth, Inc. “It was the
Prince Of Persia? made it attractive to parents, and the built-in first time I had ever seen a console, let alone a
My boss woke up one day and decided display meant that it didn’t tie up the TV. It was handheld, and it was very exotic. I was only five
to swap me from the NES to the a viable purchase, even for families that already at the time but I could understand the game and
Game Boy. It was the best thing he ever did. The Game Boy owned a console. “I first received a Game Boy the music was entrancing!” Indeed, Tetris could
represented freedom for me. When I’d go to GDC or E3 I could for Christmas when I was a kid. I’d been trying be universally understood and its new handheld
carry my work in my pocket and walk up to a booth and show to play my brother’s NES and so I got my own home proved to be conducive to spreading the
it to someone, no appointment necessary. I did Caesars Palace portable system to keep peace in the house,” game’s appeal. Plenty of young players would
first, then Prince Of Persia. says Mathew Boyle, a Game Boy fanatic whose frequently find their systems being borrowed by
game collection consists of approximately 800 parents and grandparents.
Were you a fan of Jordan Mechner’s games. “Of course, I was a bit too young I think Indeed, while Sega and Sony get much of
original game? to really appreciate it, but I would play Kirby’s the credit for bringing older audiences into
I quickly became one. I played the PC version but knowing he Dream Land until the batteries ran dry!” the videogaming market during the Nineties,

A
did the original on the Apple II was even more impressive. I Nintendo’s machine had a killer app that appealed
played the PC version constantly to make sure ours worked as s good as games like Kirby’s Dream to players across all demographics. “It definitely
well or better on the Game Boy. Land were, one game overshadowed did reach a broader spectrum of gamers than
the rest when it came to selling the the NES did, and Nintendo recognised that from
Did you have any say in the cart size system to players – including those the very beginning,” notes Jeremy. “Some
selected for the game, and was it a with no previous gaming experience. of their early ads were targeted at working
struggle to make it fit? “The first time I laid my eyes on a Game Boy professionals and adults, promoting games like
Publishers were cheap. They didn’t want to pay for a larger was at my cousin’s house, he had gotten one Tetris and saying, ‘Hey, you can enjoy yourself
cartridge or a battery to back-up RAM in the cartridge. for Christmas. It had Tetris on it and he was when you’re waiting at the airport – it’s not just
It would have cost a dollar or two, but then multiplied by
their mark-up that would have added five or six dollars to
the price of the game. If you look back, only Nintendo and
maybe one or two publishers ever released games on larger
cartridges or with memory backup – the rest of us had to
make convoluted password save systems. And yes, it was a
struggle to make it fit.

You later did a second version of the

game for the Game Boy Color. Did
the updated hardware make for an
easier conversion?
Not really. In addition to adding colour, Nintendo required
developers to add additional levels or features, so we added a
training level. At the very end of the project, the Nintendo colour
police (Club Wario) asked us to make every level a different
colour. We had worked hard to make the palace and dungeon
levels look really good, so we resisted changing colours. On
a conference call I asked Nintendo, ‘Do you want it to look
good or do you want obvious use of colour?’ They answered,
‘Obvious use of colour.’ That was it. We had to give them what
they wanted or they wouldn’t let us publish it.

» [Game Boy] Significant adjustment was needed to

bring existing properties like Contra to Game Boy.

32
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 THE IMPACT OF THE GAME BOY

» [Game Boy] Puzzle games like

Pipe Dream worked well with the
Game Boy’s blur-prone display.

for kids, even though

it’s called the Game Boy.’”
That campaign had the tag line their way west in
“Have you had your fun today?” 1998 and 1999.
and deliberately targeted non-gaming In the financial year
media, appearing in magazines such as ending March 1998, the
GQ as well as on TV. Even then-First Lady Game Boy was old hardware » [Game Boy] Bespoke Game Boy projects like F-1 Race sold in their
Hillary Clinton admitted to buying a Game (the Game Boy Color still having millions, despite generic branding.
Boy for herself in a 1993 interview with Time yet to be introduced) and the world was fixated
magazine, after having become a fan through on home consoles with 3D graphics. But even
playing her daughter’s machine. at what should have been its loweest ebb, the
The Game Boy had a long tail, too. While low cost and timeless library of the Game Boy,
the first couple of years played host to more combined with the absence of any serious
major hits than later years, the hardware saw at competition in the handheld console space,
least a few games hit the 1 million sales mark meant that Nintendo managed to sell through
every single year. That’s pretty remarkable, as 10.37 million hardware units. The Game Boy
Game Boy owners didn’t buy a lot of games. Color was introduced just months later and
Nintendo’s figures show that just 4.22 pieces revitalised hardware sales – and even though that
of software were sold for every piece of Game model saw plenty of exclusive software, major
Boy/Game Boy Color hardware – a low number releases including Pokémon Gold & Silver and
compared to the 8.07 games sold for each NES, Dragon Warrior Monsters still supported the old
or the 7.72 games for each SNES console. It model. Only when the Game Boy Advance was
didn’t hurt that the system had a late hit in the released in 2001 did the classic system truly ride
form of Pokémon Red & Blue – the games gave off into the glorious greyscale sunset.
the format a shot in the arm in Japan when That level of reach alone gives Game Boy
introduced in 1996, and plenty of hand-me- nostalgia a much wider resonance than most » [Game Boy] Games produced by Shigeru Miyamoto don’t tend to fly
down systems were dusted off when they made other machines can claim. But there’s something under the radar, but Mole Mania has.

33
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 » [Game Boy] Pokémon kept the
system from flagging when most
machines would run out of steam.

» [PC] Owyn’s Adventure was born from an

organised effort to make Game Boy-style games.

more to it – the hardware choices Nintendo

made gave the Game Boy a very distinctive
identity, a look and feel that its competitors
can’t match. Show most people a screenshot
of Lemmings on the Atari Lynx or the Game
Gear, and they’d be hard-pressed to identify
the platform. But when you show people a
screenshot of the same game running on the
Game Boy, there’s no hesitation – the four shades
(green if you’re original, grey otherwise) are a
defining characteristic of the platform. And the
Game Boy sounds unique amongst Nintendo
systems too, not inheriting its sound hardware
from the NES or having anything in common
with the SNES. Combined with its overwhelming
commercial success, these unique distinguishing
factors have turned the Game Boy into a true
cultural icon, recognisable even to those who
weren’t around to experience the system’s birth
over 30 years ago.
Take the form factor of the system, for
example. When Nintendo chose to reintroduce
its Game & Watch classics in mini keychain
size in the Nineties, it did so in Game Boy-
style casing. The machine has also been the
basis for all sorts of novelty products, from
shampoo bottles to drinking flasks and alarm
clocks. Though Nintendo would abandon
the vertical orientation beginning with the
Game Boy Advance, it was widely imitated by
manufacturers of lower-level handhelds in the

34
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 THE IMPACT OF THE GAME BOY

MINI MAKING OF...

ALIEN 3
JAS AUSTIN REVEALS THE
STORY BEHIND HIS UNIQUE
INTERPRETATION OF ALIEN 3
You worked on the
Spectrum before
moving over to the
Game Boy. Was it a
smooth transition?
Yes, it was pretty smooth. Both the
Game Boy and the Spectrum are Z80, so I already had a head
start. What was new to me was hardware support – scrolling
and sprites for example.

Were you able to watch the Alien 3

movie prior to starting development?
Sadly no, but the team did get to attend a private screening
in a small cinema in Leicester Square shortly before the
film was released, which was pretty exciting for me. For the
design, we only had a copy of the script.

There must have been a temptation to

do a typical 2D run-and-gun, like the
other versions of the game?
A side-view game was the obvious choice but we purposely
avoided doing that. My last few games had all been side-
scrollers and I was a bit sick of doing them, so I pushed
for the idea of doing something top-down with a little less
straight action. Plus, at the time, I had a feeling the other
versions of Alien 3 would be side-scrolling actions games and
thought this would help our game stand out.
» [Game Boy] Game Boy games often offer unique takes on existing properties, like Super Mario Land ’s shooting sections.
Did you receive any feedback – or
interference – from the movie studio?
“Both the Game Boy and the Fox had no feedback or input into the game design, I’m not
sure back then that the film companies saw the games
Spectrumhadarea head
Z80, so I already industry as anything important. However any larger graphics

start” Jas Austin

of the actors had to be signed off by Fox and the stars.

How long did the development last,

and was it a smooth development?
It wasn’t the smoothest development. I started on the
Nineties, from cheap ‘block game’ handhelds to design but kept going as I was enjoying working game and made a very quick prototype to demonstrate the
the likes of the Mega Duck and the Supervision. on it so much.” top-down scrolling view. But then I got pulled off the project
Even today, contemporary machines such as The existence of an unofficial jam suggests to work on another game, Spider-Man 2 if I recall. Sadly my
the Playdate and Analogue Pocket draw clear that there’s no shortage of people interested replacement on Alien 3 had to stop due to health reasons, so
inspiration from the Game Boy’s classic design. in making Game Boy-style games, and a look after finishing the Spider-Man game I jumped back on board.

T
around the indie scene bears that out. Browse The previous coder’s work wasn’t something I could use so I
he limited display of the system has the online store for the Nintendo Switch and went back to my original code. Because the development was
also been a visual inspiration for many, you’ll find games like Save Me, Mr Tako and now running late the pressure was on to get it finished. It was
including Gaz, whose game Owyn’s Awesome Pea that lift their limited colour tough but I managed to finish the coding in about five weeks,
Adventure uses the Game Boy visual palettes and green hues directly from the which even back then was pretty quick.
style. What inspired this choice? “I started original model of the Game Boy. It’s not just
Owyn’s Adventure as an entry to the Unofficial on the handheld platform that you’ll find this
Game Boy Jam run by my friend Jamie, who reverence for Nintendo’s original machine, either
convinced me to take part away from another – PC games like Madcap Castle and Squidlit also
personal project that I’d gotten a creative block pay homage to the system’s distinctive display,
on,” explains the developer. If you’re a regular while others like Evoland 2 and PlataGO! include
reader of our Homebrew section, you’ll likely be the Game Boy as one of many retro gaming
familiar with such development drives. “It was styles. The look even goes beyond games,
two weeks to make as much as you could so as mobile apps like Retrospecs, Bitstagram
long as the game featured just four shades of the and Retroboy offer camera filters designed to
Game Boy green. After two weeks I had some produce images like the Game Boy Camera
systems in and a rushed level, so I thought I’d add-on. So what makes the look of the machine
spend a couple of weeks working on the level so popular with indie developers? “A couple

35
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 reasons as to why the Game Boy aesthetic is by Ambassadors Of Funk, and Tetris by Doctor
popular come to mind,” says Gaz. “Firstly the Spin (in actuality, musical theatre composer
instant nostalgia back to when we were younger Andrew Lloyd Webber and record producer Nigel
– fun, easy-to-learn games. Secondly, for me Wright). British readers will also likely remember
especially, it lets you worry less when drawing an Ariston advert which featured the title music
the artwork. It takes a bit to get into the mindset from the Game Boy conversion of RoboCop.
of four colours but once you draw with them Those achievements are pretty astonishing,
MINI MAKING OF... for a bit you learn to know when you’ve done considering that the console’s sound capabilities

MONSTER enough.” There are limitations, of course. “You

can’t go overly detailed or things just appear
were very limited even by gaming standards at
the time, and speak more to the system’s massive

MAX noisy and unreadable, less becomes more as

players fill in the gaps.”
popularity than its musical merits.
But the Game Boy’s sound remains iconic way

A
JON RITMAN ON CREATING past the system’s commercial heyday. With the
HIS MINI ISOMETRIC OPUS s well as the four shades, many rise of flashcarts, anyone can use homebrew
FOR THE GAME BOY developers choose to employ the green programs like Nanoloop and LSDJ (Little Sound
screen – this is in spite of the fact that DJ) to turn their childhood handheld into a
Did you find it easy many players will have experienced powerful instrument. But why create LSDJ in the
moving on to Game Boy Game Boy games on other systems that first place? “The stars were aligned,” says Johan.
development, due to the represent the system’s graphics differently. “I had put my heart into making music on the
Z80-like CPU? Indeed, even this magazine uses the green look Amiga for a couple of years and was looking for
Z80-like? Yeah, if they had castrated for its Game Boy screenshots. Why is this such a something new. For a long time I had imagined a
a Z80. No exchange registers, no index crucial part of the look? For Gaz, it comes down portable music-making tool, that would allow me
registers, no 16-bit additions or subtraction instructions. It was to simple nostalgia. “The green is what people to try out and annotate music ideas on the go.”
doable but also horrible. who have played on the original console think of The choice of platform was more coincidental
when they hear ‘Game Boy’. I’ve seen some great than deliberate. “Some of my friends were
Were you asked to create an games with four shades but green represents starting with Game Boy Color programming,
isometric game in the style of Head the original console for me.” Of course, one of I thought it seemed fun and assembly
Over Heels, or was it something you the things that comes with imitating the style is programming might even be a useful skill when
wanted to do? that you can cherry pick the best bits of it, and looking for jobs. The Game Boy music programs
I had just finished my own development program that Rare one thing that tends to be left out is the motion at the time seemed rather limited and I thought
used for many games, and at that point I just wanted to use blur that was characteristic of the early Game making the best Game Boy music program could
it for something myself. There were no isometric games for Boy systems. “I think developers don’t chase the be my humble claim to fame – not that I imagined
the Game Boy during that time, so I thought it would be an motion blur effect as it’s not an aesthetic that many would ever use it.”
interesting challenge. lends itself to all gameplay types,” explains Gaz. Johan’s software did become rather popular,
“A player who never used the console might even as chiptune artists have adopted the Game
The monochrome screen was probably think it was a bug or glitch!” Boy as a favourite platform. What is it about the
the Game Boy’s biggest shortcoming. As you’ll likely remember if you were around system that makes it so attractive? “The Game
Did you have to mitigate for it during at the time, the sound of the console was popular Boy sound is technically not that extraordinary
the design? too. In 1992, two of the Game Boy’s flagship titles and is maybe best characterised by its limited
To be honest, as far as an isometric game was concerned the inspired singles that reached the top ten in the 4-bit dynamics. Time has shown though, that
Spectrum was also monochrome, so no change there. The UK singles charts – SuperMarioLand ft MC Mario it is a rather good music system,” he says.
biggest problem with the screen on the Game Boy was that
there wasn’t a proper hi-res mode, so I had to mess about a lot
to create one using interrupts to change modes as the raster
“The green is what people who have
passed over the screen. played on the original console think
The issues you had with the publisher
are well-known. Do you think the
of when they hear ‘Game Boy’” Gaz Thomas
game would have had more impact if
its release had been handled better?
If reviews made no difference at the time why would anyone
bother to submit a game? Monster Max got great reviews
when we finished it, but how many would remember it when it
was eventually released nearly a year later?

Is it correct that Nintendo was

interesting in publishing the game at
one point?
Don’t remind me that I made the biggest mistake of my
career. Yes, Nintendo was interested but we would have had
to remodel the main character to be one from the Nintendo
stable. I can only plead tiredness for my failure to do so.

Finally, was a Game Boy version of

Match Day ever considered?
I didn’t think it would be possible to make a football game that
I would be happy with on the Game Boy. I did think about it, but » [Game Boy] Mario often turned up to boost the appeal of early games » [Game Boy] The music of Tetris has inspired a number of musical
only for a very short time. with generic branding, like Tennis. tributes, including a top ten single.

36
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 THE IMPACT OF THE GAME BOY

» [PC] Chipzel’s Game Boy tunes were the

soundtrack to indie hit Super Hexagon.

» [PC] Squidlit goes further than other Game Boy-inspired

games, sticking to sprite restrictions and other limitations.

» [Game Boy] Games like X proved that the a little programming wizardry could overcome the hardware’s limits.

“The capabilities are well-balanced between the Game Boy library in chronological order,
two square wave channels, a programmable and cultural significance is a big reason for the
wave table and a noise generator, so it lends choice of platform. “Ever since Game Boy Color
itself equally well to many music genres. It is and Neo-Geo Pocket Color I’ve been a big fan of
easy to program and the Game Boy has ample handheld gaming, and during the
RAM, ROM and decent processing power, so DS and the PSP’s lifespan, I was a » [PC] Various indie
developers interpret the Game
it’s possible to splurge on things like nice UI, big advocate of those in the press. Boy green differently, as seen
samples, soft synthesis, even going overboard So I felt that maybe I should go back in Madcap Castle.
with effects so that one can sculpt the sounds to and look at the roots of portable
ones desire. The serial port is a nice bonus, and gaming, the first major portable
crucially those square wave basses just happen system to come out – and it still
to sound great in a big sound system.” has so much heritage in gaming at
LSDJ has gone on to become a key tool in this point,” says Jeremy. But there’s
the repertoire of many chiptune musicians – another factor that makes the library
those who use it include popular acts such as attractive too, and that’s the fact
Anamanaguchi, Toriena, Chipzel, DJ Scotch Egg that despite all the nostalgia, it still
and Trash80. “I’ll mention Covox, Lo-bat and represents relatively fresh ground
Goto80 since I did a lot of shows with them back to cover. “There’s not really that
in the day,” adds Johan when asked about his much coverage of Game Boy – even
favourite acts. Like the Game Boy graphical style, now, outside of the major titles
the Game Boy sound has even found its way
back to games – Anamanaguchi did the Scott
Pilgrim game soundtrack, Chipzel provided music
for Super Hexagon and Toriena contributed to
Team Sonic Racing.
But while the hardware itself has had a
considerable impact on our gaming culture, the
Game Boy is like every other console in that the
primary draw remains the games themselves.
And the library manages to attract both old hands
and new faces. Jeremy’s Game Boy Works covers

37
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 – so it seemed like
something interesting
to do,” he points out.
“It’s been a journey
of discovery, which is
what I really wanted to
do because I missed
MINI MAKING OF... out on Game Boy

DONKEY for most of its life.

This is the chance for

KONG me to go back and

experience the things

LAND III that I didn’t get to

experience when they
IAN MANDERS CODED THE THIRD were new.”

G
AND FINEST DONKEY KONG LAND
oing back
How did you land the and taking
job of coding Donkey every release
Kong Land 3 for Rare? in turn has
I started at Rare in 1994 and my first allowed Jeremy to gain
project was the SNES game Ken insights on the system
Griffey Jr’s Winning Run. After that that he wouldn’t
finished in early 1996, I was assigned to work on Donkey necessarily have
Kong Land 3. It used the same engine that Rob Harrison reached otherwise.
wrote from the ground up for Donkey Kong Land 2, but with “It had a lot of puzzle » [SNES] The Game Boy’s display is part of its character, but many
lots of new gameplay features, as well as new map screens games, which I didn’t players enjoyed colour solutions like the Super Game Boy.
and bonus games. really realise at the time,” he tells us. “When I
would play puzzle action games like Adventures
What were the main challenges you Of Lolo or Toki Tori, I was like, ‘Wow, this is
faced from a coding perspective? really novel’ and now that I’ve spent a lot of time
It was a new platform, to me, so I had to get up to speed with with the Game Boy library, I realise that these
a different CPU, and the tighter constraints of the Game Boy – were really common and this was a huge genre,
slower speed, less memory and the small pages of the Game especially in Japan on early computers.” Indeed,
Boy cartridges. It was an interesting challenge, though, and looking at the Japanese library is a gateway into
the immediacy of working with portable platforms resonated a world of games that originated on the likes of
with me. For most of my career since that point, I’ve developed the PC-88 and FM7, and plenty of other games
software for portable games consoles and mobile phones. made similar transitions. Since consumers
expected simple, easy-to-grasp games on the
The first two Donkey Kong Land Game Boy, developers used the console as a
games are quite close to their big means of bringing classic games back to market.
brother SNES versions, whereas Arcade games like Mr Do!, Heiankyo Alien and
Donkey Kong Land 3 does deviate Donkey Kong were revived on Game Boy, as were
from Donkey Kong Country 3. Was this computer classics such as Lode Runner.
a conscious decision? The project has also allowed Jeremy to
We weren’t given any significant directives one way or discover plenty of new favourites. “Mercenary
another and we were generally left to get on with it. Most Force was a great one, it’s kind of like a horizontal
attention at that time was paid to the Nintendo 64 games in shooter but you’re controlling a team of
development. We had the benefit of having a good starting mercenaries in feudal Japan. The Sword Of Hope
point in the existing engine, so that gave us some breathing was developed by Kemco, and Kemco made its
room to add some original elements. mark on the NES by taking the ICOM MacVenture
games and converting them, and The Sword Of
The original Game Boy’s monochrome Hope takes that framework and combines it with
screen wasn’t amazing. Was there a Dragon Quest-style RPG. It’s really interesting
much you could do as a coder to and distinct. I also like Balloon Fight and it didn’t
improve clarity? really occur to me until I started this project
I think that was mostly in the hands of the artist. I don’t that Balloon Kid was a sequel and follow up
remember having much influence over that. The artist, Keri to Balloon Fight, so I really enjoyed that one.”
Gunn, had lots of experience with creating great Game Boy It’s fascinating that even for a long-time games
graphics so it was in capable hands. journalist with a notable interest in retro games,
there’s so much unexplored territory. “There
The first Donkey Kong Land on Game have been quite a few games since I’ve started
Boy reportedly sold in huge numbers. this project that have been pleasant surprises or
Were you privy to how well your genuinely great. I don’t think the Game Boy gets
sequel sold? its fair due, honestly,” he tells us.
I remember hearing that Donkey Kong Land 3 sold more One of the long-term devotees of the system
than a million, which was great to hear for only the second is Mathew, who graduated from Kirby to Super » The Game Boy saw a lot of support from Nintendo, with big
game I’d worked on. Mario Land, and later to RPGs like Pokémon and franchises making waves on the handheld console.

38
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 THE IMPACT OF THE GAME BOY

» [Game Boy] The Game Boy editions of R-Type are impressive,

and well worth picking up.

MINI MAKING OF...

R-TYPE DX
BOB PAPE RECALLS THE BUMPER
R-TYPE PACKAGE THAT DELIGHTED
ALL GAME BOY OWNERS
Did having the ZX
Spectrum version of
» Mathew Boyle’s collection is enough to R-Type on your CV help
make any retro gamer green with envy.
you get the Game Boy
R-Type II gig?
“The games are very simplistic and Well the original R-Type for the Game
Boy was converted by Jas Austin but he was busy on another
there’s a purity in that – devs game, while I was free and had the experience of coding

couldn’t rely on visuals” Mathew Boyle

the Spectrum version. I don’t know if it had been offered to
anyone else, but for my self-confidence I’d like to think my
name was somewhere near the top of the list!

Dragon Warrior Monster. “I’ve been collecting studios, that you can hand an [original Game The pair of you later updated your
for the Game Boy since I was about 11,” says the Boy] and some games to a six-year-old and they’ll R-Type games for R-Type DX on
collector. “I used to go to car boot sales and local still have fun playing them!” the Game Boy Color. What was the
retro stores with friends at the weekends. To be The Game Boy was never Nintendo’s flagship impetus there?
honest, it pretty much happened by accident – as product, yet there’s a case to be made that it It was a quick money-spinner. The DX versions replaced
I grew up with the system and its successors, I had the biggest impact of any of the company’s the mono sprites and backgrounds with colour versions
ended up with a pretty solid base of games and hardware ventures. After all, what became of and I also added a brand-new backdrop to the third stage of
discovered new ones via emulation. I started the adults who got hooked on their kids’ copies R-Type II. We found out that it was very easy to convert an
filling in the gaps because honestly it’d stretch the of Tetris? They’re the bedrock of today’s casual existing four-colour Game Boy game to a full(ish) colour one,
money I’d get from my paper round a little more gaming market, and they’re probably still playing so much so that perhaps the console should have been called
than buying a SNES game. Unboxed carts were Tetris on their mobile phones. What became of the Game Boy Color-ised.
usually only a couple of pounds, so it was worth Pokémon? It’s still the biggest entertainment
gambling on games with interesting labels!” franchise in the world. What became of handheld Besides the colour versions,
Eventually, this casual collecting turned into a consoles? They were established as viable R-Type DX also included the original
more focused effort. “It wasn’t until I moved to alternatives to home devices, and Nintendo has mono games that could be enjoyed on
Denmark that I decided to go for a full set,” he been the driving force in their evolution. The both Game Boy and Game Boy Color.
explains. “I managed to get the full European set company enjoys a similarly commanding position How did that work?
a few years back (467 carts) and then I mopped in that market now – even though the Game I had to add a piece of code to the mono Game Boy versions
up the hundred or so US exclusives last year. I Boy line has been inactive for over a decade, the that checked if it was running on a Game Boy Color. If it was,
think I’m somewhere around 200 of the Japanese Nintendo DS line went on to even greater sales then it set the first four colours of the Game Boy Color palette
exclusives, so I’ve probably nearing the 800 carts and the Switch is more or less unopposed today. to an approximation of the Game Boy, with a slight yellow
mark if I haven’t already!” Because of that impact, we’re still in love with tinge. Disregarding the differences in colour, the Game Boy
So what is it that keeps players coming back the system today. You can see that in the people Color versions are pretty much identical to the originals.
to the Game Boy library? “I think it’s because the who still cherish the collections they amassed Nintendo did ask for some minor tweaks, such as asking for
system’s limitations made for great gameplay. when growing up, as well as those who are the level one boss to be made harder to kill.
The games are very simplistic and there’s a discovering the library today. You see it in the
purity in that – developers couldn’t rely on visuals Game Boy kids that have grown up and are now R-Type DX includes a cryptic
(or even colour), so it makes the experience all bringing the console’s distinct style into their own message on the end credits: ‘For Arch
about play,” Mathew replies. “I guess it also projects – a style that exists purely because of Stanton, The World Is Yours?’ Was this
helps that the Game Boy came around at a time the choices Nintendo made in service of creating down to you?
when games were in their infancy. Much like the a viable handheld console. If there’s a lesson to Yes, that’s another of my little messages at the end. Arch
indie games of today, a small team could make be learned, it’s that the best hardware will turn Stanton plays a key part in the finale of The Good, The Bad
an experimental game with relatively little risk heads in the moment, but the best hardware for And The Ugly, while ‘The World Is Yours’ is the motif that
involved. I think it’s a real testament to those the job will create a lasting legacy. drives the protagonists of both versions of Scarface.

39
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 DOT MATRIX WITH STEREO SOUND

25
top
READERS’
CHOICE
BATTERY

GAME BOY
GAMES
Your votes have been counted and the standings
are final – these are the very best games for
Nintendo’s monochrome masterpiece, as chosen
by Retro Gamer readers

Mega Man II Mystic Quest Probotector

■ DEVELOPER: BIOX ■ DEVELOPER: SQUARE ■ DEVELOPER: KONAMI
■ YEAR: 1991 ■ GENRE: SPORTS ■ YEAR: 1991 ■ GENRE: ACTION-RPG ■ YEAR: 1991 ■ GENRE: RUN-AND-GUN

25 24 23
In a surprising opening to While it Known as Operation C in
our list, series creator Keiji was known North America, Probotector
Inafune’s least favourite of as Final fans can’t have been
the Game Boy Mega Man games proves to be Fantasy Adventure outside of disappointed by this fantastic portable outing,
your favourite. The regular handheld developer Europe, Mystic Quest is only which retains the frantic action of the series’
for the series took a back seat for this release, loosely based on Square’s arcade and console outings. Alternating
resulting in a game which felt different from classic series, ditching many between side-scrolling and top-down sections
the rest of the Game Boy titles. The game of the Final Fantasy traditions as in Super Contra, the blasting is hugely
combines such as multi-character parties enjoyable in
elements of and turn-based combat. both views.
the second and Instead, Mystic Quest is a Unsurprisingly,
third NES Mega great little action-RPG in which given the game’s
Man games, but your goal is to stop the Mana heritage, it’s also
thankfully for Tree from falling under the control of the Dark Lord of Glaive. Today, the a real challenge.
new players, game is best known for being the precursor to the SNES classic Secret Of One of the
the difficulty Mana, which led to a Game Boy Advance remake titled Sword Of Mana in Game Boy’s best
was lowered. 2003 and a 3D re-imagining in 2017. available blasters.
40
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 TOP 25 GAME BOY GAMES

Monster Max
■ DEVELOPER: RARE DuckTales
■ YEAR: 1994 ■ GENRE: ISOMETRIC ADVENTURE ■ DEVELOPER: CAPCOM

21
It doesn’t enjoy ■ YEAR: 1990 ■ GENRE: PLATFORMER
the popularity of
Head Over Heels,
but Jon Ritman’s isometric Game
19 Scrooge McDuck’s
star turn remains
one of the better licensed
Boy adventure is one of your platformers out there, thanks
favourite games on the system to Capcom’s wise decision to
regardless. Monster Max sees redesign the stages of the NES
the titular protagonist seeking to game to fit the Game Boy’s
stop the villainous Krond from smaller screen.
banning all music. Taking cues
from the 8-bit classic, the game
sees Max venturing through a Mario’s
mammoth 29 stages, each filled with platforming and puzzle elements as Picross
well as a variety enemies to avoid. ■ DEVELOPER: JUPITER
Monster Max received excellent reviews, but publishing problems ■ YEAR: 1990 ■ GENRE: PUZZLE
caused the game to be delayed for a long time, allowing excitement to
dissipate. Its release during the system’s mid-Nineties slump also hurt,
causing sales to fall below expectations and leaving the game as an
18 Cross-referencing the
number of marks in
a line to make a picture is the
oft‑forgotten classic. We can’t help but feel it would have done better in goal of this tricky puzzler. The
the voting if it had been released during one of the system’s boom periods. 30-minute timer doesn’t appear
threatening at first, but quickly
becomes a worry as mistakes

Metroid II: chip away the minutes.

Return Of Samus Kirby’s

■ DEVELOPER: NINTENDO
■ YEAR: 1994 ■ GENRE: ACTION-ADVENTURE
Dream Land
■ DEVELOPER: HAL LABORATORY

20
While Metroid II had divided fans over the years, Samus ■ YEAR: 1992 ■ GENRE: PLATFORMER
Aran’s second adventure garnered enough love from
the voters to appear in your top 25. The game takes the
traditional Metroid approach to game design, with a very large stage in
17 Kirby’s debut might
have been a little on
the easy side, but the polished
place of multiple smaller ones. Your goal is to locate and destroy Metroid platforming and impressive
creatures, with a detector tracking the number remaining in the bottom- visuals mean that it’s fondly
right of the screen. Unlike in other Metroid releases, destroying Metroids remembered by the Retro
Motocross progressively opens up new sections, allowing for further exploration. Gamer readership, getting the
Maniacs While the game doesn’t utilise Metroid ’s usual trick of providing natural
barriers to progress by utilising a series of progressive upgrades, which
nod over its 1995 sequel.
■ DEVELOPER: KONAMI
puts some fans off, the game actually features a number of improvements
■ YEAR: 1989 ■ GENRE: RACING/PLATFORMER
over the NES original that would become standard. Samus is now able to Golf

22
Motocross Maniacs crouch and fire, and power-ups such as the spider ball would later return in ■ DEVELOPER: NINTENDO
might not have the the Metroid Prime series. Metroid II boasts some large, detailed sprites too ■ YEAR: 1989 ■ GENRE: SPORTS
best visuals on the
system, but it’s a blast to play. Combining
the motocross gameplay of titles such as
– Samus is absolutely huge! However, while some appreciate the design,
others find it makes the game feel rather too cramped. There’s still a lot to
like about Metroid II, so revisit it some time… or pick up the 3DS remake.
16 Golf doesn’t try to do
anything particularly
fancy, sticking to a top-down
Kikstart with platform stages, Motocross view of two 18-hole courses.
Maniacs presents players with a variety “A full, honest, The game is comprehensive
of hills, loops and ramps, requiring all the same, featuring hazards,
excellent balancing and judicious use of
serious game of a range of clubs and a putting
nitro to conquer, as well as collection of Metroid on the dinky green with slope physics.
the T tokens that refill your time bar. little black and
Once you’ve managed to clear stages, white Game Boy Kirby’s
beating your best times is the challenge. screen? Impressive”
It’s a simple formula, but the fantastic Pinball Land
stage design makes it a joy to replay. SqueakyG ■ DEVELOPER: HAL LABORATORY
As an interesting aside, Motocross ■ YEAR: 1993 ■ GENRE: PINBALL
Maniacs eventually resurfaced on
the compilation cartridge Konami GB
Collection Vol 3, under the new name
15 Are RG readers really
into pinball, or was
HAL Laboratory just really
Bikers. It’s easy to miss due to this good at making pinball games?
bizarre decision, so if you’re looking for a Kirby’s Pinball Land includes
copy you’d do well to keep an eye out three tables, expanding on the
for this release too – it’s got the Game template set by Revenge Of
Boy Color branding, but will still work on The ’Gator.
monochrome systems.
41
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 The action sees the caped crusader
Batman traversing stages while shooting enemies
■ DEVELOPER: SUNSOFT with a variety of weapons, including
■ YEAR: 1990 ■ GENRE: PLATFORMER batarangs, before going one-on-one with a

14
Sunsoft’s Batman sprite boss at the end of the stage. As is often the
might be the most minimalist case with great licensed games, Batman
representation of the character injects some variety by switching genres,
yet seen, but the game was packed with shoot-’em-up action also included.
with action. Released in the wake of the There’s nothing hugely innovative about
blockbuster film starring Michael Keaton, Batman, but it’s a game which succeeds as
this platformer is your favourite movie a representation of its source material and a
licence on the Game Boy. very solid, well-designed platform game.
Gargoyle’s Quest
■ DEVELOPER: CAPCOM
■ YEAR: 1990 ■ GENRE: PLATFORMER

13
As a spin-off of the Ghosts ‘N Goblins series,
Gargoyle’s Quest sees you taking on the role of one
of the game’s most irritating enemies. You play as
Firebrand, a gargoyle who is fated to defeat the evil king of the
land to restore peace – a goal you faintly wish he could have kept
for the main series.
The platforming action in Gargoyle’s Quest is very polished, with
interesting stage design that takes full advantage of the gargoyle’s
natural affinity for walls. Firebrand can stick to them, allowing him to
“Simply amazingly climb up passages and avoid hazards. He’s also got the ability to fly
playable! And for limited periods, easing tricky jumps. Those abilities are thoroughly
necessary though, as the difficulty of the main series returns in full
that music!” effect. Gargoyle’s Quest is definitely a challenge, but it remains a
Revenge Of Dumpster thoroughly enjoyable one.

The ‘Gator
■ DEVELOPER: HAL LABORATORY Mole Mania’s friendly exterior
■ YEAR: 1989 ■ GENRE: PINBALL
conceals a devilish nature, as its
12
HAL Laboratory’s first Game Boy pinball game stirs
fond memories for Retro Gamer readers, beating the
developer’s later release Kirby’s Pinball Land in the difficulty quickly escalates
voting. It’s not hard to see why you love it – it isn’t just a great Game
Boy game, but a fantastic pinball game which stands tall amongst
home console contemporaries such as Alien Crush.
Wisely adopting a flick-screen format to avoid the blurring that
Super RC classic multiplayer racers such as Micro
Machines in the voting, as they simply
could cause problems in Game Boy titles, the game features just a Pro-Am weren’t adapted to the hardware as well.
single table split across four screens. It’s excellently designed though ■ DEVELOPER: RARE Super RC Pro-Am brings the fun of
– like the other great videogame pinball tables, it takes advantage of ■ YEAR: 1991 ■ GENRE: RACING radio-controlled racing to the Game Boy.

11
the format by including features that are impractical and impossible Super RC Pro-Am would be Each track sees you taking on three CPU
on a real table, including the three bonus stages that take place on great fun on any system, but opponents, with victory determined
extra screens. Charming visuals round off the package, with the luckily enough the isometric as much by your ability to manage the
dancing ’gators giving the game a memorable identity. perspective is perfectly suited to the hazards of the track as by your cornering
Game Boy. While it was already present in skill, thanks to the oil patches, speed-up
the enjoyable NES original, this viewpoint pads and weaponry strewn across the
goes a long way toward mitigating game’s 24 courses. One of the game’s
the problems that the Game Boy’s most notable features is its multiplayer.
blur-prone screen can cause for racing Not only does it support two-player via
releases in general. This suitability for the the link cable, it also supports the Four
hardware allowed the game to surpass Player Adapter, a perfect addition.

42
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 TOP 25 GAME BOY GAMES

Mole Mania
■ DEVELOPER: PAX SOFTNICA
■ YEAR: 1996 ■ GENRE: PUZZLE

10
Having arrived during the mid-Nineties, a relatively
quiet period for the Game Boy, Mole Mania had
the potential to become one of the Game Boy’s
forgotten classics. Indeed, it’s one of the most frequently
overlooked games to have benefited from the involvement of
Shigeru Miyamoto. Thankfully our readers tend to stick by their
systems, resulting in Mole Mania ’s appearance in the top ten – an
accolade it thoroughly deserves.
Your hero is Muddy, a mole who is trying to rescue his wife and
children, who have been kidnapped by the local farmer. For the
player, this means making your way through a series of top-down
puzzle stages, eating cabbage to keep your strength up while
avoiding enemies. If your route is blocked on the surface, Muddy
can dig underground to open up whole new routes. But digging
can cause problems, as certain surface obstacles can’t pass the
holes created in the process. At the end of each stage, Muddy
faces off against a boss in order to rescue a relative.
The game’s friendly exterior conceals a devilish nature, as its
difficulty quickly escalates. Thankfully, the design makes it rather
hard to put down. The wide variety of obstacles keeps the game
interesting, and the game caters to completists by scoring the
performance on each stage out of 100. The game even features
multiplayer for those of you lucky enough to have a friend that
also owns the game. This mode allows the second player to take
control of the farmer, attempting to whack Muddy as he attempts
to steal cabbage.
While Nintendo made the game available via the 3DS Virtual
Console service for those that missed it the first time around,
we have yet to see it surface again. We’d love to see Mole Mania
revived for modern systems with perhaps Miyamoto returning to
one of his hidden gems. How about it, Nintendo?

Tennis Double Dragon

■ DEVELOPER: NINTENDO ■ DEVELOPER: TECHNOS
■ YEAR: 1989 ■ GENRE: SPORTS ■ YEAR: 1990 ■ GENRE: BEAT-’EM-UP

9 7
As one of the Game Boy’s earliest As a technically limited machine with a monochrome display,
releases, Tennis reached a wide range the Game Boy never had an easy time of arcade conversions.
of players over the years, helping it With Double Dragon, Technos went for the most sensible
to ride high in the voting. It’s a simple but fun approach – tailoring the game to the hardware, rather than pushing
game of tennis, featuring a good implementation the hardware to accommodate the game. Built from the ground up for
of the rules and a full range of shots. While the Game Boy, Double Dragon captured the spirit of the arcade game
the game doesn’t include much in the way of excellently, creating a fun little brawler in the process.
structure, with even a basic tournament mode Stages, enemies and weaponry are all instantly recognisable from the
omitted, the challenging CPU opponents help original, but have been retooled for the small screen, something that works
to pass the time on long journeys and the extremely well. The first stage of the Game Boy game takes elements
link cable multiplayer added some welcome from the first two stages of the arcade original, and begins to deviate
longevity. The inclusion of Mario as umpire more heavily from the second stage onwards as platforming elements
added some personality to proceedings, greatly Donkey Kong are introduced. Only the inclusion of link cable co-op could have seen this
boosting the game’s memorability. ■ DEVELOPER: NINTENDO excellent conversion climb higher.
■ YEAR: 1994 ■ GENRE: PLATFORMER

8
This impressive re-imagining of Donkey
Kong starts off simple, with the first
four stages taken from the arcade “I’m still playing it
game, leading many to believe it’s nothing more some 24 years later.
than an impressive port of the original arcade
game. Nintendo plays a trump card, however,
Love it!”
when the single-screen stages give way as the Combo
game turns into a completely different beast. Breaker
Dozens of puzzle platforming stages await Mario,
who needs to find keys to exit each stage. The
game also features some great boss encounters
with Donkey Kong himself, often returning to
the style of the original game. It’s also fully
compatible with the Super Game Boy.
43
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 Wario Land:
Super Mario Land 3
■ DEVELOPER: NINTENDO
■ YEAR: 1993 ■ GENRE: PLATFORMER

5
Wario’s own platformer pipped his villainous
debut to make your top five. More than a mere
spin-off, Nintendo showed its confidence in the
quality of Wario Land by giving it the Super Mario Land 3
title. Reflecting his origins as the bad guy, Wario is out to
collect as much cash as possible to buy a castle. The
contrast is plain to see in play, too – Mario lightly hops on
the heads of his enemies, whereas Wario rams into them
with a shoulder barge. Overall, an excellent platform
adventure that turned a one-shot villain into a star.

Super Mario Land 2: PokémonRed

PokEmon RedAnd
AndBlue
Blue
6 Golden Coins ■ DEVELOPER: GAME FREAK
■ YEAR: 1996 ■ GENRE: RPG

4
■ DEVELOPER: NINTENDO
Pokémon
Pokémon’s’sdesign
designlegacy
legacy stretches
stretches
■ YEAR: 1993 ■ GENRE: PLATFORMER
back to the early life of the Game

6
Super Mario Land 2 was an impressive technical showcase, Boy, with Satoshi Tajiri’s first concept
highlighting how far Game Boy development had come since documents dating back to 1990, but it didn’t
1989. Where the original game featured very basic visuals, a arrive until 1996 – and gamers outside of Japan
massively increased cartridge capacity allowed Super Mario Land 2 to had to wait even longer. But the timing worked
feature much more detailed visuals. And while Super Mario Land had a out for Nintendo. While the meat of the game
linear progression, the sequel allowed players to tackle its six worlds in any was of a high quality, players worldwide dusted
order before taking on the game’s villain, the debuting Wario. off their hardware for the multiplayer features.
While it places highly, Super Mario Land 2 failed to best its predecessor With each version boasting exclusive monsters,
in the voting. Players were divided by the differences, with some favouring the full collection of 151 Pokémon can only be
the improved visuals of the second game and others preferring the more obtained by trading with other players, making
challenging gameplay of the first. Pokémon the best reason to own a link cable.

Super
Mario Land The Legend
■ DEVELOPER: NINTENDO Of Zelda:
■ YEAR: 1989 ■ GENRE: PLATFORMER Link’s
3 Awakening
It might be visually simple, but you
chose the original Super Mario Land
■ DEVELOPER: NINTENDO
over the sequel – and it wasn’t close.
■ YEAR: 1993 ■ GENRE: ACTION-RPG
Mario’s Game Boy debut contains the classic

2
gameplay we’ve come to expect from the Far ahead of the rest of the field
plumber’s platform outings, but as the only and running the winner close,
entry in the Mario series directed by Satoru Link’s Awakening reaches second
Okada, the game has some distinctive features place. It’s not hard to see why – the
that set it apart from other Mario games. game is absolutely fantastic, successfully
capturing the sense of adventure that we
Fireballs can be used to collect coins that lie out
of Mario’s reach, a fact taken into account by expect from the series. The large world
level designers, while distinctive enemies suchand top-down monster slashing, the solid
foundations on which 2D Zelda games are
as sphinxes and robots help the game to stick in
the memory. built, are both intact. However, it is the
strength of storytelling that resonated with
players, leaving a long-lasting impression.
Much like Mystic Quest earlier in this list,
Link’s Awakening plays around with series
conventions by removing Link from his
“Has there ever normal Hyrule surroundings. There’s no
been a game that Triforce and even the titular princess is
demonstrated so starkly missing, as this classic adventure puts
the hero on Koholint Island, where he
that pretty graphics are seeks to wake the Wind Fish. While
always secondary to the characters you’ll encounter are
playability?” often funny, the tale eventually ends
on a memorable, bittersweet note.
Mr Pickle

44
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 TOP 25 GAME BOY GAMES

“This and the

Game Boy go hand
in hand, they were
made for each other”
M@rtin

Tetris
■ DEVELOPER: BULLET-PROOF SOFTWARE ■ YEAR: 1989 ■ GENRE: PUZZLE

1
Come on now – did you really think try again. And again. And a few more times. only problematic, but caused major problems
it was going to be anything else? As ‘one more go’ becomes the most-used for those contacted as they came under
Tetris was an absolute phenomenon, phrase in your vocabulary, you realise that suspicion of having contact from the west.
selling over 30 million copies and you’re attention has been sucked into the game. The eventual licensing negotiations were
single-handedly ensuring the Game And that’s before you even consider the equally conducted with a constant KGB presence,
Boy’s success over its numerous handheld compelling multiplayer mode. but introduced Henk to Tetris designer Alexey
competitors. While the Game Boy version Nintendo shrewdly made Tetris the official Pajitnov, who would receive little financial
wasn’t the original, the perfect combination of pack-in game for North America and Europe, benefit from the success of the Game Boy
software and hardware ensures that it remains with the universal appeal of the software release as the copyright belonged to the state,
the most fondly remembered. driving sales of the hardware and making the preventing him from claiming any royalties. The
The genius of Tetris is its simplicity – the game the best-selling Game Boy title in the two would eventually go into business together
game can be explained to a newcomer in a process. Even Pokémon a decade later couldn’t when Alexey regained the rights in 1996,
matter of seconds. Bricks fall from the top of topple the success of Tetris. forming The Tetris Company.
the screen, you use them to build a wall, and While Tetris is simple and the conversion Tetris is great no matter what you play it
completed rows disappear. The more rows process relatively uncomplicated, actually on, but the Game Boy version has always felt
you clear at once, the higher you’ll score. The getting the rights was famously challenging. like the perfect marriage of software and form
challenge of the game lies in keeping a single While the Cold War was nearing its end, the factor. The game is suitable for quick sessions
session going for as long as possible, with Soviet Union was still massively suspicious of and is one you’ll constantly want to return to, so
the constantly increasing speed of the game outsiders – particularly westerners – and the a version that you are able to take anywhere is
ensuring that you can’t last forever. But you unannounced arrival of Henk Rogers was no clearly going to be awesome – and that’s why
always feel you could have done better, so you small matter. Finding the right people was not it’s your favourite Game Boy game.

Five reasons why it’s great

The simple gameplay Tetris saves you money The rocket launch that The Game Boy’s
You can always carry a
of Tetris gives it – by being ridiculously follows a high-scoring rendition of Russian
copy of Tetris, thanks
universal appeal, which addictive, it reduces session is one of the folk song Korobeiniki
to the Game Boy’s
is unmatched by any the amount of time you greatest pats on the leaves an indelible
portable nature
other game have for other games back in gaming imprint on your brain

45
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 Mega Duck
» MANUFACTURER: Welback Holdings » YEAR: 1993
» COST: fl 129 (launch), £200 (today, unboxed)

hen Hong Kong-based Welback Holdings decided to enter

the handheld gaming market, the company was clearly
inspired by a rather popular handheld console that already
existed – and you’ll win no prizes for guessing which one.
Never mind the exterior design with its identical control configuration and
W
extraordinarily similar display – the Mega Duck is surprisingly similar
to the Game Boy on a technical level, too, to the point that some of
its games were later ported over pretty directly as unlicensed releases.
Additionally, a six-pin expansion port was available for multiplayer action on
the games that supported it.
A number of different companies marketed the system under the
Mega Duck name in continental Europe, including Creatronic, Videojet
and Hartung. In Brazil, the system was known as the Cougar Boy, with
the same games as the Mega Duck. Ultimately, the hardware failed to
significantly undercut the price of Nintendo’s machine, and without the
marketing budget or brand power to compete directly, the Mega Duck
Mega
did not last long in the marketplace. Just 24 known cartridge releases Duck fact
exist. However, the hardware didn’t disappear entirely, as Welback ■ Except for The Brick Wall by Timlex International,
Holdings soon pivoted to take on Vtech in the educational toy market – all games for the Mega Duck were developed by the
not that this went a great deal better. Taiwanese developer Thin Chen Enterprise, under the
Sachen and Commin brand names.

46
PROCESSOR: 8-BIT SHARP LR35902 CPU (4.19 MHZ)
RAM: 16KB RAM
GRAPHICS: 2.7-INCH 160X144 DISPLAY,
FOUR SHADE GREYSCALE
AUDIO: TWO-CHANNEL STEREO SOUND

THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION

MEDIA: 36 PIN ROM CARTRIDGE
POWER: FOUR AA BATTERIES
(15 HOURS PLAYTIME APPROX)
 ESSENTIAL GAME
Railway
This puzzler has quite a lot in common

47
with the old Pipe Mania puzzle design.
Your job is to use a random selection
of track pieces to lay a complete
line between preset start and end
points – fail to connect them, and the

THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION

train will crash. You’ll gain points for
quick track completion and lose them
for wasting pieces. As play goes on,
obstacles begin to appear that you’ll
need to build around, and minimum
track length requirements start to
complicate your designs. It’s not the
most original game, but it’s a good take
on an established template.

SYSTEM
THE IMPACT OF THE GAME BOY

SUPPLIED BY
EVAN
AMOS
 ATARI
RETROINSPECTION

LYNX

48
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 RETROINSPECTION: ATARI LYNX

G
rab your suit and passport.” Dave Needle looks up. INSTANT EXPERT
A full-colour It’s three o’clock in the afternoon and standing in
his office is David Morse, the CEO of Epyx, with
The Lynx was the world’s
first colour handheld console
and was initially sold with

screen, 16-bit
an urgent look on his face. “I need you to join me California Games.
on a flight to Japan. The plane leaves in three hours.” Dave It came packaged with a case,
Needle glances at his watch and then dashes home. Uncertain a ComLynx cable and AC adapter

technology and
(later replaced by six rapidly
of exactly what is happening, he nevertheless grabs his best depleting AA batteries).
suit, takes his passport from his drawer and hurries to the The handheld was developed
by Epyx using the talents of
San Francisco airport.
awesome games.
Dave Needle and RJ Mical and
Morse and Epyx board member Joe Horowitz are waiting for attracted Atari’s interest even
him. They board the plane, making their way to the upper deck though both had been members
of the Amiga design team.

Epyx thought
of the half-empty jumbo jet heading for the Land Of The Rising Dave and RJ had based
Sun. As the plane takes off, Morse begins to explain what’s the Lynx developer’s kit around a
Commodore Amiga.
happening. A private meeting has been set up with Nintendo

Nintendo would
With a 3.5-inch screen, the Lynx
luminary Shigeru Miyamoto, with one simple goal: selling the visually packed a punch. The
‘Handy’. The handheld console that Needle and colleague RJ screen could even be flipped to
allow for left or right-handed play.
Mical have been working on needs to be sold. Epyx doesn’t
jump at the chance
There was a two-inch speaker
have the available finances to take the product to market and it (the Lynx II had two speakers)
and an eight-directional joypad.
might just be possible that Nintendo can be persuaded to buy The console had two basic

of snapping up
it and put it out as one of its own products. chips and they each had a name
As they snack on shrimp, cheese and caviar, Needle feels too: Mikey and Suzy. (Aww!)
Both were 16-bit custom CMOS
uneasy. Something isn’t quite right. Many decades later, chips running at 16MHz and were

‘The Handy’, its he recalls exactly what he was thinking, “We didn’t have a
planned presentation”, he says. “I felt it wasn’t the sort of
run via an 8-bit CPU.
While Mikey ran the sound and
video driver, Suzy looked after
pitch that you made off the cuff. It would take a lot of work
fledgling handheld
the blitter, sprite rendering and
to present it properly. It was Japan. I’d dealt with this sort of hardware scrolling.
Game cartridges could hold up
stuff before, and if we were going to be on their playing field, to 2MB of data that was loaded

console. But as
we must play by their rules.” Needle’s instinct was right. Joe into the Lynx’s 64K of memory.
Horowitz was convinced that they would be able to force their Most of the cartridges, however,
were 128K.
way into Nintendo’s pocket. And while David Morse remained Up to 18 players could link up

David Crookes sceptical, he was powerless to call a halt to proceedings. The

flight to Japan was to prove lengthy.
using the ComLynx cable as long
as they had their own copy of the
game. Infrared was going to be
The meeting had been set up by Henk Rogers, a
reveals, Epyx
used initially.
Dutch‑born videogame designer and entrepreneur known
for successfully winning the handheld and console licences » In an attempt to boost sales, Atari

was in for a bit

of Tetris from the former Soviet Ministry Of Software reduced the price of the Lynx to just
a whisker below $100.
And Hardware. Henk had snatched the rights from
under the nose of The Mirror chief Robert Maxwell. At

of shock… this moment in time, however, he was helping Epyx

make its pitch. He knew the president of Nintendo
extremely well, and Epyx figured this would be a
fundamental contact in the whole business.
What Epyx hadn’t predicted, however, was the
aggressive pitch put forward by Joe. “We were
in the presence of Nintendo,” Needle recalls. “Joe
tried a hard sell, and as he spoke, David and I felt our
faces turn red. It carried on for some time, and before
long we were ordered out of the building. It was just too
strong. Yet it didn’t stop Joe – he got even louder. Luckily,
Henk intervened and put an end to the pitch. Nintendo

Year released: 1989 (US) 1990 (UK)

Original price: $189.95/£189.99
Buy it now for: £100+
Why the Lynx was great… With its great full-colour screen and a roster of remarkably
solid arcade conversions, Lynx was ahead of its time. And although it had poor battery life,
titles such as Chip’s Challenge, California Games and Klax were worth charging them up for.
While the Lynx often gets to thank Atari for hanging it out to dry, it really was a pioneering
and robust console that absolutely deserves its moment in the spotlight.

49
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 A Lynx To The TV then allowed us to remain for a moment so the reps could
When the Atari Lynx was being show us something.”
created, the team pondered
whether or not to enable it to A pair of small boxes were brought into the room. They
be hooked up to a television. were placed on a table and opened in front of us. Dave Needle,
The idea was cast aside, David Morse and Joe Horowitz glanced across at each other
however, because it was
decided it would prove too nervously, uncertain of what was about to be revealed. Inside
limiting to the architecture if the each box was a set of handheld videogame consoles. There
handheld needed to produce a
TV-compatible image. was a communications cable that enabled them to be played
“Things like frame-rate, together, and it was ready to go to market. “We were the first » These pictures show the actual working emulation of the Handy used during prototype stages.
aspect ratio, line count, colour non-Nintendo people to learn of the existence of the Nintendo
saturation limits and so on were
just too limiting,” explained Game Boy,” Needle claims, recoiling even at the memory. “We one of economy.” Needle adds: “If the low-cost glass and
Dave Needle. “So we declared were crushed. Joe was infuriated. The Nintendo boss left the drivers would have supported a million colours, I would have
that no work would be done
for any TV capability at all. The
room and we just sat there, wondering what to do next.” done it.” It was decided that the 65C02 chip would be used

T
downside was that it was hard since it outperformed the rest and the Handy also became
to do screenshots for the press. he Handy was an ambitious project. A full-colour, the first gaming console with hardware support for zooming
The upside had a surprise, in
that Sharp, our first selection 16-bit handheld games console that was so far ahead and distortion of sprites. It allowed for fast pseudo-three-
for the LCD manufacturer, had of its time, it took 12 years before anyone bettered it. It dimensional games and made life easy for programmers.
refused to help us because it
feared that the final product
was devised by Morse, Needle and RJ Mical, working “Many engineers knew it and would happily program in
could be used as a TV and with a large, talented team at Epyx and had been drawn up assembly for it,” RJ says. “There was a large existing body of
thus hurt its LCD TV sales. The on napkins in August 1986 while the trio were code because the 65C02 was in popular systems
architectural impossibility of a
enjoying a meal in a cafe in the affluent Foster such as the Apple II and the Commodore 64.”
TV version gave us the needed
inroads. In the end, we used City, California. They were already heavily “It was Japan. Best of all, though, it was cheap and fast. Needle
the Citizen LCD, although it had
involved in the computer industry: Morse had explains: “I invented the technique for planar
similar concerns.” One idea to
allow the Lynx to be used with been the mastermind of the Amiga home I’d dealt with expansion/shrinking capability for an arcade game
a television was also rejected, computer, and RJ and Needle were members I had done several years before. It was a space
mainly due to the fact that the
Lynx screen was not up to of that team and had played a large part in its this sort of stuff alien/earth attack game with a 3D rotating planet,
broadcast standards. creation. It was time to start something new. 3D giant robots, ground-tracking shadows and
“We were really intrigued by the idea of before, and if was pretty cool. We also came up with a way of
» Cartridges came in several
creating a handheld console,” says Needle. “We avoiding filled polygons by taking a triangle and
different forms: flat, ridged and
curved lip knew it was possible and so we cracked on we were going sizing it as you wished. It’s not as great as a real
with it straight away.” As for the ‘Handy’ name: polygon, but this way the surfaces had full texture
“I can’t remember how we got the name,” to be on their all the time with no performance penalty.”
says RJ. “Everyone was popping up with While work progressed on the hardware, Epyx
clever stuff in those days. They were heady playing field continued to produce videogames such as Chip’s
times filled with promise and productivity. Challenge and a Handy department was created.
Man, we jammed.” we must At one point, it was sealed off from the rest of the
Before long, Epyx had assembled a team building for security. It was decided that cartridges
large enough to look after the software, play by their would be used for the games. Although there had
hardware, industrial design and audio been reports that games were going to be loaded
facilities of the console. Morse, who had rules” from tape, RJ says there was no truth in them.
been installed as Epyx’s CEO after founder “We did think about hard disk a little…”
Jim Connelley decided to leave, put Dave Needle Yet by the time the machine was ready, Epyx
the entire process together and led the project had hit financial problems. The Commodore 64
from the start. market, which was Epyx’s core audience, wasn’t pulling in the
The first prototype of the Epyx’s handheld had a black-and- cash anymore. It had also invested in VCR games but with little
white screen. “But it didn’t have the ‘zing’ we thought it ought success. Staff levels were falling from around 200 at its peak to
to have,” says Needle. “Many people in the group wanted just 20 employees. If the Handy was ever going to be released,
us to stick to black and white. They said the cost, battery life, it would need the backing of another company. Hence, the
weight and viewability effects of changing to colour would ill‑fated journey to Nintendo…

W
hurt the product.” Yet Needle and RJ stuck to their guns and
the project shifted to colour – 4,096 of them, the same number hen that fell through, Horowitz decided to
as the Amiga. “It was a continuation but we weren’t creating approach Atari and made a phone call to Jack
a handheld Amiga,” says RJ. “The leading-edge display was Tramiel, the chief executive at that time. Atari
the most expensive component, so the colour choice was had already tried its hand at producing a portable
machine, the Atari 2200, which was based on the Atari 2600,
but it just couldn’t seem to get it right. Atari began to ignore the
growing stature of consoles and had become heavily involved
in a business war against Commodore. Jack Tramiel finally
realised the worth of consoles when the NES stormed onto the
market – so he was rather taken by the Handy, believing it to be
a great way back to console dominance.
Soon after Joe Horowitz approached Atari, Jack’s son, Sam,
went to Epyx. He was greeted by Joe and shown around.
They then sat in an office and discussed some terms. It was
eventually decided that Atari would manufacture and market
the handheld console and Epyx would create the videogames,
getting paid by Atari for each title that was produced. However,
© Evan-Amos

in the contract was a clause that issued Epyx a deadline. For

50
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 RETROINSPECTION: ATARI LYNX

OTHER VERSIONS…
Lynx II
One of the hallmarks of the Atari Lynx (other than poor
battery power and the ability to flip the screen upside
down so that left-handers could play) was its size. It
was enormous. So when Atari decided that competition
from the more compact Game Boy meant that the
Lynx needed a revamp, one of the first things it did
was cut it down to size. But that’s not all. As well as
making the rubber hand-gripped Lynx II smaller, the
battery power was enhanced, it added stereo sound
and it had a power-saving pause option that turned off
the improved screen. It was also cheaper, retailing at
£99, although it didn’t come with any accessories or
a game. “By removing the game cartridge, we have
brought the price down below
the psychological £100 price
point,” Atari spokesman Peter
Walker said at the time.

» Checkered Flag was a top racer for

the Lynx and highly sought after.

example, the company had 60 days to fix any bugs that Atari caused them to overheat.” Nevertheless, sales picked up and it
said needed to be rectified. Needle says: “Atari routinely waited seemed Atari was onto a winner.
until the end of the Epyx time period to comment on the Epyx Then came Sega and its Game Gear in 1991. For Lynx,
fixes.” According to Needle, Atari decided to “punish” Epyx by this meant the end was nigh. Although the Lynx remained
withholding payment. In the end, this sent Epyx into financial the superior machine, the Game Gear benefited from Sega’s
turmoil. Atari did hold out a lifeline – paying Epyx, but only on advertising drive and the company’s vast resources. What was
the condition that it handed over the Handy. more frustrating was Game Gear’s similarities to Lynx.

T
“Game Gear was an interesting issue,” Needle remembers.
he deal obviously upset RJ and Needle. They asked “Sega was shown all of the Handy’s innards and schematics
their lawyers if they could leave Epyx, but they were and specs as part of an attempt to partner with them after the
» Atari’s Lynx catalogue showed off
advised that it would be seen as an overt action by Epyx marketing fiasco. And to see what I consider to be pretty the large number of games.
them to damage Atari and that they could be sued. much a copy of the Handy was a bit infuriating.” He continues,
The pair remained at Epyx until the hardware handover was “I had become friends with one of the engineers at Sega,
complete, turning down an offer from Sam to work at Atari. and during the last development stages of the Game Gear,
With Morse, RJ and Needle’s involvement in the project after I had already left Epyx, Sega hired me to help with a few
coming to an abrupt halt, Atari took the Handy and renamed lingering product issues.”
it the ‘Lynx’. It was two years before the company released Despite the problems, Dave Needle remains proud of the
the console in September 1989 however, and by that time Lynx. Among his favourite games for the handheld are Chip’s
Nintendo’s Game Boy had also been released. “Looking back, Challenge, Gates Of Zendocon and California Games. “It’s
if we had decided not to go colour,” says Needle, “we would a matter of pride that no one created anything better for 12
have been a zero. The Game Boy really would have trounced years,” he adds. RJ maintains that, “All the Lynx needed was
us.” As it was, the colour feature of the Lynx kept the machine low cost and a huge library of software. But I place the blame
in the limelight, although it wasn’t plain sailing. The Lynx cost for both of these in Atari’s lap…”
» Wonderful puzzle game Chip’s
$189.95 and the Game Boy retailed for $89.95. Many felt the Challenge was one of the Lynx’s
Lynx was too expensive at the time and there was a vicious most endearing titles.
circle of few purchases, putting off third-party developers,
which, in turn, lead to fewer and fewer purchases. Anti Red-Eye
As sales continued to fall, Atari tweaked the machine and Although RJ Mical was happy
with the Lynx, saying, “We
created the Lynx II. It retailed for half the price of the original, got exactly what we set out to
and was smaller and cheaper to make – plus it had stereo create,” one feature he would
have liked was infrared. Named
sound, as well as better battery life and a pause option that RedEye, the infrared capability
allowed the screen to be turned off, thus saving power. was demonstrated in the lab
Needle wasn’t convinced by the changes. “During the but it was decided to go for the
ComLynx instead.
handover, [Atari’s] mechanical engineer made some changes,” “RedEye would have been
he said. “The guy told me that he always liked to put a piece of cool,” says RJ. “You would
need to maintain ‘line of sight’
himself in any product he worked on. He changed the backlight
between players, though,
electronics and the transformer design and reduced the battery and that could have been a
life. But he also changed the high‑voltage capacitor to one with problem. We dreaded the feared
‘crossing legs boy’ who would
considerably more leakage at the oscillation frequency and it fold his legs over and block his
generated considerable heat. The new load on the batteries » Colourful and pretty games such as Toki made full use of the colour capabilities of the Lynx. unit from the network.”

51
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
PERFECT TEN GAMES
It may have been KO’d by the Game Boy, but Atari’s Lynx was still home to some wonderful games
and arcade conversions. Don’t believe us? Then check this lovely little selection of classics out…

CHIP’S CHALLENGE KLAX

RELEASED: 1989 RELEASED: 1990
DEVELOPED BY: EPYX DEVELOPED BY: ATARI
BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: SUMMER GAMES BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: GAUNTLET

01 There is no shortage of puzzlers on the Lynx, but

when the quality is as good as Chip’s Challenge
you don’t tend to mind them cluttering up the console
02 Klax is easily deserving of a place in this top ten
and it’s not just because it features the most
pleasant videogame voice of all time. Converted from
(or this Perfect Ten for that matter). While the concept the Tengen coin-op, Klax is an almost perfect arcade
itself is not particularly original (you basically have adaptation that not only captures the authenticity of the
to move Chip around each maze in search of a set original but also proves that the Lynx was no slouch
amount of computer chips) it has been put together when it came to hosting great puzzlers. Deceptively
with so much love, care and attention that you can’t simple to pick up – all you have to do is stack three
help but become smitten with it. Chip himself may be tiles of the same colour on top of one another, either
only a few pixels high, but he’s full of character and horizontally, vertically or diagonally – Klax is perfect
you can’t help but feel for him as he carries out his proof that you didn’t need to own a handheld with a
tricky quest. It may have been ported over to a number monochrome screen in order to appreciate one of the
of different machines since its release, but the bite-size world’s best puzzle games. And yes, that does mean we
puzzles make this perfect fodder for Atari’s handheld. like this just as much as Tetris. Oh, controversy…
01
RAMPART LEMMINGS S.T.U.N. RUNNER
RELEASED: 1991 RELEASED: 1993 RELEASED: 1991
PUBLISHED BY: ATARI PUBLISHED BY: ATARI DEVELOPED BY: ATARI
BY THE SAME PUBLISHER: BATTLEZONE BY THE SAME PUBLISHER: PAPERBOY BY THE SAME DEVELOPER:

03 04
CHAMPIONSHIP SPRINT
It might not match the Lemmings has appeared
majesty of its arcade parent,
but there’s still plenty to love
about this extremely slick Lynx
on virtually every console
and computer that has ever been
made, so it should come as no
05 If anyone doubts the power
of Atari’s Lynx, simply
shove a copy of S.T.U.N. Runner
conversion. While it suffers from surprise that the loveable mop- under their noses and watch them
the lack of a trackball, it still plays tops can also be found on the Atari go into serious denial. While it
well and doesn’t let you down on Lynx. What is surprising, though, obviously can’t hope to match
later levels once the action speeds is just how good an adaptation of the insane slickness and plentiful
up. The mix of Tetris-styled wall Lemmings this actually is. Despite polygons of the arcade original,
building and strategic blasting the small screen and lack of a this Lynx conversion is amazingly
works perfectly and makes for a mouse there are no problems polished and perfectly captures
very unique experience. It’s a lot with this spot-on conversion. Your the atmosphere of its larger peer.
tougher than the original (because little fellas are perfectly animated Granted, it’s far more unforgiving
the enemy ships can now drop off and full of character, the levels are than its bigger brother – you’ll
ground forces) and the loss of the easy to navigate and it’s incredibly find the controls a little sensitive
third player is a shame (the Lynx intuitive to select each class. In to begin with – and the gameplay
should easily be able to handle fact, the only thing that is likely to is rather simplistic, but if you’re

02 it), but this is otherwise another

cracking conversion and a healthy
put fans off is that you’re going
to be extremely unlikely to find a
looking for a thrilling racer on
Atari’s handheld you won’t find
addition to the Lynx’s library. copy of the game for a low price. anything better.

03 04 05
52
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 ATARI LYNX PERFECT TEN GAMES

06 07 08
BLUE LIGHTNING XENOPHOBE ALPINE GAMES
RELEASED: 1989 RELEASED: 1992 RELEASED: 2004
DEVELOPED BY: EPYX PUBLISHED BY: ATARI DEVELOPED BY: DURANIK
BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: BY THE SAME PUBLISHER: BILL AND BY THE SAME PUBLISHER:
IMPOSSIBLE MISSION TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE NATIVE DEMO

06 This may well have been

one of the earliest titles
to show off the Lynx’s graphical
07 While the Lynx had many
fine conversions, it was only
really Xenophobe that managed
08 Normally, we wouldn’t cover
a homebrew title in our
Perfect Ten for fear of upsetting
grunt, but that’s not to say it to notably improve on its arcade people, but Alpine Games is
wasn’t a superb game in its own original. For starters, the controls so brilliant that it would have
right. Essentially Atari’s answer were streamlined and far easier been criminal not to include it.
to After Burner and Star Fox, Blue to use (the arcade’s three-button Essentially a homage to Epyx’s
Lightning put you at the stick of an joystick was quite cumbersome), sports games of old, Alpine
advanced military jet and required new items like the jetpack enabled Games ups the ante considerably
you to shoot down wave upon you to fly around the space station by featuring nine events, nifty
wave upon wave of enemy without taking damage, while digitised music and some
fighters. Sure, it gets repetitive, several new multiplayer modes astounding visuals that push
however the action is always fast kept the gameplay fresh and the Lynx further than we’ve ever
and frantic, the nine levels have a exciting. Add in some cartoony seen. The bobsleigh, in particular,
variety of nice environments to fly visuals that perfectly mimicked looks absolutely amazing, but
through, and the scaling effects the arcade parent and the end it’s the finely balanced gameplay
are truly fantastic on this plucky
handheld. If you’re looking for a
result is a highly enjoyable
multiplayer experience that proves
that really manages to impress. It
may cost over £20, but no Lynx
09
good blaster then set your sights hunting down aliens on the go can owner should be without this
on Blue Lightning. be as fun as it sounds. fantastic title.

TODD’S ADVENTURES ZARLOR MERCENARY

IN SLIME WORLD RELEASED: 1990
RELEASED: 1992 DEVELOPED BY: EPYX
PUBLISHED BY: EPYX BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: CALIFORNIA GAMES
BY THE SAME PUBLISHER: WINTER GAMES
10 With Robotron: 2084 just missing out due to its
overly complex control system, Zarlor Mercenary
09 We were going to go with Bill And Ted, but we
decided that Todd’s Adventures is slightly better
(it was a really close call, though). Anyway, Slime World
quickly swoops in and deservedly steals the last
position in our prestigious top ten. Set across six huge
and incredibly varied levels, Zarlor Mercenary doesn’t
sees you thrown into a series of caverns in search of
do anything astoundingly new, but what it does do is
precious Slime Gems. Sadly for Todd, Slime World is
exceptionally well polished. Destroyed enemies release
literally covered in gross icky enemies, so you’ll need to
coins that can then be spent on power-ups, there
constantly keep his water gun filled up so you can clean
are some genuinely tough bosses to topple and the
up the pulsating planet. Like many Lynx titles, Slime
pseudo-3D visuals used throughout the game are very
World is very pretty and the slime-coated caverns that
effective. There’s even a superb multiplayer option that
Todd explores are constantly in motion. Slime World
enables you to team up with three other pilots to take
itself is absolutely huge and it will take an age to fully
on the enemy forces together. Truely cracking stuff.
explore this Metroid-styled adventure.
Thanks to AtariAge.com for providing screenshots 10
53
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
ATARI LYNX
HIDDEN GEMS
INTERESTING GAMES YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED

BATTLEZONE 2000
■ DEVELOPER: HANDMADE SOFTWARE ■ YEAR: 1995

■ By 1995, the Atari Lynx was its limited funds meant that its to tweak their shield, ammo
a footnote. Many had left the impressive portable never received and fuel, safe in the knowledge
» [Lynx] The hidden Battlezone looks completely
different; those icons can be interacted with too. system behind due to the well a second stab at success. that suitable power-ups could
running dry and few games were Initial appearances suggested be picked up on the field during
getting released. And yet, in the that Battlezone 2000 was a simple play. Some levels required you
same year that the PlayStation adaptation of the once–popular to destroy a set number of tanks,
and Saturn began to make their arcade game, but playing it while others requested that the
presence felt, Atari released two revealed this wasn’t the case at all. stage be completed in a specific
of the Lynx’s most impressive Although Battlezone 2000 looked amount of time or that a certain
games: one was Super Asteroid & similar to the arcade original, it was point threshold was met. It kept the
Missile Command, the other was structured completely different, game interesting, and, coupled with
Battlezone 2000. Both games were with a variety of different missions the slick controls, meant that the
part of a planned Lynx relaunch, and several tanks to choose from. pace of Battlezone 2000 was always
» [Lynx] There are 2,000 Zones to battle through
in the game, meaning you’ll be playing for a while. but Atari diverted all its attention The tanks themselves could be exciting, more so if you could link
to its Jaguar console instead, and customised and it was possible up with three other players.

54
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 ATARI LYNX HIDDEN GEMS

» [Lynx] There are three different tanks, and you

can make a large number of adjustments to each
one before battle.

As good as Battlezone 2000

was, this aspect of the game tells
only half the story. Amazingly, the
developers locked an enhanced
version of Battlezone 2000 inside
the game, with no clear indication
in the instructions on how to
reach it. It’s unclear why it was
kept hidden (some speculate that
Atari felt it was too difficult and
complicated for players to grasp)
but it’s an astonishingly bone-
headed move as it’s truly excellent.
For starters it looks fantastic as LEVEL-UP TANK TROUBLE WARNING, CLASSIC
it features filled polygons and full ■ Every wave in Battlezone 2000 ■ There are a variety of INCOMING TOUCHES
colour graphics. It obviously takes is different and ensures that the different tanks in the game and OBJECTS! ■ As well as looking similar to
a hit speed-wise compared to the game feels fresh. Shoot first they’re all tough to deal with. ■ As with the original game, the original, Battlezone 2000
wireframe version of the game, but and ask questions later and you You’ll need to react quickly if there are objects that can be also features the volcano. It’s a
it still moves at an impressive rate will be fine. you want to defeat all of them. used to hide behind. neat nod to the coin-op classic.
and easily puts many similar games
on home systems to shame.
It builds on the mission structure
of the standard Lynx game, but
adds things like independent
movement (activated by pressing
Option 1) a huge map with different
environments and objectives to
complete and a ridiculous amount
of customisation that admittedly
feels a little daunting the first
time you encounter it. Persevere,
however, and you’ll discover that
this second iteration of Battlezone
has a lot to offer. Yes, it’s a little
fiddly due to having to access out
of the way icons during play, but it’s
incredibly satisfying all the same.
The game is absolutely huge in size SPECTRE BATTLEZONE WORLD OF TANKS
too, as that gigantic map essentially SUPER NINTENDO XBOX 360 PC
consists of 2,000 different ■ It’s not the terrible James Bond film, ■ Created by Stainless Games in 2008, ■ This free-to-play online battler has
levels to complete, meaning but a vector-based combat game that’s Battlezone includes the original arcade been a phenomenal success, allowing
Handmade Software’s game will very similar to Battlezone. The player classic (complete with achievements players to compete against others in a
take an absolute age to master. must roam around a large playfield on the and leaderboards) but also adds a variety of frantic battles. There are six
Battlezone 2000 is a game that hunt for a number of flags while avoiding new ‘Evolved’ mode. While similar to different types of battles to participate in,
every Lynx owner needs in their other tanks. It started off life on the the original, it adds additional game along with camouflage mechanics and
collection, just be aware that its late Apple Mac, with the SNES version being components, including Team Deathmatch lots of customisation. It also boasts a
launch means those copies that do an enhanced update. and Capture The Flag options. surprisingly fair free-to-play model too.
crop up are typically pricey.

55
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
BATTLEWHEELS
■ DEVELOPER: BEYOND GAMES ■ YEAR: 1993 » [Lynx] It’s possible to check
out the action from the side
■ It’s a pity Kris N Johnson only made a couple of and rear windows.
games for the Lynx, because he really coaxed the
best out of it. For those that have never played it,
BattleWheels is a fast-paced action game that plays
to the Lynx’s strengths and reveals just how capable
Atari’s console was when it was in the right hands.
Graphically, it’s rather astonishing with some truly
impressive scaling results that still manage to wow
today. Vehicles tear around the screen at a decent
frame-rate while downed enemies get out of their
wrecked cars and rush towards you. Explosions fill
the screen constantly, while the first-person view
throws you right into the action, allowing you to soak
up the carnage that’s happening in front of you.
The gameplay of BattleWheels can’t match the
spectacle of its aesthetics but it remains enjoyable.
Essentially, it’s an arena-based multiplayer game and
is at its best played against other Lynx owners. While
the game caters for up to six players, it’s likely that
most Lynx owners will have only experienced it as a
single-player game where you’re thrown into a large
arena and must take out the other players as quickly » [Lynx] There are an array of options, allowing you to » [Lynx] You can even enter the arena of » [Lynx] The scaling throughout is very impressive
as possible. Your vehicle is armed with a suitable change the number of enemies and types of vehicles used. BattleWheels on foot, but it’s not really advised… and highlights the power of Atari’s handheld.
array of weaponry, and buildings provide useful
cover against opponents. It creates a nice dynamic
too, allowing you to expose yourself briefly to down
enemies, before scurrying back to cover again.
While BattleWheels is aimed at multiplayer, the AI
is challenging enough to ensure that playing on your
own doesn’t feel like a chore. If you can find some
extra players though, you’ll discover BattleWheels to
be one of the best multiplayer games on the system.

» DIRTY LARRY: » GORDO 106 » ISHIDO: THE WAY » MALIBU BIKINI

RENEGADE COP ■ DEVELOPER: TENTH PLANET
■ YEAR: 1992
OF THE STONES VOLLEYBALL
■ DEVELOPER: KNIGHT TECHNOLOGIES ■ DEVELOPER: SOFTWARE RESOURCES ■ DEVELOPER: HANDMADE SOFTWARE
■ YEAR: 1992 ■ This is one of the Lynx’s most INTERNATIONAL ■ YEAR: 1991 ■ YEAR: 1993
■ This may be just another scrolling interesting platformers and revolves ■ This puzzle game is easy to grasp, ■ This is another solid effort from
beat-’em-up but it’s one that tries around helping test subject Gordo 106 but difficult to master. The idea is Handmade Software. Graphically, it’s
to break the mould. Unlike many of escape from a mad scientist’s lab. to place 72 stones on a game board neat with strong animation and crisp
its peers, Dirty Larry immediately The gameplay is a little tricky due consisting of 96 squares. Each pair of visuals. Options-wise, Volleyball is
arms you with a gun, giving you to the numerous bottomless pits stones has a colour and a symbol, and substantial; you can adjust the play
an advantage against the city’s and finicky controls, but once you there are six colours and symbols in time, the wind speed and the points
scumbags. It also features narration get the hang of it you’ll be swinging each set, making 72 stones in total. needed to win and it caters for up to
from Larry, which captures from light to light and running around It sounds straightforward, but the four players via the ComLynx. It takes
the gumshoe vibe that Knight the lab with ease. Gordo 106 isn’t need to ensure that each placed stone time to get used to spiking the ball
Technologies has been inspired by. It groundbreaking, but it plays well and matches those adjacent to it will soon and your partner’s AI is can be erratic,
lacks variety, but it is fun while it lasts. features impressively large sprites. cause major headaches. but it still manages to deliver.

56
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 ATARI LYNX HIDDEN GEMS

CHECKERED FLAG
» [Lynx] Spinning out may look
rather cool but it costs you
precious time.

■ DEVELOPER: ATARI CORPORATION ■ YEAR: 1991

■ If we have one complaint about Checkered

Flag it is that it’s a little unforgiving at times. The
AI is quite ferocious, even on the earlier stages,
meaning you have to constantly battle for position
as you tear around the well-designed tracks. Of
course, some will enjoy this, as games need to be
challenging, but we’ll admit that others might not
appreciate the rather high entry level.
Get past this, however, and you’ll discover a
lot to enjoy about this spiritual successor to Pole
Position. Graphically it’s very good with great
animation and super slick scrolling. It’s not quite
as fast as we’d like, but it remains solid and there’s
plenty of trackside detail. It even features a neat
follow camera, with the player able to switch
between other racers with a press of Option 1 if
they get knocked out of a race. » [Lynx] Female characters get smooched by » [Lynx] Checkered Flag offers all sorts of different
a male model upon winning. options to tweak.
There’s a surprising amount of customisation
to be found in Checkered Flag from the number
of drones you can race against to the amount of
laps and whether you race as a male or female
driver. You can participate in practice runs, take
part in single heats or even compete in a lengthy
tournament. The range of options on display is
highly impressive ensuring plenty of longevity, » KUN
even outside of the six-player multiplayer mode. ■ DEVE G FOOD
LOPER:
LORE

The AI is quite ferocious, even on the

■ A scro GAMES
■ YEAR
anthrop lling fighter w : 1992
omorph here yo
u beat u
earlier stages, meaning you have to but the ised foo p
reality is d migh
terrible t sound
videog . A truly fun
ame th
constantly battle for position
a awful
looking t has some de
sprites, cent
but ver
little els y
e.

» DRACULA » DINOLYMPICS » SHANGHAI » AWESOME GOLF

THE UNDEAD ■ DEVELOPER: IMAGITEC DESIGN ■ DEVELOPER: MEDIAGENIC ■ DEVELOPER: HANDMADE SOFTWARE
■ DEVELOPER: HANDMADE SOFTWARE ■ YEAR: 1992 ■ YEAR: 1990 ■ YEAR: 1991
■ YEAR: 1992 ■ It’s easy to dismiss Dinolympics as ■ Here we have an incredibly ■ It’s not quite as awesome as its
■ As far as we’re aware this is the a Lemmings rip-off, but it’s definitely simplistic game, but it’s an title suggests, but Handmade’s golf
only videogame representation of the its own game. Each level gives you a exceptionally satisfying one too. game is an essential addition to any
late Christopher Lee as Dracula. The specific task, from collecting a spear There are a number of different board Lynx library. There are three courses
sepia tones of Dracula suit it well, to protecting an idol, and it must layouts to choose from, but the aim to choose from, set in America, Japan
making Handmade Software’s game be achieved with a set number of is always the same – clear every tile and England, it features an easy-to-
look like a living photograph. The cavemen - all of which have different by matching them two at a time. It use interface, there’s a large array of
game is entertaining, too, with the abilities. Levels start off simple, but sounds simple, but tiles can only be customisable options and an excellent
player taking on the role of Jonathan you’ll find yourself utilising various removed from the structure’s edges multiplayer mode. The swing meter
Harker as he escapes Dracula’s castle. skills as the stages get trickier. Oh, and Shanghai ’s randomised nature is a little daunting at first, but it soon
Dracula’s only shortfall is that it only and if it sounds like The Humans, it’s means you can face some tricky clicks, leaving you with an enjoyable
takes a few hours to complete. because it was renamed for the Lynx. combinations as play progresses. rendition of the popular sport.

57
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 R-Zone
fact
ESSENTIAL GAME ■ Because the R-Zone was often sold in a plastic

Batman Forever blister pack, which would inevitably be destroyed

upon opening, our ‘boxed’ price reflects that of
None of the R-Zone cartridges brand-new and sealed units.
offer a great deal of impressive
gameplay, so we’re choosing here PROCESSORS: NONE
based on significance to the system. RAM: NONE
Since Batman Forever was the GRAPHICS: NONE
original pack-in, and therefore one AUDIO: MONOTONE BEEPER
of the most common games, it’s MEDIA: DEDICATED CARTRIDGE
CONTAINING ALL GAME LOGIC
really the one we should highlight. AND DISPLAY
As the caped crusader, your job
is to wander along the rooftops,
punching enemies in the face as
they attack from the front or behind,
while jumping over wrecking balls
and gaps between buildings. It’s
very basic and the sound is ear-
splitting, but it somehow manages
to be more fun than Batman &
Robin on Tiger’s Game.com.

58
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 HARDWARE HEAVEN R-ZONE

R-Zone
» MANUFACTURER: Tiger Electronics » YEAR: 1995
» COST: £33.99 (launch), £100+ (today, boxed), £30+ (today, unboxed)

G
ive it points for style, at least – there’s no
doubting that Tiger’s R-Zone has a unique
look. The unit consists of a mirrored visor
attached to a headband, and looks just
about as futuristic as any mid-Nineties kid could
have hoped for, in much the same way as Konami’s
Laserscope attempted to a few years earlier.
Unfortunately, that’s just about the best thing you
can really say about the R-Zone, other than that
you’ll recognise licensed names like Virtua Fighter,
Mortal Kombat 3 and Men In Black.
The R-Zone hosted exactly the same sorts of LCD
games that Tiger had become well known for, but
sold as cartridges rather than dedicated handheld
units. Essentially, the R-Zone unit just provided
power, sound output and controls, as the cartridges
themselves contained all the game information
and their own dedicated displays. A red light was
shone through the LCD to give the final visual
display – with all the redness of the Virtual Boy, but
none of its impressive depth of field effects. The
R-Zone would be released in a few different guises,
including a more conventional handheld console, a
tabletop unit and even a PDA-style device, but it
never really took off as hoped.

SYSTEM
59
SUPPLIED BY
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION EVAN
AMOS
 THE STORY OF
Sega was slow to get into gear during the portable
console race, and arrived to market behind Atari and
Nintendo. Join Nick Thorpe to find out how Sega’s
machine never quite reached top speed…

O
ne of the interesting things about Sega was its
belief in hitting the market early. The SG-1000, the
very first console that the company manufactured,
launched in the same month as the Famicom. Later,
it would launch the Saturn early in an attempt to stifle Sony’s
PlayStation launch, and it kicked the following generation
off very early with the Dreamcast. However, when handheld
consoles began to hit the market in the late Eighties, Sega
was caught flat-footed. Nintendo launched its Game Boy in
April 1989, and the console quickly became a huge hit thanks
to titles like Tetris and Super Mario Land. Atari introduced the
Lynx in the autumn of that same year, attempting to capture
the market with a powerful full colour system. Sega didn’t
have a response ready for either machine, and quickly set
about putting one together.
In order to get the machine to market quickly, Sega built
a backlit colour handheld console based on the Master
System – it was technically almost identical, with two key
differences regarding graphics handling. The first of these
was a low-resolution mode which matched the 160x144
output of the Game Boy, though it could also utilise the
Master System’s 256x192 mode. The second was the
upgraded colour palette – where the Master System could
display 32 colours from a palette of 64, the Game Gear could
display 32 from a palette of 4,096. The resulting system was
very much the middle man of the pack – it was bigger, more
expensive and more battery hungry than the Game Boy but
more impressive to look at, and cheaper than the Lynx.

» The Game Gear’s circular d-pad is similar to the Mega Drive » Early models of the Game Gear feature flat screen covers. » The two-button controls of the Master System were
one, but with a flatter, wider treatment for the main directions. Later models adopted the more familiar ‘bubble’ shape. retained, though some games pulled in Start as a third button.

60
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 THE STORY OF GAME GEAR

The display window was

smaller, but basically games were
developed cross platform
Dominic Wood

61
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 POCKET PERFECTION Exclusives that made the handheld sing

POPILS: THE SHINOBI II: DEFENDERS POWER STRIKE II ARENA

BLOCKBUSTING THE SILENT FURY OF OASIS ■ Compile ■ 1993 ■ Eden Entertainment Software
CHALLENGE ■ Sega ■ 1992 ■ Sega ■ 1992 It’s hard to imagine a full-fledged ■ 1995
■ Tengen ■ 1991 The original Shinobi title for the Game While the Game Gear doesn’t have shoot-’em-up being crammed onto This visually impressive isometric
This puzzler is the final game Gear was ace, and this sequel retains a huge number of RPGs, it does the Game Gear’s 3.2-inch screen, but action game challenges you to escape
designed by Fukio Mitsuji, better its best feature – the ability to play as have quite a few good ones. The Compile managed it – the amount deadly mazes, while being hunted by
known for Bubble Bobble and the forever grateful ninjas that you desert-themed Defenders Of Oasis is of carnage packed in this shooter enemy robots and soldiers. You
Rainbow Islands. It’s a challenge, have rescued along the way, each one of the best, managing to provide is impressive. It’s not cheap, but it will need to keep up the pace, as
requiring you to break blocks to of which boasted their own unique enough depth to satisfy players while doesn’t reach the exorbitant prices while it is possible to shoot your
rescue a princess. With 100 stages skills. The improved visuals and level respecting the handheld format, of the Master System game, which enemies, you’ll often fare far better by
and a great level editor, Popils will design give Shinobi II the slight but ensuring that players can make good shares only its name and developer dodging them unless you’ve picked up
keep you occupied for a long time. distinct edge over its predecessor. progress during quick sessions. with the Game Gear version. some good old power-ups.

The choice of the Master System as a basis for was slow to arrive and the early units were prone enabling the company to spend more cash on
the system’s capabilities allowed developers to get to certain defects. marketing its machine.
to grips with the machine easily, as the differences After a slow start in Japan, the system gathered The result of this market performance was that
between the Master System and Game Gear proved steam throughout 1991. The year saw a number the Game Gear settled into a different market
to be fairly minor. “There’s not much in it to be of third-party publishers join the Game Gear ranks placement over 1992. Japanese third parties
honest,” explains Dominic Wood, a former Probe including Namco, Taito and Compile, and the system became particularly unenthusiastic about the Game
coder who later formed Syrox Developments, and received its international launches, arriving in the Gear and drastically reduced their support for the
worked as programmer for popular Game Gear titles US test markets of New York and Los Angeles in machine, but western publishers were convinced
including The Terminator, The Jungle Book and The April for $149.99 and Europe in June for £99.99. of the platform’s value – albeit as a supporting
Lion King. “The display window was smaller, but Following on from its successful confrontational part of a multiplatform strategy, rather than a lead
basically games were developed cross-platform, marketing with the Genesis, Sega Of America platform for development. In practice, this meant
with code to make sure important stuff like scores adopted a similarly combative approach with the that the system’s line-up became heavily populated
and lives indicators were moved into the smaller Game Gear, declaring in its initial advert “If you’re by conversions of major hits from the arcade and
screen real estate.” The development environment still playing with Game Boy, it’s time to grow up.” other consoles. From an outsider’s perspective,
was a boon, as console manufacturers weren’t in The system received one of its best peripherals these projects may have seemed like easy pickings,
the habit of providing developer support at the time. late in the year thanks to a company called Kalplus, but for developers working with hardware that
The Game Gear launched in Japan on 6 October which had developed an adaptor that enabled fundamentally dated back to the mid-Eighties,
1990, retailing at ¥19,800. Despite the ease with Master System cartridges to be played on the Game adapting the latest hits from more capable platforms
which games could be converted to the new Gear. Although it wasn’t compatible with a few titles often proved to be a headache.
handheld, it was accompanied by just three games including OutRun, this device was licensed by Sega “The Game Gear didn’t have sprite mirroring, so
at launch: Columns, Pengo and Super Monaco and sold as an official accessory, giving the system you either had to store all the sprites facing left and
GP. The key game was Columns, which served access to a huge range of existing software. Late in right reducing your game size by 50%, or increase
as Sega’s analogue to Tetris – not only was it a the year, the arrival of Sega’s new mascot Sonic The the size of your game cartridges by 50%,” Dominic
similarly addictive puzzle game, it would also go on Hedgehog gave the system a quality platform game recalls. However, a bug with the system allowed
to become a long-serving bundled game. Though and some star power, rounding off a good year. him to mitigate this problem, “There was a delay

D
early sales were brisk, further software support when accessing the video memory which slowed
espite all of this, Sega found itself down animation, so we used this extra time delay to
unable to match the sales of the mirror the data when the new animation frame was
Game Boy. Nintendo’s head start in all loaded, so, in fact, the issue with the system design
regions had helped it to establish the could be utilised for good. Not everyone worked this
system early on, and Tetris was an incredible out – I can remember visiting Sega Of America’s
bundled game. The Game Boy was also far more studio that ran all their Game Gear projects and they
portable than Sega’s machine, able to last far hadn’t worked it out, as they were storing all the
longer on fewer batteries, and it also had more Sonic Spinball graphics twice.”
third-party developers on board, including major Some projects also proved to be rather more
companies such as Konami and Capcom. But while demanding than others, as Dominic remembers,
Sega struggled to match the universal appeal of “I converted Lemmings, which got something
Tetris, it was at least able to establish a clear lead like 94% in the top mags. It was a very technical
over the Atari Lynx. Sega’s ability to attract third- challenge having to replicate a destructible world
party developers outstripped that of its American created in a bitmap to a character based system.
rival, and its appeal was beginning to grow at a For every pixel that was added or deleted, I had
rapid rate due to the success of the Mega Drive, to create a new customised character with limited
» The Game Gear’s requirement for six AA batteries meant
that they had to be spread across two compartments.
62
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 THE STORY OF GAME GEAR

video memory, and when the Japanese market as every other third party
that ran out, I had to check » The power light area is key to finding Majesco Game combined during those two years. Games such
Gear consoles – if the logo is monochrome, it’s Majesco.
for characters with only as Garfield: Caught In The Act were pushing
a few pixels and replace them with blanks to free the boundaries of the hardware by using large
up the memory. [It was] all very technical.” While eight‑megabit cartridges.
Sega’s documentation and support for coders However, the Game Gear was beginning to near
wasn’t extensive, Dominic remembers the QA team the end of its natural shelf life and the technology
being rather thorough, “A day before production, behind it, having been based on a 1985 design, was
the Sega Of Japan QA team pointed out that the » If your screen looks off, this contrast dial should solve
looking a little long in the tooth. If the machine had
Lemmings should only test for collisions from their your problem. If not, you’ve likely got faulty capacitors. struggled with adaptations of Mega Drive games, it
feet to waist and we had it going to their heads – no had no chance of coping with the 3D games that
way could we change the code and then remake all
the maps playable in 24 hours...” Sega struggled to were becoming popular on home consoles – and
if the Game Gear couldn’t handle conversions, its
The Game Gear’s position as a machine which
primarily hosted conversions and multiplatform match the universal reason for being was greatly diminished.
In Japan, a new approach was implemented
releases also gave it something of a marketing
problem. While existing Game Gear owners couldn’t appeal of Tetris to circumvent this issue, as both Nintendo and
Sega were attempting to refocus their handheld
complain of not getting big-name software, the platforms towards younger children during 1996.
rarity of high‑quality exclusives gave potential on the opposing hardware – taking aim at the Nintendo’s move came naturally, with the Pokémon
buyers little cause to pick up the machine. Game players themselves harder to swallow and it was, phenomenon arriving in February and growing
Gear advertising often glossed over the software well, just mean. throughout the year. Sega’s effort involved a

S
line-up, instead focusing on the colour display. In rebranding, with the machine now promoted as
North America, where Sega’s marketing strategy till, the system had stabilised into its Kid’s Gear. This effort was kicked off with a special-
was generally confrontational to begin with, long-term market position. The Game edition console bundle featuring Virtua Fighter Mini,
the Game Gear advertising campaigns became Gear continued to receive solid support an ambitious version of the hit fighting game based
particularly aggressive. Notably, Game Boy owners over the next few years and amassed on the TV anime of the time. However, the effort
were portrayed as stupid – one particular TV spot a formidable library of well‑known games – lots only lasted nine months as games such as Puzzle
depicted a Game Boy player hitting himself in the of Sonic titles, Mortal Kombat, Micro Machines, Bobble, Panzer Dragoon Mini and the Pet Club
head with a dead squirrel in a futile attempt to see Ecco The Dolphin, NBA Jam and much more. In series failed to inspire an upturn in the system’s
colour. “If you were colorblind [sic] and had an IQ Japan, where the system had been having the fortunes. G-Sonic, known elsewhere as Sonic Blast,
less than twelve then you wouldn’t care which most trouble, a software surge was observed in was the final game released for the system in
portable you had,” claimed a print ad which pictured 1994 and 1995. This was in part due to increased Japan when it arrived in December 1996. Outside
the rival machines alongside a dog. “Of course you first-party production and a little extra support of Japan, the system was similarly dead. The Lost
wouldn’t care if you drank from the toilet either,” from existing third parties, but also helped World: Jurassic Park arrived in August 1997 to
it concluded. It was remarkable, in that Sega’s massively by the support of Acclaim, a market coincide with the blockbuster film, but it was the
previous anti-Nintendo advertising had focused newcomer which provided as much software to system’s only release of the year.

BIG SCREEN,
BIG PROBLEM
Why it’s not easy playing Game Gear games on a TV
While the SNES, N64 and GameCube variously offer official and unofficial adapters which
allow you to play Game Boy games on a TV, no equivalent existed for the Game Gear. This
is in part because a similar technological approach wouldn’t work – the Game Gear’s colour
palette is actually larger than that of the Master System and the Mega Drive, making an
equivalent of the Super Game Boy impossible. However, those of you wishing for a big-screen
game of Factory Panic shouldn’t worry just yet, as there are two ways to go about getting
your Game Gear games on the big screen. Unfortunately, neither is perfect.
Modifying the system for RGB video output is possible, and produces a crisp image, but one
which occupies a small portion of the screen. An alternative is to recode Game Gear games to
run on the Master System. This reduces palette options and requires either a flash cartridge
or a reproduction, but results in a much larger field of vision in games such as Sonic Triple
Trouble and GG Shinobi. This approach was used by TecToy to provide new Master System
games for Brazil, but modders tend to have less luck in producing a smooth play experience.

63
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
TURN ON, » Game Gear cartridges are compact and feature a pronounced ridge, allowing easy removal from the system.

TUNE IN That wasn’t quite the end for the Game Gear,
though, thanks to a company called Majesco. In the
or Sony, and it achieved enough popularity to be
supported fully for six years. On the other hand, it
The appeal of the late Nineties, Majesco had established a healthy seems to receive rather less love than Sega’s other
system’s flagship add-on business relationship with Sega by licensing the machines despite similar contemporary popularity,
Genesis hardware and keeping it available as a and even Sega didn’t think the machine worthy of a
One of the most desirable add-ons budget alternative to the PlayStation and N64. successor – its last entry into the handheld market
for the Game Gear was the TV Tuner, Attempting to repeat this success, Majesco acquired being the Nomad, essentially another Mega Drive
a fantastic novelty which granted a licence from Sega to manufacture the Game Gear model. In part, this is because of the machine’s role
the ability to watch TV through your and reintroduced it to the North American market as a counterpart to Sega’s non-portable machines.
handheld console. It cost only a little in 2001. The new hardware retailed at $29.99 and While the Game Gear has excellent exclusive
less than buying a separate handheld it featured some minor differences, including a software, much of its library consists of games
TV, but instantly made you the envy of monochrome logo, cheaper plastic and a slightly which are available on Master System, or are cut-
all your friends. Sadly, due to the rise improved LCD screen. Ten games were made down versions of Mega Drive games. The machine
of digital TV broadcasting, the TV Tuner available, priced at $14.97 While all of the games also suffers from a reputation problem as its bulky
is almost fully obsolete today, unless were old developments, Super Battletank had never frame and poor battery are still the butt of jokes.
you happen to be visiting one of the actually been released before and it became the final However, the beauty of retro gaming is that our
countries still broadcasting analogue official release for the system when it accompanied favourite platforms can be improved upon over time.
signals appropriate for your tuner’s the relaunched Being a Game

It was better to play with

region settings. The result of this is that machine. Gear fan today
the accessory can now be acquired for Other original isn’t the same

but that didn’t equate to

a little under £10, a fraction of the high developments experience as
value it held for so long. were also being a Game

commercial success
While the TV Tuner is no longer promised, but Gear fan back in
capable of its primary function, it’s they failed to the early Nineties.
still possible to make some use of it materialise. Dominic Wood Battery life need

S
as the rarely-used 3.5mm port on top no longer be a
of the device is actually a connector ince the device left the market, the major concern, whether you choose to remedy
for AV cables. If you’re in possession main challenge for avid Game Gear that with a power supply or an LED backlight
of the required adapter it’s possible collectors has been the high failure modification. Similarly, all of the exclusive software
to use the Game Gear as a portable rate of the machine. Due to widespread is documented and available, and the range of
monitor for any device which outputs problems with capacitors manufactured during the accessible games is growing thanks to the efforts of
composite video. This means that it’s Game Gear’s lifetime, the components used in the fan translators, who have made Japan-only games
entirely possible to run DVD players machine are prone to leaking causing a variety of such as Royal Stone available in English.
and camcorders through the Game problems including contrast issues and a loss So while the Game Gear has its detractors,
Gear, as well as a wide variety of games of sound. While the problem can be fixed by it should be noted that it’s by no means a bad
consoles from the Master System and those with soldering skills, there’s a likelihood machine – it’s just one which suffered from the
NES to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. that if you find a Game Gear in the wild, limitations of its time. We’re sure that fans don’t
Just make sure you’ve got a lot of spare it probably won’t be working correctly. need to be told how much fun the machine can be,
batteries on hand, and don’t try it if Thankfully for those of us that aren’t but if you’ve never tried the it, and you’ve been put
you’ve got a Majesco-manufactured technically inclined, there are people out off by the negativity, we’d urge you to take another
Game Gear – the TV Tuner is there offering repair services. look at the system. Its faults can be resolved, and
incompatible with the device. The Game Gear has an unusual legacy. its weaknesses can be improved on. Once that’s
It was beaten by the Game Boy by a sorted, you can enjoy the games that never received
wide margin, for reasons Dominic sums the recognition they deserve.
up succinctly: “The power
of Nintendo marketing
and game IP, lower price
point and longer battery
life. The Game Gear
was better to play with,
but that didn’t equate to
commercial success.”
Its sales of 11 million,
however, comfortably
best any handheld not » As well as regular AC cables, Sega offered battery
manufactured by Nintendo packs and car adaptors to mitigate poor battery life.

64
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 THE STORY OF GAME GEAR

MINIATURE MAKEOVERS
Five games that prove that Game Gear games weren’t always
identical to their Master System counterparts

OUTRUN
■ With the Game Gear version of OutRun arriving four
years after the Master System version, the decision was
made to start over and deliver a new version of the popular
game. Graphics and music have been completely redone,
an automatic transmission mode was added and there’s an
all-new rival race mode.

FANTASY ZONE
■ While the Master System game was closely based on
the arcade version of Fantasy Zone, the Game Gear version
diverged from it to introduce new enemies and stages. These
do a great job of showing off the Game Gear’s expanded
colour palette, which makes it a far more cheerful-looking
game than the Master System offering.

SPACE HARRIER
■ Space Harrier ’s Game Gear conversion is an extremely
weird one, offering fewer stages than its Master System
counterpart and adding a password system in order to
resume the game. All of the enemies have been redrawn
to look more organic, too. An interesting oddity that
completionists will certainly want in their collections.

NINJA GAIDEN
■ The Game Gear version of Ninja Gaiden was developed by
Japan System House and released in 1991. It’s competent
but dull. For some reason, the 1992 Master System version
was developed by SIMS. It was completely different and miles
better. We’re not sure why this happened, but we recommend
sticking with the Master System original.

PUTT & PUTTER

■ SIMS developed both versions of Putt & Putter, and they’re
similar to look at and to play. However, the Game Gear
version, which came out first in 1991, has a totally different set
of levels to the Master System version released in 1992. It’s
another clear example that the Game Gear didn’t suffer from
as many Master System ports as gamers thought.

65
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
PERFECT TEN GAMES
It put up a brave fight for six years, but even Sega and Sonic couldn’t stop the success of Nintendo’s
monochrome Game Boy. Console yourself with ten of the machine’s best games

GUNSTAR HEROES BAKU BAKU ANIMAL

RELEASED: 1995 RELEASED: 1996
DEVELOPED BY: TREASURE DEVELOPED BY: IN-HOUSE
BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: IKARUGA BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: OUT RUN

01 Now this is very impressive. It’s obviously

cut down when compared to the Mega Drive
original, but this adaptation of Treasure’s superb
02 While Columns is the Game Gear puzzler that
most gamers have probably heard of, it’s the
excellent Baku Baku Animal that deserves a little more
run‑and‑gunner is still utterly brilliant and is a recognition. Originally released in 1995, Baku Baku
must‑own for anyone with a love of Sega’s bulky Animal plays like a cross between Tetris and Puyo
handheld. Incredibly fast-paced and with some Puyo and sees you stacking up a variety of different
gob‑smackingly good visuals, Gunstar Heroes shrinks foodstuffs until the required animal comes along and
down admirably well to the Game Gear’s screen and clears the lot, thus setting up potential chain reactions
offers an amazing amount of pyrotechnical wizardry. and the possibility of huge scores. Combining instant
Gameplay is as intricate and as varied as ever, and it’s accessibility and a compulsion to play that makes it
further proof that Treasure is one of the most talented nearly impossible to put down, Baku Baku Animal is
developers around. Gunstar is extremely hard to get one of the best puzzlers around and is perfectly suited
hold of now, so expect to pay a pretty penny for it. to the Game Gear’s on-the-go nature.

01
WONDER BOY: THE SONIC THE BUBBLE
DRAGON’S TRAP HEDGEHOG 2 BOBBLE
RELEASED: 1992 RELEASED: 1992 RELEASED: 1994
DEVELOPED BY: WESTONE DEVELOPED BY: IN-HOUSE DEVELOPED BY: TAITO
BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: BY THE SAME DEVELOPER:
WONDER BOY SONIC THE HEDGEHOG RAINBOW ISLANDS

03 Wonder Boy, like many other

Game Gear titles, is basically
a port of the Master System
04 While some gamers
were less than happy
with Sonic 2’s lack of difficulty
05 Taito’s Bubble Bobble
must be one of the most
ported games in history, but
original. This should not put you there can be no denying that when you consider how good it
off however, as The Dragon’s Trap it’s a highly polished title that is, it’s unsurprising that so many
was one of the best games to deserves its place in this Perfect platforms have featured a version
appear on the 8-bit machine. The Ten. Featuring bold, bright visuals, of it. Based on the excellent
Dragon’s Trap is a huge, sprawling a great sensation of speed and Master System port, this Game
adventure that sees the poor lad some faithfully reproduced tunes, Gear effort perfectly captures
having to change into a variety Sonic 2 is a wonderful adaptation the charm of the arcade original
of different animals after being of the original Master System and and is another essential release
cursed by the game’s imposing Mega Drive titles that plays to the for Sega’s portable console.
dragons. It’s going to cost you a strengths of its host machine and There’s a cracking two-player
fortune in batteries, but if you’re ends up working exceptionally mode, although you’ll need the
looking for a solid adventure, you well on the Game Gear’s screen. link-up cable and a second copy
02 really won’t find anything finer.
Quite simply one of the Game
There’s some blurring that might
spoil the experience for some, but
of the game. The graphics are
as cute as ever, and the timeless
Gear’s finest moments. Even if it is old tech can’t disguise the sheer gameplay endures. One of the
just a glorified port. amount of shine that lies beneath. best platformers ever made.

03 04 05
66
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 GAME GEAR PERFECT TEN GAMES

06 07 08
STREETS OF GG SHINOBI II: POWER
RAGE 2 THE SILENT FURY STRIKE 2
RELEASED: 1993 RELEASED: 1992 RELEASED: 1993
DEVELOPED BY: IN-HOUSE DEVELOPED BY: IN-HOUSE DEVELOPED BY: COMPILE
 THE SAME DEVELOPER:
BY BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: SHINOBI III: BY THE SAME DEVELOPER:
GG SHINOBI RETURN OF THE NINJA MASTER SUPER ALESTE

06 There are very few beat-

’em-ups on the Game Gear,
but even if there were a hundred
07 While the original is a
classic slice of ninja heaven,
the superior sequel improves on it
08 While the original Power
Strike (or GG Aleste as
it’s known in Japan) was never
to choose from, it’s doubtful that in every possible way. You’re still released in the UK, the far
they’d match the quality of Streets controlling a different selection of superior sequel did make it here,
Of Rage. From its meticulously ninjas – after you’ve rescued them and, as was typical of developer
created sprites, to the exhilarating of course – but now the far tighter Compile, it was another excellent
combat, Streets Of Rage 2 is a level design, faster flowing action shooter. While it features similar
fantastic recreation of the Mega and greatly improved gameplay gameplay to the Master System
Drive original and proves that the mechanics make this Game Gear outing, visually it’s been enhanced
Game Gear is more than capable exclusive title even more desirable. and boasts amazing sprites and
of hosting a strong fighter. The It’s also far more balanced than awesome bosses, that are as ugly,
music sadly lacks the polish of its predecessor – which was as they are tough. With its mech
the original Mega Drive hit, but notoriously difficult in places – theme, over-the-top explosions
when you consider the technical meaning it’s the perfect place to and hectic gameplay, Power
limitations of the machine, this is
hardly surprising. Just console
start if you’re looking for a solid
action title or are brand new to the
Strike 2 remains one of the best
blasters on the device and makes
09
yourself with a great fighter that series. (Where have you been for us forget about the atrocities that
plays as good as it looks. the past 30 years?) were G: LOC and Halley Wars.

PRINCE OF PERSIA SHINING FORCE II:

RELEASED: 1992 THE SWORD OF HAJYA
DEVELOPED BY: BRODERBUND RELEASED: 1994
BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: MYST DEVELOPED BY: SONIC SOFTWARE PLANNING

09 Like Taito’s Bubble Bobble, Prince Of Persia seems BY THE SAME DEVELOPER: SHINING FORCE: FINAL CONFLICT

10
to be another title that’s been ported to practically On the one hand you could feel rather cheated
every console and computer known to man. Based by Sword Of Hajya. Mainly because it’s little more
on the Master System outing, this is nevertheless a than a direct port of the second story that appeared on
stunning conversion that features amazingly convincing the Mega CD’s Shining Force CD. On the other hand, it’s
animation, slightly more responsive controls and some the best RPG on the system to have received a western
simple, yet very effective visuals. Experts will obviously translation, so if you’re a fan of the genre you really
be expected to whizz through the game in under an have precious little choice. It may look simple, and the
hour, but Prince Of Persia has been put together with bland backdrops and generic looking characters are
so much care and attention that you’ll be more than certainly nothing to write home about, but with Shining
happy to just languidly stroll around and drink in the Force II it’s all about the story and the turn-based
superb level design while admiring the Prince’s natty combat, both of which remain as good as on any other
choice of clothing. Shining Force adventure.
10
67
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
GAME GEAR
HIDDEN GEMS
INTERESTING GAMES YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED

KISHIN DOUJI ZENKI

■ DEVELOPER: SEGA ■ YEAR: 1995

■ In the mid-Nineties, Sega seemed experience, you won’t be surprised to certain barrier enemies, while
intent on refocusing the Game find that they put together a platform only Zenki is capable of breaking
Gear’s software line-up to appeal game to represent Zenki. blocks from above or below.
to kids, acquiring the rights to The game starts off with the titular What’s nice about the platform
produce games based on a number character Zenki in his ‘demon god’ stages is that they’re not just
of popular anime licences – Yu Yu form, fighting in a short boss battle. graphically attractive, but varied and
Hakusho, Magic Knight Rayearth, This single-screen encounter gives interesting to play. Each has unique
» [Game Gear] Boss fights are the only stages to
Saint Tail, Doraemon and more. both Zenki and his opponent life bars, gimmicks – destructible floors, feature Zenki in his ‘demon god’ form, the most
Kishin Douji Zenki was part of and Zenki is able to select from four moving bars to hang from, and combat-oriented character in the game.
this licensing drive, and while different attack moves – a fireball, a even alternative exits leading to new
you might not have heard of it, its lightning spark, a dash and a tornado stages. Some stages are the usual
popularity in mid-Nineties Japan attack – by pressing the start button. left-to-right affairs, while others see
was unquestionable – the original After you win, you’ll head off to the you moving mostly vertically.
12-volume manga spawned a map to select one of the main action The game’s presentation is top
51-episode TV anime adaptation, plus stages, but these boss encounters notch, too. The graphics are good for
a short straight-to-video animated are frequent throughout the game. the Game Gear, and plenty of story
film and five videogames. In the main platform stages, you cutscenes add to the atmosphere.
The team assembled for this play as either a small version of The soundtrack by Saori Kobayashi
adaptation was quite a talented one. Zenki, or his shrine maiden friend is also good considering the
Producer Katsuhiro Hasegawa was a Chiaki. Zenki can attack enemies limitations of the system’s audio
Sega veteran whose previous work by curling into a ball, either when hardware. It’s not the most inventive » [Game Gear] The animation in Kishin Douji Zenki
is rather nice – just look at the detail as Chiaki drops
included The GG Shinobi and Deep jumping or by performing a forward of games, and if you’re a Game Gear in from above.
Duck Trouble. Director Hisayoshi roll from a crouching position, while fan you probably have a few good
Yoshida had worked on Sonic 3, Chiaki can use her magical powers platformers already. However, it’s
Sonic & Knuckles and Legend Of to shoot small flames or find single- an exclusive game for the system
Illusion, and his planning partner use spell tags to summon lightning, and a high quality one at that – not
Tadashi Ihoroi had experience on wind or fire. These unique skills something you’ll come across too
the 8-bit Sonic games Sonic Chaos grant different paths through the easily on the Game Gear, so it’s
and Sonic Triple Trouble. Given their stages, too – only Chiaki can defeat worth the price it sells for.

68
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 GAME GEAR HIDDEN GEMS

KISHIN DOUJI ZENKI FX: KISHIN DOUJI ZENKI: SHINOBI II: THE SILENT FURY
VAJURA FIGHT BATTLE RAIDEN GAME GEAR
PC-FX SNES ■ If you’re just looking for
■ Renowned as one of the ■ This Zenki game features a really good Game Gear
best games for the ill-fated more combat moves than platform game, it’s hard to
system, this take on the the Game Gear game, and go wrong with this one. The
Zenki story has a far greater much more in the way of first four stages each hide
focus on combat, with short platforming than the PC-FX a new ninja with different
beat-’em-up sections and game. It’s a pretty standard coloured outfits and abilities, and can be chosen in any
lots of bosses to fight. The production values and sprite action platformer on a format not short of them, but it’s order, before a fifth and final stage is unlocked. Yuzo
work are amazing, but it fetches sky-high prices. worth playing just for the sublime background graphics. Koshiro’s soundtrack is ace, too.

A GAME OF TAG
■ This icon shows the current
spell tag that Chiaki is carrying – in
this case, lightning. It’ll be useful if
we encounter any overwhelming
attacks, or barrier enemies.
DA BOMB
■ This floating orb
happens to be a bomb
– after a while it’ll
start flashing before
detonating and damaging
you. However, it can also
be used as a platform.

LIGHT IT UP
■ Chiaki’s standard flame attack
USEFUL ENEMIES actually emanates horizontally
■ Our baddie here happens to be from the palm of her hand,
making the bomb float by blowing explaining the slightly odd pose
it upwards. If we kill it, the bomb she’s adopted in this screenshot.
will drop and destroy the ground
below, opening up a new route.

69
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
NINKUU GAIDEN: HIROYUKI DAIKATSUGEKI
■ PUBLISHER: SEGA ■ YEAR: 1995

■ Ninkuu was quite a popular franchise back in

the mid-Nineties – not only did the series jump
from manga to anime and even videogames, but
the games were popular enough to generate
this spin-off. Sensing the potential to revive a classic
game design, Sega cast the main character Fuusuke’s
pet penguin Hiroyuki in a game that bears more than
a passing resemblance to the old arcade hit Pengo.
You still walk around a maze of blocks, kicking them
at enemies in an attempt to crush them, and even the
diamond blocks and associated bonuses are back. But
this time there are more enemies with new behaviours,
bumper blocks for moving ice to bounce off of, and
instead of the wall kick Hiroyuki is able to stun enemies
with his terrible flatulence. (Yes, really.)
There’s a bit more to it than just that, though. What
really elevates the game above Pengo is the additional
stage types – the new puzzle stages require you to
arrange ice blocks into a predetermined pattern, and
each set of stages concludes with a boss battle. These
are particularly dangerous, as the supply of kickable
blocks are replenished throughout the fight in a deadly
fashion – they’re dropped in from above, potentially
squashing poor Hiroyuki. If you happen to be able to
read Japanese, there’s also a story to follow.
Ninkuu Gaiden isn’t just a more compelling game
than the original Game Gear conversion of Pengo, it
might actually be the best take on the game overall –
and that’s including the Mega Drive version, which sells
for many times the price of this overlooked gem. The
only downside is that there’s no more Popcorn theme, » [Game Gear] All of the ice blocks must be placed in the » [Game Gear] Hiroyuki has achieved his goal here,
but we think that’s a pretty small price to pay. marked 4x4 area, which requires sensible sequencing. squashing a baddie between two ice blocks.

» AA HARIMANADA » BERLIN NO KABE » BISHOUJO SENSHI » DUNK KIDS

■ DEVELOPER: SEGA
■ YEAR: 1993
■ DEVELOPER: KANEKO
■ YEAR: 1991
SAILOR MOON S ■ DEVELOPER: SEGA
■ YEAR: 1994
■ DEVELOPER: S-PLAN
■ If you’re bored of Mortal Kombat II ■ This arcade game, known outside ■ YEAR: 1995 ■ This two-on-two street basketball
and Fatal Fury Special, this sumo Japan as The Berlin Wall, has largely ■ Basing a platform beat-’em-up on game was actually endorsed by the All
game offers a different take on been forgotten – perhaps because this this anime series was a good call, as Japan Street Basketball Association,
fighting that proves to be pretty Japan-only release was the only home the licence is perfect for this purpose. an organisation we’d never heard
compelling. The big thing here is that conversion it received. It’s a rather cute Combat and platforming are simple, of before. It’s prettier than the other
you can lose with a full life bar – as single-screen platformer in which your with the former resembling Kung Fu basketball games on the system, with
well as being knocked out by palm goal is to trap enemies by knocking Master with a few extra moves, but some well animated cartoon players
strikes and head-first charges, your out floor blocks, then bop them with the game is attractive and minigames doing their thing on the half court. It
opponent can also push you out of your hammer to get rid of them. are present to break up the action. dunks on NBA Action all day long and
the ring and throw you to the mat. It’s There’s even link cable support, for The lack of difficulty is unfortunate, is just as much fun as NBA Jam for the
a tad easy once you understand it, but those occasions when you find fellow but fans of the series will likely have a Game Gear, so see if your skills cut it in
well worth investigating. Game Gear players. good time with it regardless. the streets.

70
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 GAME GEAR HIDDEN GEMS

BUSTER BALL
■ PUBLISHER: RIVERHILLSOFT ■ YEAR: 1992

■ For some reason, Speedball 2 never made

the jump from Master System to Game Gear,
meaning that Sega fans on the go had to
look elsewhere for their fix of future sports
action (or just buy a Master Gear converter,
we suppose). While this alternative doesn’t
quite match up to the Bitmap Brothers’
classic, it’s not too bad. The aim of the game
is familiar, as you need to take a ball and
shoot it into the goal, which lies at the end
of a pitch strewn with bumpers. Your robots
can tackle opposing robots to steal the ball,
and dealing enough damage will temporarily
disable them.
However, there are quite a few differences
on offer here. For a start, the pitch is divided
into different sectors by impassable electrical
barriers, so the ball must be shot over those.
Then there are the gimmicks like pitch areas
that will speed up or slow down your robotic
players, which change location depending
on which of the six stadiums you choose to
play in. Lastly, scoring is determined by how
long you charge your shot before releasing it
towards goal.
The major problem with this game is that
the standard time limit is definitely too long,
so you’ll want to reduce it to avoid boredom
setting in. If you do that, this should be a fun » KENY
and frantic game – and if you can blackmail a UU DENS
» [Game Gear] Just past the area barrier, » [Game Gear] The zone containing the goal E TSU YAIB
Game Gear-owning friend into buying a copy, those red and blue areas will slow you down
and speed you up respectively.
is the most chaotic area of any pitch thanks
to a surplus of bumpers.
■ SEGA
■ 1994
A
you can even play it together. ■ This s
word-sw
is just to inging p
o frustra latforme
enemies tin r
suddenly g, thanks to
play and te le porting in
a lack of to
post-hit
invincibil
ity.

» FRAY: » GRIFFIN » POPEYE BEACH » TESSERAE

SHUGYOU HEN ■ DEVELOPER: TELENET JAPAN
■ YEAR: 1991
VOLLEYBALL ■ DEVELOPER: EUROCOM
■ YEAR: 1993
■ DEVELOPER: MICRO CABIN ■ DEVELOPER: TECHNOS
■ YEAR: 1991 ■ Griffin is mostly a run-and-gun in ■ YEAR: 1994 ■ Tile-based puzzlers are a staple
■ If you’re familiar with the Xak series the style of Commando, but you’re in ■ This is a bit of an odd licensed game of any handheld gaming platform,
of Japanese RPGs, you’ll know Fray as a tank instead of on foot. The difficulty – what’s the connection between the and this forgotten Mac conversion is
a trainee sorceress. This action spin-off level jumps up quite quickly thanks to sport and the cartoon? Still, Technos a good one. Your goal is to remove
pits you against enemies in a top-down an irritating plane mid-boss, but the did make it work, with each of Popeye’s tiles from the board by flipping over
world with forced vertical scrolling. enemies are varied, the boss designs opponents having a unique skill used to them, while avoiding landing on tiles
Unlike most games of this type, you’ll are pretty cool and you even take to disrupt play. You’d be surprised at just of a different colour, which creates
need to jump over pits as well as keep the air in one stage. Sadly, it’s a little how difficult this game is as a result – combination tiles that are difficult
an eye on the enemies attacking you. bit on the short side – there are only but, thankfully, you can recruit these to remove. Things start off simple,
There’s a bit of dialogue that you’ll four stages to blast through, although players to your team upon beating but with ever more complex stage
miss if you don’t speak Japanese, but you do need to beat a second loop to them, replacing Olive Oyl and the shapes and increasing numbers of
nothing that will ruin the game for you. see the proper ending. incredibly useless Mr Wimpy. combination tiles, it soon gets tricky.

71
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
Nomad
» MANUFACTURER: Sega » YEAR: 1995
» COST: £229.99 (launch), £200+ (today, unboxed)

A
pproaching the mid-Nineties, Sega designed an ambitious
new console to solve the problem of having two declining
platforms in the market. Code-named Venus, this handheld
would succeed the Game Gear, while retaining its design
principle of leveraging existing home hardware. But rather than
being a reworked version of the Mega Drive, as the Game Gear had
been based on the Master System, this console would simply be a
Mega Drive – compatible with existing software, and even certain
peripherals. It could even output to a TV. The console would
therefore launch with a library of hundreds of games and enjoy
a considerable technological advantage over other handhelds.
The Nomad, to give it its final name, was similar to the
Game Gear in many ways – it was rather chunky, especially
with a large cartridge and bulky detachable battery
compartment protruding from the system. Its LCD screen
was similarly not great in motion thanks to a ghosting
effect, and once again, that backlight for the screen made
it very battery hungry. The high initial price didn’t help,
but even a $100 price drop didn’t make the Nomad
sell amazingly well, ensuring that it became prized by
collectors in the years that followed.

ESSENTIAL GAME
Dr Robotnik’s Mean
Bean Machine
Every handheld console needs a
great puzzle game to go with it, and
normally we’d pick Puyo Puyo 2 for
the Mega Drive. However, since we
need to stick to North American
releases for an unmodified console,
this rebranded version of the classic
competitive game is the one to go
for. Since all of the gameplay takes
place on a single screen, the ghosting
problems of the stock LCD screen
are minimised, and the password
feature added to this game allows
you to power off and resume a session
later – crucial on any handheld, but
especially one with limited battery life.

72
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 HARDWARE HEAVEN NOMAD

Nomad
fact
■ The Nomad was released solely in the North
American market, and the console identifies as
an American machine for cartridges that contain
region‑locking software.
PROCESSORS: MOTOROLA 68000 16-BIT CPU (7.67 MHZ), ZILOG Z80
8-BIT CPU (3.58 MHZ)
RAM: 64KB MAIN MEMORY, 64KB VIDEO MEMORY,
8KB AUDIO MEMORY
GRAPHICS: SEGA/YAMAHA YM7101 VDP, UP TO 320X480 DISPLAY
(320X224 TYPICAL), 64 COLOURS FROM A PALETTE OF 512,
80 SPRITES ON SCREEN
AUDIO: YAMAHA YM2612 SOUND CHIP, SIX FM SYNTHESIS
CHANNELS, PLUS TEXAS INSTRUMENTS SN76489
FOUR CHANNEL PSG
MEDIA: MEGA DRIVE ROM CARTRIDGE
(UP TO 32 MEGABIT)

73
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
game.com
RETROINSPECTION

Much is written about the winners of each generation’s

console wars. But what of the losers? They, too, have
equally interesting stories and deserve a page in the
history books. With that in mind, Ashley Day looks at one
of the game industry’s biggest losers

T
he history of handheld gaming has Dubbed Game.com (with a silent dot), Tiger’s
been defined by one simple truth: no handheld was named to take advantage of the
one can stop Nintendo. Great industry explosion in popularity of the internet at the time and
legends like Atari, Sega, Sony and SNK hoped to create an association with cutting‑edge
have all tried and all failed to scale the same heights technology that would leave the Game Boy looking
as the Game Boy and Nintendo DS. The story of the outdated by comparison. Pitched somewhere
Tiger Game.com is no different. between a PDA and a games machine, it offered
Timing is one of the most important factors in potential users both serious applications and play,
any product launch, and Tiger Electronics must have with some truly innovative features. The most
considered September 1997 as its own window of obvious of these was the touchscreen and stylus,
opportunity for the handheld market. By that time, which was way ahead of its time some seven
the Game Boy was eight years old and looking a years before the launch of the Nintendo
little long in the tooth, while its main competitors, DS. The system also boasted on-board
the Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear, had died off a memory with four built-in pieces of
couple of years previously. There was an opening software comprising a calendar,
in the market and Tiger, a western company with calculator, phone book and
extensive experience in electronic games, was solitaire game, all of
poised to take advantage of the market gap. which used stylus
For many years previously, Tiger had enjoyed
great success in the toy market with its pocket LCD
games, which offered simple distractions on
the go. And just as Nintendo took what
it had learned with Game & Watch and
transformed it into an interchangeable
cartridge system, Tiger looked to do
the same and take its handhelds
to a new stage of evolution.

» The Game.com had the support

of popular licensed properties,
but it wasn’t enough.

74
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 RETROINSPECTION: GAME.COM

control. In addition, the unit featured the unusual touchscreen input, and was, according to Tiger’s
addition of two cartridge ports that could be contracted game programmer, Thomas Fessler,
switched between without powering down, and capable of performance speeds up to eight times SPECIFICATIONS
the enticing promise of online functionality with faster than the Game Boy’s Zilog Z80 CPU. Year released: 1997
separately sold software. “The major advantage to this design,” says Original price: $69.95
When it came to games, Tiger knew it couldn’t Game.com homebrew enthusiast Jason Oster, “is
Main Processor:
compete with the likes of Mario and Zelda that the hardware was much less complex, and
Sharp SM8502 MCU
superstars of Nintendo’s world, so wisely it decided therefore easier to manufacture at a reduced cost.”
to play to its own strengths by leveraging its own Furthermore, each game cartridge could be up to Dimensions: 190x108x19mm
intellectual properties and publisher relationships. 16 megabits in size compared to the Game Boy’s Screen: 192x160 resolution,
Its own line of handheld games as well as its maximum of 12 megabits, while the screen offered 12x10 grid touch sensor
experience of licensed properties meant that it five shades of grey in comparison to the Game
Colours: Five shades of grey
could create a wealth of software based on instantly Boy’s four. Jason adds: “Game.com‘s proprietary
recognisable names, as demonstrated by its two MCU, the Sharp SM8502, had limited support for Sound: 8-bit PCM and
pack-in titles: movie licence Batman & Robin and PCM wave output, which made it good at speech FM synthesis
Lights Out, an adaptation of one of Tiger’s most sampling,” which Tiger proudly boasted on the box
popular handheld games. and was easily heard, along with some excellent
In terms of specifications, the Game.com was a music, in many Game.com games.
mixed bag. Its monochrome screen was outdated “Overall, from a developer’s standpoint, the
and suffered from blurriness, while the reliance on Game.com is a very powerful machine,” claimed
four AA batteries was less than economical, but Thomas Fessler in a 1998 internet chat. “But with all
there was some impressive hardware to be found new systems, it takes time for developers to learn
under the casing. The Game.com’s processing chip how to use it to its fullest potential.” A fact that
was a proprietary Sharp SM8502 that handled every was brutally apparent from day one. Pack-in game
function of the portable, including sound, visuals and Batman & Robin looked brilliant on paper. It had

INSTANT EXPERT
The dot in ‘.com’ is silent. So
Game.com is actually pronounced
‘Game Com’ in speech.
The Game.com pioneered many features.
It was the first handheld games console
to have a touchscreen, internet capabilities
and two cartridge slots.
It remains the only handheld to feature
two cartridge slots. Although Nintendo’s
DSi prototype had two, it decided to
remove one to keep the unit size down.
Despite its failure, Tiger’s Game.com
was not the last monochrome handheld
released. SNK’s Neo Geo Pocket followed
in 1998 and the Bandai WonderSwan came
in 1999. Both featured black-and-white
screens before being hastily relaunched in
colour in the wake of the Game Boy Color.
Footage of the abandoned Metal Gear
Solid port was reportedly distributed to
alt.games.video.tiger.game-com users in
1998, but the full development build hasn’t
been seen since.
Future retro collectors be warned: the
Game.com’s internal calendar will only
work up until December 2099. It’s like the
millennium bug all over again, except no
one will care this time.
Search Hasbro’s website and you’ll find
that it still has PDFs for a few Game.com
game manuals available.
The Game.com Pocket Pro was briefly
re-issued minus the front-lit screen and
available in four different colour casings.
The console was actually Tiger’s second
handheld after the R-Zone – a unit similar to
the Virtual Boy that projected LCD images
onto a mirror to create a hologram effect.

75
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 huge sprites, detailed backgrounds and arcade- distribution centres instead of making their way to
style action, but the poor refresh rate of the LCD store shelves next to hardware.”
meant that the game was reduced to a blurry mess Tiger’s decision to develop every Game.com
as soon as anything moved. Lights Out, the second title in-house had also proved something of a
pack-in, was a puzzle game with zero animation and double-edged sword. Without third-party support,
consequently didn’t suffer from the same display the catalogue of software would be severely
problems. This presented Game.com developers limited, but Tiger hoped to offset this by licensing
with a real dilemma. Should they make impressive properties from other publishers. As well as working
games that would look brilliant on the back of the with big movie and TV IPs, Tiger also established
box but disappoint the buyer once they played deals with the likes of Sega and Capcom so that it
the thing? Or should they play to the handheld’s could produce its own versions of popular Saturn
strengths and produce simple but playable games and PlayStation games like Fighters Megamix
that don’t as easily jump off the shelves? It would and Resident Evil 2. Licences gained for Tiger’s
take Tiger Electronics well over a year to find the standalone LCD handhelds also proved invaluable,
answer, at huge cost to the Game.com’s credibility. as the rights to create games based on Sega’s Sonic

H
property allowed Tiger to produce Sonic Jam for
ardware capabilities weren’t the only the Game.com without too much legal difficulty.
problems facing Tiger, either, as the The insistence on developing everything in-house
company found its previous success or with contracted staff, however, slowed down
in LCD games had become as much production of new games significantly, and many
a curse as a blessing. In a letter posted at the titles suffered painful delays while the most hotly
alt.games.video.tiger.game-com newsgroup on anticipated games like Castlevania and Metal Gear
17 June 1998, Tiger directly addressed its fans’ Solid never made it to shelves. Licences also proved
concerns over the availability of games with the troublesome, as Tiger had to occasionally work to
following explanation: “Game.com has had a tough the inconvenient schedules of external companies.
time establishing a strong presence at retail. This An X-Files game, for example, was planned at one
is largely because it originates from Tiger, which stage, but Fox requested that development of the
is a toy company, not a videogame company per game be postponed until the movie was complete,
se. As a result, many retailers have chosen to by which time Tiger had moved on. Likewise, a
merchandise Game.com as a toy – not as the strong planned Godzilla game was abandoned following a
vid game system it is. Because Tiger’s traditional licensing dispute that pulled the rights away from all
toys don’t come in ‘multiple parts’ (such as a system of Tiger’s toy divisions. The Game.com catalogue,
» Modems, power supplies and link cables were all
available put so poorly stocked that many believed
and carts), retailers haven’t been mindful of the it seemed, could be damaged by association with
they never existed. big picture, and carts have tended to languish in Tiger’s portfolio as well as benefit from it.

76
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 RETROINSPECTION: GAME.COM

If business was a struggle for Tiger in 1997, then

1998 was a true hardship. This was the year that
Nintendo fought back – and in aggressive style.
The Game Boy Color was launched and though it
was technically inferior to the Game.com, its colour
screen and exemplary refresh rate made it much
more palatable to consumers. And let’s not forget
the worldwide release of Pokémon that year, which
created a media phenomenon and even helped
the humble black-and-white Game Boy to enjoy a
second lease of life.

T
iger Electronics needed to improve the
Game.com and quickly, and at E3 that
year it announced the Pocket Pro, a
hardware variation of the Game.com » [Game.Com] The Game.com’s GUI gave instant access to all the in-built
features and any cartridges that were inserted.
that it hoped would keep the business going.

DotCom.com The Pocket Pro improved on the original model by

reducing the required number of batteries from
batch of releases. Resident Evil 2 may have been
an ambitious conversion, but it was also a much
■ The Game.com, rather four to two, reducing the size and weight of the slower-paced game than your average action title,
confusingly, had two device at the cost of one cartridge slot, and adding and its lumbering zombie enemies were perfect for
cartridges that enabled online a new front-lit screen with a far better refresh the Game.com’s motion-averse screen. Tiger was
functionality. Here’s the rate, comparable to that of the excellent Game beginning to pick its licences much more carefully
difference: the first, known Boy Pocket. Tiger also announced its first original with these issues in mind, and later releases like
as the Internet Cart, granted IP for the Game.com, an RPG called Mutoids Monopoly, Jeopardy! and Frogger were much better
access to the web as long as that was said to play like Pokémon and would suited, showing that board games, TV shows and
you connected the machine allow Game.com owners to link up and do battle retro games could be perfect for the Game.com as
to an external modem. with each other and even link up to a new line long as the brand name was familiar enough to reel
Functionality was limited, of electronic keychain games called Mutoid Giga customers in.
however, as it would only Fighters – a particularly innovative way for Tiger to Sadly, Tiger’s new strategy was too little and too
work with text-based ISPs take advantage of its diverse toy range to help boost late to save the Game.com. The Pocket Pro was a
and websites. AOL, America’s the Game.com’s potential. marked improvement over the original model, but
most popular ISP at the time, Not only was Mutoids a smart way to it still looked pathetic next to the Game Boy Color.
was totally incompatible. compete with the Pokémon boom, but it was Retailers continued to position the device poorly and
The second cart was known also an experienced solution to the Game.com’s not stock the full range of software, and specialist
as Web Link and actually performance problems – a killer app that, as an RPG, games magazines rarely, if ever, covered the system,
allowed you to connect your didn’t have too much animation and therefore didn’t leading to a critical lack of awareness among core
console to a PC and transfer cause the screen to blur during critical moments. gamers. The reputation of the handheld was still
data between the two. If the It had taken a while, but Tiger was finally learning tarnished by the original model and lacklustre launch
PC was connected to the net which games worked best on the system and which titles, making consumers reluctant to take a chance
then you could upload your didn’t, and you could see the results in the later on the superior releases of late 1998.
high scores to Tiger’s website
for all to see or download
exclusive cheat modes for
certain games. Game.com
fan Steven Cox recalls the
difficulty of using the device:
“The Web Link cartridge
was not user-friendly at all.
A fun toy for tech geeks like
myself, but I can only imagine
how many kids picked one
up – well, probably not that
many kids – and outright
failed to make it work with
their dial-up ISP.” Online
play was never enabled, but
a Tiger representative did
once say that it was trying
to get it to work by using a
slow game, like an RPG, while
also improving the transfer
rate of the carts. Sadly, the
Game.com’s commercial life
came to an end before such
experiments bore fruit. » Small Soldiers was announced but never
released. Only this background shot and a
couple of character models remain.

77
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
Only 20 games were released
for the Game.com, and although
most were junk, a small
minority is worthy of note
01. FROGGER
A great classic arcade game that’s almost done brilliantly on the
01 02
Game.com. Only the blurry snakes let the conversion down.
02. BATMAN & ROBIN
Standard platform/action fare based on the notoriously terrible
George Clooney movie. The action’s good, but the visuals are so blurry
that it borders on pointless.
03. CENTIPEDE
A crisp and clean remake of the arcade original. Not entirely faithful,
but just as much fun to play. One of the better score-attack games
out there.
04. DUKE NUKEM 3D
This isn’t quite the FPS it appears to be in stills. The game moves
along one tile at a time, like 3D Monster Maze, and you can’t really
03 04
aim the gun.
05. FIGHTERS MEGAMIX
Lacks the full complement of characters as seen in the Saturn original.
And if the full move list is there, it feels impossible to pull off.
06. INDY 500
A ‘3D’ racing game that has more in common with a simple LCD
game than anything on consoles. Great speech, poor gameplay.
07. JEOPARDY!
This classic TV show should work great on the Game.com, but there
usually isn’t enough time to tap the answers in on the touchscreen.
08. THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK
05 07
An action-adventure game with multiple gameplay modes, including
driving, platform and so on. The objectives are often confusing and the
graphics suffer from blur.
09. HENRY
Henry is a ‘concentration’- based solitaire game with a twist. Instead of
matching cards with pictures, you match audible sounds. A great idea,
done well.
10. MORTAL KOMBAT TRILOGY
It might suffer from the blurs, but MK Trilogy does at least play well
and has loads of features. It’s miles better than any Mortal Kombat on
the Game Boy, too.
11. MONOPOLY
08 10
The board game’s turn-based gameplay and simple animations are well
suited to the Game.com, but a standard game can drag on longer than
some batteries last.
12. QUIZ WIZ: CYBER TRIVIA
A Trivial Pursuit-style quiz game with its own virtual host. Falls flat due
to boring questions and the annoying, unfunny host. Buzz, this ain’t.
13. SCRABBLE
Another game that should work great on the Game.com and…
actually does. The touchscreen is used especially well for
moving tiles.
14. SONIC JAM
Four great Mega Drive games on one cartridge should be reason to
11 14
celebrate, but Sonic’s speed and the Game.com’s blurry screen do not
make good bedfellows.
15. RESIDENT EVIL 2
It shouldn’t work, but it really does. Not an accurate adaptation, but
as close as you could get in 1998 and something that the Game Boy
never managed to do.
16. TIGER CASINO
Great presentation and good controls make this gambling
compendium a solid release, but the subject matter is hardly the most
inspiring content.
17. WHEEL OF FORTUNE
A good example of a ‘does what it says on the tin’ game. The quiz
15 16
show translates well and is just as fun/boring as you’d expect.
18. WHEEL OF FORTUNE 2
The only sequel to a Game.com title! This one doesn’t really make any
improvements; it just adds more puzzles to extend the lifespan.
19. WILLIAMS ARCADE CLASSICS
Joust, Defender, Robotron 2084, Sinistar and Defender II all appear in
this mixed bag. Robotron is the best, while Sinistar is unplayable.
20. LIGHTS OUT
This timeless puzzler translates perfectly to the Game.com
touchscreen, but the difficulty soon hits like a brick wall. Too hard.
17 19

78
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 RETROINSPECTION: GAME.COM

info as part of an
open‑source assembler project for
homebrew development.
“The emulator in the dev kit is great,” Jason
continues. “It’s almost 100% perfect. And you can
actually see what you are doing in games, with an
extremely high contrast and no blur. One of our
members was working on Game.com support in
» The Game.com Pocket Pro was smaller and featured a better screen, but it was too little and too late to save the day.
MESS [Multiple Emulator Super System], but I’m

A
not sure how far along he got with it. The MCU is
nother problem was that Tiger stock surplus units of the system on its online pretty well-documented now, but fine details still
failed to capitalise on many of store for some time, the handheld was officially need to be sorted. I think to really do that well,
the handheld’s real selling points. discontinued in 2000. some homebrew demos need to be made and
With the exception of Solitaire, the Only a total of 20 games were ever released for run on the hardware. The assembler, code-named
in-built software was too basic or not useful enough the Game.com, and the handheld remains one of ‘as85’, was the first assembler I ever wrote and it’s
when compared to proper PDA devices, while the the most unarguable failures in gaming history with an essential piece of software for writing homebrew
machine’s internet capabilities never came close to over two decades of hindsight. Boxed systems and Game.com code. It just needs to be worked on a
reaching their exciting potential. And from a game sealed games are fairly easy to source on eBay at bit more until it’s in a usable state, and then the real
design perspective, it was disheartening to see varying prices, and the system doesn’t even enjoy hacking and development can begin.”
Tiger waste the potential of the touchscreen by the cult status afforded to other doomed handhelds For regular gamers, however, the Game.com is a
failing to make use of it in all but the most simple like the Neo Geo Pocket or Bandai WonderSwan. mere footnote in the history of videogames at worst,
puzzle games, although some gamers, like Steven In terms of the after-market scene, Tiger and a particularly relevant lesson in the difficulties
Cox, webmaster of a popular Game.com fan site Electronics’ Game.com barely registers a faint blip of the handheld games market at best. For Steven
in 1998, sympathise with Tiger on this particular on the radar, but there were individuals that had Cox, whose Game.com now sits boxed up under
issue. “Nintendo [in 2005 had to persuade] game hopes to kickstart an online community for the his desk with his Lynx, Game Boy and C64, Tiger’s
developers to develop for the DS touchscreen. handheld. Hacker and homebrew programmer handheld is a reminder of just how turbulent and
It’s simply easier for developers to follow the Jason Oster was lucky enough to acquire an official open to change the game industry really is.
tried‑and‑true control pad paradigm,” he argues. Game.com development kit a few years before this “If a little company like Tiger can make a go at
“Tiger Electronics was at least doing its stuff article was first published in 2009. it then the market is much more malleable than
in‑house, but even then I think there was a large “The development kit hardware is basically just we often think,” he argues. “Remember, industry
conceptual wall to hurdle to get the developers to an EPROM emulator,” he says. “It connects to a analysts were laughing at Sony for daring to take
think in terms of the touchscreen interface. Porting PC through the ISA slot. A Game.com cartridge on console giants Sega and Nintendo, and a
their puzzle games over was surely easy, but what ROM can then be uploaded to the emulator using single generation later the same analysts laughed
does the touchscreen bring to games like the a DOS program. And the modified Game.com can at Microsoft for daring to take on Sony. The
Batman & Robin movie property? It’s a neat feature run it just like any other cartridge. One of the better gaming market is a strange place and Game.com
that ultimately looks better as a PR selling point than finds in the development kit was a full-featured is part of its history”.
an actual gameplay addition.” software emulator that can run and debug
Worst of all, many of the upcoming games failed any of the Game.com game ROMs
to emerge from within Tiger’s walls. Promising on a Windows PC. We were
new games like A Bug’s Life, Small Soldiers, NBA able to hack the emulator to
Hangtime, Shadow Madness, Madden Football discover so much previously
’98 and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter were all cancelled unknown information about
in addition to the previously mentioned X-Files, the MCU. Eventually, I
Godzilla, Castlevania and Metal Gear Solid, leaving released some of that
the Game.com with more exciting games left on the
scrap heap than on store shelves. And the final nail
in the coffin for the few fans still left hanging on to
their Game.coms was the cancellation of Mutoids,
the only title that realistically stood a chance of
saving the system.
Tiger Electronics quickly moved on. The company
had recently been acquired by Hasbro and had
a phenomenon to call its own in the form of the
increasingly popular Furby toys. Development of
new Game.com titles was eventually ceased,
and although the company continued to

79
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 80
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 GAME BOY COLOR

ing to h a ppen,
ics was always go ssed that
w ith colour graph w would have gue asing the
oy t fe rele
A Game B a case of when. Ye half years before
a
it was just ould wait nine and rth waiting for?
Nintendo Color. So was it wo
w
Game Boy U that was CP
Martyn Carroll om 8-bit ubled
Words by th e sam e – a cust sp e e d was do
m ai n e d t it s c lo ck 6 KB,
re Z80 – bu led, to 1
p a rt o f the sim ilar to the M w as also doub 2 KB (which
s A 3
e B o y Color wa o f th e to 8 M H z. Video R as q u ad rupled to
e data was
he Gam upgrade w
lin e , a n a t so ld ile m ai n memory m e m b e r that gam e up
Game B
oy chine th wh but re now b
rome ma ing s minute hich could
monoch held gam still sound tridges, w ory Acce
ss)
original w o n th e h a n d
lf h as al w ay s
re d o n R O M c ar
A (D ire c t M e m
at a
an d rm it se st o DM g up d enjoyed
millions do. The fi , it size). The , speedin thoroughly
r Ninten or. Indeed to 8MB in ere enhanced too » Bob Baffy for Nintendo’s
market fo was not a success B o y, th e s w gam es
similar to
g
capabilitie
in
ame reen. m ak
that it original G Light e new sc was very colour hand
held.
been clear wide sales of the lit G ame Boy tr an sfer to th e B oy Color d e v ic e was
o rld b ac k ly, the G am th e
groups w Pocket, th
e tal of Outward though
ame Boy (that’s a to Pocket, al aller. Most
smaller G C o lo r together e ar lie r G ame Boy n w as slightly sm ad,
ame Bo y e e
and the G r fans). th
er and th
e scre classic d-p
ig numbe were a little larg ed – the
m illio n units, b e t an d the Light e B o y at u re s w ere retain le c t), the volum
e
9 , the Gam .
11
w h e re as the Pock
n al se n se ls familiar fe n s (A , B , Start, Se p ort an d so on.
But st functio lier mode the four b
utto k cable e Pocket’
s
in the mo t over ear e jack, lin
headphon es, compared to th
upgrades le ar en h ancemen ke y re as on for d ia l, th e ri m p arab le at
ac its AA batte e was co
Color was lour graphics were G am e B oy o k tw o at te ry lif n sid ering
co chrome It to ries, but b ge. Co
Obviously, ar e d to the mono w as ab le to tw o A AA batte la y fro m a full char w as q uite
Com p B C f p at
existing. es of g rey, the G a p al e tte of o u n d te n hours o d c o lo u r screen, th
ur shad rs from ar or an of the
and its fo ous colou displayed r process is a big fan
5 6 simultane at th e device the faste in te ndo. e d w orldwide
in » Mike Mika lor and currently is
dis p la y e d th tch as o m N le as y Co
a coup fr lor was re had been
Bo
laim slight stre Gam e lipse.
intendo c at was a ortant e Boy Co handheld of Digital Ec
32,000. N , b ut th e al l-im p h e G am a c o lo u r It president
olor (sic)” er to sav T
rumours
about y itself. “
“brilliant c klit (in ord ective 1998, yet Game Bo
sc re e n wasn’t bac screen utilised refl lo o ke d o st as lo ng as the d Jas on Spiller
in
the
e ). In stead, the in al G am e Boy, it
t ar ound alm e se e n it,” claime ine – published in
lif rig y day, bu t, I hav n magaz
battery like the o on a sunn does exis f GB Actio Consume
r
y, so just g outside h issue o ound the
technolog re p la y in itio n s. th e la u n c w an d e r ar a
great if yo
u we ght cond point, but uring a bri
ef around
d in low-li ain selling 1992! “D d my head
s lu stre diminishe as th e m d w ar e ic S ho w , I poppe
it w verall har Electron
r display from an o
The colou enefitted . The pro
cessor
e al so b ve lo p e rs
the devic de
rve game
better se
boost to

81
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 “As a successor to the
original the GBC ticked
all the right boxes”
Bob Pape

corner of a mysterious-looking room and there it the UK). But there was a very interesting forecast at
was. No doubt about it. The colour Game Boy is real.” the end of the article: “It’s rumoured that the colour
The article predicted a release date of September machine will play your old mono games.”
1993. So just five years out. We should go easy on Now this was a bold prediction. These days
the team as this was a classic gaming mag ‘expose’. Nintendo has frequently advocated for backwards
Having no actual assets to show, the article was compatibility, but back then its home consoles were
illustrated with a mocked-up photo of an original Game not compatible with each other. Surely it would be
Boy with a ‘coloured-in’ version of Tetris slapped on painting itself into a Qix-style corner by retaining
the screen. Other predictions were accurate, though compatibility for the old Game Boy? Maybe not in
obvious – as portable as the original and priced under 1993, but five years later? The truth is that Nintendo
£100 (it would eventually retail for £80 at launch in did scope out a much more powerful 32-bit handheld
in the mid-Nineties, under the ‘Project Atlantis’
moniker, but in the end it opted for a successor that
could play the vast catalogue of mono GB games. And
that decision had ramifications for the GBC.
“Backwards compatibility more or less defined
technically what the Game Boy Color would eventually
have to become,” says Bob Pape, who developed
games for both the Game Boy and GBC, including the
celebrated conversion R-Type DX. “Nintendo probably
came up with all sorts of alternatives and I’m sure they
looked at the Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx for what
not to do with a colour handheld. As a successor to the
original, the GBC ticked all the right boxes with regard
to size, battery life, reliability and most importantly
backwards compatibility. Radically changing anything
would have disrupted the upgrade path. It would
have pretty much killed off the pre-existing Game
» [Game Boy Color] The DX upgrade of Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening Boy market and annoyed customers left with a game
added a ‘Color Dungeon’ that showcased the system’s new hues. collection they could only play on yesterday’s console.”

Le t t h e re b e C OL O R Monochrome games that were brought to life on the GBC

TENNIS METROID II KID ICARUS

■ This early sports title is ■ Samus’s second adventure ■ You can’t fail to be
transformed on the Game was supposed to receive enchanted by this brilliant
Boy Color. The court is a lush a dedicated Game Boy platformer – a sequel to the
green colour and umpire Color update but it never NES original – and it looks
Mario is wearing his red cap, as he should be. Obviously, if you have materialised. That was possibly because the colourised version better than ever when played on the Game Boy Color. As with
a GBC then your go-to tennis game should be the excellent Mario looked so good that a new release wasn’t warranted. While playing, Metroid II, the introduction of colour almost transforms it into a
Tennis, but the original has a certain charm. it’s easy to forget that this is a mono Game Boy game. brand-new game, with the sprites popping off the screen.

82
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 GAME BOY COLOR

The Game Boy Color could play all of the existing was announced I was worried that I’d have to learn
grey-coloured Game Boy carts, and as an added bonus an entirely new architecture. It was amazing how
it would ‘colourise’ old games. This worked a lot like Nintendo managed to create a device that played
the Super Game Boy add-on for the SNES, where GB games as well as introducing some key bits of
the shades of grey could be substituted for distinct hardware that made the system feel entirely new. It
colours. There were a number of preset palettes which doubled the processing and introduced hardware DMA
the user could select when the game started up. transfers, which became critical to our success on the
Furthermore, the device included dedicated palettes platform. We could pretty much reload entire graphic
for more than 90 key titles (mainly first-party releases sets every frame to give us fullscreen animation and
and popular games from other publishers). So ancient complex sprite displays. It was powerful enough for us
titles like Tetris and Super Mario Land were given a to deliver a pretty decent version of Dragon’s Lair and
new and enhanced lease of life on the GBC. It was develop Disney-quality animation that paid homage to
clever tech, where the GBC would grab the game title some of Virgin’s Disney titles on home consoles.”
from the cart’s header during the boot procedure and Mike’s Digital Eclipse colleague Bob Baffy was also
then apply a dedicated palette if one was available. It a fan. “I was impressed with how Nintendo handled
was so clever that it gave birth to an amusing myth the technical challenges of adding colour to an already
that all monochromatic GB games were actually established platform without too much breakage or
developed with colour graphics, it was just that the incompatibility. It wasn’t perfect, but man was it fun
poor GB couldn’t display them! to develop for the Game Boy Color.” For Bob, the » [Game Boy Color] Wario Land II was originally designed for the original
GB, but the fantastic third game, seen here, was a dedicated GBC title.
limitations were obvious, particularly as he specialised
n addition to backwards compatibility, in sound and music. “More memory for audio and
Nintendo also introduced forwards art, and a little speed boost would have made some
compatibility to the Game Boy line. Many of things less painful,” he says. “But given the state
the early Game Boy Color titles, such as Tetris DX of technology at the time, I felt it was a pretty well-
and Pocket Bomberman, were designed to play rounded piece of hardware. Being selfish, a bigger and
on the older GB by effectively ignoring the colour more powerful speaker would have been nice.”
information. It was also possible to store separate GB Audio was one element that Nintendo overlooked,
and GBC versions on a single cart, with the correct with the Game Boy Color retaining the four-channel
version selected on start-up (R-Type DX and Conker’s stereo sound from the original device. “Honestly, the
Pockets Tales were two examples that did this). These audio was the biggest drawback,” says Mike. “We had
compatible ‘dual mode’ carts were identified by their enough power to deliver some pretty convincing digital
black cases, while later games that would only run on samples, and mix that with pure sound generation, but
the GBC came in clear cases. it took a big chunk of the processing per frame and an
The comprehensive upgrade path chosen by even larger chunk of cartridge space. Writing a flexible
Nintendo was welcomed by Mike Mika, director and graphics system and bank-switching architecture was
programmer at prolific Game Boy developer Digital a challenge, too. We had to learn how to do things the
Eclipse. He says: “I was already a huge fan of the hard way, by reverse engineering it. Nintendo provided
original Game Boy, so when the Game Boy Color nearly nothing in the way of support.”

» GB Action magaz
ine went big with
mere six years bef its col
ore the handheld act our Game Boy ‘reveal’, a
ually arrived.

SUPER MARIO DONKEY

LAND 2 KONG LAND
■ All three Mario Land ■ Everyone was wowed
games were enhanced on when this hit the Game Boy
the Game Boy Color. This is and it didn’t look too far from
the best of bunch, as the pastel-coloured palette lends itself well the SNES original. However, the brilliantly animated sprites were
to the game’s breezy levels. Okay, so the coins are not golden, and often lost in the busy backgrounds. By simply colouring the sprites
Mario’s wardrobe is a bit wrong, but we’re happy to let that slide. the problem was fixed and the game is transformed.

83
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION RETRO GAMER | 83
 C o lo r h a n d h e ld w a r s How the three competing
What Nintendo did provide was a portable
platform that beat the most optimistic sales
handhelds stacked up expectations. The Game Boy Color conquered
the handheld space, easily brushing aside the Neo
Geo Pocket Color and the WonderSwan Color, and
there was no threat yet from mobile phone gaming
which was still stuck at Snake. Software sales were
strong, too. Nintendo published games like Pokémon
and Zelda dominated the charts, but licensed titles
proved to be a cash cow for firms like Digital Eclipse.
“Everything sold,” says Mike. “There were just so
many units out there and licensed games were selling
huge numbers. We would literally get calls from
publishers every week as this was a peak moment
NEO GEO in movie-based games. Essentially GBC games were
POCKET COLOR printing money. I was told Tarzan sold more copies
Released: 1999 than the N64 and PlayStation versions combined.”
CPU: 16-bit Toshiba TLCS-900
Tarzan was one of the first games to utilise the
RAM: 16Kb total
Display: 6.8cm size, 160×152 full power of the Game Boy Color and hence came
Colours: 241 from 4,096
Battery Life: 40hrs from 2xAA batteries

GAME BOY COLOR

Released: 1998
CPU: 8-bit Sharp LR35902
WONDERSWAN
RAM: 48Kb total COLOR
Display: 6.6cm size, 160×144 resolution Released: 1998
Colours: 56 from 32,768 CPU: 16-bit NEC V30
Battery Life: 10hrs from 2xAA batteries RAM: 64Kb total
Display: 7.4cm size, 224×144 » [Game Boy Color] There were some surprisingly good 3D driving games
Colours: 146 from 4,096 released for the system, including V-Rally (pictured) and Top Gear Pocket.
Battery Life: 20hrs from 1xAA battery

E x cl u s ive s t o t re a s u re Six classic GBC games that you won’t find

anywhere else (Virtual Console included)

POKÉMON PINBALL 1999

■ All of the Game Boy Color Pokémon games were available on
the 3DS Virtual Console bar this spin-off. This is possibly because
the original cart includes rumble tech (that requires its own AAA
battery). As portable pinball games go it’s one of the best, rivalling
the classic Kirby’s Pinball Land.

STRANDED KIDS 1999 KIRBY TILT ‘N’ TUMBLE 2000

■ It may look like a Zelda clone, but this is a unique, open-ended ■ Another title that included built-in tech, in this instance an
adventure where you have to survive on a desert island by foraging accelerometer inside the cart. By tilting and jerking the Game
and crafting. It’s utterly charming and captivating throughout. Boy Color, you guide our rotund friend around various courses,
Stranded Kids was followed by a sequel, and succeeded by the Lost collecting stars. It’s a riot, basically. This was never released in
In Blue series on Nintendo’s DS and Wii. Europe, making it an import favourite.

84
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 GAME BOY COLOR

“It wasn’t perfect,

but man was it fun to
develop for the GBC”
Bob Baffy Game Boy that brought 32-bit gaming to eager mitts.
Once again, Nintendo kept the previous generation
on a clear cart. The first prominent GBC-only release alive by including support for Game Boy and GBC
was Super Mario Bros Deluxe in early 1999 and games. As such, the GBC is a largely redundant piece
this set something of a precedent, with dual mode of kit these days. If you want to revisit a GBC game
releases soon becoming the exception rather than the then you’d be advised to play it on a GBA (specifically
norm. This move was embraced by developers (and a GBA SP thanks to its backlit screen). Or you could
Nintendo too, no doubt), even though it was possible play it on a TV using the Game Boy Player for the
to harness the GBC’s full capabilities with a dual mode GameCube, or, if you wish to retain that portable
release. “In order to support both platforms you were magic, Analogue’s superb Pocket console.
developing for the lowest common denominator,” says The Game Boy Color may be looking a little
Mike. “You basically colourised a Game Boy game obsolete but it’s far from forgotten – certainly not by
and didn’t do much more than that to keep production the developers at Digital Eclipse who enjoyed the
costs down. Our first GBC-only game was Klax. We challenge of making it sing. “The technical limitations and how off our games as if we were at a demo
showed Midway’s CEO what it would be like using the of the Game Boy Color sometimes made for better scene meet-up.”
full capabilities of the GBC, and then showed him the games,” says Bob. “I’ve since worked on console and He adds: “Most people who created Game Boy
old black and white version. He didn’t hesitate.” PC titles that had a lot less limitations but were less Color games were doing it to put off being part of
fun to develop because we weren’t pushed to find much bigger teams where fighting for ideas was much
ob adds: “I think Nintendo eventually creative solutions.” harder. On the GBC, you could still make a great game
started nudging folks to go with the Game For Mike, the Game Boy Color rekindled the with one or two people and the development process
Boy Color-only carts when they saw what bedroom coding ethic of the industry’s early days. was fast and unhindered. When I got into the industry,
a huge success the GBC became. Put “In many respects it was like the old demo scene I thought I’d missed out on the heady days of small-
simply, GBC-only games just looked a lot better than on the Commodore 64 and Amiga,” he says. “For team games. The GBC gave me a taste of that.”
the dual ones, and Nintendo sold enough GBCs to those making games on the Game Boy Color there For the rest of us, the Game Boy Color gave us our
justify dropping support for the original Game Boy.” was a subtext to our efforts. We were all trying to first taste of colour gaming on a Nintendo handheld,
Nintendo would eventually drop support for the show off how far we could push it. If we introduced a and a flavour of what was to come with the Game Boy
Game Boy Color in 2003, four-and-a-half years after it full-motion video player, someone like Vicarious Visions Advance. History may remember it as a stopgap with a
debuted, during which time close to 600 games were would find a way to do it with hundreds of colours short shelf life, but it was a neat device regardless that
released for the system. However it was superseded on screen, and then someone else would figure out played host to some genuine classics. Above all, it was
two years earlier with the arrival of the Game Boy how to do that with great sampled audio. We were a proud entry to the Game Boy Line that entertained
Advance in 2001. This was the true successor to the all having a great time and we’d all hang out at events gamers on the go for more than a decade.

METAL GEAR SOLID 2000 WENDY: EVERY WITCH WAY 2001

■ Ignore the title. This is not an attempt to recreate the 3D ■ Licensed didn’t always mean lousy. This whimsical platformer,
majesty of the PlayStation game. Rather it’s a return to the featuring Wendy the witch from the Casper series, features
overhead 2D style of the MSX and NES titles, and its brand of a gravity gimmick that transforms an ordinary game into an
stealthy gameplay works brilliantly on the Game Boy Color. Known exceptional one. Creator Matt Bozon would follow this with the first
in Japan as Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. entry in the Shantae series.

WARLOCKED 2000
■ Not a particularly well-known title, but one that fans of
real‑time strategy games should definitely seek out. You can
happily waste hours playing this, making it perfect for long
journeys. It’s technically impressive, too, with very little slowdown
despite the complexity of the game.

85
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
NEO GEO
T H E S T O R Y O F T H E

POCKET
Having capable hardware, great games and an
attractive price point makes success in the console
market easier, but it’s no guarantee – just ask SNK,
which had all three and still couldn’t dent the
dominance of Nintendo’s Game Boy line

I
f there’s one word you’d typically associate with SNK’s
hardware, we’d hazard a guess that ‘luxury’ would be
near the top of the list. The Neo Geo AES, released in 1990,
offered arcade perfection for those who could afford it – and
with cartridges selling for over £100, they were few in number.
The introduction of the Neo Geo CD in 1994 managed to bring
software prices down, but the enormous amount of RAM needed
meant that the hardware was too expensive, with the Saturn
and PlayStation both undercutting it within just a few months of
launch. It wasn‘t a bad product, just the wrong one for the time.
As the Nineties wore on, SNK struggled in the marketplace.
In arcades, the Neo Geo MVS was dated and the 3D games on
the Hyper Neo Geo 64 proved too unspectacular to make much
headway. Production of the Neo Geo home console systems was
discontinued in 1997 due to dwindling interest, though software
was still being released. There was no sense in trying to create
a new one, either – the home consoles had leveraged shared
technology with the arcade hardware, and nobody was going to
get excited about Hyper Neo Geo 64 games at home.
However, there was an opportunity in the handheld console
market. Although the Pokémon phenomenon had driven a late-life
revival of Nintendo’s Game Boy, it was still a dated system that
hadn’t faced serious competition since Sega discontinued the
Game Gear. SNK had enough recognisable properties to consider
supporting a console of its own. Plus, the handheld market
provided an intelligent way to utilise the company‘s 2D game

86
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 THE STORY OF THE NEO GEO POCKET

87
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 » [Neo Geo Pocket Color] Games like Metal Slug:
2nd Mission really emphasised the technical
superiority of the hardware.

H E A D T O H E A D
How SNK’s hardware shaped up to the competition

Neo Geo Pocket Color Game Boy Color WonderSwan

CPU CPU CPU
16-bit Toshiba TLCS-900/H (6.144 MHz), 8-bit Toshiba TLCS-900/H (6.144 MHz), 16-bit NEC V30 MZ (3.072 MHz)
8-bit Z80 (3.072 MHz) 8-bit Z80 (3.072 MHz)
MEMORY
MEMORY MEMORY 32KB RAM
12KB main RAM, 4KB Z80 RAM, 8KB character RAM, 4KB 32KB main RAM, 16KB video RAM
scroll VRAM
DISPLAY
DISPLAY 224x144 resolution, up to eight shades of grey on-screen
DISPLAY 160x144 resolution, up to 56 colours on screen from a
160x152 resolution, up to 146 colours on screen from a palette of 32,768
GRAPHICS
Two scrolling backgrounds (each 256x256), up to
palette of 4,096
GRAPHICS 128 sprites on screen (8x8), 32 sprites per line
GRAPHICS One scrolling background plane (256x256), up to 40 sprites
Two scrolling background planes (each 256x256), on screen (8x8 or 8x16), ten sprites per line
SOUND
Four PCM channels
up to 64 sprites on screen (8x8)
SOUND
SOUND Two square wave channels, PCM channel, noise channel MEDIA
Three square wave channels, noise channel ROM cartridge (up to 16MB)
MEDIA
MEDIA ROM cartridge (up to 8MB) POWER
ROM cartridge (up to 4MB) One AA battery (up to 40 hours gameplay)
POWER
POWER Two AA batteries (up to ten hours gameplay)
Two AA batteries (main, up to 40 hours gameplay), one
CR2032 battery (memory functions)

t
“The Neo Geo Pocket debuted on the marke
development expertise, which was increasingly
unfashionable on home consoles. For the first time,

precisely one week after Nintendo

SNK would attempt to make a machine with a
genuine shot at the mass market.
ucing
reinvigorated its handheld business by introd
T
he Neo Geo Pocket was released in

the Game Boy Color” Japan on 28 October 1998, with six

games, including The King Of Fighters
R-1, Baseball Stars and Neo Geo Cup 98.
The system had many features that compared
well with the Game Boy – a crisp greyscale LCD,
» [Neo Geo Pocket] Games on the system a brawny 16-bit CPU, comparable battery life and
often feature exaggerated features and
particularly expressive facial animations. excellent controls that utilised a microswitched
thumbstick that gave a distinctive clicking sound
when used. Master Of Shogi, Samurai Shodown!
and Neo Cherry Master joined the software library in
1998, and then, software support abruptly dropped.
Barely two months after it launched, the original
Neo Geo Pocket was effectively dead in the water.
Once again, SNK had released a product that just
wasn’t right for the time. Where the Neo Geo CD
was a 2D system that arrived just before the whole
world embraced 3D graphics, the Neo Geo Pocket
debuted on the market precisely one week
after Nintendo reinvigorated its handheld
business by introducing the Game
Boy Color. It didn’t matter how good
the games were – and they were
pretty solid. SNK’s machine looked
like yesterday‘s news before it even hit

88
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 THE STORY OF THE NEO GEO POCKET

with the slogan, “I’m not boy,” used in early print

advertising, but by this point, a third competitor
had entered the battle. The toy giant Bandai had
launched the WonderSwan a couple of weeks
ed
ket Adventure mix earlier, with a low price of ¥4,800 and major
t Color] Sonic Poc
» [Neo Geo Pocke nic 3 ’s music to great effect. licensing deals compensating for its lack of
with So
Sonic 2 ’s stages
colour graphics.

T
he most popular launch game for the
Neo Geo Pocket Color was The King
Of Fighters R-2, which sold 16,920
copies in its first week on sale – not
an enormous number, but a decent start. Over
the coming months, SNK moved to bolster the
system’s software library, primarily with versions
of its arcade hits – Fatal Fury: First Contact, Metal
Slug: 1st Mission, Samurai Spirits! 2 and Neo Turf
Masters arrived throughout the spring and summer.
» [Neo Geo Pocket Color] Fatal Fury: First SNK covered the handheld staple puzzle genre by
Contact was a simplified version of the tapping up Taito for Puzzle Bobble and Sega for Puyo
arcade game Real Bout Fatal Fury 2.
Puyo, and the company also recognised the need
for original software, with dungeon-crawling RPG
Biomotor Unitron being one of the early highlights.
The Neo Geo Pocket Color was introduced to the
North American market gradually, with a soft launch
via direct online sales preceding full retail availability
in August 1999. The system launched at $69.99,
with games retailing in cardboard boxes rather
than the plastic clamshell cases – a cost-cutting
measure soon adopted in Japan. SNK also chose
to give the system a refresh in Japan around this
time, announcing the revised New Neo Geo Pocket
Color model in September 1999, for a 21 October
» [Neo Geo Pocket Color] ADK’s Crush
Roller was a greatly expanded remake of launch. This slightly smaller version of the system
the Eighties arcade maze game. had all the same features as previous models

D R E A M T E A M
How SNK’s connection with Sega became very literal
SNK’s efforts to disrupt the handheld gaming market happened to coincide with Sega’s attempt
Neo Poke-kun is
t Color] Ganbare
»[Neo Geo Pocke t games for any console. to make a major comeback with the Dreamcast. The companies had a good working relationship
offbea
one of the more thanks to SNK’s time as a third‑party publisher of Saturn games, and the hardware interests of
the two companies had no overlap since Sega had exited the handheld market a few
the shelves; the situation smacked of poor planning, years prior. Those favourable conditions allowed for the creation of the
considering Nintendo had announced its new Neo Geo Pocket Color to Dreamcast link cable, one of the more unusual
system in March 1998. peripherals for both systems.
The Neo Geo Pocket Color was swiftly introduced Rather than allowing for a secondary game display – a function
to replace the original model, and it resembled already fulfilled by the Dreamcast’s VMU peripheral – this cable primarily
its predecessor closely, differing primarily in its facilitated data transfer. For example, it was possible to unlock special
inclusion of a colour screen and hardware that could attributes for Making mode in The King Of Fighters R-2 through The King
push almost three times as many on-screen colours Of Fighters: Dream Match 99 on Dreamcast, or transfer points gathered in
as the Game Boy Color. Though the short life of the SNK Vs Capcom: Match Of The Millennium to
original Neo Geo Pocket was surely galling to those unlock items in Capcom Vs SNK.
few who bought it, SNK did ensure that it wasn’t Given the limited audience for the
entirely obsolete – the new system was backwards cable and the lack of crossover between
compatible for those who chose to upgrade, and all Dreamcast and Neo Geo Pocket developers,
but a handful of the new games released in 1999 few games supported the cable. Besides the
included support for the original system. examples mentioned above, linkable games
Officially arriving in the Japanese market on include Bikkuriman 2000 Viva! Festival! and
19 March 1999, the Neo Geo Pocket Color Bikkuriman 2000 Viva! Pocket Festival!, Cool Cool
launched at ¥8,800 with eight games – five Jam and Cool Cool Toon, The King Of Fighters:
of which were new colour versions of older Battle De Paradise and The King Of Fighters:
games – and six colourful shell designs. Evolution, and SNK Vs Capcom Card Fighters 2:
SNK made a fairly bold attempt to position Expand Edition and Capcom Vs SNK 2.
the hardware against Nintendo’s juggernaut,

89
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
» [Neo Geo Pocket Color] Pac-Man is
practically perfect on SNK’s machine,
providing some sweet nostalgic pleasure.

P L AY I T T O D AY
Original hardware isn’t the only way to enjoy SNK’s handheld
For many years after its bankruptcy and revival, SNK didn’t seem to pay much attention to the Neo Geo
Pocket line, preferring to focus its retro efforts primarily on the Neo Geo MVS and AES games for
which it was most famous. That all changed in 2019 when Samurai Shodown! 2 was made available as a
preorder bonus for the Switch version of that year’s Samurai Shodown reboot, heralding the start of the
Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection project. SNK has since made a variety of games available, and has signed
licensing deals so that obvious choices can be joined by equally iconic but less likely inclusions.
The emulation in all of the Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection games has been handled by Code Mystics
» [Neo Geo Po and is of good quality, with features including an LCD screen filter, rewind functions, digital manuals and
cket Color] Ne
Masters prove o Turf versus play support. One thing to note is that while games that weren’t originally released in English
d just as comp
on the go as in elling
the arcades. have translated English manuals, the screen text remains in Japanese – this is true for Mega Man:
Battle & Fighters and other games.
Though some games such as SNK Vs Capcom: Match Of The Millennium are available individually,
we would advise anyone with a broad interest in the system to pick up the Neo Geo Pocket Color
Selection compilations, particularly Vol 1. Each offers ten games and they include some extra features,
including the choice of playing on the black‑and‑white system and 3D models of the game boxes. More
and would retail for a importantly, certain games are only available on the compilations – The Last Blade and Neo Turf Masters
reduced price of ¥6,800. can only be had in Vol 1, for example.
The system reached the
European market in October
1999 with 14 games, as well
as a UK hardware price of £59.99 – undercutting
Nintendo by £10.
One thing that SNK did have going for it was
a robust critical response. IGN’s overview of the
system noted its technical advantages over the
Game Boy Color, and described the thumbstick
as “more comfortable than the d-pad used on the
Game Boy systems”. Assessing 12 of the UK launch
games, Computer & Video Games awarded only
two titles fewer than four stars and gave the full
five to King Of Fighters R-2, Neo Turf Masters and
Pac-Man. Arcade reviewed six of the system’s UK
launch games, awarding five stars to Metal Slug 1st
Mission, Neo Turf Masters and Puzzle Bobble, and
four to King Of Fighters R-2 and Neo Geo Cup 98
Plus. The magazine would later call it “probably the
strongest console launch line-up ever”.

A
s the holiday season approached,
a concentrated effort was made to
provide major star power for the
portable platform. SNK’s working
relationship with Sega allowed the latter’s mascot
to appear in Sonic The Hedgehog Pocket Adventure:
an excellent platform game which earned 93% from
GamesMaster and 5/5 scores from both CVG and
Arcade. Another major coup was SNK’s deal with
Capcom, which resulted in two fantastic games.
SNK Vs Capcom: Card Fighters Clash gave players world. Pokémon Red & Blue hit Europe in October as though business would continue as usual. The
chance to battle it out with decks of trading cards 1999; Yellow arrived in North America the same release schedule continued apace in the first half of
featuring iconic characters, and earned 90% from month. In Japan, the eagerly awaited sequel the year, with games like Metal Slug: 2nd Mission,
GamesMaster, 5/5 from Arcade and an average versions Gold & Silver launched in November, selling SNK Gals Fighters and Cotton making an impression
of 8/10 from Electronic Gaming Monthly’s four over 3.6 million copies before the year was out. The internationally and Ganbare Neo Poke-kun intriguing
reviewers. EGM’s Che Chou “never even dreamt WonderSwan was also outperforming the Neo Geo Japanese audiences. SNK made an appearance at
[tag team fighting] was possible on a handheld Pocket Color in Japan, aided by games like the Final E3 in May, showing off its future games, including
system”, but SNK Vs Capcom: Match Of The Fantasy spin-off Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon. Biomotor Unitron 2, Cool Boarders Pocket, US
Millennium delivered it and allowed characters from That situation continued into 2000 – it wasn’t Wrestling and Cool Cool Jam, a sister title to the
Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, The King Of Fighters and unusual to see WonderSwan games based on Dreamcast game Cool Cool Toon. An MP3 player
more to collide for the first time. properties like Digimon, Hunter X Hunter and Soul add-on was also announced, and the company
Though SNK had a good piece of hardware, Hunter land in the all-format charts, but Neo Geo proudly announced that it had acquired a 2%market
recognisable names and high-quality software, the Pocket Color games barely made an appearance. share in the United States – a small foothold, for
Game Boy Color had brand recognition; Nintendo SNK was acquired by the pachinko manufacturer sure, but a remarkable feat all the same when you
had wealth, and Pokémon was taking over the Aruze in January 2000, and at first, it appeared consider the dominance of Nintendo.

90
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 THE STORY OF THE NEO GEO POCKET

I
n June 2000, everything came crashing ESRB-rated versions of games like Faselei!
down as SNK ceased doing business and The Last Blade, further showing just
in international markets immediately. how sudden SNK’s withdrawal from the US
Reporting on the move, Arcade wrote, market had been.
“Although the Neo Geo Pocket enjoyed Though the Neo Geo Pocket systems
successful sales in the UK, indifference to were not commercially successful in their
the games machine in Europe and America is day, they are highly prized by collectors today.
thought to have forced Aruze, the parent company The system's library of games is small enough
of SNK, to take drastic action.” All existing stock to be feasible to collect in full but rare enough that
was recalled from stores, causing late releases to
become very rare as only a few players snapped
“There was enough doing so is a genuine challenge, and SNK continues
to attract a dedicated following of fans. Beyond
them up, and customers were left with no customer
service support. The decision was so abrupt that
hardware and software that, the Neo Geo Pocket offers the simple allure of
well-designed hardware and excellent games, with
US advertising ran for games including Dynamite
Slugger, Faselei! and The Last Blade: Beyond The
left for a viable particular strengths, including the fighting games
you’d expect from SNK, as well as an excellent
Destiny, which never made it to retailers. business opportunity” array of puzzle games. The games often have
The situation was hardly better in Japan. Games unique features that make them worth checking
like Rockman Battle & Fighters and Cool Cool Jam out, too, whether you’re searching for puzzle pieces
arrived in the summer, but support for the system What Playmore didn’t purchase was interesting in Sonic Pocket Adventure or creating a fighter
drastically declined. Aside from Big Bang Pro in its own right. When games were recalled in with unique attributes in The King Of Fighters R-2’s
Wrestling, the visual novel Infinity Cure and the RPG 2000, cases and manuals were destroyed but Making mode.
Nigeronpa, all released in November 2000, owners the cartridges were kept to repurpose them SNK made some mistakes with the Neo Geo
of the system were left with just a few sporadic for new Japanese releases. There was enough Pocket, most notably in its decision not to skip
releases of pachislot and mahjong games. The hardware and software left for a viable business straight to the colour model, but it did plenty of
system would receive a last hurrah in September opportunity, so old Neo Geo Pocket Color stock things right, too. So many that we would argue
2001, with the launch of SNK Vs Capcom Card began resurfacing at retail shortly after the collapse that among the many failed consoles out there, it
Fighters 2: Expand Edition, before SNK collapsed of SNK. Systems were packaged in blister packs is one of the least deserving of its cruel fate. It’s
into bankruptcy in October. Former chairman Eikichi with a bundle of six games, all with only their too late to change that, but if you haven’t had the
Kawasaki and his new company Playmore would plastic covers, and sold cheaply as ‘Pocket Color pleasure of trying one yet, then it’s time to correct
acquire SNK's intellectual properties and begin Arcade’. Further bundles of four were available, that. You’ll soon learn just why the system’s owners
rebuilding, but the handheld was not to be revived. and some of the games that appeared were still cherish it today.

» [Neo Geo Po
cket
games, and few Color] Handheld console
are as good as s need puzzle
Puzzle Bobble
Mini.

» [Neo Geo Pocket Color] SNK made a huge

effort with its crossover games, delivering » [Neo Geo Pocket Color] Aruze’s pachislot games
classics worthy of the occasion. began to appear late in 1999, before SNK was acquired.

91
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 Swan
Song A
Retrospective
92
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 SWAN SONG: A WONDERSWAN RETROSPECTIVE

Proof that not even Gundam can topple Nintendo, Bandai’s

WonderSwan still had an incredible selection of games
worthy of a place in anyone’s collection. Kerry Brunskill
takes us through the system’s life

C
reated by the legendary Game Boy
designer Gunpei Yokoi and backed
by Bandai’s deep pockets as well
as its enormous marketing muscle,
the WonderSwan had gamers playing Super
Nintendo ports and connecting to the internet,
» The Wonder Swan’s buttons also while those of us outside Japan were still
double up as the handheld’s d-pad. marvelling over competent NES ports such as
They work surprisingly well.
Super Mario Bros DX on the Game Boy Color. A
success in every way bar the one that mattered
to shareholders, the system nevertheless
maintained a high gaming standard from launch
» [WonderSwan] Although Langrisser Millennium is not considered part
day right up to the final release and has left of the main canon, this spin-off strategy RPG is still a lot of fun.
gamers with a small but exciting box of treasures
to explore to this day. boasting a custom 16-bit ASWAN processor and
» There’s no backlit screen on the It’s an odd name, but as with all the decisions a 2.49-inch, 224x144 screen, which was far in
WonderSwan range, so the contrast behind Bandai’s sleek handheld, there’s a reason advance of the Game Boy’s ageing 8-bit CPU and
dial is greatly needed.
for that strange moniker. The idea is that a swan is 160x144 display. So it would seem strange, then,
an elegant bird on the surface but under the water, that the original WonderSwan launched with a
there’s a set of strong legs powering it along. The monochrome screen on 4 March 1999, five months
WonderSwan line was created with this philosophy after the Japanese release of the Game Boy Color.
in mind – beautiful outward design coupled with The reasoning was simple: Gunpei Yokoi had
powerful components inside. already seen his earlier Game Boy design crush
At first glance, the shell design is vaguely the Game Gear and Atari Lynx – solid proof that
reminiscent of Atari’s Lynx – a relatively wide consumers were more concerned about battery life
handheld designed with the ability to be played and strong games than owning devices with colour
vertically and a spare set of buttons at the top screens. And with the WonderSwan needing only
of one side. Those extra buttons might look a single AA battery to achieve roughly 30 hours
redundant, but unlike Atari’s ill-fated system, of playtime as well as costing ¥2000 (about £10)
the extra set of four inputs on the WonderSwan less than the Game Boy Color, both Bandai and
is completely separate rather than repeats, Yokoi must have thought they were onto a sure-fire
meaning developers could make good use of success with the WonderSwan.
them whichever way up the handheld was being History has, of course, proven otherwise,
held, the ‘Y’ set often being used for menus, but then again, most systems would look bad
shortcuts and other handy but not immediately when measured against one of the bestselling
essential tasks. handhelds of all time. The WonderSwan had a
Internally, the machine was more than up to fantastic and well-balanced selection of games at
the task of realising Gunpei Yokoi’s vision, too: launch – headline puzzler Gunpey was seen

The sales How WonderSwan compared in

sales to other relevant handhelds
The WonderSwan is broadly the WonderSwan Color making (1.35 million worldwide) as well as
dismissed as a failure; just a up at least 1.1 million of that total. better-known home hardware such
strange Japan-only handheld with This pales in comparison to the as the 3DO (2 million worldwide)
some Gundam games on it – but it original Game Boy (86.66 million and the TurboGrafx (2.5 million in
did much better than most gamers worldwide), the Game Boy Color the United States).
think. Accurate figures are, of (31.03 million worldwide) and it The fact is that much like the
course, always difficult to come doesn’t even match up to Sega’s Dreamcast, the WonderSwan
by, but sources generally agree Game Gear (11 million worldwide) wasn’t so much of a failure – it just
that approximately 3.5 million but it does beat reported figures wasn’t the success that Bandai
WonderSwans were sold, with for the Neo Geo Pocket series needed it to be. » It’s amazing to think that this impressive little handheld is actually
powered by a single AA battery. The WonderSwan Color lasts for 20 hours!

93
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 as the system’s answer to Tetris, SquareSoft’s sensible enough to ensure that these games were
popular dungeon adventure Chocobo’s Mysterious good-quality titles in their own right even if they aren’t
Dungeon, arcade train simulator Densha De GO! and all considered classics of their era.
lastly Tomy’s Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling meant most RPG fans did very well out of the WonderSwan’s
Japanese gamers would be able to find something they library, too, with excellent exclusives like
liked, and these were swiftly followed up by even more action‑RPG Star Hearts, multi-game love-in and
games by some of the biggest developers and most Project X Zone precursor Namco Super Wars, and » [WonderSwan Color] A true classic and the best
popular series in Japan at the time, and by only the end soon‑to‑be‑GBA‑classic Riviera rubbing shoulders handheld port until the PSP compilation release.
of April, the WonderSwan library already had 18 titles with better‑known games such as old-school
including Beatmania, Puyo Puyo Tsuu, Super Robot dungeon‑crawler Wizardry: Proving Grounds Of
Taisen and even an entry from Koei’s long-running The Mad Overlord and SquareSoft’s esoteric Makai colours simultaneously. This boost in technology
Romance Of The Three Kingdoms strategy series. Toushi SaGa remake. allowed the WonderSwan Color to produce almost
Bandai itself was more than keen to throw its Witnessing the success of the Game Boy Color SNES-quality graphics, far in advance of anything else
full licensing muscle behind the system, giving and with SNK’s Neo Geo Pocket also offering a colour available on a portable at the time, while still remaining
WonderSwan developers access to some of the alternative and competitor to the WonderSwan, Bandai backwards-compatible with all previous monochrome
biggest and most recognisable anime series of all did the only sensible thing it could and released an WonderSwan games.
time. Digimon, Gundam, One Piece, Dragon Ball… updated version of its WonderSwan with a colour

B
during the handheld’s life it had it all, and Bandai was screen on 9 December 2000, just 21 months after andai ensured that the WonderSwan
the original launched. This didn’t just Color had an incredible launch, just
see Bandai play catch-up with its like its now‑obsolete monochromatic
» [WonderSwan competitors’ handhelds but completely previous design. Popular puzzler Gunpey
Color] Rhyme outstrip them, while still getting an came back with a colourised remake, NanaOn-Sha
Rider Kerorican
– as quirky and
all-important 20 hours of play from brought rhythm-action to the handheld with Rhyme
unique as you’d a single AA battery. The new colour Rider Kerorican, and with Digimon Adventure 02,
expect from the screen boasted the ability to display Bandai made sure that the new WonderSwan still had
creators
of PaRappa 241 colours simultaneously, with an some heavy-hitting IP support behind it.
The Rapper. astonishing 16 colours per sprite. But the real jewel in the crown was Final Fantasy,
For comparison, the Game Boy looking better than it ever had and at the time a
Color could only manage four colours WonderSwan exclusive. SquareSoft was one of
per sprite – and one of those was ‘off’. the most notable supporters of the WonderSwan
The Neo Geo Pocket Color suffered throughout the system’s life; its unwillingness to work
similar sprite limitations as Nintendo’s on Nintendo hardware proved to be a real asset to
hardware and was only capable of Bandai with its system being the first place to get
displaying a relatively meagre 146 high‑quality remakes of some of its greatest games, as

WonderStuff The handheld that had a surprising

amount of cool additional extras
For a handheld released in just one country, the WonderSwan has an exceptional array of
special‑edition hardware, unique add-ons and limited‑edition games. Bandai, never one
to miss a marketing trick, was happy to release the handheld in every colour under the
sun and also produce special editions based on various Gundam games, Final Fantasy
and Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon, as well as numerous Digimon bundles. Games often
came with stickers, collectable cards or, in With You’s case, a small figure – something
still rarely seen today.
Accessories were plentiful, too – the WonderBorg was an insect-like robot controlled
from the WonderSwan via an IR-equipped cart, the WonderGate allowed certain games
to access the internet via the user’s mobile phone, and the WonderWitch was for the
most hardcore of fans – a full development kit that enabled users to create their own
» The WonderSwan has a number of games that can be
games for the system and dump them onto the included flash cart.
played vertically – such as Gunpey.

94
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 SWAN SONG: A WONDERSWAN RETROSPECTIVE

well as experimental titles like Wild Card and that still

remain exclusive to this day.
Sadly, the success of this relaunch was short‑lived:
Five essential games
the WonderSwan Color only had a few short months Got a WonderSwan? Then you’ll need these
at the top of the technology tree before Nintendo
released the Game Boy Advance in March 2001 –
but Bandai wasn’t going to let its machine go down FINAL FANTASY
without a fight… ■ One of the most important RPGs of all
During this tough time, the WonderSwan Color time also ended up being the best-selling
still managed to produce a lot of strong releases – WonderSwan game ever. This remake –
Romancing SaGa, Mr Driller, Xi [Sai] Little (better the first significant overhaul Final Fantasy
known in the west as Devil Dice), Guilty Gear Petit to ever had – was a major coup for the
name just a few – but ultimately it wasn’t enough to system and formed the basis of all future
woo gamers away from Nintendo’s GBA juggernaut, ports of the game. To add further fuel to
and so on 12 July 2002, Bandai gave the system one SquareSoft’s anti-Nintendo fire, Bandai
more push and launched what would turn out to be the also released a limited edition pearl‑white GUNPEY
final hardware revision – the SwanCrystal. WonderSwan bundle at the same time. ■ Created by the legendary Gunpei Yokoi
The ‘Crystal’ in the final version’s name referred and intended to be the WonderSwan’s
to the new screen, which was not only far sharper answer to Tetris, this puzzler does a great
and clearer than the WonderSwan Color’s but also job of showing off the unique abilities
a significant improvement on any other competitor’s of the system thanks to its vertical play
non‑backlit screen too. Unfortunately, this wasn’t area and clear speech. The game never
enough to prevent further sales decline, but to its had the impact Bandai hoped for, but its
credit, Bandai and other developers like Capcom and JUDGEMENT strong underlying gameplay was enough
SquareSoft stuck with the system, giving fans a great SILVERSWORD to produce a few WonderSwan releases
selection of ports – from standout SNES mech SRPG ■ Clearly inspired by Treasure’s classic as well as more modern remakes for the
Front Mission to Sega’s arcade classic Golden Axe, Radiant Silvergun, this shoot-’em-up takes PSP and Nintendo DS.
as well as more exclusive games covering a range of advantage of the WonderSwan’s extra
tastes and genres from PlayStation SRPG spinoff Arc screen length by having the player hold
The Lad: Kijin Fukkatsu to anime brawler One Piece the handheld vertically for that authentic
Grand Battle: Swan Colosseum – at a time when other arcade experience. Two complementary
companies would have simply cut their losses and run. » Wild Card artist
weapons give clever players lots of
By 2004, the WonderSwan was effectively Akihiko Yoshida tactics to use, and the rapid-fire stage CLOCK TOWER
finished, but the handheld refused to lie down and shows of his progression keeps the action constant. ■ It’s easy to ask what
beautiful artwork
die. The WonderWitch, an expensive home-user both in and out of the fuss is all about when we live in an era
WonderSwan development environment released four the game. where nigh-perfect console emulation is
years earlier, had the honour of creating the last two abundant, but Clock Tower is more than
WonderSwan games – Judgement Silversword and just a straight port. Containing extras from
Dicing Knight Period. Both of these were winners of the PlayStation release and retaining the
the WonderWitch programming contest and the prize, random rooms and multiple endings of its
as you may have guessed, was to be commercially GUILTY GEAR PETIT 2 big-brother counterparts, Clock Tower is
released for the platform. Both games fetch ■ The Neo Geo Pocket Color is often just as terrifying in the palm of your hands
eye‑watering amounts today, their quality makes them considered the king of portable fighting, as it is on your TV.
must-haves for curious gamers and their scarcity places but Sammy proved that the WonderSwan
them as prized games for discerning collectors. could take on even the mighty SNK at
Far more than just an importer’s curiosity, the its own game. Fast, fluid, and with a
WonderSwan’s five-year battle against one of gaming’s wealth of single-player content to boot,
Goliaths has gifted gamers with a rich library of 198 » [WonderSwan
Guilty Gear Petit 2 captures the charm
games across a broad variety of genres, many of Color] Huge, and pace of the original games while
which are still exclusive even today. A prime example expressive sprites being different enough to work within the Special thanks to Kim Wild for the
and fast action
of the difference between poor sales and poor quality, make One Piece limitations of the hardware. use of her WonderSwan Color
Bandai’s sleek swan deserves a second flight. Grand Battle ace.

95
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 96
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 GAME BOY ADVANCE

With Nintendo’s Game

Boy Advance now over
two decades old, Damien
McFerran takes a look back
at the innovative 32-bit
handheld which delivered
arcade and console-standard
gaming on the go
he problem with runaway commercial
success is that it’s often tricky to repeat
the magic a second time, but Nintendo is a
company which has a track record of bottling
lighting on multiple occasions. The Game Boy – and
its sibling, the Game Boy Color – managed to shift
a staggering 118 million units worldwide, effectively
ensuring Nintendo’s dominance of the portable gaming
arena for over a decade. Carrying that success into a
new generation of hardware was never going to be
easy, especially as Nintendo was feeling pressure at the
close of the millennium from mobile gaming rivals such
as SNK, Bandai and even mobile phone stalwart Nokia.
The Nintendo faithful needn’t have worried, though – the
console which the company pushed to market to deal
with these threats was capable of effortlessly securing
another half-decade of near-unchallenged triumph, even
if it did take a couple of timely hardware revisions to
become the truly definitive article.
Rumours regarding a successor to the monochrome
Game Boy appeared in the press as early as 1996.
Dubbed ‘Project Atlantis’, this mythical 32-bit system
was RISC-based and boasted a colour screen, and
it was later assumed that this is what eventually

97
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 became the Game Boy Advance. limited what you could do on the Game Boy Color. For
However, a rumoured 1997 release example, there were more sprites, more playfields, more
date (a year before the Game Boy Color background characters. It had hardware scaling and
arrived) and the promise of N64-level visuals rotation, transparency effects and probably some more
would suggest that this was not the console that stuff that I’ve forgotten. It was kind of like having a SNES
would find its way to market in 2001. When Nintendo or Mega Drive in handheld form.”
did eventually release a ‘proper’ successor to its Game The Game Boy Advance made its Japanese debut
Boy, it was rather more conservative than the rampant in March 2001, sporting a landscape screen orientation
speculation would suggest. “There were rumours, which set it apart from Nintendo’s previous handhelds,
even back then, that Nintendo was working on a mobile but wasn’t without precedent – the company’s Game
phone and handheld console hybrid,” elaborates former & Watch handhelds often used this form factor. French
C&VG editor Paul Davies. “I think we knew that the designer Gwénaël Nicolas and his Tokyo-based design
new Game Boy would be at Space World that year, so studio Curiosity Inc were employed to come up with » [GBA] Metroid Fusion was a stellar addition to the Metroid series, it’s also
we made sure to book tickets. I just wanted something the design, which combined elegant grey lines with an notable as it was the furthest point in the timeline until 2021’s Metroid Dread.
that was as good as SNES but portable, if I’m honest.” ergonomic body. Compared to the boxy Game Boy and
That’s pretty much what we got. The GBA may have more compact Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color, when visiting my parents’ house, the only room I could
utilised a 32-bit CPU, but it remained a 2D machine the Game Boy Advance was quite a departure from an really play was the kitchen, sat on a dining chair under
at heart and employed many of the same technical aesthetic standpoint, but it retained the toy-like charm the fluorescent light!” Some early Game Boy Advance
tricks which had been so effective on the SNES. “The that had made the range so iconic. Beating inside the games – the aforementioned Castlevania: Circle Of The
hardware specs were great – relatively speaking – so console was a 32-bit ARM7TDMI CPU heart, clocked at Moon being a notable example – were rendered almost
it was a really nice system to develop games for,” 16.8 MHz, while the 2.9-inch TFT screen showcased the unplayable in dimly-lit environments due to the dark
recalls former Probe, Crawfish and Hotgen staffer system’s impressive visuals. Launch titles like F-Zero: nature of the visuals. To combat this issue a series of
David Leitch, who worked on both the Game Maximum Velocity and Castlevania: Circle Of The bulky bolt-on peripherals were produced by third-party
Boy Advance and its forerunner the Game Boy Moon were certainly a step up from what players manufacturers which aped the equally laughable add-ons
Color. “The biggest change was that it was had become accustomed to on Nintendo’s that typified the Game Boy era in the early Nineties.
also powerful enough to write most – if not all previous handhelds, but the company was keen Another negative was the lack of a rechargeable power
– of the game in C, whereas on the Game Boy to maintain a link between the generations source; like its ageing forerunners, this new system
Color and earlier handheld systems, you were so the GBA boasted backwards compatibility was reliant on AA batteries, which did at least last for an
pretty much obliged to use assembly language. with Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. impressive ten to 15 hours before replacements were
[Nintendo] enhanced the aspects that seriously This proved to be instrumental when it came to needed. Even so, there was a feeling within the industry
selling the new machine to concerned parents, as that it was high time that rechargeable batteries were
it avoided the problem of an expansive library of incorporated into handheld consoles; the rise of the
games becoming surplus to requirements overnight. mobile phone proved conclusively that the technology
By keeping the name and maintaining support for older existed to create such power cells and place them in
games, Nintendo was sending the message that this small pieces of technology.
console was an inclusive upgrade.

D
For all of the refinements that the Game Boy Advance espite its shortcomings, the GBA
brought to the table, it had its shortcomings. That continued the commercial success of
otherwise-striking TFT screen lacked a light, which its predecessors and although quality
made it hard to play the console unless you were directly original software was rather slow to
underneath a source of illumination. “You had to sit appear, it began to build up a formidable selection
under the best light source possible to even see what of games. Early remasters, such as Super Mario
» [GBA] Some Game Boy Advance titles are almost unplayable on the was going on,” says Paul. “I played loads of Castlevania Advance, Final Fight One and Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts,
original model, as the lack of screen lighting made dark visuals hard to see. and Metroid on it and took it everywhere with me, but certainly scratched a nostalgic itch and were impressive

HARDWARE VARIANTS The many faces of the Game Boy Advance

GAME BOY ADVANCE GAME BOY ADVANCE SP (AGS-001) GAME BOY ADVANCE SP (AGS-101)
■ Launched in 2001 and offering a landscape rather than portrait ■ Two years after the launch of the original GBA model, Nintendo ■ 2005 saw a largely under-the-radar revision of the GBA SP in the
orientation, the Game Boy Advance was a significant step-up released the SP, offering a rechargeable battery, front-lit LCD form of the AGS-101. The LCD screen was backlit, offering better
from the Game Boy Color, Nintendo’s previous handheld console. screen and compact clamshell design which made it even more brightness than the original AGS-001 model. It was also possible
However, the lack of an illuminated display and the reliance on portable. The only real omission was the removal of the 3.5mm to adjust the backlight intensity with the brightness button – on the
batteries held it back somewhat. headphone jack – an accessory was released to cover this. AGS-001, this button simply switched the frontlight off.

98
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 GAME BOY ADVANCE

UNIQUE
EXPERIENCES
The console had a diverse – and
sometimes odd – library of games

It was like having a

SNES or Mega Drive in
handheld form WARIOWARE: TWISTED!
■ Motion control isn’t a new thing these days as
David Leitch many games showcase it, but this 2004 release
– which featured a gyro sensor in the cartridge –
» [GBA] Like was a revelation. Minigames based around tilting
for on-the-go gaming, but it was original releases such Fire Emblem, and turning the console make this a classic. It
Advance
as Advance Wars, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Golden Sun, Wars took its also had a rumble feature.
Metroid Fusion and WarioWare Inc which truly illustrated western bow
what the hardware was capable of. This, combined with on Nintendo’s
32-bit portable
BOKTAI: THE SUN IS IN
a more enthusiastic marketing spend, ensured that the console. YOUR HAND
system began to gather momentum all over the globe, ■ Produced by Hideo Kojima and employing a
and when it became apparent that challengers like the light sensor in the cart which was used to charge
Tapwave Zodiac and Nokia N-Gage posed no immediate most enjoyable things I’ve worked on, and not just on your vampire-slaying in-game weapon, Boktai
threat to Nintendo’s market share, the console settled the GBA,” says David. “Great team, great game, great has to stand as one of the most unique titles
down into a period of complete control, attracting results; but the company I was doing it for – Hotgen – in the Game Boy Advance library. An excellent
robust third-party support due to the fact that it was went bust close to the scheduled end. We finished it off sequel arrived in 2004.
essentially the only handheld in town. “I was a really late working out of a function room in a Croydon hotel.”
starter in terms of when I got my first game out on the Putting aside the shaky nature of third-party
system,” recalls David, who had early access to a Game development, it was clear that despite ruling the entire
Boy Advance development kit. “The project I had the handheld sector, Nintendo wasn’t content to take its
prototype dev kit for didn’t crystallise, so I carried on with foot off the gas. In 2003, the Game Boy Advance SP
the Game Boy Color work and some home console stuff was launched and to many, it proved to be the machine
before getting involved with Medal Of Honor: Infiltrator the original should have been from day one. While
in 2003.” The story behind this likeable Electronic some grumbled about the overhaul appearing so
Arts-published title typifies the changeable nature quickly, faithful fans had no qualms about upgrading.
of third-party development – something which, “Nintendo is always about the hardware,” says Paul.
arguably, hasn’t changed right up to the “After a million different versions of Game Boy, it YOSHI’S UNIVERSAL
present day. “That project was one of the wasn’t even an issue, at least not for the GRAVITATION
■ Known as Yoshi Topsy-Turvy in North America,
this 2D platformer made use of a tilt sensor in
the cartridge, similar to WarioWare Twisted,
to allow the player to manipulate the in-game
environment, causing enemies and items to
move and shift as the console is turned.

DRILL DOZER
■ One of only two Game Boy Advance
titles to use a built-in rumble feature
(WarioWare: Twisted was the other), Drill Dozer
was developed by Pokémon studio Game Freak.
A 2D action platformer with gameplay based
around using a massive drill, the title was a late
classic for the console.

KORO KORO PUZZLE

HAPPY PANECHU!
GAME BOY MICRO GAME BOY PLAYER ■ This 2002 Japan-only puzzle title was the first
■ Released alongside the Nintendo DS, the Game Boy Micro is a ■ Essentially a GBA which fits under the GameCube, the Game game to use the tilt sensor, and is built around
miniaturised edition of the Game Boy Advance hardware which Boy Player allows you to play GBA, Game Boy and Game Boy Color grouping coloured blocks to remove them from
lacks backwards compatibility with Game Boy and Game Boy Color software on the big screen. A boot disc is required to the play area. Produced by Masayuki Uemura –
titles. It’s the smallest Game Boy ever made, and reinstates the use the peripheral, and not all GBA titles are compatible who designed the Famicom – it’s a shame this
3.5mm headphone socket removed on the SP model. with the device, mind. unique title never made it to the west.

99
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 SPECS SHOWDOWN
The GBA was toted as
a portable SNES, let’s
see if it was…
GAME BOY ADVANCE
» CPU: 16.8 MHz 32-bit
ARM7TDMI, 8-bit Z80
coprocessor for Game Boy
backward compatibility
» MEMORY: 32 kilobyte + 96
kilobyte VRAM (internal), 256
kilobyte DRAM (external)
» MAXIMUM RESOLUTION:
240×160 pixels
» COLOURS: 512 simultaneous
colours (character mode),
32,768 simultaneous colours
(bitmap mode)
» SOUND: Dual 8-bit DAC for
stereo sound

hardcore fans. I guess we all saw it as Nintendo kindly

attempting to improve the experience.” Taking cues
from the Game & Watch dual-screen range, the SP’s
clamshell design not only made it more portable, but also

SNES
protected the screen when in transit. The display now
had illumination – albeit of the rather dim front-lit variety
(a superior backlit SP model would appear later) – and
» CPU: Ricoh 5A22 @ 3.58 MHz that all-important rechargeable battery meant having to
» MEMORY: 128KB System RAM, buy a constant stock of AAs was to become a thing of
64KB video RAM
the past. It’s easy to overlook this feature today when
» MAXIMUM RESOLUTION:
512×448 pixels practically every portable device sold has its own internal
»C  OLOURS: 256 on-screen from power source, which can be topped up at any available
a palette of 32,768 wall socket, but back in 2003, it was something of a
» SOUND: Nintendo S-SMP, minor revelation. The Game Boy line had truly come of
eight-channel ADPCM audio age, not only allowing users to game in the dark but also
freeing them from the archaic shackles of battery-buying.
However, Nintendo giveth and Nintendo taketh away,
and in streamlining the hardware the Japanese giant
had to make some sacrifices. The 3.5mm headphone
socket – an essential feature for those long and crowded
car journeys – was removed entirely, and could only
be obtained via the purchase of a special adaptor
that connected to the console’s charging socket. This
meant that it wasn’t possible to charge the console
and listen via headphones at the same time – a minor
inconvenience, but an inconvenience all the same.
» CPU: 32-Bit RISC CPU MIPS
R3051 at 33.8688 MHz, 32-bit
Sony GPU
» MEMORY: 2 MB main DRAM
» MAXIMUM RESOLUTION:
640×480 (interlaced)
» COLOURS: 57,344 (256×224) to
153,600 (640×240) from a palette
of 16,777,216
» SOUND: 16-Bit Sony SPU,
24-channel sound

PLAYSTATION
» [GBA] A new Pokémon generation arrived on the GBA, as well as
enhanced remakes of Pokémon Red & Green.

100
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 GAME BOY ADVANCE

THE BEST
PORTS
The home console or arcade
games that shone on the GBA

SUPER GHOULS ’N GHOSTS

■ While it doesn’t quite match the SNES original
in terms of visual and aural spectacle, this
pint‑sized port is still incredibly compelling and
benefits from a new ‘arranged’ mode, additional
levels which reference previous games in the
series and the ability to save your progress.

FINAL FIGHT ONE

■ Capcom’s classic brawler was denied a
complete port on the SNES so it was nice to see
Capcom rectify this oversight by releasing one on
The release of the SP coincided with a fresh batch the GBA. Final Fight One had scaled-down visuals
of solid-gold classics, such as The Legend Of Zelda: A but everything else was in good order, including
Link To The Past, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, Advance a two-player link-up mode.
Wars 2: Black Hole Rising, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance,
Metroid: Zero Mission, Super Mario Advance 4: Super » [GBA] RPGs flourished on the GBA – Final Fantasy Tactics STREET FIGHTER
Mario Bros. 3, Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age, Pokémon Advance being one of several Square Enix classics. ALPHA 3 UPPER
Ruby & Sapphire, Shining Force: Resurrection Of The ■ Arguably the most ambitious port in the
Dark Dragon and many more besides. The machine 30 games but sadly wasn’t backwards- history of the Game Boy Advance, Crawfish’s
was entering what was arguably its zenith, with a steady compatible with old-fashioned link cable work on Street Fighter Alpha 3 is remarkable.
stream of software arriving on a regular basis. software, which would have made it even The studio was able to include all of the
more impressive. Despite its limited scope, the characters and moves from the arcade game, as

W
hile the Game Boy Advance adapter was yet another example of Nintendo’s well as add in three extra fighters.
perhaps wasn’t as groundbreaking uncanny ability to predict industry trends; these
as the touchscreen Nintendo DS days, we take wireless local multiplayer as a given.
which would succeed it in 2005, it It wasn’t just connectivity with other Game Boy
introduced its fair share of innovations, largely via Advance consoles that Nintendo was concerned with
bolt-on devices which were aimed at expanding during this time; the company’s desire to innovate
the connectivity of the device. Out of the box, the was seemingly boundless and it made excellent use
GBA maintained the link cable functionality of the of its handheld when it came to expanding gameplay
original Game Boy system, where consoles could be possibilities on its domestic system, the GameCube. In
connected for multiplayer gaming using physical wires. recent times the rise of tablets and smartphones – as
The big difference was that the GBA supported multiple well as the introduction of the Wii U – has brought
consoles using a special hub, which meant that local ‘second screen’ gaming to prominence, but Nintendo THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A
multiplayer titles like The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords flirted with the idea over a decade ago. Granted, while LINK TO THE PAST
(included with Link To The Past) were possible, making a lot of link-up functionality unlocked little more than ■ The fact that very little has changed in this
the experience even more social. However, the need for bonus content, some titles – such as The Legend Of port of the 1991 SNES classic is reason enough
additional hardware limited the impact of this feature. “I Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, Pac-Man VS and Final to hail it as a must-have on GBA – owning
don’t think I’ve ever met a real, game-playing consumer Fantasy Crystal Chronicles – made use of the GBA in one of the best games of all time in portable
that used the Game Link cable for more than five inventive ways, turning the system into a controller for form was massive news back in 2002. A
minutes,” laughs David. “Unfortunately, publishers loved the GameCube or using the console’s screen to manage multiplayer‑focused offering – dubbed Four
that feature because Nintendo did, and it was a real pain inventory. “The only thing I worked on that used the Swords – was also included on the cart.
in the arse to develop for.” GameCube hook-up was Medal Of Honor: Infiltrator, but
While Nintendo released several variants of the link it wasn’t a multiplayer feature,” says David. “What it did METROID: ZERO MISSION
cable throughout the lifespan of the Game Boy Advance was turn your Game Boy Advance into a map viewer for ■ Okay, so this isn’t a straight port in the strictest
hardware, the real step forward for connectivity was Medal Of Honor: Rising Sun.” While it might have sense – it’s a remake of the original Metroid – but
the wireless adapter released alongside Pokémon passed under the radar of many consumers back Zero Mission is easily one of the best games on
Fire Red & Leaf Green in 2004. Ushering then, given the current Nintendo console, the GBA, so it deserves a mention. The original
in the wireless revolution which started in the Nintendo Switch – which is a fusion Metroid is remastered and enhanced to exploit
earnest with the Nintendo DS and Sony’s of portable and traditional console the advancements seen in Metroid Fusion, and
PlayStation Portable, it supported around hardware – it’s fascinating to note the end result is a true gem.

101
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
THE MISSING LINK
Notable GameCube games that were made better by using a GBA

ANIMAL CROSSING PAC-MAN VS FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL THE LEGEND OF ZELDA:

■ The Game Boy Advance’s screen can be ■ One of the most unique uses of the Game Boy CHRONICLES FOUR SWORDS ADVENTURES
used to design patterns for your furniture in Advance to GameCube link cable, Pac‑Man Vs ■ Another title built around the idea of ■ Arguably the biggest title to harness the power
the game, as well as grant access to a special has three players assuming the roles of multiplayer, this Final Fantasy spin-off title of the link cable, Four Swords not only makes
secret island. There’s also a virtual pet minigame Pac‑Man’s antagonistic ghosts and looking at enables each player connected to a Game Boy use of the Game Boy Advance in its single-player
to play, and, if you are tired of Tom Nook’s the TV screen while the Pac-Man player uses Advance to control their in-game character mode – allowing the handheld to be used as a
nonsense, you can use the Game Boy Advance to the handheld and is able to see the entire map. A on the TV and access menus on the handheld controller – but also permits additional Game
play unlockable NES games. great party game, even now. without pausing the gameplay. Boys to be hooked up for multiplayer.

METROID FUSION /
METROID PRIME
■ This link-up between two Metroid games is a
good example of how content could be unlocked
using the cable. It was possible to access the
hidden version of the NES Metroid and gain
access to the Fusion Suit for use in Metroid
Prime – plenty of incentive to make the effort.

102
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 GAME BOY ADVANCE

ESSENTIAL
ORIGINALS
The Game Boy Advance was
home to many new titles
NINJA COP
■ One of Hudson Soft’s most underrated
classics, Ninja Cop (Ninja Five-0 in North
America) borrows elements of Shinobi, Bionic
Commando and Elevator Action to create one of
the most original and playable action titles on any

It is fondly handheld. Copies are now quite hard to come by.

remembered for having

substantial titles
Paul Davies

that Nintendo and the third parties who worked on

its hardware were dabbling with such groundbreaking
concepts 20 years ago. GOLDEN SUN
■ An all-new RPG series from Shining Force

W
» [GBA] Astro Boy: Omega Factor was released in the west to
hile its forerunner managed to last a coincide with a new Astro Boy television series. studio Camelot Software Planning, Golden Sun
decade, the Game Boy Advance had a was one of the GBA’s big early exclusives and
surprisingly short lifespan – which makes The retirement of the Game Boy name was spawned two excellent sequels, one on GBA and
its sales of over 80 million even more impressive. significant at the time. For Nintendo, the brand had the other on the Nintendo DS. Sporting attractive
By 2004 Nintendo was set to release a new handheld, been its equivalent of the Sony Walkman – a ‘catch-all’ visuals and excellent music, this has stood the
but interestingly it didn’t initially position the Nintendo DS name which had become a byword for handheld test of time better than most GBA releases.
as a successor to the GBA. Instead, it was officially gaming. However, the moniker had connotations that
referred to as a ‘third pillar’ and to reinforce this stance Nintendo was perhaps eager to move away from; it WARIOWARE INC: MEGA
the GBA hardware was refreshed a third time in the suggested the product was focused at children, while MICROGAME$!
form of the Game Boy Micro. Cheap, compact and the DS would achieve commercial success by catering ■ WarioWare Inc was like a breath of fresh air
well‑designed but lacking support for monochrome not only for children but also adults, thanks to its Brain when it launched in 2003. Made up of a series of
and Game Boy Color cartridges, the Micro has the Training series. ”My guess is that the branding went short-burst minigames and packed with the kind
distinction of being the last console to feature the Game because Nintendo wanted the DS to appeal to a much of zany humour which is practically timeless, this
Boy branding. When the DS became a runaway hit, the wider audience,” says David. “Given how successful the superb slice of GBA brilliance remains the most
writing was on the wall for the Micro – especially as the DS was, I wouldn’t like to argue against that decision.” pure entry in the entire series.
DS was backwards-compatible with GBA software, Indeed, the results speak for themselves – the DS has
making the smaller console redundant. sold over 150 million units worldwide since launch and
Even if the Micro had been a success, the issue is the best-selling handheld of all time, and the second-
for Nintendo was that developers were flocking to the best-selling videogame system ever, after the PS2.
DS and leaving the GBA in the dust. While some late Even so, the Game Boy Advance has an important
releases proved that the hardware was still capable place in gaming history. It was arguably the first handheld
of delivering amazing experiences – The Legend of to deliver an experience which wasn’t held back by
Zelda: Minish Cap being one example – it was obvious hardware limitations. “The GBA was the first handheld
that the DS had picked up the slack and Nintendo’s system that allowed you to make authentic versions
early insistence that the DS and Game Boy Advance of the types of games people had been playing in the
could happily coexist began to sound alarmingly naive. arcades and on consoles up to, say, the mid-Nineties,” REBELSTAR: TACTICAL
Third‑party studios switched focus to the newer system David says. “That was a major change of scope COMMAND
and Game Boy Advance titles began to dry up. compared to Nintendo’s previous handhelds. There ■ Rebelstar is the work of strategy supremo
are lots of fantastic games for Game Boy and Game Julian Gollop and his brother Nick, and plays
Boy Color, but the ones that work best are tailored to like a scaled-down version of Gollop’s original
the format – and the format was so limited that not X-Com game. The deep and rewarding gameplay
everything was going to work,” Paul agrees. “It was like is augmented by some excellent anime-style
a handheld SNES, and that was a big deal. It proved to graphics, and it’s a crying shame this didn’t
be a strong platform in itself, and is fondly remembered receive more attention upon release.
for having substantial titles, similar in scope to the best
of the 16-bit era.” While Nintendo has seemingly MARIO VS DONKEY KONG
retired the Game Boy brand, David has a hunch ■ While this GBA exclusive stars two famous
that we’ve not heard the last of it. “Successful Nintendo characters, the unique puzzle
brands do tend to have an inherent value. The platforming gameplay was refreshingly new, and
Game Boy name could well return at some point, laid down a template which is still be utilised to
or maybe they’ll reinvent the Virtual Boy for a this day. Guiding those adorable Mini‑Mario toys
» [GBA] The Super Mario Advance series spanned four games and
updated some of the Italian plumber’s finest 8-bit and 16-bit titles. face-off against Oculus Rift?” to the exit is harder than it sounds.

103
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 TOP 25

GAMES
It might not have had the longest lifespan, but Nintendo’s
handheld had more than its fair share of incredible games.
Readers voted for over 150 different games, but only 25 can be
considered truly elite – Nick Thorpe starts the countdown…
104
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 TOP 25 GAME BOY ADVANCE GAMES
25 Gunstar
Future Heroes
■ DEVELOPER
■ GENRE
: Treasure/Hitmaker
: Run-and-gun ■ YEAR: 2005 6 REASONS TO REVISIT KANTO
It feels more like a
remake, but the return
20 Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen
of Gunstar Heroes is ■ DEVELOPER : Game Freak
packed with variety and ■ GENRE : RPG ■ YEAR: 2004 Pokémon
some great throwback The original Pokémon games on the Game Boy boast all-new
sections. Thanks to were mind-blowingly successful games, but they moves and abilities
Treasure’s programming, it’s also one of weren’t perfect. What’s more, they weren’t cross- introduced in the second
the system’s most impressive games. and third-generation
compatible with the new Game Boy Advance games, allowing for
games, so there was no way to get your precious more complex battle

24 Sonic Advance Squirtle off that old cartridge. Fortunately, these strategies. First-
generation
remakes not only ensured that players could once
Pokémon all retain their
■ DEVELOPER : Dimps again catch ’em all, they improved significantly on later evolutionary lines, so
■ GENRE : Platformer ■ YEAR : 2001 the originals with a wide range of new features. you can pick up the likes of
Pichu, Magby, Crobat,
It was almost heretical Kingdra and
in 2001, but Nintendo’s Slowking.
handheld proved to be
a fine home for Sega’s
mascot. The first game
in the Advance trilogy is You can transfer
the best of the bunch, sticking to what Pokémon from
FireRed & LeafGreen to
made the Mega Drive games great. the DS and 3DS games,
allowing you to preserve

23 Super Mario
over a decade of
progress.
The monochrome
Advance 3: and often ugly sprites

Yoshi’s Island
of the original games
have been replaced with
far more appealing and
■ DEVELOPER : Nintendo on-model, full-colour
■ GENRE : Platformer ■ YEAR: 2002 designs. You can
now breed your
The GBA was home to Pokémon, providing
quite a few conversions the opportunity to pass
of great SNES games, down moves and stats
and Yoshi’s Island is one There’s in an attempt to get
a much more the best possible
of the very best. Very combination.
involved post-game
few compromises were than in the originals – you
made to bring the Super FX 2-powered can visit the Sevii Islands,
original to the portable system. catch legendary Pokémon
and even fight the Elite
Four again.
22 F-Zero:
Maximum Velocity
■ DEVELOPER : Nd Cube

PERFECTION IN YOUR POCKET

■ GENRE : Racing ■ YEAR: 2001
Who needs full 3D

19 Super Mario Advance 2:

when you can have
the retro delight of

Super Mario World

Mode 7-style rotating : Nintendo EAD ■ DEVELOPER
race tracks? This sequel : Platformer : 2001 ■ GENRE ■ YEAR
to the SNES classic
delivers a brand-new set of vehicles and When we asked our readers to name the very best
tracks, but keeps the classic fun. games ever for issue 150 of Retro Gamer, Super
Mario World was the one that topped the epic list due

21 Rhythm Tengoku to its superlative level design, structure and sense of

adventure. Since Nintendo saw fit to give it a portable
■ DEVELOPER : Nintendo SPD outing on the Game Boy Advance, it stands to reason
■ GENRE : Rhythm action ■ YEAR: 2006 you’d be seeing it in this list too – it wasn’t new, but
The very last first-party it was a near-perfect game very closely replicated for
release for the GBA handheld players.
didn’t make it out of Of course, there’s a bit more to this release than
Japan, but the thriving being just a straight conversion of the SNES original. The
import market lapped colours have been lightened a bit to help owners of early
up the addictive Game Boy Advance models, there’s a brand-new intro
beat‑based minigames. Sequels for the sequence, and there are now Dragon Coins in levels
Nintendo DS, Wii and 3DS followed. that didn’t originally have them.

105
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 NEW TWISTS
ON OLD WARES
18 Wario Ware Twisted
■ DEVELOPER : Intelligent Systems
■ GENRE : Minigame collection ■ YEAR: 2004
■ Wario Ware Twisted included both a gyro

SUPER RPG BROS.

sensor and a rumble feature, allowing
for motion-controlled games with a
force‑feedback feature.

■ Unlike the first game, Wario Ware Twisted

16 Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
features minigames which require you to turn ■ DEVELOPER : AlphaDream ■ GENRE : RPG ■ YEAR: 2003
your system around – sometimes through a
full-360 degrees. Having already had Super Mario RPG
and Paper Mario, Nintendo’s portly
■ Despite the fact that the cartridge houses plumber wasn’t satisfied with his level
the gyro sensor, the game works identically of role‑playing stardom and roped his
on all compatible hardware (although we don’t brother in for another new spin on the
recommend using the Game Boy Player). genre. Vibrant sprite work, genuinely
amusing dialogue and simultaneous
■ Wario Ware Twisted wasn’t released in Europe control of the brothers make this a treat.
due to the presence of mercury within the gyro
sensor – a banned substance in electronics within
the European Union.

WAR NEVER
CHANGES (MUCH)
17 Advance Wars 2
■ DEVELOPER : Intelligent Systems
■ GENRE : Strategy ■ YEAR: 2003
The original Advance Wars was a stunningly good handheld strategy game, and the
sequel didn’t mess with a winning formula. A new campaign mode featured the Black
Hole Army’s bid for dominance over Macro Land, but few other substantial changes
were made – here are the most notable ones…

■ Eight new commanding officers join

the game – Hachi from Orange Star, Colin ■ As well as the original CO Powers,
RIGHTING THE
WRONGS OF THE PAST
from Blue Moon, Yellow Comet’s Sensei, commanding officers in Advance Wars 2
Jess of Green Earth, plus Adder, Lash, can charge up to a second level for Super
Flak and Hawke from Black Hole. CO Powers – enhanced versions of their
usual characteristic abilities.
15 Final Fight One
■ DEVELOPER : Capcom ■ GENRE : Beat-’em-up ■ YEAR : 2001
In the late Eighties, you couldn’t find Thankfully, Capcom was able
a better arcade beat-’em-up than to rectify all those mistakes on the
Capcom’s Final Fight, so it’s easy GBA. The SNES visuals have been
to understand why SNES owners pulled across, but this time the game
would have been excited to get their has the Industrial Area, you can play
hands on a conversion. Unfortunately as all three characters, there are
for them, it wasn’t all it could be – not more enemies on-screen and with
only was it missing an entire level, a link cable you can even play co-op
one third of the protagonists, Guy, games. There are even some new
had done a runner and you couldn’t additions for fans – each boss is now
even play a multiplayer game with preceded by a dialogue scene, and
the remaining characters Cody and the Street Fighter Alpha 3 versions
■ The brand-new Neotank unit gives a Haggar. It wasn’t a bad beat-’em-up, of Cody and Guy can be unlocked as
■ Infantry units can now make use of one-
third level of armoured assault vehicle, but it wasn’t the experience that alternate characters. It might just be
shot missile silo emplacements, spreading
proving stronger than both regular tanks fans had hoped for. the definitive version of the game.
damage across a wide area without having
and medium tanks. Of course, they’re also
to get up close and personal with the
more expensive.
enemy’s forces.
106
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 TOP 25 GAME BOY ADVANCE GAMES

RUMBLE WITH THE BOSSES

14 Drill Dozer
■ DEVELOPER : Game Freak ■ GENRE : Platformer ■ YEAR : 2005
There’s more to Game Freak than Pokémon, although you wouldn’t know it from
the company’s Noughties output – Drill Dozer is the only original IP the company
developed during that entire decade. Luckily, it’s an excellent platformer with a cool
central mechanic. You take control of Jill, a member of the Red Dozers bandit gang
and pilot of the powerful Drill Dozer. This vehicle can drill through walls, enemies,
barriers and more, with more durable objects requiring you to shift to higher gears.
The cartridge includes a built-in rumble feature, allowing you to really feel the
carnage you’re causing.

CROOG Haunted Statue

This is your big bad guy, and in your early This malevolent masonry is possessed
encounters he’ll use this neat scorpion by an evil spirit, and is quite happy to splat
robot to attack you. You have to counter you with its spiked mace! However, those
its drill with your own to damage it. After spikes can retract if they make a big
taking sufficient punishment, the boss impact on the ground – when they do,
will transform – and that’s only you’ll get an opportunity to drill
the start of your troubles into the mace and damage
with Croog. your enemy.

CARRIE Tank Dozer

Skullkers aren’t particularly formidable
Carrie’s a detective, and thus on the side
enemies, so some of them will try to
of the forces of good. Of course, you’re a
improve their odds by manning tanks.
bandit, so you’re not exactly on the law-
These are easy to take out – just drill
abiding side, which will bring you into
into the front hole and accelerate to
conflict often. In this form, drill into
third gear. However, they have the
the cable that connects the two
ability to strike in tandem,
halves of her police-bot
so watch out…
to win.

13 Pokémon Ruby, 12 Castlevania 11 Final Fantasy

Sapphire & Emerald ■ DEVELOPER: Konami Computer Tactics Advance
■ DEVELOPER: Game Freak Entertainment Kobe ■ DEVELOPER : Square Enix
■ GENRE: RPG ■ YEAR: 2003 ■ GENRE: Action-adventure ■ YEAR: 2001 ■ GENRE : RPG ■ YEAR: 2003
Unsurprisingly, the only It might not be Koji This follow-up to the
brand-new Pokémon Igarashi’s favourite excellent PlayStation
adventures for the Castlevania, but the spin-off Final Fantasy
Game Boy Advance first of the series’ three Tactics is a masterful
were its bestselling Game Boy Advance isometric strategy
games. Two-on-two versions is a hit with RPG, and since its
battles were introduced for the first time, and 135 fans. Despite dark visuals unsuited for the original plot is standalone you can jump right in. The most
new creatures were available to catch – however, machine’s non-lit screen, the game impressed with striking feature of this game is the Laws system,
it was also the first set of games in the series in a structure that was reminiscent of the PlayStation in which in-game judges forbid certain actions
which you could no longer catch ’em all. classic Symphony Of The Night. and reward others.

107
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 A NEW STYLE FOR
ANCIENT EVIL
7 Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow
■ DEVELOPER : Konami ■ GENRE : Action-adventure ■ YEAR : 2003
Castlevania is a series that takes place in the past. That’s a
10 Golden Sun fundamental truth of the franchise, and yet Aria Of Sorrow discards it
with confidence to achieve a setting where Dracula has been revived
■ DEVELOPER : Camelot Software Planning in 2035. However, beyond the modern clothing of protagonist
■ GENRE : RPG ■ YEAR: 2001 Soma Cruz, this is the kind of exploration-focused Castlevania that
There’s no shortage of traditional Japanese RPGs people have known and loved since Koji Igarashi’s initial work
on the Game Boy Advance, but this original on Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night. The big new feature
effort even beats out beloved classics like Final here is the Tactical Soul system, which allows players to swap
Fantasy VI in your voting. The protagonist Isaac between abilities gained from defeating various enemies.
and his companions are out to stop alchemy from
returning to the world of Weyard, in an attempt
to prevent worldwide conflict. The most striking
feature of the game is the ability to assign Djinn
creatures to characters, altering their stats and
classes as well as granting the ability to perform
summon spells.

SWEET SOUL BROTHER Guardian Souls

These blue-coloured souls allow you to summon
Learn how the Tactical Soul system works familiars and even transform into various nasty beasts.
These souls include Devil Form, in which you become a

9 Fire Emblem Bullet Souls

devil and charge into enemies, Bat Form, which grants
you the ability to fly about the castle, and Guardian
■ DEVELOPER : Intelligent Systems These red-coloured souls grant Soma the ability to use
Shadow Knight, which gives you an ally in battle.
■ GENRE : Strategy ■ YEAR: 2003 additional weapons, like the old sub-weapon system of
Castlevania past. These include Eagle Shot, the ability
After 13 years and six untranslated games, the to hurl eagles, Stone Beam, which is gained from the
Fire Emblem finally made its western debut on cockatrice and petrifies enemies, and Last Scream, in
the Game Boy Advance, and it was more than which you literally murder enemies with your voice.
worth the wait. Excellent tactical battles and the
ability to permanently lose your characters are
the defining features of this game, which offers a
substantial single-player campaign. Unfortunately
for those of you that wish to pick up Fire Emblem
now, scarcity has driven the second-hand value
far above its original retail price.

8 Astro Boy:
Omega Factor
■ DEVELOPER : Treasure/Hitmaker
■ GENRE : Beat-’em-up ■ YEAR: 2003
Osamu Tezuka’s famous
creation gets an awesome
beat-’em-up, courtesy of
Sega’s Hitmaker studio and
technical wizards Treasure.
What sets the Omega Factor
Enchanted Souls
Yellow souls grant some kind of special property
apart from the rest is the nonlinear structure that without the use of MP, but only one can be equipped at
sees you jumping through time in an attempt to any time. These include Search Eye, which identifies the
avert disaster, uncovering new and unseen parts breakable walls so often found in Castlevania games,
VIP, which lowers the price of goods in shops, and Deep
Ability Souls
of old levels in the process. Silver-coloured souls normally come via bosses, and
Seeker, which allows you to walk underwater. unlike the other kinds of souls they’re always active
and don’t consume any MP. These include things like
the Back Dash, allowing you to quickly escape danger,
Double Jump, which is something of a Ronseal ability,
108 and Comet Kick, an extra attacking move.

THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION

 TOP 25 GAME BOY ADVANCE GAMES

MICRO GAMES, MEGA FUN

6 Wario Ware Inc: Minigame Mania
■ DEVELOPER : Nintendo R&D1 ■ GENRE : Minigame Collection ■ YEAR : 2003
Many of the best Game Boy Advance and lasting no more than a few seconds
games are sequels and remakes, so a at a time. The key to the game’s appeal is
brand-new and innovative game is even variety – you never know what’s coming
more highly prized than usual – and next, and you’ll be pushed hard as the
Wario Ware Inc is just such a game. The speed increases and your reflexes struggle
premise is simple: a rapid-fire procession to keep up. Deservedly, this game was
of minigames, each with a singular goal followed up by several sequels.

WARIO WAREHOUSE A selection of the tiny games you’ll take on in Wario Ware Inc…

shoot! finish!
stomp!

Balance!

catch!
dodge!

jump! fire!

swat! throw!

chop!
stop me!

5 Metroid: Zero Mission HOW MINISH CAP

■ DEVELOPER : Nintendo R&D1
■ GENRE: Action-adventure ■ YEAR: 2004 ENHANCED ZELDA
When discussing how to follow
up on Metroid Fusion, one of 4 The Legend Of
Zelda: The Minish Cap
the developers suggested a
conversion of Super Metroid,
but Yoshio Sakamoto had other
ideas. As a veteran of the ■ DEVELOPER : Capcom ■ GENRE: Action-RPG ■ YEAR : 2004
series, Sakamoto decided to return to the roots of ■ Unlike the vast ■ Rather than ■ For the first time ■ The brand-new ■ Many new gameplay
the series with a full remake of the original Metroid. majority of Zelda manipulating time or in a handheld Zelda, Kinstones are pickups elements have been
The presence of both Metroid Fusion and games, this one wasn’t the wind, Link is able to Link can learn new that, when fused, can added from the 3D
Metroid: Zero Mission on the GBA was beneficial. developed by Nintendo shrink in size in order sword techniques as he yield rewards such as games, including rolling
Both games offered different takes on the same – instead, it was to interact with the progresses throughout Rupees, sidequests when running and the
template with Zero Mission favouring a more outsourced to Capcom. bug-sized Minish race. the game. and more. icon-based HUD.
traditional Metroid experience.

109
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 RETRO RACING RIOT
3 Mario Kart Super Circuit
■ DEVELOPER : Intelligent Systems ■ GENRE : Racing ■ YEAR : 2001
When Super Mario Kart first graced Mario Kart Super Circuit doesn’t
our consoles in 1992, no home include any new items, and the
console was capable of anything like character roster is carried over from
the rotating racetracks it displayed. Mario Kart 64. What it does have is 20
Less than a decade later, the flagship new racetracks to conquer, each of
technique best known as Mode 7 was which is designed to the standards of
positively retro, swept aside by the the original game. Once you’re done
full-3D visuals of the 32-bit and 64-bit with those, you can revisit the 20
consoles. With a bit of programming tracks from Super Mario Kart as well.
wizardry, the GBA was capable of Mario Kart Super Circuit didn’t need
polygonal magic too – yet Mario Kart to reinvent the wheel, and doesn’t. It
Super Circuit stuck resolutely to the just provides a whole bunch of new
flat racetracks of its SNES forebear. content for a formula that worked
That appeal to retro sensibilities very well to begin with, and does
was key to the appeal of Mario Kart so in a package you can fit in your
Super Circuit. The original game is jeans. The Game Boy Advance has a
one of the most beloved racers of superb reputation for games that play
all time, and there was far more to and build upon your nostalgia, and
value in tapping into that than Mario Kart Super Circuit is one of the
making a cut-back 3D racer. reasons why.

WAR HAS NEVER BEEN SO CUTE

2 Advance Wars
■ DEVELOPER : Intelligent Systems ■ GENRE : Strategy ■ YEAR : 2001
Up until the launch of the Game Boy Advance, a lot of Intelligent Systems’ excellent work in
the turn-based strategy genre was unfamiliar to most players outside of Japan – there were
six Wars games prior to Advance Wars. Still, the developer quickly made up for lost time.
Advance Wars’ dinky-looking tanks and cutesy soldiers provided a universal appeal, with
accessible yet deep strategic gameplay to back it up. With a lengthy single-player campaign,
excellent multiplayer component and a range of commanding officers, each with their own
unique powers to utilise, Advance Wars will keep your inner strategic general satisfied for
ages. You can read about the COs and their powers below.

Nell Max Sturm

Max Power –
Lucky Star –
Direct fire units get Andy Drake Olaf Meteor Strike –
All units gain a luck Sonja 25 per cent bonus Hyper Repair – Tsunami – Deals 1 Blizzard – Instant
A strike deals 4HP
boost, potentially Enhanced Vision Increases all units’ damage to all targets
and one extra damage to all enemy snow storm,
increasing – Increases vision by HP by 2 . within a three-
movement unit. units (except those lowering enemy
damage. one unit, player can unit radius.
at 1HP). movement range
see into forests.
dramatically.

Eagle Grit
Kanbei Sami Lightning Strike Snipe –
Morale Boost – – Units gain an extra Indirect fire units
Double Time
Infantry receive a 20 turn, but with stat gain 65 per cent
– Units have no
per cent offensive penalties. offensive boost and
movement penalties
and defensive 110 two movement
and receive stat
bonus. units.
boosts. THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 TOP 25 GAME BOY ADVANCE GAMES

FUSING OLD AND NEW

1 Metroid Fusion ■ DEVELOPER : Nintendo R&D1 ■ GENRE : Action-adventure : 2002
■ YEAR

The Game Boy Advance was one of the very first Laboratories research station has been overrun by
platforms to recognise and cater to nostalgic the deadly X parasite, and Samus has to investigate

ICONIC
gamers in a big way, and this list is all the evidence what’s happening and ultimately stop it. Of course,
you need to support that. Conversions and remakes since she’s lost all of her powers due to her own
of Eighties and Nineties games make up a fifth
of the list, and that’s a trend that continues right
X infection, Samus must reacquire powers like the
missiles and iconic Morph Ball in order to progress VILLAIN: SA-X
through the voting – for example, games that through the station. We extrapolate why Metroid Fusion’s
narrowly missed the cut include the likes of Doom Metroid Fusion doesn’t allow for quite the antagonist is so iconic
and The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past. But same level of freedom and sequence-breaking
the true appeal of the Game Boy Advance wasn’t as its predecessors, but the trade-off is a STAGE 1
that it housed a fine retro library in your pocket – it stronger narrative and a much more impressive ■ The SA-X was formed from parts of Samus Aran’s
was the fact that it offered a home to classic 2D atmosphere. In a large part, this can be credited old Power Suit, which had been surgically removed
game designs that had become lost in the home to the SA-X, a ruthless and intelligent foe that and sent to quarantine after both she and the suit had
console world. stalks Samus throughout the game. While all of been infected with the X parasite.
That’s why Metroid Fusion is so brilliant. the encounters with it are scripted events, playing
After Samus Aran’s eight-year absence as a star through for the first time and not knowing when STAGE 2
character, Nintendo could have provided us with you’re going to be ambushed by a foe that can ■ The X parasites can obtain the physical appearance,
a simple conversion of Super Metroid and most outgun you makes for some very real tension. intelligence and memories of their hosts, and even
people would have been happy. Instead, the There’s no area that Metroid Fusion doesn’t excel mimic technology. Thus, the SA-X is essentially a
developer went one better and delivered a true in. It looks lovely, with vibrant colours and detailed clone of a fully-powered Samus Aran, with all of her
successor, a brand-new adventure created with the sprites. It sounds great, with ominous music characteristic abilities and weaponry.
design sensibilities of the SNES classic. accompanying your every step. It plays superbly,
Like its predecessors, Metroid Fusion is an with tight controls and excellent stage design. It STAGE 3
exploratory platformer that places Samus alone wasn’t necessarily the game we expected to top ■ Metroids are the natural predators of X parasites.
in a hostile environment. The Biologic Space this list, but there’s no denying that it deserves to. Samus was cured with a treatment made from
Metroid cells, and she’s taken on some of its biological
traits – most notably, weakness to the cold. The SA-X
can detect this and will fight you with the Ice Beam.

STAGE 4
READERS ■ During your initial encounters with the SA-X, you’ll

CHOICE ’
be no match for it – you’ll either have to hide in an
inaccessible area or simply run like hell, dodging and
weaving through the environment as it unleashes the
full force of Samus’ arsenal.

STAGE 5
■ While the SA-X attacks in the same places during
every game, there’s often basically no warning that
it’s coming, so you feel truly hunted by this creature.
As soon as you spot it, it’s time to take action or you
are dead meat.

STAGE 6
■ X parasites can reproduce asexually, and that
means that SA-X isn’t necessarily a singular foe. There
could be two, 20, 200 or even more – and if a single
one escapes the research station, it’ll kick off an
enormous galactic plague. Good luck!

111
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 ESSENTIAL GAME
Pathway To Glory
This turn-based strategy game arrived
at a rather unfortunate time, as it was
easily overshadowed by a glut of
World War II games on more popular
platforms. That’s a shame, because
this is the best exclusive to be released
in the short life of the N-Gage. The
game uses detailed 2D visuals rather
than the system’s much-touted 3D
graphics, but does take advantage of
the system’s multiplayer capabilities,
offering local play via Bluetooth and
online play through N-Gage Arena. A
sequel, titled Pathway To Glory: Ikusa
Islands, was released in 2005 and was
of similarly high quality.

N-Gage
» MANUFACTURER: Nokia » YEAR: 2003
» COST: £299.99 (launch), £70+ (today, boxed, unlocked), £50+ (today, unboxed, unlocked)

W
ith mobile phones having become widely adopted around
the turn of the millennium, Finnish mobile phone giant
Nokia felt that gamers would prefer not to carry both a
dedicated handheld console and a phone. To that end, it
created the N-Gage, a phone with powerful 3D graphics hardware and
dedicated, proprietary games distributed on MMC memory cards. Nokia
gained support from major publishers including Electronic Arts, Activision,
Sega, THQ and Eidos, with early highlights including conversions of Tomb
Raider, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Sonic Advance (renamed Sonic N ).
The attempt to provide a hybrid phone and console resulted in a
number of uneasy compromises that left the N-Gage unsuited to
either task. As a gaming device, the N-Gage suffered from the use of a
vertically oriented screen, and a game slot that could only be accessed by
removing the battery. As a phone, the system’s unusual orientation was far
less of a problem than the choice to position the speaker and microphone
on the side of the device. These flaws and a lack of desirable exclusive
games led to very slow sales, prompting Nokia to reboot the project with
the revised N-Gage QD model just seven months after launch.

112
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 HARDWARE HEAVEN N-GAGE

N-Gage
fact
■ The N-Gage lives in infamy as the inspiration for the
‘sidetalking’ meme in which people pretended to speak
into the sides of devices held to their heads, often those of
a large and impractical nature.
PROCESSOR: 32-BIT ARM920T CPU (104 MHZ)
RAM: 16MB SDRAM
GRAPHICS: 176X208 DISPLAY, UP TO 4,096 COLOURS
ON-SCREEN, SOFTWARE 3D RENDERING
AUDIO: MONOPHONIC, POLYPHONIC AND MP3
SOUNDS SUPPORTED, PLUS FM RADIO
MEDIA: MMC CARD (UP TO 2GB)
NETWORKING: GPRS MOBILE INTERNET
CONNECTION, BLUETOOTH
OPERATING SYSTEM:
NOKIA SYMBIAN 6.1

SYSTEM
113 SUPPLIED BY
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
EVAN
AMOS
 114
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 w
HISTORY OF THE NINTENDO DS

DS
-H I S T O R Y OF THE-

NINTENDO

How a second screen, touch technology,

and huge library catered to all players gave
Nintendo its biggest success
Words by Alan Wen

lthough Nintendo’s dominance in videogames

A was disrupted by the arrival of PlayStation in the

Nineties, the Japanese company continued to
be the leader in the handheld market, with the
Game Boy selling over 100 million units and the Game
Boy Advance doing just as well in the early Noughties.
But Nintendo wasn’t about to rest on its laurels, especially not as
Sony was also about to enter the handheld market with its glossy
PlayStation Portable, while it needed to do something to make up
for the disappointing sales of the GameCube. Under the leadership
of Satoru Iwata, Nintendo embarked on its most revolutionary
» Like its previous handhelds, and
decade – one that opened up its hardware to an even wider unlike the PSP, Nintendo elected to
audience than ever and would have a lasting impact. use cartridges for the Nintendo DS.
Given the leap from the Game Boy’s 8-bit hardware to the
32-bit GBA (albeit with 16-bit graphics, though some developers
managed to make 3D games for it), it would have been natural
for Nintendo’s next handheld to be merely more powerful to go
toe‑to-toe with PSP. But the Kyoto company had other ideas.

115
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 With over three million preorders
in the US and Japan, far exceeding
Nintendo’s estimation of one million
units at launch, the DS was off to
a successful start and would ship
6.65 million units worldwide by June
2005. It might seem ironic that for
all the hardware innovations touted
that the flagship launch game was
Super Mario 64 DS, a remake of the
N64 classic with some graphical
improvements and extras – however,
it was also a demonstration of using
the touchscreen for analogue 3D
movement given the lack of an
analogue stick on the handheld.
» The original hardware was sleek
and impressive, but there was Nonetheless, the pack-in demo
obvious room for improvement. Metroid Prime Hunters – First Hunt
was a great way to showcase the
» [Nintendo DS] Casual titles such as
Brain Training gave the handheld stylus controls and local wireless
On the surface, the Nintendo DS had a similar ongtime Nintendo a wide reach in terms of audience. multiplayer. While the minigames of
clamshell design as the GBA SP model and did
have improved specs featuring a rendering engine
and geometry engine for 3D graphics – though
L fans were also not
initially convinced
by the dual-screen concept when
Wario Ware Touched! and Project
Rub (or the just-as-wild titles in other
regions, Feel the Magic: XY-XX in the US and
it was limited to 2,048 triangles per frame. Of the console was leaked under the internal I Would Die For You in Japan) provided short bursts
course, as implied by the initials, standing for ‘Dual codename ‘Nitro’. But by the time the DS debuted of wacky inventiveness of what you could do with
Screen’ (although Nintendo had also promoted it as at E3 2004, developers were jumping on board at the touchscreen, as well as blowing into the mic.
the ‘Developers’ System’, positioning the console how unconventional it all was, with a variety of tech The success of the DS came from its versatile
as being easy and a joy to develop for), the real demos (including one of Mario’s face that harked library, which gave it widespread appeal to casual
stand out was its two LCD screens, which had a back to the title screen of Super Mario 64) to and core gaming audiences. Some games, such as
resemblance to the old multi-screen Game & Watch showcase the hardware’s versatility. Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow, made minimal use
devices. The most remarkable difference was that The DS was an affordable piece of hardware that of the touchscreen, others simply used the bottom
the screen on the bottom was a touchscreen, which launched at $149.99 in the US and £99.99 in the screen to declutter UI from the top screen like in
could be interacted with a player’s thumb or the UK (although still pricier compared to its previous Chrono Trigger, or some, like Sonic Rush, used both
packed-in stylus, which was easily slotted into a handhelds). In a first for the Japanese company, screens to display a whole level for impressive
holder at the back. Other features included stereo it also launched in the US first on 21 November scale. Where touch controls were essential to
speakers, a microphone and wireless support. 2004 to capitalise on Black Friday and the run-up directly interacting with the player character, such
The DS’s touchscreen marked the beginning of to the holiday shopping season before arriving the as in The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass,
Nintendo’s ‘Gaming Population Expansion’ strategy following year in Europe on 11 March 2005. the gameplay focused on the touchscreen. You
by providing ways for users to play intuitively – could even hold the DS vertically like a book,
especially those who didn’t traditionally play games which was a popular format for casual games
– a strategy later seen for home consoles with the like Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training – and some
Wii’s motion controls. That said, touchscreens publishers did just release classic novels for it.
weren’t commonplace at the time. In fact, Alongside core franchises like Mario and
the technology had a reputation for being Zelda, Nintendo actively developed new titles
imprecise in previous decades. The high cost to entice non-traditional gaming audiences. Its
also dissuaded Nintendo’s former rival Sega biggest success, second only to New Super
from embarking on its plans for a touchscreen Mario Bros, was Nintendogs, a real-time
handheld back in the early Nineties. pet simulation game where players could

THE BEST CASUAL DS GAMES Games that anyone can just pick up and play

DR KAWASHIMA’S ELITE BEAT PICROSS DS

BRAIN TRAINING: AGENTS ■ Although its Game Boy
HOW OLD IS YOUR ■ Stepping into the shoes of a predecessor bombed, this
BRAIN? squad of agents sent to help pixel-based logic puzzle
■ This series of puzzles, from people in need by cheerleading, game came into its own on
calculations to reading, are performed through Nintendo DS as you use logic to
designed to give your brain rhythm‑based action, you are mark the squares of a grid as
a workout to supposedly charged to tap and drag icons either full or empty, eventually
improve your brain’s age. Brain to the rhythm. Some argue that revealing a surprise picture.
Training showed how gaming its predecessor, the Japan-only You can start from easy 5x5
could be good for you even for Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, is the grids up to more challenging
a few minutes each day. superior game. and intricate 20x20 grids.

116
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 HISTORY OF THE NINTENDO DS

» [Nintendo DS] The touchscreen was

a versatile tool, allowing for first-person
action as seen in Metroid Prime Hunters.

» [Nintendo DS] Phantom Hourglass was

the first 3D handheld Zelda, continuing the
adventures of Toon Link from Wind Waker.

» [Nintendo DS] Mario Kart DS is the

third most successful in the series,
beaten only by the Wii and Switch entries.

play with, train, pet, walk, brush and wash adorable evelopers certainly had their work with 3D, as shown with the graphical update in
and lifelike virtual dogs using every facet of the DS,
including even calling them and teaching them tricks
via the microphone.
D cut out to adapt 3D home console
blockbuster properties to portable
form for the DS compared to Sony’s
Mario 64 DS but many developers wisely opted to
get creative with 2D instead. Games harking back
to traditional 2D games such as Contra 4 would use
The DS’s success continued to rise while considerably more powerful PSP, which had the hardware to create some of the most detailed
Nintendo could barely keep up with manufacturing launched in Japan just ten days after the DS in sprites not possible until then, meanwhile, games
units to meet demand. This came alongside December 2004. Nintendo, however, did not like Chinatown Wars and The World Ends With You
new features and support, such as the launch of consider it as a direct competitor. Its unique told their stories through comic book panels instead
the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service in 2005, handheld, after all, catered to a much wider and of rendered cutscenes; there was also room for
coinciding with the launch of Mario Kart DS, so that diverse audience and not just the hardcore experimentation, such as Hotel Dusk: Room 215’s
users could finally play online and not just in the gamer that still seemed to be perceived as brushwork look. Perhaps one of the finest examples
same room, while the microphone (as well as a 16-to-24-year-old males – though the DS certainly is Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, where the
headset released alongside Pokémon Diamond & had its share of edgy marketing to play to that characters were created in 3D first, before being
Pearl) allowed for voice chat in supported games. crowd, including a suggestive ‘Touch It’ ad in the rendered into 2D sprites, resulting in some of the
When a platform has such mainstream UK. Despite its more narrow focus, the PSP was no smoothest 2D animations seen on the system.
appeal – and you don’t get more mainstream slouch in the handheld battle, managing to sell over All the while, DS users were also able to play
than a commercial with Beyoncé playing Rhythm a very respectable 80 million units in its lifetime. GBA games thanks to a backwards-compatible
Paradise – naturally, every publisher wanted in Fortunately, DS owners were more likely swayed cartridge slot at the bottom of the system, and
on the action. That led to some genuine surprise by pricing than graphical fidelity, given the DS’s cost there had still been support for that handheld since
releases that no one would have expected to be on was a fraction of the PSP, a mistake competitors Nintendo had considered the DS’s features to make
the DS, including mature titles like Grand Theft Auto: like Sega and Atari had also made during the Game it a ‘third pillar’ of its console line-up rather than a
Chinatown Wars and multiple Call Of Duty games. Boy years. The DS could still do modest work direct successor, with games still released for

FLIPNOTE STUDIO ELECTROPLANKTON

■ Not a game exactly but an ■ Love it or hate it, there’s
app designed by Nintendo EAD nothing else like this interactive
Tokyo, freely downloadable music game. Well, it isn’t really
from DSiWare that lets a ‘game’, but rather something
users create flipbook‑style to experience in the moment,
animations along with limited without any saves. Either
recordings of sound banks. touch the plankton on-screen,
Users could also share and which creates marvellous
download their FlipNotes on sounds, or sit back and enjoy
the Hatena service until it was the audiovisual spectacle in
shut down in 2013. Audience mode.

117
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
THE BEST HARDCORE DS GAMES Innovating gameplay or just stone-cold
classics, these are must‑plays

GRAND CHRONO TRIGGER MARIO KART DS

THEFT AUTO: ■ The best Square RPG ■ Using the bottom screen to
CHINATOWN from the Super Nintendo show the race circuit might
WARS not called Final Fantasy, this seem like a basic feature
■ GTA on a Nintendo platform time-travelling epic bucked but the fifth Mario Kart title
might have seemed a shock, genre tropes, with no random innovated in other ways as
yet Rockstar made one of encounters and one of the the first and only entry with a
the best games for the DS. most confident plot twists ever. mission mode. More important,
Chinatown Wars made clever It wasn’t until the Nintendo DS as a multiplayer-oriented title,
use of the touchscreen, though that it finally got a PAL release, was being able to play online
caused controversy by letting and to this day, it remains the with others via the Nintendo
players buy hard drugs. best version. Wi-Fi Connection.

the 32-bit handheld until 2008. That said, the

GBA slot was just as much intended to support
other accessories that could be slotted in, such
as the Rumble Pak, which was bundled with
Metroid Prime Pinball in Japan and North America,
a memory expansion pack to support online web
browser Opera, and even a guitar grip controller
used for Guitar Hero: On Tour.

s with its past handhelds, Nintendo

A revised the DS multiple times,

though its first revision was by far
the most successful. The Nintendo DS
Lite launched in 2006, living up to its name as a
slimmer and lighter model with a wide range of
» By the time the DS Lite launched in available colours, including white, black, pink, green,
Japan, the DS was solidified as a runaway platinum, and turquoise, not to mention numerous
success… but that was just the beginning.
limited edition models. At a cheaper price than the
bulkier original in the US at $129.99 (though still
£100 in the UK, while shortages actually led to
Japanese retailers bumping up the price), it was an
instant improvement and success.
From a casual perspective, its sleeker aesthetic,
especially the default white model, gave the
impression of a gadget as sophisticated as an iPod
or a PDA instead of a toy, even if you were probably
just doodling on PictoChat. The DS Lite alone sold

» [Nintendo DS] New Super Mario Bros

brought a new dynamic approach to the
classic side-scrolling Mario model.

118
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 HISTORY OF THE NINTENDO DS

THE WORLD ENDS ADVANCE WARS:

WITH YOU DUAL STRIKE
■ By far one of the most ■ Before Fire Emblem’s
original RPGs on the DS as resurgence, this strategy game
you control two characters in was Intelligent Systems’ prized
a battle system that uses both series, as you command forces
screens as well buttons and from the ground, sea, and air
touch controls. It’s brimming to strike your opponents while
with Shibuya style as your navigating the fog of war. Dual
characters find a way to Strike also uses the dual screens
escape the Underground or in missions where you’re
face being erased. fighting on two separate fronts.

» [Nintendo DS]
Pokémon Diamo
Pearl deftly harnes nd &
sed the DS’s
93.86 million units, well over the PSP’s total sales, or indeed Xbox Live Arcade and PSN at the time, internet capabilitie
s.
taking the lion’s share of the Nintendo DS range’s provided an avenue for smaller developers to release
total lifetime sales. small budget-price games. It wasn’t necessarily an
A larger Lite model had also been planned but indie space, as many first-party releases had been share to buy another one or two for themselves. A
was shelved owing to just how successful the cynically pared-back versions of existing games further and final revision, the DSi XL, a larger model
Lite was. That design was, however, recycled into with an ‘Express’ label slapped on, although it was with 4.2-inch screens launched in November 2009
the Nintendo DSi released in 2008. The lack of GBA also host to some bite-sized franchise spin-offs like in Japan and Spring 2010 in North America and
backward compatibility may have been a turn-off for Dragon Quest Wars and Wario Ware: Snapped!. Europe, with colours including bronze and burgundy
some, though the reasoning behind its removal was (as well as white in Japan), which gave the
so that there could be a slot for external SD storage, esides the larger 3.25-inch display, impression of a more sophisticated elite model -
which could make use of the new DSi shop: the
handheld’s very own digital distribution service
similar to the Wii Shop Channel, which the older
B the real significant addition, and
where the DSi supposedly gets the
‘i’ from, are two 0.3 megapixel
indeed, one of the names considered for it was DSi
Executive. The XL’s western release was already old
news by then as this coincided with the
models couldn’t access. Internal storage was also digital cameras – one in front and one behind. announcement of its successor the Nintendo 3DS,
included meaning web browsing was possible by The games that supported taking snapshots (such which would be officially revealed at E3 that year
default without additional memory. as the ghost-catching game Ghostwire), combined and launched the following year. The DS era was
Full retail games weren’t downloadable from the the capacity for taking selfies that you can also edit already coming to an end.
DSi shop, but it was host to hundreds of games with software, was a move to incentivise Some would argue its decline was being brought
and apps, known as DSiWare, which like WiiWare, households who might have one DS console to about by the smartphone market as the new
platform to capture the mass market of casual
gamers that Nintendo had been courting. Ironically,
the DS’s touchscreen, online and social interactions,

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT:

and short daily gaming habits all paved the way for
how the iPhone and App Store would get users to

THE NINTENDO 3DS

access and play games on the go. When you can
play Candy Crush for free on your smartphone that
can also do everything else you need, why would
Could Nintendo’s stereoscopic successor continue you splash out on a dedicated handheld console?
the DS momentum? The DS was bottled lightning as the actual
concept of a second screen struggled to work in the
The Nintendo 3DS felt like a natural continuation of the DS, iterating on the features introduced with same way, notably with the disastrous commercial
the DSi while jumping on the 3D TV bandwagon with stereoscopic 3D that didn’t require dedicated failure of the Wii U, which singlehandedly came
eyewear. This feature, however, paled compared to more innovative elements, such as a gyroscopic close to undoing all of Nintendo’s successes.
motion sensor, a circular pad for 3D movement, and StreetPass – which enabled users to passively But what a revolutionary era it had been, as the
interact with other 3DS owners, sharing data used for certain gameplay features. DS had lifetime sales totalling just over 154 million
Its $249.99/£229.99 launch price was a massive turn-off for many, prompting units sold, the best-selling handheld of all time,
Nintendo to drastically cut the price five months later and offer free games to and only second to PlayStation 2 by a million
early adopters as a goodwill gesture. It would go on to sell 75 million units: units as the best-selling console of all time. More
not bad considering the failure of the Wii U at the time, but a far cry from importantly, for many whose first experiences
the DS’s success – and it was notable that after multiple revisions the of gaming came through the DS’s two
gimmicky 3D was nixed with the Nintendo 2DS range. screens, including a greater proportion of
While DS games were backwards-compatible (however, the female players, it was a platform full of
handheld was also region-locked), the 3DS lacked the same diverse boundless creative energy, in the same
and creative library as its predecessor, though the improved way, we might describe indie games being
graphical capabilities meant more games catering made today that aren’t just dependent on
towards traditional core gamers, such raw power and following the trajectory of
as the Monster Hunter series and 3D chasing a homogenised hit. In tandem with the
remasters of N64 Zelda games. motion‑control Wii home console, the DS was
emblematic of the fertile ground Nintendo had
found to spread its joy for play.

119
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 -H I S T O R Y OF THE-

PLAYSTATION
PORTABLE

120
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 HISTORY OF THE PLAYSTATION PORTABLE

AFTER CONQUERING THE HOME

CONSOLE MARKET TWICE OVER,
WE EXPLORE HOW THE POWER OF
PLAYSTATION CAME TO HANDHELD
Words by Alan Wen
» [PSP] Snake got one of his best
missions on the PSP with

I
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
n the space of a decade, Sony had disrupted the
videogame landscape forever. The PlayStation didn’t just help
usher in the 3D era for consoles but also turned the medium
into cutting-edge mainstream entertainment that wasn’t just
for kids. Meanwhile its successor, the PlayStation 2, became the
most successful console of all time, with over 155 million units
sold. However, not content with knocking Nintendo off its pedestal
and causing Sega to exit the console marketplace, the Japanese
company was about to set its sights on the handheld market
where the House Of Mario still remained untouched. » [PSP] Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core was
Sony had a strong history with portable devices, namely the a prequel to the luminary original FFVII
that only recently saw a wider release.
Walkman, and the PlayStation Portable would be its first attempt
at launching a handheld console – not including its Japan-exclusive
PocketStation, which was essentially a hybrid of a memory
card and a personal digital assistant that shared similarities with
the Dreamcast’s VMU. But where would the PSP succeed
where other rival handhelds like the Neo Geo Pocket, Bandai
WonderSwan and Nokia N-Gage had failed? More power.
Of course, more powerful handheld hardware was no guarantee
for success in the past – look at how the Atari Lynx and Game
Gear faltered to the simply monochrome Game Boy. But what
» [PSP] Many PlayStation favourites
Sony was proposing for the PSP went beyond what other had spin‑offs on the PSP, such as Daxter
companies had attempted. When the concept was first unveiled (pictured) and Secret Agent Clank.
at E3 2003, CEO Ken Kutaragi called it “the Walkman of the
21st century”, implying that it was going to be more than just a
handheld for games. But for the hardcore gamers, it also had the
processing and graphical power to deliver the dream of playing
console-quality games in your hands.
Sure, direct comparisons with it being a handheld PS2 were
somewhat exaggerated, and with only a nub on the left-hand side
of the handheld for analogue control, as well as just two shoulder
buttons, it wouldn’t be able to replicate the feel of a DualShock
» [PSP] There’s nothing like a
controller. But by the time this sleek and compact handheld made WipEout game to show off the
its official debut at E3 2004, particularly with a demo of WipeOut sheer power behind your system.
Pure turning heads at just how sharp its
fast-paced visuals looked on its 4.3-inch » [PSP] God Of War’s Kratos’s story
LCD, even from a distance, it suddenly was fleshed out on the PSP with
Ghost Of Sparta and Chains Of Olympus.
made Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance
look ancient. While the battery life of
around four to six hours might have been
a sticking point like other past powerful
handhelds, a rechargeable battery and
effective Sleep Mode was certainly an
easier pill to swallow than constantly
burning through a ton of AAs.
The PSP launched in December 2004
in Japan, followed by other territories
in 2005. Retailing at $249.99/£179.99,
it was one of the most expensive
handhelds at the time, double that of the
GBA (Nintendo also slashed the price of
the GBA SP to £70 the year before). But
the price didn’t deter people who were

121
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 any disc-based and copy-protected files were
not supported, with only a few games actually
supporting the feature.
For nostalgic gamers, however, the PSP also
offered a way to replay original PlayStation titles
» At the time, the PSP felt like magic in downloaded via the PlayStation Network. Although
the palms of your hands, the tech this service didn’t come into effect on the PSP until
powering it was that remarkable.
2008, early adopters of the PS3 would be able to
purchase these old, discounted games and then
swayed by its portable power, along with renowned franchises transfer the files to PSP via a USB cable onto the PSP memory
like Metal Gear, Ridge Racer and Spider-Man in the launch line-up. stick. That might have been a convoluted method, while gamers
Within two days, it had already sold half a million units, and the are likely to remember former Sony CEO Kaz Hirai’s cringe‑worthy
high demand from Japan and North America resulted in the PAL Ridge Racer moment at E3 2006 demonstrating this functionality,
launch being delayed from March until September 2005. but considering the PSP couldn’t feasibly offer direct backward
Some would argue that the PSP’s higher price was justified compatibility like the PS2 and original PS3 models had with their
not just on the graphical quality but also its various multimedia direct predecessors, this mirrored Nintendo’s strategy of offering
capabilities, including video and audio playback, even doubling as classic titles via Virtual Console on the Wii, which wasn’t available
an MP3 player, while later on it also offered web browsing and a on a handheld platform until the 3DS many years later.
means for reading digital comics. For PS2 owners, it also offered

A
some extra functionality when connected, such as unlocking lthough a cutting-edge handheld platform, the PSP
bonus content or transferring saved data. obviously couldn’t claim to be on the same level
That latter element would be further expanded with the arrival as home consoles like Xbox 360 and PS3, yet it
of the PlayStation 3 and the introduction of Remote Play, enabling nonetheless drew support from big publishers such
access to the PS3 system screen on the PSP via a wireless LAN as EA and its library of sports titles, as well both first‑party
connection. With this feature, it was possible to view photos, titles and the third-party franchises associated with the
listen to music, and watch videos stored on the PS3’s hard PlayStation brand. Where we typically saw very simplistic
drive. Of course, what was more enticing was being able to play downgraded ports on Game Boy or GBA, their PSP counterparts
PlayStation games on your PSP instead when the TV was already fared more favourably, so even though Ghost Of War: Chains of
in use. In reality, this was actually limited to digital media, while Olympus or Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories might not be
considered mainline entries of their respective series, they were
just as highly regarded.
Some titles even flourished much better on handheld than on

BITE-SIZED DISCS home consoles. One particular highlight was Monster Hunter,
which first launched in 2004 on PS2 but really found its audience
(in Japan, at least) with its expansive port to PSP, released in
A closer look at the PSP’s proprietary UMD format western territories under the title Monster Hunter Freedom,
followed by Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. As commute‑friendly
Given the PSP’s size, a new format was necessary to store the miniature quest-based hunts where it was best for up to four players to
blockbusters developers were making for it that cartridges would be insufficient hunt together, it was the perfect game for taking advantage of
for. Instead, Sony developed a proprietary optical disc format called Universal the handheld’s local wireless play while figuring out the games’
Media Discs (UMD). These were loaded onto disk cases, not unlike the company’s esoteric systems together.
MiniDisc format, which would slot into the handheld. It wasn’t all just about raw graphics on
With 1.8GB storage space, more than double of CD-ROM, it was ample for the the PSP either, as the handheld was also » [PSP] While blockbuster titles stole
the spotlight, there was creative
majority of PSP titles, with just a few (lengthy RPGs exclusively released in Japan) host to games with different creative brilliance on the PSP, like LocoRoco.
requiring two UMDs. The capability to store high-quality audio and video content styles, brilliantly demonstrated by the
also meant that the PSP also became a way to watch movies, as shops were launch title Lumines, and Japan Studio
making space for movie UMDs alongside DVDs. These also included TV shows, continued to develop original gems like
documentaries, music videos, and even adult films in Japan.
UMDs were, however, an expensive format, meaning they were sold at » [PSP] Of course, supreme driving sim
comparable prices as DVDs despite having a fraction of the storage, meaning they Gran Turismo made a PSP appearance,
and it was one of the top-selling games.
also lacked the extra bonus content you’d typically get with DVD releases. Within
a couple years, poor UMD sales meant most studios ditched
it as a home media format.
The UMD casings also had their own headaches
as some would crack, rendering the PSP
unable to read them, prompting a market
for replaceable covers. It was perhaps no
surprise that Sony sought to move away
from the format with the launch of the
PlayStation Network on the system
and the rise of digital distribution.
Nonetheless, over half of the PSP’s
library remained exclusively on UMD.

122
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 HISTORY OF THE PLAYSTATION PORTABLE

METAL GEAR SOLID: GOD OF WAR: SHIN MEGAMI CRISIS CORE: LUMINES:
PEACE WALKER GHOST OF SPARTA TENSEI: PERSONA 3 FINAL FANTASY VII PUZZLE FUSION
■ Although the PSP had multiple ■ The vengeful demigod made a PORTABLE ■ Following Zack Fair’s story ■ This PSP launch title remains
Metal Gear Acid games and Portable huge splash on the small screen, ■ This RPG has you vanquishing as a SOLDIER fighting alongside timeless as do many of Tetsuya
Ops, Peace Walker was a true Hideo with Ghost Of Sparta having shadows in a massive dungeon Sephiroth and Cloud, as well as his Mizuguchi’s experiments in
Kojima joint, taking the action and arguably the best graphics on the during the Dark Hour, while juggling meeting with Aerith, Crisis Core synaesthesia. As a fusion of
stealth of MGS4 into digestible remarkable handheld, with just as life as a high school student acted as a prequel to the beloved drop-puzzler and music, you’ll
missions as Snake builds his bombastic setpieces in the mythical during the day. Although this port Final Fantasy VII. This also differs find yourself subconsciously
remote mercenary unit at Mother city of Atlantis. Set between the first strips down some of the original from that game with a real-time rotating coloured blocks to the
Base. It’s no portable spin-off but two PlayStation 2 games, it’s also exploration to a visual novel format, combat system, alongside a rhythm as your performance also
rather an essential predecessor to a must‑play for followers of the its cool style, including a catchy slots‑style mechanic that grants changes the landscape. A blissful
understanding MGSV’s story. series’ canon. soundtrack, is still intact. buffs and Limit Breaks. experience for the senses.

5 ESSENTIAL
PSP GAMES
Mini‑blockbusters you
can take anywhere

123
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 LocoRoco and Patapon. Sure, bleeding-edge 3D looks nice, but
there’s only so much real estate on a small screen. For Japanese
developers struggling to keep pace with western developers in
the technological arms race, mid-budget RPGs actually felt more
at home on PSP, with the likes of Tactics Ogre, and Persona 3
Portable. Even Falcom, traditionally a PC developer, would also
embrace the platform for its sprite-based RPGs, including the
Trails In The Sky series.
The PSP looked like a fierce competitor that should have seen
Sony finally taking a significant bite into Nintendo’s handheld » [PSP] Monster Hunter carried the PSP
to monumental success in Japan, and its
market share as it had in home consoles. When comparing the jump to 3DS hurt Sony’s PlayStation Vita.
PSP with the Nintendo DS, which had launched at the same time
in Japan, both were doing very well and by 31 March 2006, the
PSP’s worldwide sales were at 17 million, marginally ahead of the
DS’s 16.7 million. At that same time, however, PSP game sales
were also at 47.3 million, implying users had only bought between
two or three games in that amount of time.

O
ver time, it was apparent that the PSP would be no
match to the more affordable DS, which offered a
more innovative experience through its touchscreen
and dual display that also had wider appeal to casual
and nontraditional gaming audiences. This also meant
more developers wanted to make games for the DS. Even
publishers who might have seen the appeal of a platform with
greater horsepower knew to follow the money. For instance,
Activision released just one Call Of Duty game on the PSP but » Where Nintendo broadly marketed
went on to produce a whopping five instalments for the vastly its Nintendo DS, Sony honed in on the
young adult market with a laser focus.
underpowered DS.
At the same time, it could be said that its multimedia
capabilities should have meant the PSP was also in competition
with other similarly priced portable media players. But then the
pristine compact aesthetics of an iPod that could also store tens of
thousands of songs and photos, as well as over 150 hours of video “Sony would fight in the PSP’s corner,
iterating on the handheld’s design
was simply more attractive than the comparably bulky PSP with
buttons that would have been redundant for people who didn’t
play games. It lacked the same mainstream pull as the millions of
people buying the PlayStation 2 as an affordable DVD player that
also happened to play games.
Sony would nonetheless fight its corner, iterating on the PSP
design with multiple hardware revisions. Released in 2007, its first
with multiple hardware revisions”
redesign, dubbed the PSP Slim in PAL territories, was a slimmer than its predecessor yet also boasted a larger 3.8-inch screen.
and lighter model, with a thickness of 18.6mm compared to That’s because the controls are actually underneath it, which slides
the original’s 23mm, and almost 100g lighter. The loading of its up when in use, bearing a resemblance to Sony’s Mylo internet
UMD games was also improved by doubling the internal RAM device released a few years earlier.
from 32MB to 64MB, while it also received a thinner and brighter Much like that Wi-Fi-based device, the PSP Go was designed
screen. It was also the first model to introduce USB charging. to take advantage of the PlayStation Network, with Sony
This was followed up in 2008 with the minorly iterative PSP envisioning all of its future titles would solely be available via digital
Brite, which basically looked the same as the distribution, downloaded to its 16GB internal flash memory, which
PSP Slim but with an even more improved could also be expanded by up to 32GB with a memory stick.
LCD sporting an increased colour range and That meant no UMD drive, a sticking point as it meant existing
anti‑reflective technology to reduce outdoor PSP users would render their existing UMD games and movies
glare. It had one fundamental flaw in unplayable, while many titles were never made available digitally.
regards to interlacing, though, which Retailers weren’t especially happy with stocking the digital-only
made the image worse with PSP Go either, which would have made it impossible to sell
noticeable scanlines and jaggies physical software alongside it, while those that did stock it went
on-screen during fast-moving and slashed the RRP price of £224.99 down to £199.99 just a
sequences, an issue that Sony week after its launch. Considering the initially exorbitant PS3 had
would fail to fix, citing it as a just been reduced to $299/£249, the PSP Go didn’t look like good
hardware characteristic that value. Sony would later try to relaunch it the following year in a
can’t be resolved with a bundle including ten free downloadable games, but it was too late.
software update. There was also the PSP Street, a budget-priced model of the
A more significant previous iterations albeit with its cheaper-looking matte finish. On
revision came in the one hand, this brought back the UMD drive but also removed
2009 in the form basic functions like stereo speakers and brightness buttons,
of the PSP Go. though these features could still be accessed with headphones
This model was or by going into the system settings. But the biggest omission
smaller and lighter was Wi-Fi functionality, rendering it an offline handheld, feeling

124
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 HISTORY OF THE PLAYSTATION PORTABLE

» [PSP] Tekken 5 received a remarkable

PSP port with Dark Resurrection, which
added new characters and balance tweaks.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT: THE PS VITA
Sony’s successor struggled but became an indie haven
completely at odds when being connected in the 21st century had Released in 2011, the PS Vita was meant to continue Sony’s goal of delivering
become a given. Compared to the Nintendo DS’s revisions, which blockbuster experiences on handheld while also literally doubling down with
garnered more sales and a boost to its longevity, the PSP was touch controls both with a multi-capacitative touchscreen and a touchpad at its
having diminishing returns. back. Certainly, the likes of Uncharted: Golden Abyss proved that it was capable of
near‑PS3 quality visuals, while Tearaway was a perfect example of a game taking

W
hile some might paint the PSP as a failure because its full advantage of the hardware’s unique features, including the built-in camera that
direct competitor was an unprecedented success, the could take pictures and videos, as well as face detection and head tracking.
truth is that Sony’s handheld lasted a decade before Despite initial strong sales, the Vita flopped hard both against the Nintendo 3DS
it was discontinued in 2014, shipping a remarkable as well as the mobile and tablet market it was also trying to appeal to, managing to
80 million units in its lifetime, even if this is about half shift just four million units by the end of 2012.
of the DS’s 154 million (though it beat the 3DS’s lifetime But while the big publishers withdrew their support for the Vita, Sony made
sales of 75 million). It had far better innings than Nintendo’s it work as a niche product by winning over indies and mid-budget Japanese
other rivals ever did in the past and was enough incentive for Sony developers, with the latter seeing more RPGs and visual novels come to the
to follow up with a successor, the PlayStation Vita. platform. Indie titles like Hotline Miami, Fez, and OlliOlli all found success on the
It might not have sustained the immediate rush of the ‘wow’ Vita, remaining strongly associated with the handheld (Dennaton’s ultraviolent
that players first got a glimpse of from its unveiling back at E3 masterpiece even makes a cameo via the Vita in The Last Of Us Part II).
2004, but it still proved to some extent that cutting-edge games With the release of PS4, the Vita was also positioned as a complementary device
and the demand for them weren’t just limited to consoles, in for Remote Play, while Cross-Buy meant users could buy a game that could be
the same way, that they used to be just limited to arcades. played between Vita and PS4 with Cross-Save. Even so, the Vita’s failure is why it
Nintendo, as well as the rise of smartphones, opened up handheld looks fated to be Sony’s last handheld.
gaming to a far wider audience, but the PSP still had its hardcore
gamers in its corner. That the likes of Metal Gear Solid: Peace
Walker, Final Fantasy Type-0 and Crisis Core would get HD ports
and remasters on home consoles in subsequent years was also
surely evidence that these handheld games could work just as
well on the big screen.
Indeed, the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck are even better
examples today where it is possible to have parity between home
and handheld platforms. It’s perhaps for that reason that the most
ardent supporters of PlayStation’s handhelds are still hopeful that
Sony may yet make a portable comeback. Admittedly, it’s unlikely,
as the idea had been seemingly shut down by current PlayStation
head Jim Ryan, while the evolution of Remote Play, as well as
the introduction of PlayStation Now, means you can already play
console-quality PlayStation titles on just about any screen or
device via remote or the cloud anyway. Nonetheless, as the saying
goes, do not underestimate the power of PlayStation.

125
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
Gizmondo
» MANUFACTURER: Tiger Telematics » YEAR: 2005
» COST: £229.99 (launch), £200+ (today, boxed), £150+ (today, unboxed)

W
hen it was originally conceptualised
as the Gametrac, the Gizmondo was
designed to fulfil two specific needs.
Firstly, it would act as a child-tracking
device, by way of its integrated GPS technology.
Secondly, in order to ensure that kids would be
willing to carry it, it would have gaming capabilities.
As development rolled on, the feature set came
to resemble a modern mobile device – it had a
camera, it could send text messages, it was even
supposed to have an online app store. Add a nice
looking case from Rick Dickinson, the former
Sinclair industrial designer, and you’ve got the
makings of a potentially competitive handheld.
The wheels fell off within a year of the March
2005 launch. Despite celebrity promotion, a slow
but steady stream of games and the introduction
of an ad-supported model for just £129.99, the
handheld failed to sell well. The software library
had expanded to 14 games by October 2005, and
eight of those would accompany the system’s
North American launch that month. They would
be the final Gizmondo games released, as Tiger
Telematics collapsed into bankruptcy in February
2006, amidst news reports that a company director
had ties to a Swedish organised crime group.

ESSENTIAL GAME
Sticky Balls
Originally designed by John Pickford
in his spare time while he was at
Zed Two, the game transferred
to Warthog when Zed Two was
purchased, and was set to become
a PSP game before Warthog itself
was purchased, becoming Gizmondo
Studios Manchester. The puzzle
game vaguely resembles snooker, as
you use a cue to shoot balls around
a playfield. When balls of the same
colour collide, they stick together –
hence the title – and once a few of
them are clustered, they disappear
and earn you points. It’s a unique and
cool idea, trapped on a system that is
inaccessible to almost everyone.

126
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION
 HARDWARE HEAVEN GIZMONDO

Gizmondo
fact
■ Almost 40 games were cancelled for
Gizmondo, including Halo: Combat Evolved, Rayman
and MechAssault. One we particularly liked the look
of was Conflict Vietnam.
PROCESSORS: 32-BIT ARM9 (400MHZ) RAM: 128MB DDR RAM
GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GOFORCE 3D 4500 (1.2MB SRAM)
DISPLAY: 2.8 INCH TFT (320X240 RESOLUTION)
AUDIO: STEREO SOUND MEDIA: SD/MMC MEMORY CARDS
COMMUNICATIONS: BLUETOOTH, GPRS
OPERATING SYSTEM: WINDOWS CE
OTHER FEATURES: MPEG 4/MP3 MEDIA
PLAYBACK, GPS TRACKING, SMS/MMS
TEXT MESSAGING, WAP INTERNET,
CAMERA

SYSTEM
127
SUPPLIED BY
THE HANDHELD GAMING COLLECTION EVAN
AMOS
 Rediscover
the greatest
games, consoles
and icons

Check out the

best movies of
all time, from
cult classics to
sci-fi greats

Take a trip
through time!
Explore retro
hardware and
celebrate the
classics
 THERE’S A BOOKAZINE
FOR EVERYONE
Whether you’re a film buff, an avid gamer, or love all things sci-fi,
we’ve got you covered with our range of entertainment titles

Discover the
origins of all
your favourite
characters

Follow us on Instagram @futurebookazines

www.magazinesdirect.com
 NDHELD
HA G
GAMIN
Future PLC Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA

The Handheld Gaming Collection Editorial

Editor Drew Sleep
Art Editor Jonathan Wells
Senior Art Editor Andy Downes
Head of Art & Design Greg Whitaker
Editorial Director Jon White
Retro Gamer Editorial
Editor Darran Jones
Art Editor Andy Salter
Editorial Director Tony Mott
Art Director Woz Brown
Contributors
Luke Albigés, Kerry Brunskill, Martyn Carroll, David Crookes, Ashley Day,
Damien McFerran, Marty Goldberg, Nick Thorpe, Alan Wen
Cover images
Getty
Photography
All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and respected
Advertising
Media packs are available on request
Commercial Director Clare Dove
International
Head of Print Licensing Rachel Shaw
licensing@futurenet.com
www.futurecontenthub.com
Circulation
Head of Newstrade Tim Mathers
Production
Head of Production Mark Constance
Production Project Manager Matthew Eglinton
Advertising Production Manager Joanne Crosby
Digital Editions Controller Jason Hudson
Production Managers Keely Miller, Nola Cokely,
Vivienne Calvert, Fran Twentyman
Printed in the UK
Distributed by Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU
www.marketforce.co.uk – For enquiries, please email:
mfcommunications@futurenet.com
The Handheld Gaming Collection First Edition (GAB5298)
© 2023 Future Publishing Limited

We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from responsibly managed,
certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. The paper in this bookazine was sourced
and produced from sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict environmental and
socioeconomic standards.

All contents © 2023 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved.
No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without
the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number
2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury,
Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far
as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility
for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and
retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps
and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for
their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and
not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.

Future plc is a public Chief Executive Jon Steinberg

company quoted on the Non-Executive Chairman Richard Huntingford
London Stock Exchange Chief Financial and Strategy Officer Penny Ladkin-Brand
(symbol: FUTR)
www.futureplc.com Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244

Part of the

bookazine series
 PRESENT
S

P I O N E E RS
E ARLYndheld history and diss,cfroovemr the
ha chine
Delve into onsoles and ma ge
nn er c & W atch ran
the foreru ion to the Game
Microvis

L D E N AGE
THE GdaO
ys of Nintendo’s Ga
me Boy s
ri Lynx and
eries
Sega
e glory like the A
ta
macy
Relive th r m achines le its supre
c ove top p
and dis t trie d to
ear tha
Game G

C L A S SICS
N
MODERistory and meet the om’sacmhainsessivthelya
t
9000

recent h tend
Explore ties: Nin rhouse
ate d the Nough val PSP powe
domin nd th e ri
l DS, a
successfu