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Game Boy Line To Be Discontinued?


MBJ

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It sounds like Nintendo is going to discontinue the Game Boy line. This means that there will be no successor to the Game Boy Advance. Read IGN's brief story on this HERE.

I think that this is a real shame primarily because as a retrogamer, I love the backwards compatibility that is associated with this line of systems. I just traded up to the GBA SP with the new brighter screen than the original model (it is amazingly bright BTW). I have always loved the fact that I can play classic cartridges like Super Mario Land, Kirby's Dream Land, or Motocross Maniacs on the newest hardware with great resolution and brightness. I recently saw the screen on a friends original model Game Boy and after getting used to the screen on the GBA SP, I can't believe I once played games on the original system.

These games are often overlooked and underappreciated classics that don't get the same attention as NES or SNES games from the same era.

It would be great if Nintendo implemented backwards compatibility with all GB games in the DS line but it doesn't look like that's going to happen as the new DS lite is only compatible with GBA and DS games.

Also, it doesn't look like the Virtual Console on Wii will have emulated Game Boy games so these games are becoming an endangered species.

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That's kind of strange, as the Gameboy line was one of the biggest selling features for Nintendo. You would think it would at the very least be included in the Wii virtual console.

I have a question as well. The Wii virtual console deal, does each game like cost a fee or something? Or, is everything available for download or what's going on there? Any ideas?

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There's no official word from Nintendo on Virtual Console game pricing yet but there are some theories. One is that there will be a price structure that charges a few dollars for NES games, around $5 for SNES/Genesis/TG16, and around $10 for N64 games. The other theory is that there will be a subscription plan that will allow subscribers to download an unlimited number of games per month.

I'm looking forward to more from Nintendo on this issue.

And also, just to clarify, the fact that they are discontinuing the Game Boy line just means that they will probably be relying solely on the DS as their handheld platform. This will probably work well for them as the DS is selling like crazy but as I said above, I'll miss the backwards compatibility.

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I was a bit skeptical of the practicality of the touch screen at first myself. I primarily bought the system for the new online versions of Mario Kart and Tetris, neither of which make heavy use of the touch screen (Kart doesn't use touch at all).

I have purchased a couple of games that make heavy use of the touch screen and it actually is a lot of fun to play in a new way. Aside from the opportunity to use it as an analog control (which I haven't done yet), it can be used for many other things like handwriting recognition or connecting points in a certain pattern in Brain Age, digging for clams or shaking trees in Lost in Blue, or any number of tasks like tapping attacking bulls, hitting scorpions, or sending a bowling ball flying in Touch the Magic.

Even the micropone serves as a cool new input device in several of the games.

It really is an amazing system. :)

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I just had a cool thought. Nintendo is probably going to discontinue the Game Boy line, meaning that in the not too distant future you will no longer be able to buy hardware that plays GB and GBC games. But there is also speculation about the functionality between Wii and the DS. What if, as an extension of Wii's Virtual Console, Nintendo will offer downloadable GB and GBC games that can be wirelessly transferred to and played on the DS? This would allow them to milk more money out of the many classic portable titles that have long been out of print. It's a possibility...

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  • 1 month later...

that virtual console thing might work...

if u just gotta play that old game no matter what the ethical cost, buy a flash linker like the gba movie player or something. these can play gba, gbc, gb and occasionally nes and snes roms!!! just download off the web, load er up plug it in and play!!! (i don't have 1 yet though)

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MrSlayer: You know, the thing of it is that some of the best DS games don't overuse the gimmick potential of the touch screen. Mario Kart doesn't use it much, Castlevania is the same way.

I liken it more to how the Wii will likely be at launch time. The first round of games will be cool but they will also be glorified tech demos. The next round is where we will see the designs really begin to take off.

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It'strue that some of the best games don't use the touch screen much. My three favorites are Mario Kart, Tetris, and New Super Mario Bros. Tetris has a touch mode, New SMB only uses touch to access the reserve item, and I don't think that Kart uses touch at all.

My favorite two titles that do make use of the touch screen are Brain Age, which wouldn't work nearly as well without touch, and Feel the Magic, which uses the touch screen and microphone exclusively throughout the game.

Metroid and Mario 64 DS both use the touch screen as an analog control pad but I haven't had any first hand experience with these titles so I can't say how well it works.

Nintendo is planning on implementing touch more in it's top tier titles in the coming months. Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass will be controlled entirely by touch and Starfox is supposed to use touch for missile guidance and flightpath.

So the nice thing about the touch screen is that it's available if programmers want to make use of it but the DS is still capable of accomplishing some amazing gaming experiences without it.

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Mario Kart uses it for menu and map selection on the WFC, and I think to change what the second screen shows in game play, but that's it.

My bad! :)

I forgot that it was used for those things. The menus are easier to do with the control pad and buttons in my opinion.

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  • 2 months later...
hmm, if they are discontinuing the gameboy line, maybe now would be a good time to go out and start buying up old carts of off ebay before they become rare and pricey.......

I don't think that the discontinuation of the Gameboy line will really affect the rarity or price of the older Gameboy game because most of them have beenn out of print for a long time anyway so they are already fairly rare.

The most expensive games when it comes to rarity are actually the GBA games that have gone out of print within the last year or two like Super Mario Bros. (Classic NES Series), The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past/Four Swords, Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World, and Mario Kart: Super Circuit. These are still in high demand since they are playable on the GBA and the DS.

Also, not everyone is a retrogamer. Some people only like the fanciest graphics they they can get with their systems and probably don't appreciate the backwards compatibility of the GBA/SP. I am willing to bet that most GBA/SP owners don't own any legacy GB titles at all even though there are hundreds of classic titles available to them via used game sellers. I wonder how many people whose first handheld system is a DS or DS Lite will run out and buy any GBA games. All the better for those of us who love the classics! :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

The Gameboy will always remain a legendary item and is probably one of the most world renown consoles ever. So many great games where on it, and it's where the Pokemon craze started :)

It's a shame it's the end, but it won't be forgotten.

You're idea about possibly downloading old Gameboy games to the DS via the Wii is pretty cool, although its a shame you wouldn't be able to save your progress in games or save it to the actual DS...unless Nintendo release some sort of official memory cart that could store Gameboy games and there saves on.

Plus even though there is no Gameboy in the Virtual console, I don't think it's totally written out the possibility of it being added at a later date...only Nintendo know if it can be done.

It'll be a wonder to think what the succesor to the DS will be, will it continue to be touch screen? (I think so) what will the graphics be like, what new features might it bring with it?... Only time will tell

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You're idea about possibly downloading old Gameboy games to the DS via the Wii is pretty cool, although its a shame you wouldn't be able to save your progress in games or save it to the actual DS...unless Nintendo release some sort of official memory cart that could store Gameboy games and there saves on.

Plus even though there is no Gameboy in the Virtual console, I don't think it's totally written out the possibility of it being added at a later date...only Nintendo know if it can be done.

I can't imagine that Nintendo would let their library of classic GB games fall into obscurity. At the very least they should release a compilation for the DS.

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  • 1 month later...

Gameboy player will NOT work with Wii. Also, it would not be possible to play original GB games on DS just by widening the slot. The GBA line had a switch in the slot that original GB games would push to switch it into original gameboy mode. DS systems do not have the necessary hardware to run older GB games.

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  • 4 months later...

There have been more rumblings lately about the possibility of downloadable GB games on Virtual Console but still no solid word from Nintendo.

Cicnird: I'm not sure what generation of games you are most into but if you like the older simpler gamers you should check out the Game Boy. It's amazing what they were able to do with that little system (kind of like how they maximized the potential of the NES over the years.) Highly recommended games include Zelda: Link's Awakening, the Pokemon games (not nearly as lame as they may appear), the Super Mario Land series, the Wario Land series, and the Kirby's Dream Land series. The original Donkey Kong Land was OK but the sequels were just slimmed down ports of the SNES games.

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