Why is GBC underappreciated?

[Reed Rothchild | 9,558]

1 hour ago, Aguy said:

Pokemon Crystal, Zelda Oracles, and Warlocked.

I'm an RPG fan and was 13 when the GBC came out so I love it. Unfortunately my hands can't handle it for more than 20 minutes now.

I'll give you the Zeldas.  But that's pretty sparse for a Nintendo console.

[phart010 | 1,708]

6 hours ago, darkchylde28 said:

The GBC released about a year before the NGPC did, so it's hard to call it a follow up to kill that system when it didn't exist when the GBC came out.  It really came down to Nintendo having brand recognition, backwards compatibility, and a year-long head start that killed the NGPC.  Maybe you're thinking about the original NGP that launched at nearly the same time that the GBC did?

Yea I maybe could have got that backwards. Maybe it was the GBC released to kill the NGP. Then NGPC had to be made quickly to keep up.

I thought GBC was in response to NGP but it seem GBC came out a few days earlier. Maybe Nintendo had knowledge that NGP was being worked on? Or maybe I am just not remembering the story

[Sumez | 2,970]

I have absolutely no clue that there would be any specific reason Nintendo made GBC aside from maybe the fact that it made sense at the time, and they had no excuse perpetuating a monochrome screen in the late 90s, when tech had long since advanced beyond that.

I think my assumption at the time was just that the Game Boy was suddenly enjoying an unexpected renaissance due to Pokemon, so Nintendo decided to back it up with a bit more "modern" hardware to avoid the next iteration falling behind.

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

22 hours ago, cartman said:

Nobody seems to have picked up any GBC either on their gamehunting trip etc.

I did. In 2017.

Atop of the time I got to experience Dragon Quest the Real at Universal Studios Japan and eating at Luida's Bar (which is a Dragon Quest themed place)... I managed to complete the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and nearly all of the Game Boy Advance portions of the Dragon Quest library. All CIB, with one instance where I used eBay to purchase a CIB-based upgrade for one of the two Dragon Quest Monsters boxes I bought at Mandarake.

But my experience here is that people who have a genuine interest in either a console or franchise tend to be either overlooked or ignored. Which is why I am going the PS5 route this time around.

[cartman | 195]

46 minutes ago, FenrirZero said:

I did. In 2017.

Atop of the time I got to experience Dragon Quest the Real at Universal Studios Japan and eating at Luida's Bar (which is a Dragon Quest themed place)... I managed to complete the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and nearly all of the Game Boy Advance portions of the Dragon Quest library. All CIB, with one instance where I used eBay to purchase a CIB-based upgrade for one of the two Dragon Quest Monsters boxes I bought at Mandarake.

But my experience here is that people who have a genuine interest in either a console or franchise tend to be either overlooked or ignored. Which is why I am going the PS5 route this time around.

That's great man. I had the GBC growing up altough not that many games. But then again it came much later than the original GB and people weren't running around with full game libraries like they do today so my experiences with GBC are much slimmer.

However i do remember using it as my go-to system for the GB games after a while so there's also an impact left from that angle. I prefer it over the GBA ergonomics.

[phart010 | 1,708]

GBC does have two handfuls of good games. I don’t do full set collecting since it’s absurd, but I do pick up games that I like and probably have a few dozen of GBC games.

I suspect a lot of people don’t count the black carts as part of GBC since they still work on the regular GB. But they play way better in color.

 

Edited March 8, 2023 by phart010

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

6 minutes ago, phart010 said:

I suspect a lot of people don’t count the black carts as part of GBC since they still work on the regular GB. But they play way better in color.

They'd be flat out wrong, then, as those were absolutely GBC games, and came in GBC branded boxes.  The fact that they were backwards compatible with the original system (or GBP / Game Boy Pocket, since that's what Nintendo was shilling at the time) should be considered an additional asset, not a penalty that knocks them back a generation.

[RH | 4,933]

As one who collected the full GB set, in my entire time doing that, no one seemed to articulate or assume that having the GBC hybrids was a "requirement" and I always felt those were more GBC games at heart, rather than GB, if I had to pick between the two.  That said, I finished my GB set in 2019 and now I pick up nicer conditioned black carts I find that I don't own.  If anything, I consider them a side, sub-set to the GB set and I'd like to own them all one day, but I have no interest in going for a full GBC (clear shell) set.  There are some good games and I don't mind collecting them, but I just don't want to go for all of them.

I know the consoles are the same either way, but in my mind the black cart set actually feels like a subset that doesn't really belong in either category.  That said, if feel they should be classified one way or the other and because of that I consider them "GBC" carts.

Edited March 8, 2023 by RH

[phart010 | 1,708]

42 minutes ago, darkchylde28 said:

They'd be flat out wrong, then, as those were absolutely GBC games, and came in GBC branded boxes.  The fact that they were backwards compatible with the original system (or GBP / Game Boy Pocket, since that's what Nintendo was shilling at the time) should be considered an additional asset, not a penalty that knocks them back a generation.

I agree but try telling that to a person who never held a gameboy color in their hands but has a few black carts that they play  in their collection 

[Tanooki | 4,943]

I am stuck using my phone a keyboard here which sucks so it is what it is right now.

I do not think the GBC was under-appreciated but more so underrated.  Nintendo didnt help much though given the weird way they handled it internally. Translucent carts were the only ones they counted yet marketing wise it was hypocrisy as the black carts were GBC but not.   It created this weird thing of, are these GB or GBC games to many.  Black carts weren’t that limited exactly as you could get the full color scale more or less, but it stopped there as some games needed more than added shades into video, better audio, more going on that needed that double ram, speed, and DMA too.

Most probably just though by name, colorized gameboy, that’s it yet it was more.  With pokemon waking the dying beast against the game gear doing well but falling hard due to Sega arrogance and incompetence they needed to beef it up somehow.  The end result was great though.  Think of the colorized stuff sure that was on there, and not os much ports, but also the GBC only titles.

Despite the lack of lighting you had some really stand out stuff using it to its most.  Dragons Lair the laserdisc port of all things, Cannon Fodder, Warlocked(Warcraft 1 basically), Dragon Warrior 3 a SFC demake, Wendy, Shantae, Duke Nukem (like 2 on PC), Metal Gear was insane as was the odd Bionic Commando sequel, Pokémon Puzzle and Crystal, Street Fighter Alpha was crazy too, there wasn’t a shortage of solid only for titles to justify getting it.

Add in the black carts with the selection there and while it had a short life, in proportion to GB the black/translucent era stuff had the quality and quantity in ratio to be well worth owning, respecting, and using even today.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

It's probably because Conker's Pocket Tales was so bad.

fuck that game

[Gloves | 11,803]

GBC is stinky poo-poo.

[Jeevan | 8,915]

21 hours ago, Brickman said:

Oh no you didn't! @OptOut @Jeevan @PuppyWaffles let's get him!

Tis ok, @Renmauzo will learn a thing or two when I get around to doing the rankings for N64!

[Jeevan | 8,915]

@Brickman I have found quite a few good games, just from exploring the library this year for the beat them all thread, 1 hidden gem and 2 that were not so hidden I assume!  

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

3 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I do not think the GBC was under-appreciated but more so underrated.  Nintendo didnt help much though given the weird way they handled it internally. Translucent carts were the only ones they counted yet marketing wise it was hypocrisy as the black carts were GBC but not.   It created this weird thing of, are these GB or GBC games to many.  Black carts weren’t that limited exactly as you could get the full color scale more or less, but it stopped there as some games needed more than added shades into video, better audio, more going on that needed that double ram, speed, and DMA too.

I 100% completely agree with this.

Going back to my talks of being a Dragon Quest fan back then, there is a huge difference between knowing the game series and being a fan. With one example being the time @Sumez used the manga as an explanation for somebody to "geek out." When the actual fanbase actually knows that the majority of the manga for the franchise is simply filler. And to truly 'geek out' one would have to be prepared to spend a lot of money doing any of the events Yuji Horii (aka the main creator who is in charge of both production and development) was involved in. Atop of buying clothing, home-based products (e.g. furniture and silverware), among other options that do not involve playing the games.

With the GBC, as I recall just because I am old, the whole thing is no different than how Nintendo chose to transition from the GBA to the DS, and from the DS to the 3DS. The problem is that it becomes far more confusing to those who do not live in Japan, or simply make it an actual focus, than it is for those who do. Mostly because the focus are the games have become the focus, and not much else. But it is like you are implying... Because this system is the earliest known case of backwards compatibility, it is more of a blur between the two than simply somebody both buying and playing PS1 games on a PS2 console. With me feeling that this is more of a "PS4 to PS5" upgrade kind of scenario.

[phart010 | 1,708]

1 hour ago, Gloves said:

GBC is stinky poo-poo.

You must not be familiar with the library.
That or you think is a good thing

Edited March 8, 2023 by phart010

[Ankos | 452]

A GBC game that caught my eye not too long ago is Dinosaur'us. I think it was only released in Europe, it is sort of a platformer RPG hybrid, kinda like EVO the Search for Eden. I haven't played it that much yet, but I think its got a decent amount of charm

[Tanooki | 4,943]

4 hours ago, Ankos said:

A GBC game that caught my eye not too long ago is Dinosaur'us. I think it was only released in Europe, it is sort of a platformer RPG hybrid, kinda like EVO the Search for Eden. I haven't played it that much yet, but I think its got a decent amount of charm

Seriously?  A game much like EVO?  You just caught my interest as it is like how Actraiser was for years with no well made homages or sequels.  Sol Seraph was terrible, and the resurrection is largely good but has its issues.

 

A fast googling seems to imply this game also had a PC version 20 years ago, now easily found on abandonware spaces.  Not sure how I missed this.

Edited March 9, 2023 by Tanooki

[Tanooki | 4,943]

I feel bad about forgetting about it since I own the game when I listed some random stuff earlier, but shooter fans should be happy, and no I don't mean because 1942 was a great port and not ear molestation like on NES.

Check out Project S-11.  Sunsoft published this one while the demoscene style group Paragon11 did the work on this beast.  The music is very demoscene, but the game play, is crazy good, and sprites...they broke the mold just how much this puts on the screen for a GBC as it's nuts.  About 3min in you'll see what I mean with this red arcing lava ball style weapon as it spits out a crap load of them without crawling the speed at all.

 

[ThePhleo | 2,185]

Personally,

I just don't see the Game Boy Color as a unique system in the same way that I don't see the PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 4 Pro as unique systems.

Let's just take a look at the launch titles of the Game Boy Color.

1. Centipede
2. Game & Watch Gallery 2
3. Tetris DX
4. Pocket Bomberman

...

...

Yeah, that's NOT a new console.

[Tanooki | 4,943]

It's not, it's an upgrade.  But let's be fair, in coked up Nintendo land, they have a pattern of it since.  New 3DS or even just a 2DS isn't really a new system, it's just another 3DS, just another SKU of the 3DS.  Gameboy Color was really just Gameboy, much like how GBA SP/SP101 or Micro was another SKU of the GBA, and the various 3 styles of the DS too.

You start out with something, make some superficial changes along with some moderate perks enough to show a difference yet not different enough to entirely be its own thing.  That's what started there with GB to GBC, moderate perks and then some pop for just that alone yet not enough to be the next big thing (like GBA was over GB/C.)

GBC had a sorry start with just overlap titles, but once they started to bother using the hardware right, Nintendo included, geez it really blew out what people figured the GB was capable of for certain.

There's say for instance, despite the subject matter and title being the same a *HUGE* difference in Dragon's Lair GB and Dragon's Lair GBC ONLY.

This, is insane...laserdisc port, 2bit color, not much audio, yet only missing 6-8 moves from the Smithy event as the rest is intact.

 

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

57 minutes ago, ThePhleo said:

Personally,

I just don't see the Game Boy Color as a unique system in the same way that I don't see the PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 4 Pro as unique systems.

Let's just take a look at the launch titles of the Game Boy Color.

1. Centipede
2. Game & Watch Gallery 2
3. Tetris DX
4. Pocket Bomberman

...

...

Yeah, that's NOT a new console.

From my personal opinion is that the Game Boy is parallel to the PlayStation 4 Pro, while the Game Boy Color is parallel to the PlayStation 5. With most of the games getting an uptick being parallel to Crisis Core Reunion. Maybe even both Remake and Remake Intergrade for those who do not own a 4K or 8K TV.

Because by the end of the day, the PS5 is just an upgraded PS4 Pro. Just like the 3DS is an upgraded DS, and the GBC is an upgraded GB. Versus @Gloves tolerating me is different from how he tolerated EastAsiaSoft's inability to cut tabs so he could open their products is new, and not an upgrade or downgrade.

[cartman | 195]

3 hours ago, ThePhleo said:

Personally,

I just don't see the Game Boy Color as a unique system in the same way that I don't see the PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 4 Pro as unique systems.

Let's just take a look at the launch titles of the Game Boy Color.

1. Centipede
2. Game & Watch Gallery 2
3. Tetris DX
4. Pocket Bomberman

...

...

Yeah, that's NOT a new console.

It's an unique system considering there was no color before and it also had games made for it that wouldn't work backwards. The PS4 Pro is a lot less different than that.

[Sumez | 2,970]

The GBC is generally quite powerful compared to GB - honestly the PS5 comparison makes more sense, especially when you look at how little difference we're still seeing between PS4 and 5 games at this point.
Realistically though, classic 2D systems and modern 3D one are so different it's hard to make a realistic comparison.

[Ankos | 452]

7 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Seriously?  A game much like EVO?  You just caught my interest as it is like how Actraiser was for years with no well made homages or sequels.  Sol Seraph was terrible, and the resurrection is largely good but has its issues.

 

A fast googling seems to imply this game also had a PC version 20 years ago, now easily found on abandonware spaces.  Not sure how I missed this.

Only a little like EVO, but I'd say there are some definite similarities