Next week – 21st April to be precise – is the 30th anniversary of arguably the most iconic piece of hardware in the history of video gaming. Speak to someone who knows absolutely nothing about game consoles and they’ll still be able to name the Nintendo Game Boy and most probably whistle the tune to Tetris too. Its ubiquity in the early ’90s meant it became shorthand for gaming in general, part of the cultural fabric in a way that few other pieces of hardware can claim.
Next week we’ll be publishing several new articles in celebration of the humble handheld, plus digging through the archive to find the very best of our previously published features. We’ll also be posting a ‘Top 50 Game Boy Games’ article along the lines of our previous 50 Best Switch Games So Far and 50 Best 3DS Games features.
As with those selections, the ranking will be entirely based on User Ratings from the Nintendo Life Games database, so readers can rate any game they like and after a minimum threshold has been reached, that game then becomes eligible for the list according to its overall rating. This has worked well for the previous lists, and we’ve seen some interesting changes as the fluid ranking fluctuates over time. Of course, 3DS and Switch have plenty of user ratings already, but going back 30 years it’s inevitable that Game Boy games only have a fraction of votes compared to more modern systems.
That’s where you come in! We’ve updated our database to include all Game Boy titles that saw a release in the west, so in preparation for the 30th anniversary we’d love for you to rate your favourites using the specially designed tool below.
Assuming you’re logged in, simply scroll through the alphabetical list and click the star to bring up a rating of 1-10. Click on the score you think it deserves and you’re all done! If scrolling through six pages of the Game Boy’s substantial library feels too much like work, simply use the search bar at the top of the list to find your favourites and rate them from the list of results. Lovely!
If you need a reminder on a particular game, feel free to click the game title and check out our reviews and screenshots. However, bear in the mind that many of them won’t have been rereleased on Virtual Console and therefore may not have a Nintendo Life review to their name – the Game Boy’s over double the age of the site, remember! A Wikipedia link on the game page should hopefully job your memory, though.
So, what are you waiting for? Get stuck in!
It’s difficult to believe that 30 years have passed since Game Boy changed the portable gaming landscape forever. Thanks for voting – we’ll be sharing the results, our memories and more next week, but in the meantime feel free to reminisce below…
Our World Is Ended Launches On Switch Next Week, New Trailer Released
Visual novel Our World Is Ended is launching on Nintendo Switch in exactly one week’s time. To celebrate, a new trailer has been released showcasing the members of in-game developer Judgement 7.
We were originally told that the game would arrive in March, but a new digital release date of 18th April has now been set. The game will also see a physical release; Europe will get that on the very same day, but North America will have to wait until 28th May.
As announced before, fans who pre-order or get a day-one edition of the game will receive the following:
-an exclusive artbook with 100 pages featuring beautiful illustrations of the characters, environments, CGs and much more – a quirky keyring of the perverted programmer Owari Sekai’s mascot – the physical edition of the game
Will you be grabbing this one on Switch next week? Are you tempted by the physical edition? Let us know in the comments.
Best Open Source Tools for Staying on Top of Projects
The type of organizing tools you use to plan your projects can make your work routine more efficient and improve your productivity. A project management application is an essential tool in some business environments.
This week’s Linux Picks and Pans takes a deep dive into some of the best project management software solutions available for the Linux desktop. Project management applications are sophisticated and feature-rich. They duplicate some of the tools and exceed the best productivity features found in our recent roundups highlighting Time-Tracking, Task Management/To-Do List andPersonal Information Manager applications.
Reynardo the Fox is a clever rogue, but he?s not as clever as he thinks. He's got himself sucked into a Rebellion against the mad Emperor, and now he?s got fateful choices to make. Should he rescue his oldest friend, the shiftless Lapino; wield a gem cursed by a dead god; or resurrect a weapon lost at the beginning of time? Worse, he?s still in love with the Emperor?s adopted daughter, who he met in sword fu school. He?s got dozens of ways to screw this up; but can he find a way to win his war?
NHL 19 Is Now Free For EA Access Subscribers On Xbox One
The EA Access catalog of free games continues to grow. The newest addition, NHL 19, arrived this week, and the timing is notable given that the NHL Playoffs just began.
NHL 19 is a fantastic simulation ice hockey experience, and it stands out from previous entries with its addition of pond hockey. GameSpot's NHL 19 review scored it an 8/10.
EA Access is only available on Xbox One right now, but it's reportedly coming to PlayStation 4 as well. A PC edition called Origin Access is also available, but NHL 19 is not available on PC.
EA Access costs $5/month or $30/year, and for that, subscribers get access to a growing catalog of EA Games including other 2018 sports titles like NBA Live 19 and Madden 19. Outside of those, titles like Battlefield 1, Skate 3, Titanfall 2, and many others are in the Vault of freebies. Subscribers also save 10 percent on all EA digital content, while members also usually get to play upcoming EA games multiple days before their public release. There are also perks like bonuses in new EA games like Apex Legends.
During an earnings call in February, management discussed bringing EA Access to another "major" platform, so that could be a reference to PlayStation 4. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.
Disruptor Beam plans to offer a mobile live ops platform to other devs
Newsbrief: Disruptor Beam, the mobile game developer behind the likes of Game of Thrones Ascent and Star Trek Timelines, has announced that it’ll be commercializing a live operations platform it calls the Disruptor Engine.
It’s a move only lightly mentioned in a recent press release from the company, but one that will see the Disruptor Engine tools opened up for the use of external developers, though the studio has yet to offer information on pricing or a timeline on its release quite yet.
Disruptor Beam describes the tool as a platform for operating live mobile games and says that it offers devs a way to pursue more efficient development and monetization through the platform’s commerce, identity, social, analytics, and live operations capabilities.
“Over the past several years Disruptor Beam has made substantial investments in our game platform, which has led to dramatic improvements in our time-to-market and ability to operate games profitably,” reads a statement from Disruptor Beam CEO and founder Jon Radoff. “We are now ready to start turning those investments into solutions for others looking for an advantage in launching and operating mobile games.”
Video: Embracing change on the road to reinventing God of War
(Alert for photosensitive viewers: Cory’s presentation includes white flashes on slide transitions. The first one occurs approximately 6 minutes into this talk. Please be aware when watching.)
Sony Santa Monica’s God of War was a departure from previous entries in the series, both in tone and world. But change on any level is never a simple or straightforward thing, especially in game development.
In this talk from GDC 2019, creative director Cory Barlog discusses the journey the team at Sony Santa Monica took to reinvent God of War and the special honor and responsibility that creating a different, better, and truly more memorable experience brought with it.
He walks through the development of the game, starting from those earliest moments when the realization struck that changes had to be made to every aspect of the latest game in the long-running series, and through the countless gut-wrenching failures and joyfully sweet successes experienced on the road to release.
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.
Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.
April 2nd New Preview Alpha 1904 Update (1904.190401-1920)
Starting at 6:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha Ring will begin receiving the latest 1904 Xbox One system update (19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1904\18362.2013.190401-1820). Read on for more about the new features, fixes and known issues in the latest 1904 system update.
DETAILS:
OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1904\18362.2013.190401-1820
Implemented changes to increase the performance of the messaging inbox. You should all see your old 1:1 conversations and message history now prior to Jan 2019 when we started flighting this framework. Please keep the feedback coming!
System
Localization fixes.
Known Issues:
Profile Color
Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.
Hands On: Third Time’s A Charm With Dragon’s Dogma On Switch
I’ve got quite an odd relationship with Dragon’s Dogma. When it was originally released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 way, way back in 2012, I was fresh off the back of Dark Souls and was hungry for a similar swords-and-sorcery experience. With its grim fantasy setting and frenetic third-person combat, Capcom’s brand-new IP seemed like the perfect successor to sate my thirst – but it proved to be a very different game in terms of mechanics and challenge, and while I didn’t fall as head-over-heels in love with it as I did with FromSoftware’s often punishing epic, it certainly left a mark.
So much so that when Capcom released Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen (the 2013 expansion to the original game) on the PlayStation 4 in 2017, I decided it was worth making a second trip to the wilds of Gransys to fight goblins, zombies and griffins. To give you some background, I rarely replay a game as convoluted as this; Dragon’s Dogma requires tens (if not hundreds) of hours of commitment from the player, and I simply don’t have many hours to spare these days. Yet here I am, already tens of hours into Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen on Switch, and I’m still not entirely sure how the game has sunk its hooks so deeply in me.
I’m playing it for the third time, and, as before, I literally can’t think of anything else when I’m not playing it
I’ll save my deeper impressions for the full review, but Dragon’s Dogma is exactly how you’d expect a video game from 2012 to look and feel. It has moments of true visual splendour which are counterbalanced by basic character models and obvious pop-in, while the repetitive nature of many of its quests can become bothersome, especially when you’re a good few hours in.
Despite its obvious shortcomings as a game, Dragon’s Dogma somehow manages to entertain in a way that few other action RPGs can – as is evidenced by the fact that I’m playing it for the third time, and, as before, I literally can’t think of anything else when I’m not playing it. Family mealtimes are now ruined by me absent-mindedly thinking about which of the nine vocations to switch to next so I can expand my character’s move-set, and in the evenings I gently encourage my wife to ‘have an early night’ so I can get back to my important work around the bustling city of Gran Soren.
Of course, this addiction is made all the more worse with the Switch version because now I can play it anywhere. With the previous versions, the massive land of Gransys was tethered to my television, but now I can explore its lush forests, rocky mountains, sandy beaches and dank dungeons wherever and whenever I like; of course, there are other Switch ports which have liberated home console games in this manner (it still amazes me that Skyrim can be played on a portable system) but Dragon’s Dogma has special significance to me; this is a vast, sprawling world that I’ve already spent well over 100 hours exploring on other consoles, yet the fact that I can now take it with me anywhere I like means I’m finding stuff I’d missed the first (and second) times around.
Given its age, it should come as no great shock to learn that Dragon’s Dogma runs like a dream on Switch
Given its age, it should come as no great shock to learn that Dragon’s Dogma runs like a dream on Switch. In handheld mode the resolution drop doesn’t really impact things massively, and while there are moments of slowdown, they’re no worse than they were on the PlayStation 4 ‘update’. There’s been a slight change to the way in which Pawns – your AI helpers – work, no doubt necessitated by the fact that you don’t need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to exchange them between players. You can use your Nintendo ID Account to swap them instead, but it’s no longer possible to send them away with a gift and comment when you part company with them; a minor change, but one that feels significant to me, at least. I used to like the ‘human connection’ of sending a player’s helpful Pawn back to them with a thank-you note in tow.
But as I said, I’d best save some detail for the full review, which I imagine I’ll take great pleasure in writing. Dragon’s Dogma isn’t the perfect action RPG – far from it. It’s flawed in many ways and, when you break down its mechanics, is arguably out-done by many other examples of the genre. However, it has that special something – hence this being my third enthusiastic visit to Gransys – and being able to play it while sitting on the toilet is an early contender in my personal list of 2019 highlights (sorry for sharing).
“Intense” Side-Scrolling Shoot ‘Em Up Black Paradox Fires Onto Switch In May
Indie publisher Digerati has revealed that upcoming shoot ’em up Black Paradox, developed by Fantastico Studio, will be blasting onto Nintendo Switch on 3rd May.
We first heard about this one last summer, when the game was preparing to enter Steam Early Access and carried a promise of a future release on consoles. That release is now just around the corner, meaning we don’t have long to wait before we can test out the game’s fast-paced roguelite action and the variety of weapons, power-ups, drones, and other upgrades available to ensure survival.
Here’s a list of key features:
Key features – 20 weapons, 37 powerups, 13 deadly drones, 8 amazing power-up combos, and the ultimate space-bending move: the “Black Paradox” – 62 different enemies, each with its own attack patterns – 14 deadly bosses with unique attacks + 1 secret boss – Upgrade your stats and unlock new powers – 2 player local co-op – Amazing pixel art, awesome synth-wave soundtrack – Extra hardcore boss rush mode to unlock
Will you be firing this one up when it arrives on 3rd May? Tell us below.
