Micro Mario and Zelda

This is a short follow up on the previous post about the Game Boy Micro (GBM). You may have noticed that I didn't talk about any games that I may have gotten for the device. So lets talk about some GBM games, after all what good is a game system without something to play on it? Like anyone who gets a new system you immediately look up the top rated games on the platform. Didn't take me long to spot three all time classics that were available - Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros. 2 and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Both the Mario games have been re-branded for the Game Boy platform as Super Mario Advance 2 and Super Mario Advance respectively. There isn't really anything new that I can say about these games that hasn't already been said before and in more elegant prose than I can muster. I will say that Super Mario World in particular holds up extremely well and looks particularly impressive on the GBM's high resolution screen.

Super Mario Bros. 2 is an interesting game to me because the first time around I found it was just too different to the original for me to properly enjoy it. When I got to play it years later in the Mario All-Stars Collection I found it to be the weakest of the games so of course it got the least play. Now with the GBM this is my third time around to play it and another chance to finally complete it. I'm currently further in the game than I've gone before, which is good but the last time I played it was two months ago.

My experience with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the GBM though was, whisper it, disappointing. It isn't that the port isn't good, it is probably spot-on but rather the game has failed to stand the test of time like Mario. Maybe it is just that the RPG genre was never my favourite or perhaps I'm being too shallow that I'm allowing the dated graphics to get me down but I won't be playing through this game again. I think it would be best served leaving it in the past and those glorious memories of completing it in tandem with my friend on the SNES.

Nintendo Game Boy Micro - The Undiscovered Country

A curious thing happened while I was searching eBay for games that used to be in my collection. I came across a handheld system that I never knew existed. This wasn't just any random system from some obscure manufacture but a Nintendo handheld, the Game Boy Micro (GBM). It left me thinking how did I miss that whole scene? I guess there was a good number of years when I wasn't really following what was going on in the gaming space. I was content with my PS2 and found myself in a routine of simply buying the latest Pro Evolution Soccer came every Fall. It would come around like clockwork and I'd be there launch day ready to get stuck into another Master League season. Besides Pro Evo, or the odd random purchase (Wipeout Fusion) and some slight dabbling into PC gaming (Unreal Tournament) I wouldn't have considered myself that much of a gamer. I'd stopped buying Computer & Video Games magazine years earlier and with no broadband I didn't read any online press. It wasn't until Christmas 2006 that I entered the 'next' generation with the Xbox 360. So I guess it is no surprise that I didn't notice the GBM, especially considering it only seems to have attracted a small but enthusiastic following. At least that is what posts on NeoGAF would have me believe.

Anyway, I saw the listing for the GBM on eBay and it instantly struck me as a very charming little device. So apart from the simply wanting something for the collection that I didn't have what other reasons could I use to justify the purchase. Only one was needed really, the ability to play perfect ports of SNES classics like Super Mario World on the go. The original listing wasn't quite right but I did find another one that was in better condition, fully boxed and complete. Most importantly it was available for a very reasonable price. It is only when you are holding the GBM in your hand that you can fully appreciate just how small this device is. Micro truly is an apt name and obviously the screen itself is even smaller. Contrary to what you might think this is not really an issue. The screen on the device is simply awesome, vividly bright colours and a very high resolution provides you with a perfectly good viewing experience. Certainly far better than a screen of it's size would be expected to provide. The one real issue with the GBM is something that will be familiar to DS or PSP owners. The dreaded hand cramp. With the dimensions so small you really have to curl your hands into an extreme crab like position to play the device and after too short a time this becomes uncomfortable. To be honest this has put me off playing it for any great length of time, so beating Super Mario Bros. 2 is going to have to wait. Again.

The GBM is one of those items that is nice to have in the collection but is unlikely to get that much use. Just having it there is good enough for me. There is no real rationale for that statement, it just is. Getting the GBM was also the point at which the original idea of rebuilding my original collection went slightly askew. It wasn't something I'd owned before so that broke the basic premise of the idea but I feel it adds to the overall quality of the collection. Sure, who doesn't think the GBM is the coolest, tiniest handheld around?