The Super Game Boy Show

Soundtrack Sunday Ep43 - Samurai Shodown

thesupergameboyshow — Sun, 17 Dec 2017 07:00:00 +0000

From Samurai Kid of episode 37 to Ninja Gaiden Shadow from the show before last, Japanese warrior types were very well represented in the Game Boy library, and gave music artists real inspiration when it came to writing groovy soundtracks for them. None more so than with Takara’s 1994 slash-em-up - a port of the Neo Geo Arcade game Samurai Shodown.
Obvious, but excellently-executed Far Eastern themes are mixed with some headbanging thrashiness in the way you only seemed to get with Nintendo 8-bit games. Perfect for making sushi out of your enemies to. It’s an intense one, that’s for sure.

Fumito Tamayama was not super prolific on Game Boy - this, Power Racer and Captain Tsusaba are probably the most well-known, but this is certainly his peak on the system. Great stuff.

thesupergameboyshow@gmail.com / @SuperGBShow for all yer yap

Ep45 - Ultima: Runes Of Virtue, Yoshi, Monopoly, Mega Man II, Peetan

thesupergameboyshow — Fri, 15 Dec 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Morning / Afternoon / Evening all!

After a longer-than-anticipated absence the Super Game Boy Show returns with another quintet of fun.

Ultima: Runes of Virtue is a slightly unusual, raw, ugly but somehow charming action RPG that I love. Yoshi returns with a functional drop-piece thing, nothing much to see here. Monopoly is the highlight of the episode for me, don’t know why but I play this game way more than I probably should. Mega Man II… well, you know my feelings on this particular franchise. Peetan is possibly the unknown title of the five, and even though it has a stupid pricetag I implore you to give it a whirl for a little bit at least. It’s great.

Happy to be back. Cheers everyone

Dan

thesupergameboyshow@gmail.com / @SuperGBShow if you want to bitch at me for not doing an episode for like a month. I deserve it

Soundtrack Sunday Ep42 - Keep The Balance

thesupergameboyshow — Sun, 10 Dec 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Keep The Balance... something I've certainly not been doing in my life recently.

Sorry for the absence the past few weeks - I've been super busy with a completely unrelated music project that sucked up every last little bit of my free time (and also some that wasn't meant to be free time...)

Thankfully it's done and out of the way now, so starting next Friday the show should be back to normal. Well, there's only four or five episodes left of Season 2, then the finale awards thing will be back, then we'll see how long I need off again.

Anyhow, here's a pretty short but delightfully-composed soundtrack for ya - Game Boy Color maths-puzzler 'Keep The Balance'. The game is decent, actually, despite the counting mechanic. I pop it in every now and then - it's a kind of brain training before that DS thing existed. The music is great, though.

See you next Friday, all being well!

Dan

thesupergameboyshow@gmail.com / @SuperGBShow

Soundtrack Sunday Ep41 - Ninja Gaiden Shadow

thesupergameboyshow — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Let’s get all Daniel Bryan.

Yes.

Yes!

YES!

NINJA GAIDEN SHADOW.

Cheers.

Dan

thesupergameboyshow@gmail.com / @SuperGBShow

Ep44 - Game Boy Classic Special Part 2!!!!

thesupergameboyshow — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 07:00:00 +0000

We're back with the second half of my prospective 30 games that I'd include on a Game Boy Classic Edition console! Since the previous episode the hype has died down somewhat leading me to wonder if it was just that - hype.

I don't regret doing this list though, as although it's been a lot of work I've really enjoyed thinking laterally about my selections. Just to reiterate, this isn't in any particular order, and ISN'T my favourite 30 games, I wouldn't even know how to pick those and of course that list fluctuates all the time.

It's also NOT some cheap-ass YouTube-esque "Top 30 Game Boy Games Ever of All Time Even Though I'm Only Aware Of The Existence Of 40 Game Boy Games" list either - I'd like to think it was much better thought out than your average non-specialist YouTuber (seriously - I've seen "Top xxx lists" with dross like Motocross Maniacs and Side Pocket in there - some of those videos should just have been called "The First 30 Game Boy Games I Thought Of"). Not to call anyone out in particular, but if you're going to make shitty, poorly-researched content at least be up front about it.

I've considered as many factors, as many tastes as I can, but I'm just one man. I make mistakes - you might not 100% agree with me. In fact, I hope you don't, as I've had a ton of fun discussing this topic with you all.

And hey, if you think MY choices are a little weird, you should read some of the correspondence I've got in the past fortnight! Holy shit, some of you guys are peculiar. (Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes?!? You know who you are, you nutcase!)

I absolutely love you all, though. Thanks for sticking with me. The first anniversary of the Super Game Boy Show passed me by somehow - I recorded the first couple of episodes in October 2016 but the official episodic Friday thing started that December, so I don't really know when the birthday is. All I know is this show has been so much fun for me. I hope you enjoy it as well. There's plenty more Game Boy games to come. And of course, there's a Color and Advance library to explore after that!!!!

I'm not promising that last part - I may be too exhausted by that point, plus I swear my thumbs are shorter than they used to be.

Back to normal next Friday - some lovely games including my favourite Board Game Game, another Mega Man, and a really great RPG called Ultima: Runes of Virtue. Plus a contender for JP-exclusive of the year! Make sure you tune in.

Cheers all, and keep your lists coming in. They're lots of fun.

Dan

thesupergameboyshow@gmail.com / @SuperGBShow

PS - sorry for the weird sound quality this week - I couldn't for the life of me figure out what that echoey thing on my voice was. Maybe I'm sick, who knows?

Soundtrack Sunday Ep40 - Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow

thesupergameboyshow — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Aria Of Sorrow.

What more can I say?

This is the best of the three, which is saying something.

Happy Hallowe-en, all!!

Dan

Ep43 - Game Boy Classic Part 1 Special!!!!

thesupergameboyshow — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

I’ve got a special show today for you. There’s been quite a lot of chatter about the possibility that Nintendo would release a Game Boy Classic Edition to go along with the NES and SNES versions they’ve done recently.

It’s hypothetical right now, but I thought I’d take a stab at predicting the games that’d be on there. I wanted to pick 30 (that’s what the NES Classic got), and I’m gonna take you through the first 15 this week, finishing up the list next time.

See if you can guess what I’ve chosen. And if your favourite’s not on this show, don’t shout at me just yet - it might feature next episode!

Cheers, all

Dan

thesupergameboyshow@gmail.com / @SuperGBShow if you want to flame me for being an idiot. That’s cool!

Soundtrack Sunday Ep39 - Castlevania: Harmony Of Dissonance

thesupergameboyshow — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

This one featured Michiru Yamane as one of the three composers (she’s the one who wrote the majority of the famous Castlevania tunes, and is one of my favourite video game artists), however this soundtrack was criticised a little at the time of the game’s release. Don’t know why - it’s right up there with the best GBA music in my book.

The quality is a little muffled, but that’s just the nature of the system. If I were able to get it better, I would. Even so, this is a delightful listen.

Cheers.

Dan

Ep42 - Battletoads, Sagaia, Final Fantasy Legend III, World Beach Volley: 1992 GB Cup, Ninja Gaiden Shadow

thesupergameboyshow — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

This week’s show might be the strongest quintet of titles I’ve ever talked about in one go up to now.

While you’re listening, have a little ponder about this question: If the much-purported Game Boy Classic was to be released (as so many people are hyped about), what games would you put on it?

I’m going to try to come up with what I think should be included, going with the magic number of 30 games. That seems a reasonable amount. Everyone will have a different list, of course, but next week I’m going to run down mine.

Looking at this week’s line-up, I wouldn’t be too surprised if one or two of them make it on there…

Cheers everyone

Dan

thesupergameboyshow@gmail.com / @SuperGBShow

Soundtrack Sunday Ep38 - Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon

thesupergameboyshow — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Yeah I know, I know - I’ve already played Castlevania on Soundtrack Sunday. Hell, I can’t help how good the music has always been. Plus, with Friday 13th falling in Hallowe-en month, we needed something spoopy, right?

Enjoy these three soundtracks, folks. I know I will.

Cheers

Ep41 - Metroid II: Return of Samus, Robocop 2, Brain Bender, Home Alone, Bart Simpson’s Escape From Camp Deadly

thesupergameboyshow — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

You have to have balance in life, right? For every good, there’s a bad; for every Steve Austin there’s a Jinder Mahal, that sort of thing. Exemplified as such here is the line up for Episode 41. I almost didn’t put Metroid II first in the running order but of course I don’t get to decide these things.

Let’s sum up the other four games real quick: Brain Bender is not bad. The rest suck. Hard.

Basically, this week is all about Samus’ first handheld adventure.

Damn straight.

I still didn’t manage to finish the 3DS remake yet, either. It’s huge.

Oh yeah, happy Friday 13th, everyone! Don’t let the Jason Voorhees bite!

Cheers, all.

Dan

thesupergameboyshow@gmail.com / @SuperGBShow

Soundtrack Sunday Ep37 - Samurai Kid

thesupergameboyshow — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

I know… I know… I promised you Mother 3 this weekend.

Well, the more I listen to that soundtrack, the more I realise how immense it is - in every sense of the word.

Not only is it a phenomenal listen, it’s also SIX hours long. Obviously I can’t post a six hour episode, so it’ll take some time for me to pick the best tracks to create a reasonable show for you.

In the meantime, here’s a stunning action / puzzle game that was a JP-exclusive GBC game - Samurai Kid! It’s one of those imports you just have to make, as it showcases everything that was great about the Game Boy Color. Awesome graphics, music and gameplay that you must experience at some point.

Peace!

Dan

thesupergameboyshow@gmail.com / @SuperGBShow

Ep40 - Hiden Inyou Kikouhou: Ca Da, Popeye 2, Ninja Boy 2, Turrican, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

thesupergameboyshow — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

It was ambitious of The Code Monkeys to try to port the fantastic 16-bit home computer platformer to the humble Game Boy. Do you think they were successful? Tune in to find out.

Ninja Boy 2 also features - the sequel to Super Chinese Land basically took that shocker and tore it to pieces. What resulted from their drawing-board-back-to-ness was much better.

Who Framed Rogger Rabbit? has a poor rep when it comes to 8-bit games. It's LJN's fault (as so often with crappy movie tie-ins on the NES). This one is better, though.

Ca Da is original and has its own kind of appeal. If you're into puzzlers you'll no doubt be a fan.

Popeye 2 - well, similarly to Ninja Boy 2 it's totally different from what was a poor first game. This one is a Super Mario Land-esque platformer with tons of cartoonish charm.

Oh, and seeing as how it's the 40th episode, I'm going to play you what I think is the greatest video game theme song of all time. It's not Game Boy, but is loosely based on this episode as it's from the Amiga version of one of this week's games... Stay tuned after the reviews to hear it.

Chris Hülsbeck is a god.

Dan

thesupergameboyshow@gmail.com / @SuperGBShow should ye have any twaddlin's for me.

Soundtrack Sunday Ep36 - Mother 2 / EarthBound

thesupergameboyshow — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Riding the wave of SNES nostalgia we’re all feeling this week with the release of the SNES Classic mini thing that scumbag scalpers have completely ruined for everybody, we’re playing the sequel to last week’s Mother 1 by exploring the other game featured on that double cartridge.

EarthBound is obviously way more famous as a SNES game, but few people realise that the Japanese game was released on GBA as well.

Enjoy. I’m going to try to upload Mother 3 next week, but it’s proving a little tricky to rip for some reason.

Dan

Ep39 - Wizardry Gaiden 1, Super R.C. Pro Am, Ultra Golf, Kid Icarus, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II

thesupergameboyshow — Fri, 29 Sep 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Last week's quintet was uninspiring, to put it kindly. However, this week there are four games that I'd be happy to showcase as a solid example of their respective genres.

Wizardry Gaiden 1: Suffering of the Queen is a brilliant RPG (and we all know my feelings towards that genre) that's maybe on the tough side, but one worth your persistance.

Super R.C. Pro Am is what I think is the best racing game so far... Of course the first Micro Machines game is probably the best on the whole system but this isn't too far behind.

Ultra Golf is a bloody good version of golf, standing above a rather large bunch of okay golf games.

Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters is actually better than the original NES game - it's certainly fairer, at least, and more enjoyable I reckon.

Oh, and then you've got TMNT 2, your high school cheerleader - looks and sounds amazing but absolutely zero substance once you actually try to pay attention.

Still, 4 out of 5 ain't too bad.

Btw: If you'd like to try the English translation of Wizardry Gaiden, you can get the patch here http://server.romhacking.net/translations/2095/. I'm not at liberty to tell you how / where to download a ROM file, though ;)

Love love

Dan

thesupergameboyshow@gmail.com

@SuperGBShow

Soundtrack Sunday Ep35 - Mother 1

thesupergameboyshow — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

We’re delving back into the GBA library for a little bit - adds a bit of variation to the series I think.

Here is a Japanese-exclusive 2003 port of a 1989 Famicom game that is actually the first in the series that would spawn the famous SNES title Earthbound. That’s actually Mother 2, the GBA music of which we’ll be listening to next Sunday!

The English version of the game has been released on Wii Virtual Console as Earthbound: Origins, or there’s an abundance of fan translation GBA cartridges available for not very much money.

However you play it, the Mother trilogy is an absolute must for any RPG fan. Beautiful tales.

Dan

Ep38 - Altered Space: A 3-D Adventure, Crystal Quest, Gauntlet II, Spot: The Video Game, Navy SEALs

thesupergameboyshow — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 07:00:00 +0000

I’m not going to lie to you: I’m a smidge underwhelmed by the games this week.

There are two that are not too bad (although inferior to their computer / home console counterparts).

The other three are basically garbage.

I explore why isometric games don’t work on the Game Boy; I try (and fail) again to understand the appeal of Reversi-type board games, and I’m aggravated by yet another Ocean movie tie-in.

Still, we’re going to get weeks like that every so often. If I could choose, I’d mix the good and the bad up a bit.

I’ll make it up to you this Sunday. We’re rocking out to the excellent Mother 1 soundtrack from the GBA. Aw yes!

Dan

thesupergameboyshow@gmail.com / @SuperGBShow.

Soundtrack Sunday Ep34 - Star Ocean Blue Sphere

thesupergameboyshow — Sun, 17 Sep 2017 07:00:00 +0000

We’re delving into yet another Japanese exclusive RPG with the sequel to Enix’s 1998 Playstation tale Star Ocean

It has a great fan translation here: http://www.romhacking.net/translations/1595/ which is apparently unfinished but seems pretty good to me. I thoroughly recommend it to any JRPG fan.

Enjoy the soundtrack, everyone!

Dan

Ep37 - Atomic Punk, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure: A Bogus Journey, Blades Of Steel, Knight Quest, Tecmo Bowl

thesupergameboyshow — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 07:00:00 +0000

This week, Dan gets awfully bro-mancy with a late-Eighties Footbawww player. It’s weird.

Also, we get totally bodacious with So-crates and some other radical dudes.

The Bomberman franchise makes its first appearance of several in a game called three different things in different regions (none of them Bomberman)

Knight Quest fills the RPG void between now and when Wizardry Gaiden I comes out (that’s next week, by the way)

Also I play some ice hockey. Cos we didn’t get sports-y enough with just Tecmo Bowl. Yeah.

Dan

Soundtrack Sunday Ep33 - Parodius Da!!

thesupergameboyshow — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Finding good music in a Konami game is easier than falling down the stairs.

Parodius Da!! is actually the second Parodius game - there’s a much lesser known title on the MSX, but this is the famous one. It was on NES, SNES and of course the brilliant arcade version. The Game Boy version has the majority of the levels (I think there’s only one missing) and the music is right up there with any other port.

Now I will say, the soundtrack is intentionally absurd like the rest of the game, but that does not take anything away from its brilliance. Take the classic Gradius soundtracks, happy it up a bit and chuck in a healthy counterpoint of classical melodies that you’re sure to recognise even if you don’t know the names.

This’ll make you smile, at the least.

Cheers all

Dan