Preview
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| Issue #4 (August) ' .::.:|
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[- Compiled by Rotox/Capital with comments by various scene people. -]
INTRODUCTION
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Welcome all and sundry to issue 4 of the fabled Gameboy Charts!
This month saw a welcome return to form for most groups, lots of releases
during August after a fairly poor Summer...But that's nothing compared to
what we should expect during September - according to even the most
conservative release list, there should be a game per day :)
I can't wait!
As usual, the comments below are the opinion of their respective authors.
If you don't agree with a comment, feel free to fuck right off.
- Wayne Kerr
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RULES & POINTS
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-1 Point - DUPE: Released a game, but only after another group already beat
you? -1 point then.
DUPE TRAINER: A Late Trainer with the same or less options.
BROKEN: If you release a game/trainer/crack that doesn't work,
-1 time!
+0 Points - NON-COLOR: Mono GB or SGB games are listed for posterity, but
receive no points. Similarly, a trainer/crack for a GB/SGB-only
game will receive 0 points.
FIX: You get 0 points for fixing one of your own mistakes.
+1 Point - AVERAGE TRAINER: +1, +2, +3, +4 trainer receives 1 point.
+2 Points - AVERAGE FOREIGN: Foreign (non-English) games receive 2 points,
even if the game has previously been released in another
language. JAP/GER/FRA/SPA, whatever.
A European release of a previously available US release will
also receive 2 points.
QUALITY TRAINER: A +5 or above trainer will receive 2 points.
CRACK: A crack for a protected/non-working game gets you 2
points.
+3 Points - INT: An English-language release of a game will receive 3
points.
QUALITY FOREIGN: A Foreign (non-English) game that is 100%
playable.
TRANSLATION: Translating a non-English game to English =
3 points. The points reflect the major amount of work this
requires!
+4 Points - MAJOR: Usually the best/most-anticipated game of the month.
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- Capital
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DATE CTY TITLE OF RELEASE SIZE PTS INFO
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29-08-99 INT Pokemon Yellow -V1 Cartridge Fix- IPS +02
26-08-99 INT Pac-Man +3 Trainer IPS +00 FIXED
26-08-99 INT Pac-Man +3 Trainer IPS -01 BROKE
23-08-99 INT Missile Command - English +3 Trainer IPS +01
17-08-99 INT Space Station Silicon Valley +2 Trnr IPS +01
16-08-99 INT Space Station Silicon Valley 16MB +03
07-08-99 INT Chase HQ: Secret Police +5 Trainer IPS +02
04-08-99 INT Burai Fighter +6 Trainer IPS +02
01-08-99 INT Doraemon Walking Labyrinth +2 Trainer IPS +01
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TOTAL +11
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COMMENTS
--------
Just as I thought Capital was only going to be doing trainers and a few fixes,
they release another title that I wasn't expecting out. Good job as usual
on the trainers..love those 3+ options :) Space Station Silicon Valley
was, for a time, the best release out. Although I don't know how to get very
far in it, I think it is worth figuring out.
- Amptor/Oldskool
As usual Capital released a bunch of trainers. The Pac-Man +3 Trainer
was the best, too bad they released a broke version first, but they did
correct it.
- Konfused/Independent
With no more competition, CPL has returned to putting out all the trainers.
Their menu now has music and looks pretty cool. Expect for a little mess
up from WayneKerr CPL did a fine job this month.
- Rza/Menace
A decent month for CPL, only one game release but it was quite a good title
when it came...pity a certain person (*ahem*) screwed up the pacman trainer
and lost a point :) Expect us to dominate the cracking/training side of
things as usual next month!
- Wayne Kerr/Capital
After an initial frenzy of training action a few months ago,
things have calmed down with only a few titles getting the treatment now.
It has been a slow time for releases so maybe more will come soon.
Space Station Silicon Valley was pretty cool on the N64 and the GBC
conversion is also fun to play, Nice work.
- Zigor/Eurasia
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- Eurasia
MTX!____.--._)\____ .-. ____/(___:.___
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DATE CTY TITLE OF RELEASE SIZE PTS INFO
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31-08-99 JAP Puyo Wars 08MB +02
15-08-99 JAP J. League Excite Stage 08MB +02
15-08-99 JAP Mushi Club 08MB +02
15-08-99 JAP Shadowgate Return 08MB +02
09-08-99 JAP King of Fighters 97 (Pirate_Version) 08MB +00 GB
07-08-99 JAP Mario Golf 16MB +02
05-08-99 JAP Mr. Fishing 2 aka Turi Sensei 2 16MB +02
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TOTAL +12
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COMMENTS
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So many Jap titles it's almost like looking at an OS release list :) Mario
Golf, of course, is the best title here (my favorite of this month). But it's
getting kinda repetative to play so I might change my mind soon :) Can't wait
for the English version!
- Amptor/Oldskool
Well...a bunch of Jap games, i couldn't play most of them. But still I
was glad to see some good Jap games be released, especially Mario Golf.
Now we just have to wait 6 months for English version.
- Konfused/Independent
Good amount of games this month from Eurasia but pretty much unplayable
except for Mario Golf. Mario Golf is a nice golf game with a mix of RPG
elements. You can also train your players on the GBC and transfer them to
the N64. I hope we will see some more playable games from EUR like they
brought in the past.
- Rza/Menace
And all-jap month from Eurasia, who released a couple of quality games,
Mario Golf and Excite Stage in particular looking very good, although
neither could be played to their full potential due to the language
barrier! And once again Eurasia come out with a last-day-of-the-month
release to increase their chart position at the last possible moment...
- Wayne Kerr/Capital
Less Eur and more Asia this month for Eurasia. The release of pirate KOF97
was just for fun as we know there are collectors who want that kind of thing
and it was actually protected so that was more incentive to release it.
Not much to say about the others apart from Mario Golf which is another fine
Nintendo game which has Mario and friends hitting their balls with metal rods.
- Zigor/Eurasia
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- Independent/Anonymous
_______ -poyZ!
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DATE CTY TITLE OF RELEASE SIZE PTS INFO
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29-08-99 INT Pokemon Yellow 08MB +03
01-08-99 INT Zelda DX: Links Awakening v1.1 08MB +02
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TOTAL +05
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COMMENTS
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Ah..finally the Yellow version gets released. This game is supposed to have
some fun mini games inside, or at least just a part where you get to surf
using Pikachu. I don't know if I'll ever get that far, but maybe I can grab
an sram some day to check it out ;) This game is partially colorized. As
far as I could see so far, the intro probably is the only part that takes
use of this (the map is still ugly and everything else looks the same). Well
maybe Nintendo can learn to take their code and implement good color in their
next Pokemon releases instead of taking several months to complete an English
translation then barely doing anything for it (doesn't it seem like gb/sgb
should be dead in countries besides Japan by now? Besides having software
support it still anyway..) Oh well I thought this game was worthy of
commenting on since the anime is a part of our pop culture currently.
Good job on being first with this highly anticipated release :)
- Amptor/Oldskool
I don't care for Pokemon, and the game has very lame color for a GBC game.
A new version of Zelda wasn't too exciting either.
- Konfused/Indpendent
Well, the aussies got a hold of Pokemon Yellow 2 months before it was due
in stores in the US. I really have no interest in Pokemon Yellow because
after you've played one version, there's really no need unless you are some
crazed pokemon kiddie. And as with newer version releases, thers not much
to say.
- Rza/Menace
I hate pokemon. And I wasn't exactly holding my breath for another version
of Zelda either :)
- Wayne Kerr/Capital
Hmm.. I'm always dubious about these '1.1' releases.
- Zigor/Eurasia
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- Menace
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DATE CTY TITLE OF RELEASE SIZE PTS INFO
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26-08-99 INT Revelations - The Demon Slayer 08MB +04 GOTM
25-08-99 INT Pac-Man 02MB +03
22-08-99 INT Missile Command 08MB +03
15-08-99 JAP Pocket Family GB 2 16MB +02
06-08-99 INT Chase HQ: Secret Police 08MB +03
04-08-99 INT 10 Pin Bowling 08MB +03
03-08-99 JAP Burai Fighter 08MB +03
03-08-99 INT Pocket Bowling 04MB +02
01-08-99 JAP Survival Kids 08MB +02
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TOTAL +25
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COMMENTS
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Well, I can say all but one of these (Pocket Family GB 2) are excellent
releases. Survival Kids sounded interesting so I checked it out and quickly
found out that it has great colorization for an RPG, but it's unplayable since
it has all Japanese text :( Hopefully this game will come out in English
some day. It looks better than Revelations to me, which seemed to have pretty
cheesy graphics. This kept me from going too far in that game, but others
sounded like they thought it was a real good RPG (I'm not much into RPG's
anyway).
Chase HQ was a bit of a suprise to me. I thought it was just going to be the
old B&W one colorized (which would suck, but this isn't all that much better
anyway haha) I don't remember Chase HQ ever having guns. So that's pretty
cool. Besides that, this game is nowhere near as good as any other port of
it.
Finally, Burai Fighter is a real cool shooter. R-Type was a bit of a let down
to me, although I already knew it'd be both B&W versions in one cart that
were colorized. Burai Fighter allows you to get pretty far into the game
before it becomes a lot more difficult. This is great because I don't like
to play a game where I get stuck after about 5 minutes or less and can't save.
- Amptor/Oldskool
A good month for Menace, racking up the points, with quaility releases too.
There is just no compition for the US releases, I hope to change that.
I was especially impressed by the early release of Chase HQ.
- Konfused/Indpendent
MNC continues to dominate the US. Revelations was definitely one of the
most awaited games for RPG fans out there. This month there were also
a bunch of classics converted to the GBC which were decent conversions.
Overall it was an average month for MNC.
- Rza/Menace
Some good games this month, as every month, from the guys in MNC.
Revelations was the pick of the bunch, but Missile Command was also a
fairly major title...and of course the early release of Chase HQ is also
worthy of note here. YET ANOTHER good month for Menace, and you'd be a
fool to bet against them repeating it again next month...
- Wayne Kerr/Capital
Another mix of titles and 2 bowling games in 1 month, is this a gb record?
Anyway, The best title has to be Revelations - The Dragon Slayer from Atlus,
a traditional style RPG and not in Japanese (that is a bonus!)..
- Zigor/Eurasia
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- Newbie
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DATE CTY TITLE OF RELEASE SIZE PTS INFO
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24-08-99 INT Boggle Plus +00 GB
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TOTAL +00
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COMMENTS
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Well, I don't follow the GB scene too well so I must've missed this one.
Not a dupe though, so that's a plus (well from -1 +1 to 0 I guess that's
ok..nothing is better than -1? ;)
- Amptor/Oldskool
Um...Boggle, in black and white, not much to say.
- Konfused/Independent
GB dupe...lame.
- Rza/Menace
An old GB game, already released. Excuse me if I don't get too excited!
- Wayne Kerr/Capital
An old unreleased gb title, is it worth packaging such a game?
- Zigor/Eurasia
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- Oldskool
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DATE CTY TITLE OF RELEASE SIZE PTS INFO
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30-08-99 JAP Medarto Zagarani 04MB +00 SGB
30-08-99 JAP Purikura Pocket 3 04MB +00 SGB
28-08-99 JAP Purikura Pocket 2 04MB +00 SGB
27-08-99 JAP Studyboy Kokugo 2 04MB +00 GB
27-08-99 JAP The King of Golf 32MB +02
27-08-99 JAP Cardcaptor Sakura v1.0 04MB +02
27-08-99 JAP Dragon Quest Monsters v1.16 16MB +02
27-08-99 JAP Kaseki Reborn 04MB +00 SGB
27-08-99 JAP Doreamon DX10 02MB +00 SGB
26-08-99 JAP Bey Blade 16MB +02
22-08-99 JAP Pro Mahjong Tsuwamono 08MB +02
22-08-99 JAP Sakata 08MB +02
22-08-99 JAP Pitfall: Beyond the Jungle 08MB +02
22-08-99 JAP Pachislot CR Genjin 08MB +02
22-08-99 JAP Konchu Hakase 04MB +00 SGB
20-08-99 JAP Animal Breeder 3 32MB +02
19-08-99 JAP Kanji Boy 32MB +02
17-08-99 JAP Azure Dreams 08MB +02
16-08-99 JAP Gem Gem Monster 08MB +02
15-08-99 JAP Konchu Hakase 2 16MB +02
15-08-99 JAP Pocket Lure Boy 08MB +02
09-08-99 JAP Aturukun 08MB +00 SGB
09-08-99 JAP Bokujo Monogatari 2 16MB +02
05-08-99 JAP Sangokushi 2 08MB +02
05-08-99 JAP Spy VS Spy 08MB +02
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TOTAL +34
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COMMENTS
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A good mix of color and non color releases here. I heard some talk in the
scene that people thought some of this is too old. Well, oldskool has been
all about putting out stuff that hasn't been released yet for as long as I
can remember. Some of this talk I hear was about color releases. Well if
it wasn't released yet, why shouldn't it be? Doesn't seem like that's
stopping Faz :)
- Amptor/Oldskool
Wow, a lot of releases, all jap crap to me. Still they won this month,
by a lot. And besides somebody has to release the Jap games and Old Skool
was just the group to do it.
- Konfused/Independent
OS completely dominated this month, but the key seems to be quantity not
quality. A bunch of months old games, but someone has to release them.
Practically all of these were unplayable but its nice to see someone
getting all the old unreleased games.
- Rza/Menace
Repeat after me: JAP CRAP! Heh...and lots of it...not a single title
released this month from OS was playable by us round-eyed barbarians,
therefore there's not a lot to say here really as I don't speak any
Japanese...didn't the SNES scene used to ban non-playable jap releases?
- Wayne Kerr/Capital
Woah.. After a poor 4-pointer total last month, OS comes back with this!
Of course a lot of it is old gb and unplayable gbc but its all good stuff.
Nice work Faz, I'm now waiting on the next pachinko game (or is it shogi?)
- Zigor/Eurasia
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- Paradox
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DATE CTY TITLE OF RELEASE SIZE PTS INFO
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03-08-99 INT Golden Goal 08MB +03
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TOTAL +03
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COMMENTS
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Still good to see this old name in the charts. Too bad Quasar isn't here
to join them this time.
- Amptor/Oldskool
A fun soccer game, and Paradox ended the month with points.
- Konfused/Indpendent
Not much action from PDX this month, but they did get a soccer game which
was released first in Germany. Hope to see more stuff in the following
months.
- Rza/Menace
Only the one game from PDX this month, but it's not too bad. The GBC was
overdue a decent footy game, especially after the donkeys afterbirth that
is ISS'99 GBC...expect some more from PDX during Sept as the xmas rush
starts to get into full swing.
- Wayne Kerr/Capital
Paradox gb division still holding on (just), Seems pdx could be more into
other stuff at the moment (like cracking and training psx games??)..
- Zigor/Eurasia
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|::. TOP 10 __ |_____ ______|_ _ ___/____ |
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| Position Group Name Total Points |
| -------- ---------- ------------ |
| 1ST Oldskool 34 |
| 2ND Menace 25 |
| 3RD Eurasia 12 |
| 4TH Capital 11 |
| 5TH Ind/Anon 05 |
| 6TH Paradox 03 |
| 7TH Newbie 00 |
| 8TH N/A -- |
| 9TH N/A -- |
| 10TH N/A -- .|
| ..|
| .:::|
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SUMMARY
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A decent month, quite a lot of releases...even one or two GOOD games.
Who would have believed it...?
On another note, the scene is being flooded with Jap crap releases. The
exact same thing happened on the SNES scene, and all major groups agreed
not to release unplayable Jap games, leaving these for the likes of
Romkids and Lamekids, who were both as good as their names suggest :)
Perhaps it's time for the same on GBC? Who knows...(or cares).
I'm outta here like I stole something...'til next time.
- Wayne Kerr
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(c) Copyright, Capital 1999 - Art/Design by: Rotox!