[JPH]

Anguna v0.94 Zelda-like RPG for the GBA

Zelda-like RPG for the GBA. Although short, it's suppose to be an exciting action-adventure RPG game. The link to the download below is the latest that the developer has released (which was a minor fix, not released too long ago). - 5 dungeons and a large overworld to explore - Multiple weapons and items including: a sword, bow & arrows, bear traps, dynamite, lantern, magic boots, and more - Many hidden rooms, secrets, and powerups - Lots of interesting enemies and boss monsters -fixed room in desert dungeon where you could walk off the top of the screen using boots -fixed issue where exiting overworld areas diagonally didn't transition to next area -removed tree with missing trunk from overworld -fixed random pixel palette swapping in main menu when you toggle between new game/continue -added collision at south end of large river, to avoid walking off edge of world -enemy database now clears when new game selected Download Anguna Homepage Read the Review of Anguna by Another World

[JPH]

Anguna Review by Another World

Monsters have struck again, leaving our hero tattered and abandoned in an ominous forbidden tomb. You must rise with sword in hand and strike swiftly, for your mission has only begun. The Dragon, leader of all monsters, must fall this day.

Nathan Tolbert has spent 3 years of his free time working progressively to hone his GameBoy Advance developmental skills through the product that is Anguna: Warriors of Virtue. He describes the homebrew game as being “a short but exciting action-adventure game, reminiscent of the original Legend of Zelda.” Personally I can see the influence of such games as Lagoon (SNES), Zelda a Link to the Past (SNES), and Radia Senki - Reimei Hen (NES).

The survival of room to room monster abolishing dungeon searches makes up the core of the game play. Enemy movement patterns are random but attack on fixed access points. Bats always move on diagonals, and Hobgoblin sentries move with right angled turns for example. What sounds predictable actually is quite challenging as fast pattern changes keep you on your toes. Each monster is made up of brightly colored, handsomely rendered sprites by Chris Hildenbrand. The backgrounds, monsters and other aspects that Hildenbrand has brought to the game look professional and definitely enhance the mood.

During exploration a handful of fun to wield items aid the hero through the large over-world and the 5 challenging dungeons. Item placement and usage has been thought out, forcing you to gain items before advancing past certain spots. This causes you to explore and fight rather than just hack and slash your way through various obstacles. The items themselves have obviously been borrowed from the Zelda series. A bow and arrow, a lantern, red health potions, boots of flight, a power ring, and dynamite (bombs) will all seem very familiar. The addition of the bear trap will have you second guessing enemy movements as proper trap placement for monster devastation should put a smile on any adventure's face. The items all work well and have no obvious bugs or problematic implantation into standard game play.

The game itself keeps track of your movements with an accessible overview style map. The pause menu also includes an inventory screen and a defeated monster database. The database is enhanced by creatively drawn monster renditions from Hildenbrand. A changing musical score accompanies each major area of the game, although always the same it somehow never gets old. Controls are tight and responsive, both diagonal movements and quick sword slashes work with no problems. Some minor glitches such as rare misplaced sprites and collision detection between the main character and the surrounding environment do exist. Thankfully Tolbert is actively participating in debugging discussions and updates of his product.

With all the good fun that comes out of playing this game, it does at times feel as though it is missing some vital aspects to really pull it together. A few towns, some people to talk to, a handful of side quests, and perhaps weapon and armor upgrades would have really put this game on the next level. Tolbert has stated that he has no plans to add any additional material to the game and that after the long development cycle he is looking forward to moving onto other projects. Perhaps wishful thinking simply comes from the fact that this game is such a treat to play and by the end it will have you looking for more.

[DieForIt]

Is There also one for DS ?
or another homebrew like this !

[pilotwangs]

Is There also one for DS ?
or another homebrew like this !

Nah,but i suggest you try it out on a GBA emu or whatever anyway,its one of the best homebrew i have ever played.

Nice to see a new version,TBH,i didn't really notice that many faults in the first version.

[OrGoN3]

Great game. I'm just now up to the Lake Dungeon and it's amazing, ESPECIALLY for a homebrew. I have been having a few problems with the game and wondering if others experience the same issues. Well, there's one main one. Whenever I enter a cave/dungeon and press START, it brings up a blank MAP screen and freezes. The music continues but the controls are unresponsive and it never goes away. I have to restart and thus lose my progress. Anyone else experience this?

Besides that there's just some random misplaced pixels here and there. Overall this game is amazing! Especially for such a small filesize.

[gauauu]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. (I'm Nathan, the guy that made Anguna)

OrGoN3: I haven't seen that issue with the map, but I'll take a look.

Keviii94: Good news -- I've had enough requests for a DS version of Anguna that I decided to start working on a DS port. It'll be a few months (I have newborn twins so I don't get much spare programming time these days!) but it shouldn't be too hard.

[OrGoN3]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. (I'm Nathan, the guy that made Anguna)

OrGoN3: I haven't seen that issue with the map, but I'll take a look.

Keviii94: Good news -- I've had enough requests for a DS version of Anguna that I decided to start working on a DS port. It'll be a few months (I have newborn twins so I don't get much spare programming time these days!) but it shouldn't be too hard.

Congratulations on the twins!!!!!!!

Anguna is AMAZING! It's really awesome, especially for only 2MB! It's loads of fun, and a DS port would be killer!!! Here's the lowdown of my problems. I'm using an M3 Perfect SD (latest firmware, e35). It's been ages since I've done GBA, besides the most recent Mario homebrew, so I just put it on the SD card without patching it. That's when I experienced the problems. When I installed Game Manager v36a (latest) and patched it to go on the SD card (with hardware 1 compatability) it worked 100% without any of the problems I mentioned in my earlier post. Menu doesn't freeze the game, no random pixel artifacts, etc.

My favorite feature thus far: using the pegasus boots (I think you called them something else, but we all know what they are ) and then switching to bows and arrows to attack from afar and not falling to my death. Hehehe.

[gauauu]

Interesting. I don't really know much about the different ways of loading gba roms on the ds yet, so I wouldn't be much help, but it sounds like it's working for you, which is good.

The DS port should be fairly straightforward. I'll probably move the subscreen stuff (inventory, maps, monster db) to the 2nd screen, and other than that, leave everything the way it is. We'll see how it goes...no promises

[Another World]

its good to see that the bugs i found were fixed. its great to see support for a homebrew after it has been released. this really is one of the best gba homebrew games i have ever played. good luck with your twins!

-another world