Studio ZA/UM

Disco Elysium, the detective RPG game from indie studio ZA/UM, has received a GameBoy edition. Yes, you read that right: Disco Elysium is playable on the original GameBoy; at least the first part. This demake "port" was developed by Colin Brannan using GB Studio, complete with the retro aesthetic.

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You can try it out now online or download the ROM to play on an actual GameBoy or a device that supports ROMs. I tried it on the Anbernic RG350P and it's perfectly playable, although somewhat lacking in sound.

If you're wondering whether it'll receive a C&D from Studio ZA/UM, then rest assured that it's not likely the case. The demake actually received the thumbs up from the company which actually shared the news in a press release, writing that "we think this 90s throwback is pretty cool!"

SOURCE: GBAtemp Inbox
Disco Elysium GameBoy ROM

 

[raxadian]

Wow.

Anyway, gonna try this on LameboyDS later.

 

[leon315]

i heard a lot of "REMAKE", but never heard of DEMAKE, what is a "demake"?

 

[Noctosphere]

i heard a lot of "REMAKE", but never heard of DEMAKE, what is a "demake"?

a kind of remake but downgrading quality instead of upgrading it
I guess...

 

[diggeloid]

Wow this is an impressive effort, but I think the format is a terrible fit for this type of text-heavy game. The intro is like a couple of minutes of reading a tiny box on the bottom of the screen that can only show two lines of text at a time and like 3 or 4 words per line.

 

[duwen]

i heard a lot of "REMAKE", but never heard of DEMAKE, what is a "demake"?

Demakes have been a thing for quite a while now. Check out Halo for the Atari 2600 for example.

 

[deSSy2724]

Some german devs released some SNES games a couple of years ago.....

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

i heard a lot of "REMAKE", but never heard of DEMAKE, what is a "demake"?

Think of your favorite game. For example... Umm... final fantasy vii, for playstation. You'll never be able to play that on the nes.

OOPS!



Okay, well least that won't happen on pc right?

OOPS!

 

[leon315]

Think of your favorite game. For example... Umm... final fantasy vii, for playstation. You'll never be able to play that on the nes.

OOPS!



Okay, well least that won't happen on pc right?

OOPS!

They are obviously non-official ports made by modders, aren't they?

 

[MarkDarkness]

Great devs supporting transformative work. Will buy their game on the Steam sale im two weeks.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

They are obviously non-official ports made by modders, aren't they?

Well you think the original developers would make a worst playing version of their game on hardware that couldn't support the original idea? Probably not... Well... there is street fighter 2 and mortal kombat on gameboy... and Ninja turtles tournament fighters on nes. But those games are cursed so probably not many talk about it.

Best to think of demake as everything being more simplified. Simple graphics, music and gameplay, no fancy over the top stuff that makes the game unique or impressive.

 

[masagrator]

They are obviously non-official ports made by modders, aren't they?

You can say Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition is an official demake of Final Fantasy XV.

And demake is not a port. It's always made from scratch.

 

[Axido]

i heard a lot of "REMAKE", but never heard of DEMAKE, what is a "demake"?

A demake is basically the port of a game to an obviously inferior (classic) platform compared to the initial release platform.
This is normally done on purpose. There are demakes of Mega Man 7 and 8 out there (not really made FOR the NES, but with NES asthetics), which could be considered true to the good old style of Mega Man (that even Capcom themselves brought back with MM9 and MM10) rather than the SNES and PSX style.

 

[raxadian]

a kind of remake but downgrading quality instead of upgrading it
I guess...

There is Smash Bros Gameboy version, that granted doesn't run on an actual gameboy but was made ages ago.

Google Super Smash Land.

 

[cearp]

dragon quest 11 had a demake in it didn't it? switching from the 3d version to 2d, very cool idea.

anyway, I don't like how the guy didn't bother to add an apostrophe in the text:
"Hello Im..."

 

[Noctosphere]

I'd like to play the demake of BotW with NES graphics which was presented as a prototype

 

[Silent_Gunner]

i heard a lot of "REMAKE", but never heard of DEMAKE, what is a "demake"?

Yeah, kind of like Half Life 2D: Codename Gordon:

 

[Azael_inf]

Stuff like this is always rad

 

[Nincompoopdo]

I wish Nintendo is supportive like that, they will never say "This is pretty cool!". If you make any Zelda or Mario game in Unity or Unreal, they will just sue your pants off.

 

[PatrickD85]

Gotta love demakes.
Sure wished the original game came to Nintendo Switch though ...