GBAtemp game of the week- week #7

[FAST6191]

GBAtemp game of the week- week #7 Prince of Persia GBA

Here we have week #7 of the GBAtemp book game club. In these threads we put forth a game to play and then we get to discuss it. The game will be from one of the systems we tend to cover around here be it commercial, homebrew or otherwise and while we will certainly aim to pick enjoyable titles should a game showcase an interesting mechanic then it could get picked as well.[/p]

GBA- Prince of Persia the Sands of Time (U)

A GBA title this week and another from the somewhat overlooked games pile. Originally released in 2003 (and as part of a double pack a few years later) we hold it is on the played lists of too few people and it still commands a reasonable price to this day.
Prince of Persia has been around on the handhelds for some years but for some reason in recent years few have really be able to do it justice and this we deem an exception to that generalisation.
Ostensibly based on the sands of time game title this dodges the usual retread of a console title and brings a few new mechanics and very tight controls to deliver a sort of GBA/DS Castlevania meets the 16 bit Aladdin titles but with a Prince of Persia theme. It suffers a bit of the little brother syndrome with the console series being held in very high regard but now the hype has died down on that a bit if you give this a spin you will hopefully find a very enjoyable puzzle platformer.
[/p]

GBAtemp release thread

A tool assisted speedrun video​

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R0CmLskf1g[/youtube]​

An affront to a console classic or another example of a great series? Share your thoughts with the others in this thread.[/p]

 Discuss

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=search&search_tags=gbagotw&search_app= should get you other links in this series

 

[Sir VG]

Instead of calling it a "speedrun video", please call it by what it is - a "tool assisted speedrun". There's too many people who won't know that and start calling out HAX or CHEAT. Which it's neither.

Thanks.

Edit: Thanks for the wording change. It helps in attempts to keep the peace. You wouldn't believe how some people get riled up if they watch what they think is a speedrun and it's really a TAS and start calling CHEAT. It's not pleasant.

 

[ZaeZae64]

Never really played any PoP games. Might give this a try some time.

 

[Aeter]

I love this game of the week concept.
I started with the first game (DQ Heroes: Rocket Slime) last week.
I played the game before but didn't think much of it and quited too early in retrospect.
Now I think the game is awesome and actually finished virtually everything in the game.
Well not everything, but I do have all the recipes and finished the storyline including the battle against Slival and the tournament.
I must say I haven't had that much fun with a DS game lately and therefor I wish to thank you.

I've started out with Starfy, which I also played and didn't think much of, but am enjoying more already now than I did back then.

Eventually I'll catch up, I hope.

 

[SifJar]

I had this game "back in the day", really was fantastic. May bust it out again in the next couple of days, I have some free time and it was very good...

 

[wasim]

pretty good platform game

i used to play this with visual boy advance
imo this is better than the pop forgotten sands ( ds )

 

[_Chaz_]

Awesome game, but could you have linked to something using more skill than a TAS?

 

[toguro_max]

This game is awesome. I remember sinishing it, oh joy...
Far better than the last DS game...

 

[Fel]

But but but I thought this was supposed to be a DS game of the week thread!

Now I see that it hadn't ever been mentioned that it's a DS GotW,I assumed it was supposed to be a DS exclusive thread just because all the games previously were for it.

Though this makes it still very interesting, at least I'll hopefully (re-)discover hidden gems from other platforms!

I've heard about GBA PoP before, I read a review that said it's a really good game. I might give it a try, although it's a pity that the DS distorts GBA's colours. (have you seen how blue pools of water turn bright purple in Golden Sun?)

 

[Nathan Drake]

But but but I thought this was supposed to be a DS game of the week thread!

Now I see that it hadn't ever been mentioned that it's a DS GotW,I assumed it was supposed to be a DS exclusive thread just because all the games previously were for it.

Though this makes it still very interesting, at least I'll hopefully (re-)discover hidden gems from other platforms!

I've heard about GBA PoP before, I read a review that said it's a really good game. I might give it a try, although it's a pity that the DS distorts GBA's colours. (have you seen how blue pools of water turn bright purple in Golden Sun?)

My DS Phat and DSlite never screwed up GBA colors on my retail carts of the Golden Sun games. They never screwed up the colors on other games either.

This game looks pretty fantastic. I'll go ahead and make it a point to play through this one.

 

[shakirmoledina]

this game is absolutely fantastic. i remember getting most (if not all) the things from this title. there's almost everything in there.
if u ask me, the next 3ds game should be like this one. wallruns, a particular number of enemies (special) to kill and rewind etc. just a brilliant game and unlike the somewhat good ds titles of PoP

 

[Fel]

But but but I thought this was supposed to be a DS game of the week thread!

Now I see that it hadn't ever been mentioned that it's a DS GotW,I assumed it was supposed to be a DS exclusive thread just because all the games previously were for it.

Though this makes it still very interesting, at least I'll hopefully (re-)discover hidden gems from other platforms!

I've heard about GBA PoP before, I read a review that said it's a really good game. I might give it a try, although it's a pity that the DS distorts GBA's colours. (have you seen how blue pools of water turn bright purple in Golden Sun?)

My DS Phat and DSlite never screwed up GBA colors on my retail carts of the Golden Sun games. They never screwed up the colors on other games either.

This game looks pretty fantastic. I'll go ahead and make it a point to play through this one.

I have a DS Lite and both my GS carts are EUR retail carts. They're not pirated. It's actually even logical, the DS has a larger colour palette, so the same way GB games inserted into a GBA/GBC have improved colours GBA games in DS are 'enhanced'. It's strange yours are okay, are you sure? I remember reading about this somewhere so I'm not the only one, and the water isn't the only thing (you can see it the best in Lalivero at the end of GS1), also the desert has much more brighter sand colours which don't look good.

 

[Nathan Drake]

Positive. With a larger palette, I would have been able to notice it on my Phat beforehand. Having played them on my Lite though, I can confirm that I have no issues with it. Maybe it's just the EUR versions of the games? If people with NA copies reported the same issues, I dunno.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

I remember playing it on the VBA emu

.
Its a decent game.

 

[Fel]

Positive. With a larger palette, I would have been able to notice it on my Phat beforehand. Having played them on my Lite though, I can confirm that I have no issues with it. Maybe it's just the EUR versions of the games? If people with NA copies reported the same issues, I dunno.

That's weird. Maybe if I open a topic about it people can report with which carts they have or don't have the issues so we can discover the reason behind this.

 

[Hadrian]

This game was good for what it was. Nothing special...just good.

 

[FAST6191]

Edited the speedrun to say tool assisted speedrun (it was made clear in the video at least). I had not realised we were needing to be so specific but I will remember for next time (I will watch the odd one if it crosses my path but it is not a "scene" I follow in the slightest).
As for picking a speedrun I did have a doubt or two but I figured it did at least showcase some gameplay as opposed to the adverts and trailers and I figured most people can see past speed related methods or at least skip the to suggested videos section.

On a different note I hope the new search is working. Rather than amass an ever growing list or ignore the previous sessions and with GBAtemp lacking tags I am abusing the search engine so hopefully it works for this purpose.

@Fel err

Spoiler

The game will be from one of the systems we tend to cover around here

If it runs on a console we normally cover then it is fair game

...something from the world of releases, homebrew, hacks or something else for the systems we cover and then gather to discuss it.

from a system we cover

Generally the game will be from one of the main systems we cover

QUOTE(week #2 @ May 18 2011, 07:52 PM)

It will usually be from one of the systems we normally cover but from them it could be anything

QUOTE(week #1 @ May 11 2011, 08:30 PM)

...in these threads we will suggest a game for you all to play on the systems we tend to cover (it might be a hidden gem, it might be a game that was popular early on, it might be a new release, it might be a new hack to such a game, it might be a couple of games to contrast and it might be something else entirely- we will always aim to make it interesting though)

It was a bit DS heavy for the first few weeks (my intention is to have this as a discussion/club rather than a recommends or stretched out top games topic) and aside from the odd dalliance with other systems it will probably remain that way for a while (although GBA emulation has long near perfect and undemanding not to mention GBA capable devices are still readily available I am quite concious the ability to play DS games is one of the few things that unites us around here). As such I think a few more "special features" like the tetris week as well as a few games that might not sit on the "must have" list for many but do have some interesting mechanics. At the risk of sounding like someone who would part with what most of us would call wages for a year on a few pieces of twisted metal badly welded together one of the goals of this was intended to be if not broadening tastes then to be able to say you have experienced some of the ideas, mechanics and concepts that are out there.

 

[Redhorse]

But but but I thought this was supposed to be a DS game of the week thread!

Now I see that it hadn't ever been mentioned that it's a DS GotW,I assumed it was supposed to be a DS exclusive thread just because all the games previously were for it.

Though this makes it still very interesting, at least I'll hopefully (re-)discover hidden gems from other platforms!

I've heard about GBA PoP before, I read a review that said it's a really good game. I might give it a try, although it's a pity that the DS distorts GBA's colours. (have you seen how blue pools of water turn bright purple in Golden Sun?)

My DS Phat and DSlite never screwed up GBA colors on my retail carts of the Golden Sun games. They never screwed up the colors on other games either.

This game looks pretty fantastic. I'll go ahead and make it a point to play through this one.

I have a DS Lite and both my GS carts are EUR retail carts. They're not pirated. It's actually even logical, the DS has a larger colour palette, so the same way GB games inserted into a GBA/GBC have improved colours GBA games in DS are 'enhanced'. It's strange yours are okay, are you sure? I remember reading about this somewhere so I'm not the only one, and the water isn't the only thing (you can see it the best in Lalivero at the end of GS1), also the desert has much more brighter sand colours which don't look good.

I totally agree Fel. I have US released GBA cartrige and have played them on both the Game Boy Micro and the DS lite and the colora are exactly as you have stated, on my ds lite. The expanded color palette would seem a likely reason.

 

[Fel]

@Fast6191: Sorry!

Since I've usually read about the games and skipped the introduction I've forgotten about that when I read it in the first thread. And like I'd mentioned, I had the impression that it was about DS games because of the quantity.

But I agree, this thread is awesome and really helps expand gaming horizons and make people try out other genres as well.

 

[Nimbus]

Never played it before personally.

The video makes it seem like a cross between Aladdin on the SNES/Genesis and Castlevania.

I've never been a fan of the PoP series though, I wouldn't be sure I would have played it to begin with had I ever obtained it.