I seem to have a reoccurring trend in my life… I go and download massive amounts of old roms, then I end up running out to game stores and buying the actual games. This happened to me, once upon a time, with Metal Gear Solid for the Game Boy Color. I know what you’re thinking… “Tom!!! This is Metal Gear!! This isn’t some pansy-ass platformer for whiny toddlers sitting in a doctors office!! How could they not fuck this up?!?“. And I completely agree.

How could they put Metal Gear on the Game Boy and expect anything more than complete and utter failure? But… somehow… It wasn’t shit.. As a matter of fact, it was pretty good, but not just good. It was great. Not the best game I’ve ever played, but it felt like Metal Gear. From the tension you feel as a guard stares at your hobo-style-camo, to the joyful glee you feel as you knock on a wall to lead a guard in the wrong direction. This is Metal Gear in your pocket.

From a pure story perspective: Standard Kojima Fare. Convoluted, hard-hitting, long-winded monologues, a dramatic score. Classic Metal Gear storytelling.

From the story to the gameplay, this game does justice to the series in every fashion. If you’re a Metal Gear fan who needs their fix on the go, this is your game.

Game Boy Color – Metal Gear Solid

Before we begin… I know we’ve already got a small review up for Link’s Awakening. But I feel that the post was more Battletunes oriented and presented only a brief overview of the game. Not to discredit that review, but this is a more in depth look at the story and design aspects of the game.

Zelda games have always rang true with me. An overall amazing series, and most of the games are pure gold (most! Phantom Hourglass can suck a dick). It happens to be my favorite series in all of gaming. I’ve spent an ungodly amount of time in each version of Hyrule, battling skultullas and rescuing Zelda for the millionth time, it never truly got old. But the game I’ve put the most amount of time into has to be Link’s Awakening.

I was a huge fan of A Link to the Past when it came out, and this game helped me rekindle all of those warm feelings all over again. Link’s Awakening is a Zelda game through and through, you’ll find familiar puzzles, enemies, tunes, items, and scenarios. But what turns this Zelda game into something special is the story and presentation of the whole thing. Its difficult to make a Game Boy game seem epic… You’ve got 4 shades of grey, a small screen, and very limited sound capability to play around with, but somehow, they did it. Instead of taking place in the Land of Hyrule, Link’s Awakening takes place in Koholint Island, a completely new world, completely separated from Hyrule. This gave the designers enough of a push to make a truly unique story. (Yarr… there be spoilers ahead!!)

Here’s a video with one of my favorite video game tunes of all time: The Ballad of the Wind Fish

Thanks to omdac714 for the video!

Koholint Island doesn’t exist. Its all a dream world. The world exists in the dream of a sleeping creature called The Wind Fish. If the Wind Fish is awoken, Koholint Island, all the creatures, and all of the people contained within will disappear with the dream. This creates an interesting philosophical scenario. Is is morally right to wake the dreamer, escaping the dreamland, only to watch everyone you’ve met so far disappear right before your very eyes? Are the enemies really all that evil, trying to stop you from destroying the only world they’ve ever known? Are you even the hero of this story? Or do you merely server as a means to an end of the world? Though the game never directly brings up these questions, it does make for an amazing catalyst into moral and philosophical discussion. At one point, when you defeat a boss, the dying enemy begs you not to wake the Wind Fish, as his entire world will disappear. Its this writing, this kind of storytelling that separate this Zelda game from all the rest, and more importantly, this Game Boy game from all the rest. Give it a try, one of my favorite games of all time:

Game Boy – The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Such a classic game. Everything about it, from the music, to the combat,
to the puzzles, to the nostalgic charm. Everything about The Legend of
Zelda: Link’s Awakening is perfectly classic in the best way. It plays
like a classic Zelda game through and through. In case you don’t know
how that feels, here is the gameplay in a paragraph:

You play as Link who has to save Zelda, but this game is different,
there is no Zelda, but you need to get off this island that you’ve crash
landed onto. You travel through towns, dungeons, keeps, caves, and
forests collecting weapons and items that will help you throughout the
course of your adventure.

The game has held up extremely well over time. Everything from the
graphics, to the sounds, to the controls, to the story has held up and
remained fun to play in this age of normal mapped, spectral-lit, dynamic
character models, its refreshing to see wonderful gameplay, and a main
character made out of less than 50 pixels. The music, by far, is the
still the most awesome part of the game. From the jumping and busy Tal
Tal Heights, to the full version of Ballad of the Wind Fish, the music
will draw you into the adventure like nothing else.

I highly suggest you check this out:
Game Boy – The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Here’s a bonus song for you (remixed from this game):
Nintendo – Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Tal Tal Heights

Yep, that special time of the week has come early. Tons of random gaming chatter in here, so hit it up:

72 Pin Connector Podcast: Episode 013 – Portable Games and Random Gaming Chatter

Wario Land!! First off, I’d like to thank our listener Namagem for hooking us up with the very hard-to-find rom. For some reason.. (I’m guessing because of ESA regulation) its been stripped from the big rom sites. Anyway, thanks, yo!

Now onto the review: Wario Land was one of those games put out by Nintendo to try to push a hopefully-successful character at the time. Having the words: Super Mario Land 3 in the title was only branding to get people to stand up and take notice. Here’s my take on it: They didn’t need it. Wario Land is both a deep, challenging, and quite innovative. Playing this game when I was younger, I was obsessed with collecting the maximum amount of treasure and coins. Wario is an interesting Nintendo character among the staple cliche’s that have become video game legend, he is a greedy little bastard.

At the time, most Game Boy games were terribly shallow, with the obvious exceptions of the Mario games and Zelda: Link’s Awakening, more and more games were just brainless platforming or arcade-style games. Wario Land was kinda different. Yes, it was a platformer, but like Super Mario World, it was filled to the brim with optional content. Secret areas, hidden levels, treasures to uncover. The game was filled with content just begging to be unlocked. Anyway, its a Nintendo game, its got the most solid platforming around, and is one of my all time favorite Game Boy games. Check it out!

Game Boy – Wario Land

Tonight! 9PM EST, we’re hitting up the Talkshoe once again. We whip out our Get Smart style shoe-phones and bring you the greatest news from the world of classic gaming. Tonight we’re talking about portable gaming, from the Lynx to the N-Gage, we’ll be taking on every aspect of tonight’s topic. Also! More random chatter, stay tuned, it happens tonight!

Hit up the Talkshoe!

Later this week: The Defaming of Outstanding Gaming: Episode 2 – Super Mario 64