New Recreation Boy Video games? In 2024? You greatest imagine it.
If you happen to’ve learn my hands-on preview and interview of the Chromatic, you in all probability know that I’m very excited concerning the potential of a brand new Recreation Boy machine that goals to ship probably the most genuine and trendy expertise. Nonetheless, I didn’t get round to speaking a lot concerning the new video games that ModRetro is publishing, in bodily kind no much less, for the Chromatic. What’s particularly cool about these cartridges is that they’re appropriate with nearly all Recreation Boy fashions. So even in case you are not curious about getting the machine your self, you may nonetheless exit and get a few of these video games. Chromatic was form sufficient to supply me with demo’s for his or her launch lineup that I’ve been taking part in by myself gadgets. As these are quick video games I determine this preview could provide you with some higher perception into the number of their lineup. Lastly this preview is just not ranked, however in alphabetical order.
Chantey – Developed by Gortyn Code. Appropriate with all Recreation Boy gadgets.
Chantey is a really basic pirate story. As a stowaway you survive a horrible assault by an infinite beast, although fortunately you’re picked up by an notorious pirate captain. He needs to put declare to his grandfather’s pirate treasure that went down with him whereas combating a monster from the deep sea. The writing may be very charming and instantly locations you in a really particular time and setting. As the sport is open-world you may discover a piece of island along with your ship as you fulfill quests and set out in your pirate journey. Whereas it seems like a fairly regular open-world exploration recreation, the “fight” was instantly stunning. See on this world there are chanteymen, singers that battle not with swords however the energy of music. As such, the sport typically shifts to a rhythm recreation that’s clearly impressed by Guitar Hero. Your purpose is to finish the tune with sufficient hype from the group to assist win the battle. I discovered the songs to be fairly difficult, although there are solely notes approaching 4 tracks. There are nonetheless noticeable bugs and glitches, akin to character portraits popping in and the timing of notes being pretty difficult. However that stated, I had a good time taking part in Chantey. There are only a few rhythm video games on the Recreation Boy, so seeing one that mixes theme and elegance into one bundle is trying very promising certainly.
You possibly can strive a prologue of the sport on PC by way of Itch.
Editor’s observe: Chantey can be launching in Q1 of 2025 and isn’t a part of the launch lineup.
Dragonyhm – Developed by Spacebot Interactive. Appropriate with all Recreation Boy gadgets.
What instantly struck me about Dragonyhm is its visible id. At first I nearly mistook it for Hyperlink’s Awakening. It has clear and clear pixel-art and it actually helps with how animated the world and characters really feel. The story needs to come back throughout as epic, although for this quick demo I might get a way of the way it performs out. You might be Kris, the son of a legendary hero, in a world the place dragons have been sealed away. However as your dad goes lacking, it’s as much as Kris to not solely discover him, however determine why the dragons are out of the blue reawakening. Fairly customary affair for a fantasy pixel-art journey recreation. What isn’t so customary is that the sport combines this with a turn-based battle system that may be simple to be taught however exhausting to grasp. In fact there’s attacking and defending, however each spells and abilities add some good selection to the gameplay. I used to be particularly stunned by how polished the sport already feels. You would simply mistake this for a type of legendary misplaced or uncommon Recreation Boy video games, however the quantity of content material and high quality of life options actually present how a lot is packed into this cartridge. So for these seeking to dig their tooth right into a prolonged RPG, with loads of side-activities and characters to find, Dragonyhm is shaping as much as be one of many necessities in my Recreation Boy assortment.
You possibly can play a free demo of Dragonyhm by Itch on PC.
Within the Darkish 2 – Developed by Pearacidic and Gumpy Operate. Appropriate with all Recreation Boy gadgets.
By screenshots of Within the Darkish 2 you may mistake it for a Sci-Fi RPG, however truly it’s a 2D Puzzle recreation with a big concentrate on narrative. Now I’ve not performed the primary In The Darkish, however this recreation is a fairly easy puzzle recreation. In every puzzle you’re tasked by turning off the lights on the board. Every mild switches state when chosen and likewise turns off the encircling lights and vice versa. It’s a quite simple puzzle recreation in that sense, although you’re challenged by attempting to finish the boards in as few turns as potential. So simple as this will likely sound, Within the Darkish 2 units itself aside by the unbelievable manufacturing worth. Cutscenes are gorgeously lit and have some actually gorgeous art work. Whereas it might have been a easy menu to pick your puzzle, you truly management a principal character whereas exploring the planets who present perception into why you’re fixing these puzzles. The backgrounds, the character animation and the writing is actually gorgeous and jogged my memory of video games like Alone within the Darkish on Recreation Boy Coloration. Accompanied by an excellent soundtrack, I used to be actually hooked on In The Darkish 2 and suppose it goes past simply being a easy pick-up-and-play puzzle recreation. The builders appear to be hinting at loads of selection on this planet you’ll go to in your area journey, so for these die-hard puzzlers on the market that is one to sit up for. Particularly if you would like one thing that appears to have a bit of extra engagement than straight ahead puzzling.
There’s a free demo accessible of In The Darkish 2 that may be a nice vertical slice of the gameplay. You possibly can play it in-browser on Itch or by way of PC.
Patchy Matchy Puzzle Browsing – Developed by Tom Sutton. Appropriate with all Recreation Boy Gadgets.
Talking of full on puzzle video games, Patchy Matchy is a brilliant easy, however extremely participating puzzle recreation. It feels most just like one thing like Bejeweled or Sweet Crush. On a grid of 6 x 8 you are attempting to match sea creatures in rows of 4 or increased to take away them from the board. The upper the combo, the upper your rating. It has a fairly boppin’ soundtrack that you’re going to get accustomed to as you combine and match the items on the grid. A few of these grid puzzlers, like Bejeweled, can really feel a bit stagnant as you’re solely in a position to transfer items in the event that they turn into a part of the combo. I like that in Patchy Matchy you may transfer any piece to any spot on the grid. So you may already arrange bigger combos earlier than the items fall onto the board. It makes for a recreation the place you’re all the time trying round for the following combo to make, making it really feel like a pure match for Recreation Boy. By way of selection, there are a number of tweaks to mess around with, however the recreation largely encourages you to finish achievements for replayability. It’s as easy because it comes on Recreation Boy, however I feel that provides Patchy Matchy a kind of common attraction to be performed by anybody. Positively price a shot to show your Recreation Boy right into a continuous pick-up-puzzler!
Tales From Monsterland DX – Developed by Joel Jarman, Works solely on Recreation Boy Coloration appropriate gadgets.
Tales From Monsterland DX is completely designed for Recreation Boy Coloration, although you might overlook that initially look. The sport sees you taking part in as a child who wakes up in an odd land. It’s not lengthy earlier than you encounter the bizarre inhabitants of this world and set out on a quest to save lots of the land from the monsters which have pushed down tourism. Structurally this recreation jogged my memory instantly of Wario Land 3 and that may be a excellent factor. The overworld consists of a number of interconnected ranges you can traverse between as soon as you discover sure upgrades, treasures or different secrets and techniques that will help you in your quest. There may be loads of rapid attraction to the sport, from the way in which the characters are designed and the style wherein they communicate, to the way you work together with the world. I particularly beloved how one can ignore directions like getting a sword and simply set out by yourself. The sport feels rather more trendy than conventional platforming motion video games in that regard. However the spotlight is unquestionably the nice soundtrack, that makes use of the entire Recreation Boy Coloration’s capabilities to ship some incredible ambiance. Tales From Monsterland DX actually nails that feeling of choosing up a platforming journey and getting misplaced on this planet. The controls are clean and the leap feels nice, so I can’t wait to see what the complete recreation brings.
You possibly can play a free demo of the sport on PC in-browser by way of Itch.
Tetris – Developed by Chromatic and licensed by The Tetris Firm. Works with all Recreation Boy gadgets.
Now okay, sure. We’ve all performed Tetris on Recreation Boy. In actual fact, the sport is at the moment solely accessible as a pack-in title for the launch of the Chromatic. So I will be pretty easy about this one. It’s Tetris on Recreation Boy. Though there are some slight tweaks that Tetris die-hards, me included, will admire. To begin with, sure, the Tetris theme A remains to be right here. It’s barely adjusted, however don’t fear, you’re going to get the entire fuzzy emotions. Secondly, I actually like that this model of Tetris permits each Ghost items in addition to with the ability to see additional upfront which items are arising. It simply helps to streamline the expertise and convey it line with choices that we’re so accustomed to with trendy variations of the sport. These choices are all the truth is optionally available, so for the purists on the market, you may simply allow a retro mode that makes the sport play precisely as you bear in mind. I’ll say that this model of Tetris does look a bit wonky on the unique DMG Recreation Boy. Whereas the sport is definitely playable, the shapes of items generally is a tad tougher to determine. On Recreation Boy Coloration the sport seems beautiful with all the coloured items and extra animations that add a bit of streak when you’re exhausting dropping a bit onto the board. Lastly there are additionally a number of modes like limitless, dash and extremely. In fact you may nonetheless play multiplayer by way of a hyperlink cable with somebody that additionally owns a replica of this model of Tetris. So yeah, it’s nonetheless Tetris. However guess what? Tetris remains to be nice and this simply may find yourself being the most effective model of Tetris on Recreation Boy.
Toki Tori: Final Version – Developed by Two Tribes. Works solely on Recreation Boy Coloration appropriate gadgets.
Disclaimer: For my day job I’ve labored with the workforce from Two Tribes on archiving their video games on the Netherlands Institute of Sound & Imaginative and prescient. I’ve no direct connection to the event or launch of this model of the sport on Chromatic, however as it’s a part of the launch line-up I’ll cowl this recreation as a part of this preview.
The unique launch of Toki Tori got here extremely late within the life cycle of the Recreation Boy Coloration. Not solely that, however the print run was extraordinarily restricted when Capcom printed the sport in 2001. In flip this actually helped to show Toki Tori into one thing of a cult basic on the Recreation Boy Coloration, showcasing it’s superb animations in addition to some actual intelligent puzzle design. These days, Toki Tori is just about playable on each trendy system, because it has been re-released, remastered and even acquired a sequel within the final fifteen years. However what’s fascinating about Toki Tori: Final Version is that the builders of the sport went again to the unique model to make changes and enhancements. It will’ve been really easy to re-release the sport and provides folks an opportunity so as to add this basic to their libraries, however this model actually seems like an final model of Toki Tori. The motion pace is what actually sells it and has been multiplied by the builders. This makes Toki Tori run round loads quicker, however doesn’t influence the puzzles within the slightest. You might be in fact nonetheless gathering the eggs in each stage and avoiding fight, however this variation makes such a distinction to the stream of the sport. The place making a mistake within the unique model felt tedious since you had been losing loads of time backwards and forwards, now it seems like making a mistake is a part of studying the sport’s design and I for one acquired to understand it much more. The timer has additionally been eliminated and you may even auto-jump over quick gaps. Toki Tori remains to be a tremendous showcase on Recreation Boy. Whereas the trendy variations of the sport added 3D fashions, there’s a timelessness to the unique animations and sprites. It’s such a clean expertise after almost 25 years and with the harshest edges now rounded off, there isn’t any higher time than to select it up. Particularly contemplating that this model is lower than half of what the unique prices on eBay.
Traumatarium: Penitent – Developed by Eligos Video games. Appropriate with all Recreation Boy gadgets.
This recreation is a bit more summary than the others I acquired to play for the Chromatic. See, the unique Traumatarium was developed as a showcase to essentially push the graphical limits of the unique Recreation Boy. It had in depth visible key artwork that appears absurdly spectacular on the Recreation Boy’s 160×144 display screen. From its cutscenes to the way in which you discover cities, darkish woods and work together with enemies, its sequel retains that beautiful artwork type. Sadly the gameplay is kind of exhausting to understand, because the fantasy lore of the world may be very in depth and the demo actually dropped me with no clue as to what I needed to do or what was happening. In a way the sport jogged my memory of a extremely old-school first-person RPG. On every display screen you may look at completely different objects, speak to folks or could encounter an enemy. Fight takes place in turns as you employ the D-pad to pick attacking, defending, utilizing objects or fleeing. What makes the sport fairly a problem is that apart from HP you additionally must hold observe of your vitality, which isn’t actually defined all that effectively. As your vitality runs out, on account of an absence of meals for instance, your HP will drop. It was solely after the fourth time once I dropped lifeless in the midst of the city sq. with none enemies in sight that I began to comprehend what I used to be doing fallacious. Each display screen you discover drains vitality, so navigating your approach by these huge maps isn’t just a matter of surviving the creatures that hang-out the cities, but in addition planning out when to eat meals, drink a potion or save your energy by fleeing battles. It makes for a reasonably unorthodox RPG to play and I’m nonetheless not fairly certain if I like this design. For sure, the visuals do loads of the heavy lifting and as a graphical showcase it nonetheless seems gorgeous. That is one for these curious to transcend the consolation zone of the Recreation Boy and seeking to see how far the event scene of the Recreation Boy has come.
You possibly can play a free demo of Traumatarium: Penitent by way of PC in-browser on Itch.
And that’s all of the ModRetro releases I acquired my fingers on. ModRetro is aiming to launch extra titles for the Chromatic, together with some video games that by no means acquired their time to shine again on the unique system. So I’ll make sure you hold a watch out for future bodily releases that they’re planning to launch. In the course of the writing of this preview it was introduced that ModRetro is releasing Child T-Rex, developed by Bleem, so plainly there are nonetheless surprises awaiting for these seeking to develop their Recreation Boy and Chromatic libraries.
And in case you missed the unique Fingers-on Preview for the Chromatic, you watch the video and interview above!
