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Final yr I talked at size concerning the Chromatic, a brand new Recreation Boy system developed by ModRetro. Again in September, in my in depth preview, I talked about a number of of the video games that ModRetro is formally publishing alongside the launch of the system. Now, it is very important observe that these titles are suitable with unique Recreation Boy techniques, together with the unique GBC, GBA and a few even are playable in your favourite previous brick, the unique DMG Recreation Boy. As such, on this article I’ll be reviewing six of the launch titles which have been launched and particularly contemplating them from the attitude of unique {hardware}, since that’s what the vast majority of gamers will be capable of play these video games on.
Every title is developed by a unique studio, however all are printed underneath the ModRetro label. The video games include a pleasant little guide with illustrations and ideas for the sport, in addition to a bangle attraction that you may connect to your system. There’s plenty of selection in these first releases, and the corporate is releasing at the least 4 extra video games in 2025, so Recreation Boy followers undoubtedly have some new issues to stay up for this yr.
Dragonyhm – Spacebot Interactive. Works on all Recreation Boy techniques.
Dragonyhm is undoubtedly probably the most bold out of those six video games. It’s a large-scale fantasy RPG set in a magical world the place the protagonist’s father, Kurtis, is the protector of the Dragon’s Seal. As his son, Kris, awakes in the future to search out his father has disappeared, it’s as much as him to take up the sword and shield the residents of Archend from monsters, fiends and the return of the dragons.
The sport takes clear inspiration and cues from conventional turn-based RPGs. In the event you like Dragon Quest you’ll just about really feel proper at residence. In its writing and world-design Dragonyhm higher resembles one thing like Hyperlink’s Awakening, with plenty of non-obligatory side-quests that may get you further upgrades and weapons. At its core, you’ll must discover a option to enter a number of dungeons, defeat highly effective bosses and clear up puzzles to comply with the story. The visible design is very placing, with clear sprites and correct shade usages when you’re taking part in on a Recreation Boy Colour or Advance. I additionally actually appreciated the music, with fairly a little bit of selection via the areas and battle situations you’ll come throughout.
I believe my greatest gripe is the best way by which you carry out fight within the sport. Particularly early on, you’ll typically battle towards enemies which can be on the identical degree as you might be and might be continuous chugging well being potions to remain within the struggle. Grinding is the secret right here and whereas there’s an elemental system at play right here, it tended to boil down for me to hitting with my strongest transfer and hoping I might not run out of mana or particular assaults. I did like the best way by which the sport encourages selection in your strategy for constructing your stats. In the event you defeat an enemy with a standard assault and acquire a degree up, your power will enhance. However when you do the identical with a magical assault, your mana will enhance (assume Closing Fantasy II). It’s one thing I solely discovered whereas looking the guide, however I do like that participant development isn’t restricted to a set scale, however somewhat based mostly upon your most well-liked strikes and actions. It could construct stress and launch inside a single struggle when you are inclined to favor magic over power and must face an opponent stronger towards these stats.
However I believe Dragonyhm actually nails the tone and magnificence of bold Recreation Boy titles like Closing Fantasy Journey/Mystic Quest, the place you’ll be able to see that years of improvement expertise permit it to suit as a lot content material as attainable into this cartridge. Nearly like a misplaced Recreation Boy sport, that you just hear about from cult followings. A couple of puzzles even require translating a cipher that you may clear up utilizing the guide, however when you’re actually devoted (or caught on a practice with out the guide) you’ll be able to maintain notes of vital occasions, clues and secrets and techniques unfold all through the world. That stability between puzzle design and turn-based journey provides it a enjoyable aptitude all its personal. I’ll say that this sport at the moment lacks any guides or ideas, so it may be a bit tough at instances to navigate the world and discover out the place it is best to go subsequent. However for these prepared to get misplaced in a easy, however partaking RPG, Dragonyhm is very price searching for out!
8/10
In The Darkish 2, Pearacidic Video games and Grumpy Perform. Works on all Recreation Boy techniques.
That is one for the die-hard puzzleheads. In The Darkish 2 is a direct continuation of a standalone sport, known as In The Darkish (launched in 2022) which is a mix of a story journey and an easy puzzle sport. What units it instantly other than different puzzle video games or high-score chasers is that the sport is surprisingly story heavy. After the occasions of the primary sport, which noticed a virus spreading all through the galaxy solely to be prevented by the courageous sacrifice of certainly one of Captain Penn’s associates, Captain Penn is distributed out to search out the designer of the virus. Instructed via vivid and beautiful tableaus and with particularly effectively written textual content, the sport sees you touring to a number of planets and techniques looking for the creator of the virus.
With this as a backdrop it does really feel misplaced that the sport is admittedly nothing greater than a set of light-fipping puzzles. Every puzzle you might be offered with a grid of 3×3, 4×4 or 5×5 lights. Every gentle will be turned off by deciding on the sunshine, however doing so will activate all the encompassing lights. The target is identical each time, flip off all of the lights to unravel the puzzle. There are further challenges akin to discovering out what the quickest resolution is, principally designated as ‘par’. However past that, don’t count on many surprises in the case of the gameplay.
Now on its face, that may be a actually onerous promote. Even puzzle followers will inform you that selection and constructing upon your data is what units a superb puzzle sport aside. With In The Darkish 2, it does take a little bit of digging on the participant’s half to get thus far. As you full an increasing number of grids, you begin to get a way for obtain the answer, however attending to that time entails fairly a little bit of trial and error. There are not any hints, besides the indication of what the quickest transfer will be, however the ramping up of problem feels surprisingly pure. I used to be actually in the dead of night (pun supposed) at first, simply flicking random lights on or off. However in time I obtained far more grip and sense with how the puzzles had been designed and used my expertise to unravel puzzles in fewer strikes.
I believe the story bits are an excellent option to maintain the participant engaged. In between puzzles you’ll be able to stroll round, discuss to your crewmates and be taught extra concerning the planet you’re visiting. There’s a stunning quantity of world constructing and character to what might’ve been a easy menu puzzle sport. I don’t assume it should flip right into a mainstay for me personally, however I’ve picked it up from time to time over the previous few weeks and solved a couple of boards whereas commuting to work. The extra modes—like a free play mode that presents you with randomized puzzles and the problem mode by which you must clear a number of boards in a row—are good time wasters. Although I’ll say that with these modes I did really feel the distinct lack of the story and world that tie In The Darkish 2 collectively. A correct puzzler that has a taste all its personal, it may be definitely worth the pickup if you would like some crunchy mind teasers.
7/10
Patchy Matchy Puzzle Browsing, Tom Sutton. Works on all Recreation Boy techniques.
I’ve raved at size about how a lot I loved Patchy Matchy in each my Chromatic assessment and my preview final yr. Suffice it to say that Patchy Matchy sits in that stunning center floor of understanding precisely what the Recreation Boy was all about. Quick and easy, however extremely engrossing gameplay periods that maintain the motion going as you get higher on the sport.
Patchy Matchy is a tile-matching sport the place you want to join objects in traces of 4 to take away them from the board. Assume bejeweled or sweet crush, however in a way more compact type. With out power-ups, you might be merely relying in your capability to maneuver the cursor as rapidly as attainable to swap across the shells, stars and totems on the sector. Bubbles can get in your approach as obstacles that block different objects, however clearing a line moreover them removes them from the board as effectively.
The velocity ramps up over time, however when you can rating 999 factors you clear the sport. Clearing the sport, nevertheless, isn’t simply restricted to attending to the tip. The true replayability is in unlocking the seventeen achievements, which require you to increase huge combos and maintain your rating rising as a lot as attainable.
As a rating chaser sport it’s actually harmful, as a result of I saved getting sucked again into taking part in some extra of Patchy Matchy. It looks like a quintessential Recreation Boy sport at instances. In all honesty, as a lot as I really like the model of Tetris that’s packed in with the Chromatic, I’d have chosen Patchy Matchy because the pack-in (Patch-in?) title. It simply works so effectively for these units when you sit down and play it for only a minute.
The most important sleight towards Patchy Matchy is that it’s actually designed for an unique Recreation Boy. I secretly want that the sport had help for Recreation Boy Colour with a bit extra model and aptitude to its visuals. It’s completely practical and doesn’t have any distracting visuals, however it could possibly change into a bit boring to have a look at for a chronic play session.
Nonetheless, the core of the design is what counts right here and the sport is only a ton of enjoyable to play. I put this cartridge again in my Recreation Boy many times and I don’t assume I can provide it a lot larger reward than that!
8.5/10
Tales of Monsterland DX, Joel J. Video games. Works solely on Recreation Boy Colour or newer units.
In the event you’re speaking Recreation Boy, you’ve obtained to have a platformer, and whereas the upcoming Child T-Rex and Hermano look superb, Tales of Monsterland DX is the one platformer within the launch lineup. The sport takes inspiration from video games like Monster Boy and instantly stood out to me with its pretty aesthetic. The story sees a boy get up in a mysterious city. He doesn’t understand how he obtained there however goes on a quest to discover a approach again residence. The city is threatened by an onslaught of monsters and an evil wizard. As you discover, you discover mysterious potions that rework you into a number of varieties, together with a wolf that may transfer boulders and a mermaid that makes it attainable to swim.
Insofar as platformers go, Tales of Monsterland DX feels fairly good to regulate. The soar is fairly tight, with platforms and cash guiding the best way you need to discover the land. There’s additionally an motion button that you may assign to both your sword or the actions of your transformations. It doesn’t strive something that may be thought of too difficult, though I’ll say that some bosses might get a tad irritating at instances. However too typically the sport is missing problem and the issue stems from navigating your approach via its world. Some guideposts generally is a bit obtuse; particularly, discovering the primary potion was a little bit of a trouble since I didn’t realise that you may stroll via sure items of terrain. Except for that I obtained caught as soon as, the place I had saved solely with one coronary heart and no continues earlier than the ultimate boss, that means I needed to backtrack all the best way to the city to regain my hearts and acquire a further power-up to beat the sport. At sure instances it looks like there are too many quirks within the design of the world and pacing of the sport that hinder it from turning into actually nice. Small visible glitches and longer than common wait instances between menus. In addition to a sport over booting you straight again into the principle menu as a substitute of supplying you with an possibility to right away restart out of your final save.
That being mentioned the music is unquestionably a spotlight, with some nice tunes that instantly seize the vibe and really feel of the places you go to. Whether or not it’s the upbeat music when setting out in your journey, or the darkish tones of the wizard’s tower, the accompanying tunes at all times hit the nail on the top. The sport isn’t that lengthy, solely somewhat over two hours to see every little thing, but it surely doesn’t overstate its welcome. With a pleasant sizzling cup of tea and a blanket on the sofa I performed via the sport in a single sitting, and whereas I don’t assume it’ll have that a lot of an enduring affect, it was a pleasant time. I’m hopeful that Joel J Video games learns from this expertise and will get to construct one other sport that may ship on its ambition. Tales from Monsterland DX is a step in the correct route, however a couple of stumbles make it fall simply quick for my tastes.
7/10
Toki Tori: Final Version, Two Tribes. Works solely on Recreation Boy Colour Suitable Units.
Disclaimer: For my day job I’ve labored with the group 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 maintain this in thoughts with this explicit assessment.
Let’s be frank, you’ve in all probability performed Toki Tori not directly or one other earlier than. Although its unique launch was lower quick by a late launch on the Recreation Boy Colour because the Recreation Boy Advance took the world by storm, Toki Tori lived on in its many re-releases on just about any system you’ll be able to think about. Even specialised restricted re-releases of the unique sport for the Recreation Boy Colour can be found for these in search of the unique expertise.
So why return? Why launch one more model of Toki Tori? Effectively, to listen to the parents from Two Tribes speak about it: ‘How typically do you get the prospect to re-create your unique work however in the best way you’ve supposed it for unique {hardware}?’. It’s a good level and by all means Two Tribes has undoubtedly succeeded in placing the ‘final’ in Toki Tori: Final Version. As acknowledged via the disclaimer, I’m intimately conversant in the unique Toki Tori, so seeing a revved up model of the unique was sort of thrilling. You possibly can discover the enhancements virtually instantly as Toki Tori runs sooner, mechanically climbs over ledges and the sport’s presentation simply feels that little bit extra polished.
All that helps to re-establish and ensure why Toki Tori has remained such a staple for a lot of lovers of the Recreation Boy Colour. I believe that few puzzle video games do pretty much as good a job of instructing the participant play as Toki Tori does. The degrees are designed in such a approach that you just instantly get a way of navigate its methods and obstacles. I’ve performed via Toki Tori so many instances and there’s this degree within the first world that also methods me up in spite of everything these years. The objective is easy, acquire all of the eggs which can be unfold out throughout the stage. Toki Tori can’t soar over enemies or gaps and solely makes use of particular power-ups a set variety of instances per stage. That one degree within the first world at all times methods me, with the format guiding me a selected option to the eggs, however following that laid out route will get you caught with a single egg lacking. It teaches the participant magnificently play the sport and first plan out a route themselves somewhat than merely leaping each hole or climbing each ladder.
In that sense Toki Tori: Final Version is the ultimate embodiment of Toki Tori’s unique design. Taking part in the sport like this felt like I might lastly see all of the intent and design that Two Tribes had in thoughts virtually 25 years in the past. Later levels particularly simply movement so significantly better with out the timer counting down and the big quantity of backtracking you’re doing with this elevated velocity. It doesn’t get the honorific of being an final version as a approach of selling, but it surely earns this model. It makes among the best puzzle-platformers even higher and albeit, if you don’t already personal a model of Toki Tori for an additional system, that is undoubtedly the easiest way of experiencing the sport. The one caveat for returning gamers is to not count on any surprises, new ranges or gameplay modifications. That is nonetheless Toki Tori at coronary heart.
9/10
Traumatarium Penitent, Eligos Video games. Works on all Recreation Boy techniques.
As widespread because the Recreation Boy was, it was surprisingly missing in a few genres. Except for the Wizardry collection, there weren’t that many dungeon crawlers on the unique handheld. Traumatarium Penitent (strive saying that 5 instances quick), seeks to treatment this with its placing visuals and world design. You play as a knight making your option to a serious fortress whereas purifying the lands of evil monsters and different foul creatures. The sport takes place in first individual, with every display screen displaying your environment, the instructions you’ll be able to stroll to and attainable interactions akin to townsfolk, packing containers and carriages.
At its core, you’ll be dealing with your stats all through the sport as you discover. Your vitality meter decreases with every display screen you discover, that means you’re at all times looking out for meals or inns the place you’ll be able to relaxation up. All of the when you run into monsters and creatures blocking your approach. Battling these takes the type of a static turn-based fight scene the place you’ll be able to defend, assault, eat an merchandise or flee. Battles typically boil all the way down to determining the patterns to the assaults, as sure enemies could have a 3rd assault that offers the best injury which you would possibly need to block. Dying resets the sport, so make sure to maintain a observe close by to trace your passwords that report your progress.
Let’s get that out of the best way first. Sure, this sport makes use of a superb ol’ password system. Whereas these cartridges help FRAM saves, Traumatrium has chosen to rely on passwords consisting of ten characters. I’m nonetheless baffled by this determination. On the one hand, there’s a sure attraction and stress to seeing your vitality stat drop with no meals and realizing your final password units you again about fifteen minutes. However then again, passwords had been achieved away with for an excellent purpose as they take time, effort and above all are fairly inconsistent in preserving observe of your development. As a wink and nod to the battle many gamers have had with the unique Recreation Boy, it’s cute, however truly it makes an already difficult sport really feel much more stacked towards the participant.
And difficult it definitely is. The one option to keep alive on this world is to resort to consuming your potions and meals each time you have got them accessible to you. The sport communicates these stats in a really obtuse method. It took me fairly a while to note that when your vitality drops, your well being factors begin to lower after. That means at instances I might simply discover one other 5 screens, however different instances I dropped lifeless after the second. All of it boils all the way down to managing stats, pushing so far as your meters are letting you go after which dashing again to your inn to get a password and repeat the method.
The visible model is what actually units the sport aside. It genuinely has among the most attractive backgrounds I’ve ever seen on a Recreation Boy display screen. The sport makes use of the unique inexperienced and black palette to its fullest extent. Characters could lack animations however their designs are placing towards the places they inhabit. I additionally like how you might be counting on the map to plan out your route via the world and keep away from getting caught on lifeless ends. At its coronary heart it’s a fairly easy sport of exploration and stock administration. That’s normally a plus in the case of Recreation Boy titles, however the theming is fairly dour. Characters have little to say to the protagonist and following the story is kind of troublesome because it establishes its personal world of orders and rulers that requires studying the accompanying guide to make sense about.
I don’t assume that Traumatarium is a nasty sport per se. Its visible model and gameplay could be very ingenious. However it makes some baffling selections in each its save system and battle mechanics that make it troublesome to suggest. For individuals who are persistent and stick via the sport’s quirks, you’ll discover a true throwback to the previous days of the Recreation Boy. Earlier than save batteries and on-line guides. Counting on getting by in battles and exploration by the pores and skin of your enamel. Personally I discover the video games’ flaws to be an excessive amount of to bear alongside its darkish setting. However there’s an argument to be made that there’s actually nothing like this sport on Recreation Boy. For higher or worse…
5/10
And that wraps up these opinions, I hope you loved them and would possibly’ve discovered a factor or two about new video games on Recreation Boy. Are you contemplating choosing up any of those titles? And which one appears probably the most interesting to you? Tell us within the feedback!
