Gameboy ports of NES games

[bargora]

There's a lot of moaning about SNES titles being rehashed for the GBA. Was this a common complaint back when NES games were being ported to the GB/GBC?

Anyway, I've got Gameboy versions of such NES classics as 1942, SMB, Dragon Warrior 1&2, and so forth. The action games seem to suffer a bit from the constricted sqaure screen. As far as the RPGs go, I generally don't have the original NES versions. (My life being what it is, the only way I can realistically expect to finish a video-RPG is if I do it on a handheld.) Are there changes between the NES and GB versions of the RPGs, or do they generally make it across unscathed/unshrank/unruined?

[Ze_ro]

A lot of the Gameboy versions were actually completely new additions to the series. Castlevania, Contra, Final Fantasy, Metroid and Super Mario Land for example. Meanwhile, the Megaman games (the earlier ones at least) were sort of a mish-mash of various pieces of the NES games.

--Zero

[Ichi The Killer]

I would also recommend...

The GBC version of Bionic Commando. More of an update than a port.

Also the GBC version of Crystalis a fun "Zelda" like action/rpg.

Both should be cheap these days....




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[Oobgarm]

Hey , the GB version of Qix is actually pretty good, too. ;)

I think a lot of the re-hash complaining is due to the fact that the handheld is capable of much more than porting over SNES games, and most of them are primitive in comaprison to what most gamers these days have played.

I think that most of the earlier GB games were bastardized, but made some large strides upon the release of the GBC. Just my observation.

[calthaer]

I'm actually looking forward to the GBA release of River City Ransom. What a great game!

[Kid Fenris]

There's a lot of moaning about SNES titles being rehashed for the GBA. Was this a common complaint back when NES games were being ported to the GB/GBC?

Sort of, but from what I remember, the most common complaint went something like "the GameBoy Color is so lacking in decent original software* that the only things worth playing are Pokemon and NES ports. By the way, I hate life."

As for the old black-and-white game boy, there aren't very many straight NES ports. Some surprisingly respectable SNES ports, including Donkey Kong Country, came out towards the end of the system's life, though.

*Shantae excepted.


Are there changes between the NES and GB versions of the RPGs, or do they generally make it across unscathed/unshrank/unruined?

The latter, generally speaking. Crystalis is an interesting case, as the remake staff claimed they had altered the last stretch of the game to better reflect the unrealized plans of the original NES title's creators. However, most consider the NES version's finale to be superior to that of the GBC game. It's a great action/RPG either way.