Metroid reissue for GBA

[Graham Mitchell]

This could be very old news, so please lock and delete the thread if necessary.

So, I just got the Metroid NES classics reissue for Gameboy Advance for dirt cheap. I figured I could use a version of Metroid with a battery backup, right?

Well, I admit I've only given it about 5 minutes, but it seems that Nintendo seriously dropped the ball on this one. The colors are wrong. Everything looks too flat; it's like there are certain colors that the game just isn't displaying. On top of that, the sound is a little screwy (the footsteps, especially), and it seems to run a tad bit slow.

Am I crazy? Is there something wrong with my cart? What are your thoughts on this?

[Icarus Moonsight]

I think the graphical/display issues are in the conversion from TV to the GBA screen (resolution and aspect differences). The sound differance may be in the emulation... close but, not exact. That's pretty much all I can think of.

I noticed the same issues in the GBA Castlevania... the sound was not so obvious, though I haven't tried it with headphones and the GBA speaker isn't all that great. The graphical knocks are present... but, I can look them over cause well... I'm playing Castlevania anywhere and everywhere I want... and that is, a good thing. :)

[Tanis178]

don't feel bad, i've had the same type of probs with classic nes series zelda, walk into a room in a dungeon and the frames drop so bad you need to kill everything on screen for it to run normal again lol

[Scream And Fly]

Really? I have both games and they seem to play perfectly on my DS. My only complaint was the slightly 'squished' look due to the GBA resolution.

[Tanis178]

it's rather odd, and ironic that even the GBA rom of zelda has problems as well

[Graham Mitchell]

It must be just resolution problems, then. I'll have to take it to my friend's house; he's got a Gameboy Player on his 'Cube. We'll give it the ol' acid test.

Ironically, I bought Metroid Zero Mission at the same time. Guess what game is included on the Zero Mission cart making my purchase of the NES Classic reissue totally worthless? I had no idea. That's what happens when you buy used.

[Ed Oscuro]

The sound differance may be in the emulation... close but, not exact. That's pretty much all I can think of.
It's not emulation, exactly...it's the blasted GBA sound hardware, which relies on an odd combination of the original GB/GBC's sound channels and then that noisy, "fuzzy" sounding PCM. The GBA's sound system isn't actually "bad," even though the results very often are; it adds RAM to the classic channel 2 and adds two new Pulse Width Modulators and a number of BIOS features...in theory you can run a pretty good-sounding digitized sounds through the hardware, but the quality of digitized music is limited by cartridge space and possibly something else.

As for the NES port on Zero Mission...I guess you must not've played all the way through the game, which is a shame as it's the best version of the game, in my opinion.

Back to the original topic, I also noticed (sifting through screenshots) that Castlevania and Mario got the axe treatment as well; it was like they're simply chopping every third line of graphics.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Oh at least it's not as bad as the Metroid NES that was included on "Metroid Prime" as a bonus feature...It hurts my eyes from the blurr...makes me wonder who was in charge of that emulation...

[Graham Mitchell]

As for the NES port on Zero Mission...I guess you must not've played all the way through the game, which is a shame as it's the best version of the game, in my opinion.


The NES port on there is the best version? Or the Zero Mission part is the best version? I'll tell you what, I'm playing Zero Mission right now and I absolutely love it. I have to finish it all the way through before I can definitively say this, but I think it almost may be better than the original (blasphemy, I know). It's a phenomenal game, and I can't believe I didn't grab it when it came out last year. It has totally screwed up my study schedule. LOL

[MrRoboto19XX]

Im with you Graham, except even moreso.


It is my opinion that Zero Mission is the best Metroid game released.

Yea, thats right . I said it.[/u]

[Graham Mitchell]

Im with you Graham, except even moreso.


It is my opinion that Zero Mission is the best Metroid game released.

Yea, thats right . I said it.[/u]

The music is what really seals the deal for me. They got the music right. The music is crucial in a Metroid game, and in my opinion, that's where Metroid Prime screws up--it just sounds like every other current-generation game. It's not appropriate for the atmosphere that I think they were trying to create. But Zero Mission remixes those old tunes and does a bang-up job. It really must be played with headphones.

That darn Brinstar theme is incredible in the new version. I went around singing it for 2 days.

[Ed Oscuro]

The NES port on there is the best version? Or the Zero Mission part is the best version?
Zero Mission, of course.

Gotta have to disagree with you on Metroid Prime...I hadn't heard music *quite* like that in a game before, and I am pretty sure there wasn't anything like that before the current (er, previous? dc/ps2/gc/xbox gen here) generation of consoles. Granted, Phendrana Drifts uses a canned sample set that pretty much makes the music, and the exact same set was used for Ninja Gaiden (Freeze Up, off the OST), but they did get there first. The overworld theme still sounds unique to me.

All that aside, yeah, Zero Mission has great music...actually I felt some of those tracks to be more generic (the pirate section in particular), but it's still great stuff.

[klausien]

Was playing through Zero Mission and did the same thing. Bought the Classic NES version without knowing about the unlockable original, but that's fine with me. I will probably complete the Classic NES collection someday.

Also thought the same thing about the port. "Wow. The emulation sucks on this." I could care less really, as I have the NES game if I want the purest experience, but it is odd that Nintendo dropped the ball a bit on the Classic NES series. I hadn't been too critical before, but Metroid has all kinds of graphical glitches and sound issues. I was playing this afternoon and actually saw a blue door stuck in a wall. Just, WOW. This is why I resurrected the topic. It is egregious, but again, it is still cool to have a relatively faithful, battery-backed version.

As a final note, I too don't see what Graham Mitchell is talking about in terms of the Metroid Prime music. The liquid action of the rearranged title theme, as well as the gorgeous new agey take on the old Brinstar theme in the overworld both blew me away and took the aesthetic experience to godly levels out of the gate for me. Still haven't made the commitment and made it through the game though. :/

[Kitsune Sniper]

Aw come on, at least Nintendo -tried- to do somewhat acceptable emulation on the GBA... unlike Hudson, who just ripped off PocketNES (a FREE GBA emulator), repackaged it, and released various compilations on it - some titles include the Nekketsu (River City Ransom) series of games and Adventure Island. The emulation flickers A LOT, at least from what I've heard, and the text tiles are pretty much unreadable.

Zelda II plays fine. The squished resolution sucks, of course. And Metroid on Zero Mission is okay, though not perfect. I wish there were savestates or something...

[Satac]

Aw come on, at least Nintendo -tried- to do somewhat acceptable emulation on the GBA... unlike Hudson, who just ripped off PocketNES (a FREE GBA emulator), repackaged it, and released various compilations on it - some titles include the Nekketsu (River City Ransom) series of games and Adventure Island. The emulation flickers A LOT, at least from what I've heard, and the text tiles are pretty much unreadable.

Zelda II plays fine. The squished resolution sucks, of course. And Metroid on Zero Mission is okay, though not perfect. I wish there were savestates or something...

River City Ransom EX is not emulated, it's a real port:
NES:
http://www.racketboy.com/blog/rcr.jpg

GBA:
http://down.skyhu.com/update/Emu/GBA/Screenshots/1301-1400/1400.png

BTW: PocketNES does a better job emulating than Nintendos Emu. It has savestates, allowes you to switch between different scaling techniques, autofire and a sleep mode.

[calthaer]

He must not be talking about the same thing, because I don't believe Hudson didn't do the River City Ransom EX remake - Atlus did.

Although that remake has no multiplayer coop, hurting it terribly IMO.

Also have to disagree on Metroid Prime's music - I liked it. Not quite as "in-your-face" catchy as the old Metroid, but still quite good. I thought the entire game was well-done - at the time I played it, it felt like I was rediscovering something magical.

Zero Mission was also quite good. Here's to hoping that they remake Metroid II and make it also as good - that game got VERY slow in some parts, but was overall worthwhile, I thought.

[jajaja]

Although that remake has no multiplayer coop, hurting it terribly IMO.

Are you sure? Its been a while since ive played it, but im positive the game have linking feature.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Aw come on, at least Nintendo -tried- to do somewhat acceptable emulation on the GBA... unlike Hudson, who just ripped off PocketNES (a FREE GBA emulator), repackaged it, and released various compilations on it - some titles include the Nekketsu (River City Ransom) series of games and Adventure Island. The emulation flickers A LOT, at least from what I've heard, and the text tiles are pretty much unreadable.

Zelda II plays fine. The squished resolution sucks, of course. And Metroid on Zero Mission is okay, though not perfect. I wish there were savestates or something...

River City Ransom EX is not emulated, it's a real port:
NES:
http://www.racketboy.com/blog/rcr.jpg

GBA:
http://down.skyhu.com/update/Emu/GBA/Screenshots/1301-1400/1400.png

BTW: PocketNES does a better job emulating than Nintendos Emu. It has savestates, allowes you to switch between different scaling techniques, autofire and a sleep mode.

I'm NOT talking about the port. I hope I don't get yelled at for linking to a rom information site...

2103 - Kunio kun Nekketsu Collection 1 (http://releases.pocketheaven.com/?system=gba&section=release&rel=2103)
2201 - Kunio kun Nekketsu Collection 2 (http://releases.pocketheaven.com/?system=gba&section=release&rel=2201)
2339 - Kunio kun Nekketsu Collection 3 (http://releases.pocketheaven.com/?system=gba&section=release&rel=2339)

Anyway, there's a bunch of GBA releases which seem to use Pocketnes. More details at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PocketNES) and at Pocket Heaven's forums (http://www.pocketheaven.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=3541).

[rbudrick]

I wish Nintendo would remake Metroid 2 (the GB title). I found the game very drab, as ever section looked identical. It was not nearly as fun the original, and I found the game a chore. If they did the old Zero Mission treatment on it, it could probably be a really good game, but as a Metorid game, it's so 'blah' it almost feels like a "pirate original."

-Rob

[Perkar]

I wish Nintendo would remake Metroid 2 (the GB title). I found the game very drab, as ever section looked identical. It was not nearly as fun the original, and I found the game a chore. If they did the old Zero Mission treatment on it, it could probably be a really good game, but as a Metorid game, it's so 'blah' it almost feels like a "pirate original."

-Rob

amen. to this day this is the only metroid game i simply cannot play. i probably logged about an hour into it, and gave up for all the reasons you just mentioned.... i just couldn't get into it.

a "zero mission" update would definitely be welcome.

[Graham Mitchell]

Wow, literally everybody I've spoken to in real life agrees with me about the Metroid Prime music. It could be that we all think Super Metroid is probably the greatest video game ever designed, so we're a bit biased. But we have no problem with the GBA soundtracks. Hmm. To each their own ;)

[InsaneDavid]

Hey Kitsune Sniper (or anyone that knows), could you please help me out by giving me a translation / phonetic English adaptation of what this game is (http://www.startoursinfo.com/junk/DP-unknowngame.png)? I came across it on a pirate multicart a while back and wanted to pick up the official Famicom standalone cartridge - but have no idea as to the name and haven't been able to find it.

Thanks!

[Kitsune Sniper]

Hey Kitsune Sniper (or anyone that knows), could you please help me out by giving me a translation / phonetic English adaptation of what this game is (http://www.startoursinfo.com/junk/DP-unknowngame.png)? I came across it on a pirate multicart a while back and wanted to pick up the official Famicom standalone cartridge - but have no idea as to the name and haven't been able to find it.

Thanks!

Downtown - Nekketsu Koushin Kyoku - Soreyuke Daiundoukai.

[InsaneDavid]

Hey Kitsune Sniper (or anyone that knows), could you please help me out by giving me a translation / phonetic English adaptation of what this game is (http://www.startoursinfo.com/junk/DP-unknowngame.png)? I came across it on a pirate multicart a while back and wanted to pick up the official Famicom standalone cartridge - but have no idea as to the name and haven't been able to find it.

Thanks!

Downtown - Nekketsu Koushin Kyoku - Soreyuke Daiundoukai.

Much thanks!! :D

[calthaer]

Although that remake has no multiplayer coop, hurting it terribly IMO.

Are you sure? Its been a while since ive played it, but im positive the game have linking feature.

Absolutely positive. The game DOES have a linking feature, but all this does is allow you and a friend to exchange "characters" - so that your friend can be your NPC sidekick in your game, and you can be the NPC sidekick in his / hers.

But there's no multiplayer simultaneous coop like the NES version has.

[asharru]

Although that remake has no multiplayer coop, hurting it terribly IMO.

Are you sure? Its been a while since ive played it, but im positive the game have linking feature.

Absolutely positive. The game DOES have a linking feature, but all this does is allow you and a friend to exchange "characters" - so that your friend can be your NPC sidekick in your game, and you can be the NPC sidekick in his / hers.

But there's no multiplayer simultaneous coop like the NES version has.


agreed, I was sorely dissappointed to discover this.

[c0ldb33r]

...I'm playing Zero Mission right now and I absolutely love it. I have to finish it all the way through before I can definitively say this, but I think it almost may be better than the original (blasphemy, I know). It's a phenomenal game, and I can't believe I didn't grab it when it came out last year. It has totally screwed up my study schedule. LOL
I was never really into the original (crazy, I know).

How closely does the zero mission re-release parallel the original? Are map items/sequence similar? identical?

[Blackjax]

In a general way, it follows the original story, but it adds a TON of stuff

Things added and/or changed

- In-Game storyline
- many things changed to match Super Metroid
- tons of new areas
- new items added - i.e. being able to have the Ice beam and Plasma(wave) beam at the same time
- some stuff moved - for instance the ice beam is in Norfair instead of Brinstar
- the Space Pirates are actually in the game
- the game continues from where the original ends.... and i'll shut up on that point to avoid spoilers

Yeah, they changed a bit LOL

[GrandAmChandler]

I am going to move this to Modern Gaming since it is a GBA title.

Moved.