Half-Glass Gaming [Episode 30] : It Terraformed My Body with Battery Acid
We’re a very sleepy group this week, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be flying facts and punishing puns — we’ve got plenty of those to go around!
We begin by walking through Mandi’s video game journal project, which leads into a discussion of Minecraft and the PlayStation Vita’s Remote Play feature. And that kicks off a fascinating conversation about handheld video game consoles. Would you believe we managed to find a non-TV video game system from the 1950s? It may not have been portable, but we’re talking about it anyway.
We’ve also got quite a bit to say about Nintendo’s Game & Watch vs. Milton Bradley’s Microvision, the Game Boy vs. the Game Gear, mobile games vs. modern handheld games, and Japan vs. the United States.
And, of course, we end the show with some very off-topic rambling about Bethesda and Mojang’s legal battle from several years back.
Sit back and relax, because Half-Glass Gaming is here to tickle your eardrums.
Here’s a full list of games mentioned in this episode:
- Minecraft
- Star Wars Battlefront
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- The God of War Collection
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance
- The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
- Fallout 4
- Resident Evil 3
- Star Ocean: The Second Story
- Star Ocean
- Valkyrie Profile
- Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles
- The Swindle
- Hotline Miami
- Wild Arms
- Tiger handheld games (Hook, Double Dragon, Beauty and the Beast)
- Mario’s Cement Factory
- Super Smash Bros. (2014)
- Pokémon HeartGold
- Double Dragon
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan
- Metroid II: Return of Samus
- Kirby’s Dream Land
- Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
- Tetris
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
- Lunar: Walking School/Lunar: Samposuru Gakuen
- Columns
- Lunar: Silver Star Story
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Pokémon
- Call of Duty (series)
- Resistance: Burning Skies
- The Lion King
- Monster Hunter X
- Animal Crossing
- Candy Crush
- Bejeweled Blitz
- Danganronpa
- Uncharted: Golden Abyss
- Uncharted 3: Among Thieves
- Tearaway
- Rockstar Games and Timbaland Presents: Beaterator
- Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
- Scrolls
- Quake 2
- Mario Kart
- Berzerk
- Legends of War: Patton
- Legends of War: Patton’s Campaign
Here’s a list of the game consoles (and accessories) mentioned in this episode:
- Cragstand Periscope
- Nintendo Game Boy
- Nintendo Virtual Boy
- Magnavox Odyssey
- Nintendo Game & Watch
- Milton Bradley’s Microvision
- The Power Glove
- Video Driver
- Nintendo Game Boy Advance
- Nintendo DS
- Game Shark
- Nintendo Game Boy Color
- Nintendo Game Boy Pocket
- Sega Game Gear
- Sony PSP
- Atari Lynx
- Nintendo 3DS
- Sony Vita
- PSP Go
- Super Game Boy
- Nintendo GameCube
Retrovolve Staff
At Retrovolve, we love discussing, studying, and playing retro games, though not necessarily in that order.
Great episode! My favourite handheld systems were the first edition of the Game Boy and the Game Boy Advance. Perhaps it’s nostalgia, but I still find the grey Game Boy to be the most comfortable handheld to use. I saw the Game Boy Advance as the spiritual successor to the Super Nintendo, and I greatly enjoyed all of the ports in its library. I own a Nintendo DS as well. I think it may be my most recent gaming system.
Both of the Game Boys in the pic above are mine, and they both still work. Unlike my SNES, which only plays Donkey Kong Country and nothing else. Sigh.
It IS kind of cool having a dedicated DKC box though, right?
Have you tried replacing the AC adaptor? When I have issues with a retro game console, I find the problem often lies with the adaptor rather than the machine.
I haven’t tried that. When I play DKC, it works perfectly, but I can’t get any other games to load. It definitely doesn’t sound like a common issue.
I was so excited to get a Game Gear as a kid but then it ran out of batteries on Christmas Day. I only ended up owning 2 games on the system but I really loved Sonic Chaos. Its the best 8-bit sonic game by far IMO.
The Game Gear was actually pretty cool. As an original Gameboy owner I was always slightly jealous of the full color GG. But yeah man, the battery situation was rough. I ended up owning one in my later teen years and thought it felt and handled really well.
Man you really like those Star Wars toys, lol. I had that same green Game Boy when I was a kid.
I love them! You’ve barely gotten a peak into the vastness of my Star Wars toy collection.
I can confirm that it is indeed quite vast and imposing. He could recreate many-a-moments from the Star Wars filmography in his living room.
The lack of a backlight on those old handhelds was a killer. It’s hard to get into games when you can’t see them.
Absolutely spot on. I bought a ridiculous light attachment that spiraled over the screen to play it and that was a piece of junk and a pain in the butt. I recall one summer when I was working outside and was trying to play Harvest Moon on my Gameboy Advance and I couldn’t make anything out in direct sunlight because it sucked for that scenario as well.
That’s what’s great about the retro revival and the chiptune mod scene: People actually mod their Game Boys to add back light (along with the better sound output). Though, I don’t possess a modded Game Boy. I just think they’re really cool.
If I could of modded my Game Boy when I was a kid I would of. I always wanted to play it in the car but I couldn’t see. Now I can get handhelds with a backlight but I don’t want to play games in the car because I have to drive.
I like Vita due to graphics and it has some good games like Killzone Mercenaries, Soul Sacrifice Delta, Toukiden,
MotoGP. I don’t know why nobody bought it here.
I was gifted one by my brother. I mostly use it for the occasional gem, but I was disappointed by the laggy remote play feature. Although cross play is pretty cool; but a Gane on the ps4 get the vita version for free.