[Sketcz]

New to the VB club, and thanks to Vintex64’s super awesome FlashBoy+, I’ve been able to sample all the retail games besides those I actually own.

There’s not much VB chat on other forums since it’s kind of a niche console, but I wanted to talk about the library and get other views, etc. I saw a guy on Reddit ranking all the games, and disagreeing with pretty much everything he said, I thought I would try the same.

So let’s chat about the retail library (including games like Bound High and Faceball, which were in development, never released, but then leaked). How would you rank them? What do you agree or disagree with?

My favourite games are Bound High, Jack Bros, Space Squash, and Red Alarm. In fact I interviewed the guy who made it. LINK

I was very surprised in the Reddit thread to see that some people hated Red Alarm? He put it in D tier, while another user said it was S tier. This difference in POV intrigued me. For me it’s a showcase title. Beautiful wireframe graphics, great use of 3D, cool easter eggs, nice controls, maybe a little too difficult?

Panic Bomber I put low because while it’s good, I’d rather play it on a console in colour. It’s why Wario Land is only A tier, since it could have been on GB (I still love it though), and why I have zero interest in the homebrew stuff like Hyper Fighting. Space Squash and Bound High use the VB’s potential, a lot of games are just kinda beefed up ports.

Like V-Tetris, which the Reddit guy rated as S tier. It’s basically just plain Tetris. I played it a million times on a million systems. Other versions also have better gimmick modes. Tetris 64’s Giga Tetris variant is fantastic. Mode C on V-Tetris is… kinda OK? The rotating arena thing. I keep making accidental lines and then getting penalised with a long piece in the background. I just got bored super fast. I can play Tetris elsewhere without feeling ill and disoriented after.

Teleroboxing is just stupidly hard. I read the manual. I read a guide. I watched a walkthrough. I couldn’t beat the 3rd opponent. Hard pass.

Biggest surprises? Virtual Fishing is relaxing and looks like I’m fishing in a child’s toy diorama, with little cut-out scenery. Makes me think Paper Mario would have been excellent on this. Also Waterworld, which is a surprisingly OK score attack game. It supports 9 players! Someday I’m going to find 8 other people, I’m going to sit them down one at a time, give them two aspirin, and force them to compete in a 9-way tournie. It’ll be amazing (until I get arrested for kidnapping).

B and C tiers are kinda interchangeable. Sometimes I get a craving for Mario Clash, even though it’s generally irritating to play.

For me Jack Bros is an overlooked star due to its price and rarity. There was one puzzle, where you went down a level, then warped back up, and had to look through the layers to find the key room below to fall down into it. This was a great use of the 3D. It also feels polished, with an intro, distinct levels and bosses, and proper ending. A lot of VB games are just shallow score attack or sports games. This is a proper “game” like Wario Land.

What are everyone else’s favourites / least favourites? Have I just not given enough time to a specific title?

Please share your own tier rankings! You don’t have to divide them like I did – I just like the symmetry.

• This topic was modified 3 weeks, 2 days ago by Sketcz.
• This topic was modified 3 weeks, 2 days ago by Sketcz.
• This topic was modified 3 weeks, 2 days ago by Sketcz. Reason: removed a link
• This topic was modified 3 weeks, 2 days ago by Sketcz.
• This topic was modified 3 weeks, 2 days ago by Sketcz.

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Crazy that you have interviewed the lead programmer of Red Alarm!
I wonder which demos he had played: “…. but I believe the unit was the size of a small desktop computer, with that black box connected to it by a wire. It came with a number of demos…”

I haven´t play all of the games yet, but my ranking so far:

S: Wario Land
A: Red Alarm, Bound High
B: Mario Clash (with save patch, which saves the progress after every cleared stage), Jack Bros., 3D Tetris, Vertical Force, Galactic Pinball, Faceball Remastered, V-Tetris
C: Space Squash, Innsmouth no Yakata, Teleroboxer, Virtual Fishing, Mario´s Tennis, Virtual Golf (with save patch)
D: Waterworld, Panic Bomber, SD Gundam
E:
F: Virtual League Baseball

We have similar tastes I see. I’m playing a retail copy of Mario Clash, and I think if it allowed saving of level progress, or allowed one to access levels above 40, it would rank higher. I’ve been playing so far by only moving on to the next level after completing the old one. I’m up to level 25. I suspect that once I hit level 40, I’ll lose interest having to restart every time. Did the VB community ever discover a code for Mario Clash to access later levels? I’ve seen some online but they don’t work? Maybe using a debugger one can find a cheat code hidden with the game code? The code to erase scores in Galactic Pinball was discovered quite late.

Space Squash: this low ranking caught my attention. What about it didn’t appeal? At first I didn’t like it either, until I realised you had to manually charge up your special move. I was playing and relying on collecting power ups. Bosses were impossible since you need to select homing shot, and then basically charge it up every time. Once I started doing that it clicked.

I’m currently really enjoying fishing. The stage in the woods made me think: the VB would have been well suited to a survival horror where you’re running through the woods, trying to hide from a maniac. In that fishing level I sometimes take a moment to look at the diorama style cut-out trees (I love how it resembles a theatrical stage set), and imagine such a game. No combat, just moving from tree to tree in first person, hiding from an enemy moving just beyond in the darkness. Innsmouth is a survival horror and works well with the red screen.

Another game which would have worked well would have been a submarine game. Gundam almost gives that feeling – like you’re a ship commander viewing the field of combat. But I’m thinking more along the lines of Polar Rescue on Vectrex. It would even be wireframe like Polar Rescue / Red Alarm.

Alas, the 22 (24) retails games are all we have, in addition to the few homebrew games coming out.

Anyone have that Battle Zone clone? Where can you buy the carts? It looks nice, but how close is it to vanilla Battle Zone?

[abarth]

Yes, there is a 99-level-hack for Mario Clash. The first entry when you check for Games –> Mario Clash –> Downloads on the planet virtual boy site.

Regarding Space Squash: I don´t like the fact that you literally only have 4 recurring enemies, that every path you take is nearly the same and that it doesn´t save. The latter one has at least been overcome by a save patch, which I have now as physical copy.

Yes, Fishing is really great! I like the fact that every fish requires a different time to press the button to be caught. And that it saves your stats and catch records 🙂

You mean Virtual Warzone? I have it, you can get it from Retroonyx: https://www.retroonyx.com/product-page/virtual-warzone-cib
It is quite good, with save feature and good 3d-effect. I personally find the dashboard of your tank a bit too big, which reduces the 3d world down to just a half of the screen or so. But it is recommendable.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 2 days ago by abarth.