Damo

@Diogmites Massive respect for the Herzog Zwei love. Absolutely stunning soundtrack.

@Kushan The review cart I have is a NA one and has a plain, printed label on it - so you'd know for sure.

Maybe that version got out in the wild in small numbers somehow?

@Kushan Magazines in the UK were sent a review ROM which had the anime pictures still in place, but the final retail version I played had them removed.

Perhaps you remember seeing the screenshots in magazine reviews, and your mind has filled in the blanks?

I was actually gifted one of the review carts by a games journalist from the '90s, so I can verify the anime portraits were still there.

@nilcam Long story short, it's an arcade standard with replaceable carts, very much like the Neo Geo MVS. It's also very expensive and aimed squarely at arcade operators.

https://exa.ac/en/?v=0f177369a3b7

@Uncle_Franklin There's a huge community behind the Game Boy, not just in terms of modding / restoring / upgrading the original hardware, but creating new software, too. As the recent 35th anniversary proved, lots of people still care a lot about this machine.

@Andee Quite possibly - Jaz Rignall was quizzed on this recently but he had left EMAP by that point.

@RetroGames Probably worth remembering that Leslie was a pretty big name in TV back then, but yeah, he's not ideal casting for sure!

@Hexapus @DanijoEX-the-Pierrot We've tried to keep it limited to one system per entry here, so a vote for KOF 97 basically counts all versions of the game. If we'd have opened this up to every port, the list would have need huge

@mrfield Quite right - thanks for the save, this has been amended.

@bring_on_branstons They got into trouble for selling import Nintendo games and R1 DVDs, is what I heard. I think there are news reports online somewhere

@BulkSlash My Nomad cost £99 fully boxed and mint. So, yeah.

@GhaleonUnlimited From what I've heard, they're a bit of a nightmare to open up and fix / mod.

@Impossibilium Bingo

@JabooMooseKeys As the OCuLink port was referenced in our Flip KB review I didn't mention it here (outside of the spec sheet) but you're quite right, it's worth pointing out - I've added something in.

@-wc- I know what you mean - we've certainly lost a certain something in the shift to capacitive screens when it comes to input. The DS stylus is still a wonderful means of interacting with a touch interface. That's why I still love firing up the 3DS even today.

@-wc- Resistive screens are no longer used on any touch-based hardware, as far as I'm aware, so yes, I would claim the tech is primitive by modern standards. And as for reliability, I have two DS consoles which now have faulty touchscreens; what seems to happen is that dust gets stuck under the edges of the display, applying subtle pressure and thereby registering a touch (or, as in the case of one of my DS Lite consoles, no touch input at all).

Regarding your opinion on the review score, you're perfectly entitled to make that call, but it might be wiser to instead attempt to try out this device first. Yes, it cannot play DS or 3DS carts like a DS or 3DS can, but neither of those machines are capable of playing Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360 or Baldur's Gate 3, as far as I'm aware

@Spider-Kev A) Resistive touchscreen panels are generally less reliable than capacitive ones.

B) The 8840U is more powerful than the 7840U.

C) Yes, that's a typo, it's fixed now - thanks!

D) It has TV-out via the USB-C port, yes.

@JJtheTexan Nope

https://www.timeextension.com/features/an-open-letter-to-tim-and-chris-stamper-founders-of-rare

@ralphdibny That's not mine - it belongs to the Retro Computer Museum in Leicester. Not sure about all the signatures but Simon Butler's is one of them!

@-wc- Thanks! I'm pretty proud of it! There are some amazing custom GBAs out there now, and they're not too expensive, either.

@atrac17 Apologies if this article or any of the others we've posted has led to unwelcome or unpleasant behaviour being directed to yourself on social media; the intention has always been to provide some context to delays relating to MARS.

Launching a piece of hardware is something I don't think I'd ever have the skill, talent or patience to do myself, so I'm very sensitive to people jumping to conclusions when they don't know all of the facts - that was the sole reason for including personal information (which I wouldn't have included had it not been posted to a public social media platform).

I realise TE isn't blocked by the MARS account but by blocking it from your personal account I won't see stuff related to the other FPGA projects you're working on - for example, the WWF core wouldn't have gotten a news story the other day (I assume you blocked the account recently).

I've been on the end of social media hate many times myself and can fully appreciate how difficult it is, but I can assure you TE's intention has never been to create such issues; we're here to report on exciting developments in the world of retro gaming, which MARS / your FPGA work certainly counts as.

@atrac17 Apologies, the information was included here because it offers a valid and understandable explanation as to why the MARS project was delayed. There was no intention to offend, and I'm happy to remove that portion of text from this piece.

Having said that, I hope it's obvious from the amount of coverage we've given MARS (and your FPGA cores) on this site that we're not the "enemy"; blocking us on Twitter simply means we won't have the chance to report on the good work you're doing, which seems a shame to me.

@Diogmites I know what you mean. Just looking at that photo makes me want to grab a polishing cloth!

@KingMike Shadow Dancer on the MS is essentially a port of the arcade game, so we've left it off here. The MD version is a totally new game

I realise there are some inconsistencies with this as we've included the SMS version of Shinobi here as well, but rest assured, it will all make sense in the final list!

@DestructoDisk As noted in the piece, they said it wasn't compatible but it fits my OLED fine. The issue is that the screwdriver included in the package won't remove the screws, so you have to buy another one.

@michaelf I must have missed it! I've edited the review to reflect this. Thanks!

@-wc- Ah yes, the famous "quality over quantity" approach that gave us (check notes) Superman 64, Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue and Blues Brothers 2000

Joking aside, while Nintendo's strategy, in the beginning, was (reportedly) to focus on a smaller group of developers (the ill-fated "Dream Team" - that was a marketing dud if ever you saw one - Acclaim? Gametek?!), I don't think there's a single person who was at the company during this time that would tell you with a straight face they were happy with the level of third-party support the console got during its entire lifespan.

I mean, look at the pathetic number of RPGs on the machine – the genre that is basically the difference between success and failure in Japan.

There's definitely a case of "reframing" that narrative in this interview to make out that it was all part of Nintendo's masterplan, when we know for a fact that developers hated carts and were sick of paying the massive fees to manufacture them.

@VeldinX This was a mistake, we've corrected the piece. Apologies for the confusion

@BulkSlash Doh, I've added that in!

@JJtheTexan We picked PlatinumGames as it was the role he seemed to be the most proud of (and certainly the most high profile), but point taken - I've edited the headline.

@KingMike He means the 2021 VCS.

@Diogmites @madgears @somnambulance The rankings are based solely on user votes. These will likely change over time - you can even change them right now by voting for your favourite games

@Poodlestargenerica It's definitely not one of their best songs but that is often the way with a lot of bands, I find. I still love the song myself; it's dumb but technically quite clever.

@-wc- @Poodlestargenerica I take your point, but this is literally a puzzle game in which you can jump from platform to platform, so it's perhaps the purist example of that definition

@-wc- We actually submitted a question about that (the lack of analogue control) after the initial batch of replies came in, and will update this piece when we get an answer.

@L-Sand Thanks for making a game which has sucked up all of my free time!

@N00BiSH That's the best response to one of my comments I've seen in a LONG time, so bravo!

@N00BiSH Most people's point of reference is going to be the DS though, the world's best-selling clamshell device (and the best-selling handheld console ever).

@vidjagames That's the plan - watch this space! 😃

@Razieluigi Nobody, and that's the issue; they burned through all of the pre-order funding and are now looking to leverage what assets they still have (games, the controller) to generate more capital so they can actually create the console people paid money for four years ago.

I think it's obvious by now that that isn't likely to happen.

@-wc- It said news because our content is either news, features or reviews - those are the established categories when we built the site. I've tagged this 'random' to make it clearer though.

@Razieluigi Doh, that has been fixed - that was my bad!

@-wc- Not everything covered on this site is news; we do light-hearted pieces, too, of which this is obviously one.

I thought it was pretty obvious by now that we're not a typical news site

@Nua You are 100% correct, fixed!

@Nontendo_4DS Marble Madness and Arch Rivals are both ports and not original Rare games, so they aren't included in the list.

@Tasuki Software Creations handled that port.

@metak @KingMike @Poodlestargenerica This list is by no means definitive and we'll update it with some of the suggested games - although Tetris is staying because I think it's a great version

@MontyCircus Precisely!

@Poodlestargenerica Lists based on the opinions of the many rather than the opinion of just one person seen more accurate to me, but thanks for the feedback regardless. I'll take it in to account!

@MARl0 @BlaizeV The list is based on user votes, so it will change over time. Tekken 5 is low because it wasn't in our database prior to this list being created; if you want to see it move higher, vote for it and you'll change the running order.