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Game Boy inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame

by Xav de Matos { Nov 6th 2009 at 6:00AM }

Nintendo's most iconic foray into the handheld gaming market is finally being recognized as "an innovator" that "changed the way people play electronic games" by being inducted into Strong National Museum of Play's Toy Hall of Fame. Among twelve finalists, the Game Boy joins the Big Wheel and the ball to be added to the list of important cultural toys.

Yes, the ball is just now being inducted into the hall of fame, meaning Nintendo's handheld made the cut in two decades, while the ball had been clawing for a spot since the days of Ancient Egypt. In your face, Ozymandias.

[Via Go Nintendo]

ESRB rates Castlevania the Adventure ReBirth for Wii

by Griffin McElroy { Sep 13th 2009 at 3:30PM }

It's been over a year since we last heard rumors of a re-Vamped Castlevania installment on the WiiWare service -- now, a new ESRB listing has rekindled the flames of conjecture. The board recently gave a Teen rating to Castlevania the Adventure ReBirth for the Wii -- as you may have noticed, it shares the suffix applied to the similarly renovated Gradius ReBirth and Contra ReBirth, both of which surfaced on Nintendo's download platform this year.

According to the ESRB rating, the game will finally deliver the "side-scrolling action" which classic 'Vania fans have been clamoring for. If it's based off the Game Boy title of the same name, our only request is that they smooth out the game's unscalable difficulty curve. To this day, we're not sure that game has a second level.

Rumor: Downloadable Game Boy and GBA games as DSiWare

by JC Fletcher { Mar 23rd 2009 at 4:45PM }

According to a secondhand report from one of last night's GameStop Club Nintendo DSi preview events, Nintendo is planning to release Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games as downloads in the DSi Shop. According to Kombo's "man on the scene," only first-party Nintendo titles will be offered at first.

Other details from the event: Apparently, North American DSiWare includes three pricing levels: free, 500 Points, and 800 Points, which differs from the Japanese model in that there's no 200 Point category. The event seemingly confirms the Mario and Animal Crossing calculators for North America as well, though both of those are in the 200 Point category in Japan.

Of course, like all news that comes from something heard at GameStop, take this with as much salt as you can find.

Gallery: Nintendo DSi

Game Boy Pocket mod lets the games continue after dark

by David Hinkle { Jan 5th 2009 at 5:00PM }

Michael "Bibin" Moffitt had a dream. He imagined a world where a man could enjoy Tetris on his Game Boy Pocket in a dark room, without the need for odd peripheral add-on devices or, uh, a lamp. As you can see above, Michael decided to mod his Game Boy Pocket with a backlit screen.

It's not the most impressive mod in the world, but we have to give the man credit where it's due. He set his mind to something, and he did it. Almost makes us want to get back to that stamp collection we've neglected for years.

Gallery: The best (and worst) handheld mods

Someone put a damn unicycling llama on their DS

Where once there was beauty, there now lives despair

[Via Engadget]

DS shipments surpass Game Boy Advance

by David Hinkle { Oct 30th 2008 at 4:44PM }

The DS has been quite the success for Nintendo since it released. So successful, in fact, that shipments for the handheld worldwide have bested that of Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, as the DS has shipped 84.33 million units by the end of September 2008 (GBA lifetime shipments come in at 81.36 million units). Impressive, sure, but there's still higher places the handheld can climb on Mt. Awesome Accomplishments.

While besting the GBA record is noteworthy, the record still goes to the original Game Boy, which has done 118.69 million units. This figure includes the Game Boy Color, as well.

Virtually Overlooked: Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters

by JC Fletcher { Oct 16th 2008 at 4:30PM }

IGN's Matt Casamassina couldn't stop hinting at a new Kid Icarus game before this year's E3. Even after Nintendo's presentation came and went, Kid Icarus-free, the rumors and Casamassina's insistence had us convinced that Nintendo was just going to spring it on us at any moment; an announcement would come over the loudspeaker on the show floor or something.

In the absence of a new Wii Kid Icarus sequel, I'd be happy to play the other Kid Icarus sequel, Of Myths and Monsters, released on the Game Boy in 1991. As a bonus, it's guaranteed not to be a terrible 3D reimagining.

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What is Art Style: Orbient? Watch and find out

by David Hinkle { Sep 29th 2008 at 2:33PM }

The Nintendo Channel updated with fresh videos today, most important of which is a gameplay video showing off Nintendo's new WiiWare title, Art Style: Orbient. Our own JC noted that the title looked a lot like Orbital, a Bit Generations game for the GBA. Sure enough, it is!

Head past the break for some gameplay footage of Nintendo's new game.

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DS Daily: Remembering our old friend, the GBA

by David Hinkle { Sep 10th 2008 at 9:00AM }

It's been awhile since we thought about our dearly departed friend, the GBA. It burst on the scene and gave us an amazing Castlevania game, then got itself redesigned to the awesome GBA SP you see above you, complete with brighter screen and awesome clamshell design. Then we got the ... GBA Micro.

What fond memories do you have of your GBA? What was your favorite GBA game to play? What model did you have? Did you hold onto it after you upgraded to a DS?

Watch the Blip Festival documentary free for one week

by Kevin Kelly { Aug 20th 2008 at 3:00AM }

One of the most surprising films in the sort of "Holy crap? What the heck?! This is cool!" vein to come out of SXSW film festival earlier this year was Blip Festival: Reformat The Planet. It's all about chiptune music and the performers, and is beautifully shot. It's hard to imagine Nintendo thinking people would be hacking into their Game Boys in order to create full-fledged concerts, concerts that would one day spark a feature documentary and an entire genre of music.

For one week, you can watch the impressive documentary at Pitchfork.tv. It's even broken up into bite-sized chapters for you. Give it a looksee and you'll find yourself toe-tapping along to the addictive 8-bit music throughout the film. It's beaten Wizard Rock as our current favorite geek music of choice.

[Thanks, Eliot]

Which Nintendo system favored third-party publishers the most?

by David Hinkle { Jul 29th 2008 at 6:00PM }

You would think DS, no? That's exactly what we thought, as the handheld is home to more amazing third-party games than any other console in recent memory, but that is not the case. It turns out, the SNES was the best Nintendo console for third-party publishers. Who would've known?

Keep in mind, though, that this is merely based on Aeropause's own evaluation and may not be representative of how much money publishers made on each system, or the quality of the titles they released on said platform. It's more or less based on an article in the latest Nintendo Power where the staff ranked their top 20 games for each Nintendo system.

What do you all think? Which Nintendo system had the greatest batch of stellar third-party titles in your eyes? We're going to stick with DS. It seems like a no-brainer to us.

A trip to the dentist becomes a treat thanks to the DS

by David Hinkle { Jul 14th 2008 at 2:45PM }

One dentist practice is pioneering a new, better way to handle folks stuck in the waiting room. As seen above, courtesy of flickr user tarabrown, the choice between magazines and some sweet handhelds is available to folks who find themselves waiting on their dentist. No word in the way of what games are available, but this is just an all-around great idea.

Seriously, for how cheap a DS is (or an original GBA, for that matter), we imagine a practice could just snag a copy of Brain Age and Nintendogs and have their waiting room content and at ease while they, uh ... wait. Might help with those few who become pretty irate when forced to park it in the waiting room.

According to Tara, the practice is run by one Dr. Jade Kim and located in Seattle, WA. You can check out the website right here. Apparently, the DS had Mario Kart DS in there. Awesome!

Top 5: Things We Won't See at E3

by Kaes Delgrego { Jul 14th 2008 at 2:00PM }

This week sees the commencement of E3, the Super Bowl for gamers. On Tuesday, Nintendo will announce all of its big plans for the rest of the year, sending fanboys and fangirls alike into a frenzy. And while others choose to give us predictions of what we will see, here is the much more important information: things that we won't be seeing.

5. The Game Boy Ultra - Around the time that the DS was first announced, Nintendo made a point to clarify that the new dual-screened portable was more of a "third pillar" than the next installment in the Game Boy line. But then the DS started printing money ... lots and lots of it. Regardless, in an effort to stay true to their word (as they always do), Nintendo will unveil the Game Boy Ultra. The sleek handheld will feature a small but crisp widescreen display showcasing wonderful GameCube-esque graphics. In fact, it will be backwards-compatible with all GameCube games, using the same 8cm discs as Nintendo's last-gen console. Also, similar to the PSP's remote play, the Game Boy Ultra will connect to the Wii and allow data transfers to an SD card. This will allow Virtual Console and select WiiWare games to be played on the go. And since Nintendo plans to keep DS owners in agony by not announcing New Super Mario Bros. 2, they will reveal that the Game Boy Ultra will ship packaged with a free copy of Super Mario Bros. Ultra.

Survey Says: Not necessary; Contra 4 removes the need for any other portable game or system.

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You can take it with you: Nintendo handheld retrospective

by Alisha Karabinus { Jul 14th 2008 at 11:00AM }

Tomorrow is the big day -- Nintendo's E3 2008 media briefing. Will there be a new DS? A new handheld altogether? A new array of DS Lite colors instead? Nearly anything is possible, and while we wait, bouncing up and down on our toes and struggling to remember to breathe through the excitement, it's a good time to look back at the history of Nintendo's handhelds. From the extensive Game & Watch collection to a few portables you may have forgotten, Nintendo has a rich and storied handheld history, and it's one we celebrate every day -- just not like this.


		Step forward into the past

Two Tribes reveals original title ReWind

by David Hinkle { Jul 9th 2008 at 2:45PM }

If you're not familiar with Two Tribes, then you haven't ever played Toki Tori or Worms: Open Warfare 2. Aside from the game's recent release on WiiWare, it was also available on the Game Boy Color. They also did a game on the GBA called Three Tribes.

But, we digress. This new title, which is nothing more than some concept art right now, promises "a unique gameplay experience" in an on-rail shooter. Two Tribes also says that the controls will be accessible, as "average players will be able to complete the game while seasoned players will be motivated to go for higher scores and completion rates."

Gallery: ReWind

[Thanks, psyborg!]

The DS Life: Out of habit

by Eric Caoili { Jul 2nd 2008 at 10:00PM }

Though we try to keep our praise of public property vandalism to a minimum, there are some instances when we can't help but clap in our seats, humorless, like Orson Welles in Citizen Kane. This week's edition of The DS Life is one of those instances, our subject being a magnificent bit of street art spotted in Darmstadt, Germany and photographed by Joachim S. Müller. Say ten Hail Marys and bring yourself past the post break for the photo.

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