With speed-up boosters in the track, ramps to hit and that iconic energy lane to recoup lost HP, this is the pure F-Zero gameplay that gamers have loved for over 30 years now. The game looks even better on GBA, thanks to a new parallax layer in the floor graphics, making it look like the track is raised above the city beneath. The 360-degree rotating track surface allows you to turn around and go backwards around the circuit, which blew gamers’ minds on the Super Famicom back in 1990. GBA has long been said to be essentially a handheld SNES and that’s never more apparent than playing F-Zero on it. Turns out it was actually good after all. And being able to actually see its graphics now on a backlit screen having formerly sat directly under my bedroom light just to see the thing on the original GBA is literally a revelation.
#WHAT ARE THE BEST GAMEBOY ADVANCE GAMES PC#
With voice samples in its music, 60fps gameplay and a charming ’90s PC Desktop UI, there’s loads to like here. With transparency effects abound, a wealth of weapons mirroring Mario’s arsenal, and some familiar(ish) Konami characters including Solid Snake, it appears to have been a labour of love for the development team. They weren’t disappointed, and the game remains a true showcase for the hardware.
Known as Wai Wai Racing in Japan, this was available at launch for the console, so a lot of gamers picked it up, essentially hoping for a handheld Mario Kart. Running smoothly even with loads of cars on the screen, this is a tour-de-force for the system and still very playable. Very clever, and an effect used in Codemasters’ other racer, Colin McRae Rally 2.0.īut what’s cleverest of all is the car handling, which manages to simulate inertia, which is particularly evident if you venture onto the grass, resulting in the finest spins on the system, complete with animated window reflections as your car spins in front of you. The game even manages to simulate reflection effects on wet tracks and leave dry lines and skid marks behind cars by changing tiles on the track surface. Real-world tracks including Sugo, Monza and the Red Bull Ring (here the A1 Ring, of course) are drawn with Mode-7 style flat tracks, only there are 3D elements too, like barriers at the side. This is arguably the most realistic racer on the system and certainly among the most ambitious. Imagine if 16-bit Virtua Racing had texture mapping – that’s how this looks. Utter craziness, but I just love that this exists. Just don’t try playing it in link-up, as you can overtake your rival on your screen yet not be ahead on theirs. It also sounds incredible, with versions of the Saturn version’s tunes. To say it’s rough is a massive understatement it’s a complete shambles visually, with ultra-pixelated visuals thanks to low resolution rendering – the kind that allowed Doom to be ported to the machine.īut, amazingly, once you get used to the visuals (and work out which car is best), there’s a really good Time Attack game here, and the battery back-up and ghost mode mean there’s always something to beat. Let’s be completely honest here: there should never have been a conversation about trying to port Sega Rally Championship to GBA, but here it is. I love it.īut what racing games should be playing on such wonders? Or indeed, even on original hardware in all its dim-screen glory? Let’s take a look. I’ve done both, but currently only have the latter – a wonderful ‘Prestige Edition’ Game Boy Advance, which features original circuitry made new thanks to a super-bright and high-refresh backlit screen, a new louder speaker, replaced buttons, new shell and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for USB charging. You can (get on the waiting list to) buy an Analogue Pocket to play original carts on state-of-the-art modern hardware, or you can buy modded original hardware from companies like RetroSix. Thanks to the burgeoning retro/modding scene, Game Boy Advance has been enjoying a bit of a revival of late.
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