GBA Carts That Vibrate

I wanted to write about this topic for some time now. Actually, I had an old blog that I am going to shutdown soon. I decided to carry over some of the posts that I think are going to be interesting.

One of these posts is a one that I take apart GBA games to see what’s inside them. I had the hobby of taking things apart, whatever that is. Remote Control cars, game consoles, and game carts. Later on, Game Boy Advance, and previously Game Boy Colour had carts with vibration functions. I really did like these. At the time, they were cool and fascinating. More of a technological marvel. Having a game that reacts to your actions in the game is amazing, especially for a handheld game.

Below is a great GBA game that I still own. Drill Dozer. It is a platform game in which the hero rides a drill vehicle. The play progress through the levels by driving enemies and objects. There are also various upgrades to the drill pit that the vehicle has. This allows the player to progress to even more levels.

The interesting thing is that, as you drill; the cart vibrates. As you upgrade the drill pit, the vibration increases. Sounds interesting, and personally, I thing the vibration adds more depth to the game.

Personally, If you have not played this game, go now and get it. At least download and emulator and its rom and play it. Just don’t keep the rom after 24h after downloading it as it is illegal if you don’t own the game cart. This game along with two other GBA games have this feature. The other games are Wario Twisted and Yoshi Topsy-Turvy.

Another interesting cart is the DS Rumble Pak. It was released for the Original DS. It also came bundled with Metroid Pinball. But it wasn’t that great. It added little depth. Personally, I went with a third party Rumble Pak. It was much better.

I remember playing Hotel Dusk with third party Rumble Pak. It was an excellent game and the Rumble added much to the experience.

later when the DS lite got released, they released a smaller version that would flush with it small design. It sucked as its bigger brother, the original DS version.

Aside from Hotel Dusk and Metroid Pinball, there were few games that supported the Rumble Pak on the DS, 51 to be exact according to Wikipedia. Among them is Hotel Dusk sequel, Metorid Prime hunters, Space Invaders Extreme, Tomb Raider: Underworld, among others.

Overall, I loved the concept of having a vibrating cart in a handheld video game. Sadly, Nintendo did not implement this in their 3DS handheld game console for some strange reason that I don’t know what it is. Probably battery issues, or maybe build issues with the DS. Not sure.

Zelda Breath of the Wild

Me and Games: 

It’s been a while since the last time I played a Zelda game. The last Zelda game that I played in recent years was Zelda: A Link between two worlds on the 3DS. It was an amazing game. It brought the thrills of a Zelda game, yet it felt new and familiar at the same time.

Now, I just received my own copy of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for Wii U. I picked the Wii U version because I own the console. Also I am not a fan of playing it on game pads. I like my controllers to be small, so I am using game controller pro.

I am yet to grab a Nintendo Switch. It seems that I will wait for a bit longer before getting it. Not because it is not available in the stores right now, but due to not having enough time to play video games these days.

I used to play games all the time during my childhood. I kept playing games until I got to college when things changed a bit. When I got into college, the first two years, I was bad at time management and thus had little time for hobbies including video games. In addition to this, I picked up new hobbies such as hanging out with new people. Not just this, but school was just taking so much out of my time that I had little time for myself. After the second year, I figured out how school works and managed my time well. I had time for video games and pretty much everything else.

In any case, let us get into the New Zelda game. Just to let you know, I am just few hours into the game, but I completely sucked in.

The Feel of a Zelda game:

The game looks different than any Zelda game that I played before. The Hyrule is now an open world that you can explore in any form of shape that you like. It is a departure from older Zelda games, in which you had a bit of freedom to explore, but in a much liner way.

You will find many similarities between this game and older Zelda games in some elements such as weapons, Dungeons, and puzzles. You still have bombs arrows, and swords.

Hyrule is still similar as before, but now, it is much more expansive and huge. It feels much more realistic. For example, now when you get close to a mountain, you climb on it like a real elevated landscape. Unlike Zelda Ocarina of time in which the mountain has a liner path you go through. 

What is Different now: 

The first thing you will notice is the voice over. Now there is a narrative voice that adds a little depth to the game.

The second aspect of the game that you will notice is the futuristic feel to it. The game has many places that look futuristic because the locations uses some ancient technology. You will see the bright xenon light around the dungeons which is really pretty.

Does it worth it?

Yes. Unlike Zelda Skyward Swords, I find myself completely immersed in the game. I can’t put the controller down. I want to play a little bit more and explore the next dungeon. Just like Zelda: Ocarina of time, Everything feels fresh and exciting. The graphics, the sounds, and characters and the gameplay.

I feel that Nintendo did the right thing when it decided to follow this path for the game. I revived older elements from older Zelda games, but changed pretty much everything else.

My advice, don’t get the Nintendo Switch version, get the Wii U version why? because it is going to be collectable. With the Nintendo ending the Wii U production and it is getting much rarer to find these days. I thing the Wii U version will also be printed in limited quantities. Thus it will fetch much higher price in the near future.