Cartoon Capers on the GameBoy Advance
I've always loved watching cartoons as both a child and an adult. One thing that I began to realise when I started my love affair with retrogaming was that a lot of cartoons became computer games, but very few managed it successfully. I decided that there must be good conversions out there somewhere and where better to search for them than the hand held GameBoy Advance. Do the characters look like the cartoons? Is there any game play to be had at all? I've actually been pleasantly surprised!
So here are my exploits so far, concentrating mainly on the first level/tutorial of the games.
So here are my exploits so far, concentrating mainly on the first level/tutorial of the games.
From A - M
Aladdin - This is such a great game on every system it came out on, Aladdin has such great fluidity of movement and the little touches of humour are a great edition. The main character is certainly recognisable. My only gripe with this game is how easily you run out of lives other than that this captures the spirit of the cartoon completely.
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American Tail - Fievel's Gold Rush - Not a film I'm familiar with but this is a nice platformer , kill things by throwing your hat , collect gold and find pieces of a map. Nice story section at the start , lots of things to jump on . Atmospheric graphics , music I expect could become a tiny bit annoying, but lovely controls on this.
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Antz Extreme Racing - Pleasantly surprised by this game, it handles quite well, the graphics are a little bit iffy in places but if you've got a youngster in the house who isn't quite at the age for Mario Kart and you want something a little bit cuter this one fits the bill. There are power ups and speed pads to drive over. Quite a nice junior karting game with lovely background graphics.
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Asterix and Cleopatra - Oh dear, basically it's a Golden Axe clone, it's very monotonous, the background makes you a little bit sea sick . I'm afraid this one doesn't really work for me. But if you are mad on Asterix and love Golden Axe, here's your game!
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Asterix & Obelix - PAF! Them All! - Excellent characters on this game, you can certainly see who they are meant to be , game play is a little bt frustrating in places , but plenty of lives and energy given to encourage you to carry on. No tutorial on this one either , but it is a gentle learning curve.
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Avatar - The Last Airbender - A brilliant little game that reminds me of Tombraider on the GBA. Lots of exploration , ability to talk to other characters and also objects to push out the way. Character graphics are great and the game music is excellent as well. If you like the cartoon/movie of this you are certainly going to love this game. Even if you aren't familiar with the cartoon there is still lots of game play to be had here.
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Babar to the Rescue - One for the younger gamer, the first level has lovely illustration, though I would argue even for a youngster the game play is a little boring, unfortunately the second level has much more jerky graphics, although still recognisable as Babar it is a strain on the eyes.
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Barbie Horse Adventures: Blue Ribbon Race - Isometric controls means your horse behaves just like a real horse and hardly ever goes in the direction you expect . Other than the controls it's quite a nice game with mini games to be earnt along the way and the chance to customise your horse. But I'm afraid those controls don't do the game any favours!
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Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus - If you have a very young gamer in the house into Barbie dolls this is perfect ( everyone else stay away!) . It's everything you would want from a Barbie game, it's pretty , has lots of pink and a corny storyline. But, and here's the shocking thing, there is actually a passable game hidden away in here, simplistic, but for a youngster just learning a gamepad , this would be excellent. Shocked to admit it....but quite impressed with the design of this!
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Barbie: The Princess and the Pauper - Yet another brilliant Barbie game! Character swapping to get tasks completed , with just enough tutorial to not spoil the gameplay, beautiful graphics , nice storyline , lovely controls , perfect for the young gamer who is in to Barbie, great little game.
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Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree - Really wasn't expecting to like this , but for the younger player it's great. Each bear has different skills and you need to swap bears to get to the end of each level. Graphics are good , music is very cute , plot has a little scare factor as well.
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Cabbage Patch Kids: The Patch Puppy Rescue - This really surprised me, I was expecting something really quite , well, naff, but this is GOOD ! Rescue the puppies, but it's a nice platformer with mini games built in. Background graphics are really beautiful. If you've got a youngster who is in to dolls, this is the game. Great little game.
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Care Bears - the Care Quest - Think of it as a tool kit to get the very young used to gaming, or to help co-ordination skills. Lots of mini-games ,with not the best animation, very limited actual game play and not the best graphics. But if you've got a youngster mad on Care Bears and you want to encourage them to go gaming, here's your game.
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Cars - Quite surprised to discover this was quite a nice racing game , quite fast controls and the initial levels are quite easy, the characters are recognisable and it gives you nice arrows on the screen to show which bends are coming up. Very playable, especially if you like racing games.
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Chicken Little - On the plus side it has a tutorial system for the first level, but it is a tad difficult to see what you are meant to do when the character giving the tutorial stands on top of your character , annoying sound effects abound, good gameplay , but it can get frustrating on the second level when it does seem bits get left out of the tutorial. Better chicken games are available!
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Chronicles of Narnia - Quite a nice tool to get a reluctant reader in to the book is about all I'm willing to say about this one. Game play is slow , it's very wordy. Some fighting and pushing rocks and snow around. If you like the books this game is a nice addition, but otherwise it's a bit of a slow one.
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Cinderella Magical Dreams - Actually although aimed at young gamers, this is really a great little game, avoid the obstacles, carry out tasks to open the gate to the next screen, increases in difficulty vey slowly . The graphics are really lovely and the sound track is very Disney. Slightly ashamed to say I played this for quite some time!
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Disney Sports - Motocross - Another game I wasn't expecting too much of, but watch out this one can become addictive. Lots of tricks to perform , boosts and gems to collect and handles really well. Not as cute as I was expecting, you'll be pleasantly surprised!
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Dora the Explorer: Super Spies - I really want to say this is a nice educational game for the younger gamer, but it's just very slow and very wordy in both English and Spanish. The controls are a little too laggy and I just can't see it holding a kid's attention span for very long .
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Fairly Oddparents - Shadow Showdown - The graphics are very much in keeping with the cartoon and you are able to swap characters to utilise other skills, but the tutorial is a tad on the confusing side and the character is rather good at falling off of ladders. This does become quite annoying very quickly. The game itself I'm afraid does feel a little bland as well.
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Finding Nemo - Really wanted to like this one, but it's probably that little bit of inertia on the controls that annoys me, the characters are nicely animated and it gives nice tutorial instructions at the beginning, but for me it as a little too annoying on the control front to continue with.
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Flintstones - Big Trouble in Bedrock - Graphically lovely...but I need to see more of the screen , incredibly limiting not to be able to see what you are jumping on to. Unfortunately that one small thing just completely spoils the game for me , such a shame as this game looks so incredibly nice!
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Flushed Away - Quite a nice large graphics game, kill slugs and flies, the first stage is based in the kitchen and the backgrounds are lovely. The tutorial is nice and simple to learn and the graphics do resemble the film. Found myself strangely addicted to this one!
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Garfield and His Nine Lives - It certainly looks like Garfield. Each level feels almost like a mini game, different themes to keep the player guessing and some great music. The only downside is there is very little typical Garfield humour, but a great game which gradually ramps up the difficulty.
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Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss - This is a fantastic game for the younger player, so full of colour and bits of the book to read out. Turn based but the GBA plays the second player if you are alone. Board memory game but with brilliant , colourful and easy platformer stages. Visually stunning, great fun!
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Happy Feet - Sometimes you just can't get on with a game, it's got nice graphics, it's fairly true to the film, but for me there's just something missing. It could be the relentless background music, the first stage at least has no change in colour at all. It could be the sheer amount of text in the game. Even allowing for this to be designed for younger players it just seems to lack something.
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Heidi- Oom-pah...oom-pah, lots of oom-pah music and flower collecting, whistling at wild animals and an interesting and slightly annoying control system . I can't really imagine any child being entranced by this, perhaps that's a sign of the times but it might make an interesting tool if you were trying to get the child to read the novel, perhaps?
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Ice Age - Please make it stop ....the backgrounds are nice. That is sort of a mammoth , it does have a small child on it's back. It's interesting. Not something I will personally be coming back to play again. But if you like collecting nuts this is a game for you.
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Ice Age 2 - Now this is a far better game than the first one, it's engaging straight from the first level, lots of exploration and a nice puzzle solving element which becomes apparent very quickly. The graphics are much better than the first game and controls are really nice on this one, pleasantly surprised!
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Inspector Gadget: Advance Mission - Swap between three characters , no long winded tutorial, a few dodgy graphics here and there but still quite a good little game. A nice platformer with some exploration thrown in, pleasantly surprised by how good this one is!
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The Jungle Book - Quite a basic exploration game , spoilt by those puzzle levels (in my opinion ) , you actually find yourself avoiding the wolf cub that wanders around triggering these puzzles. Has got nice music though and the introductions do look like the characters , the in game characters possibly not so much!
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Lion King 1 1-2 - One of my favourite games I've found since I've been doing this project, graphically great, great soundtrack, controls are spot on . Lots of game play, swap characters to achieve different parts of the level. Nice short levels so very little frustration. I can't really find any negative criticism for this game at all .
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The Little Mermaid - It's for younger players, so be warned it's full of cuteness , however the game play is slightly annoying , with all the moving bubbles around to get the treasure out the holes. The backgrounds are nice but there is something very log like about the way Ariel swims. I just feel that the star of the game needs a bit more detailing to her.
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Madagascar - Another good game, different characters to play, each with their own skills, swap between them to solve tasks. Nice graphics that actually look like the characters. Nice easy tutorial ( apart from the Melman part which is a little tricky) . If you loved the film , you will definitely like the game.
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Madagascar Operation Penguin- Go play this game it's brilliant. Graphics are nice and bright, easy learning curve, very much in the spirit of the characters. Had me hooked pretty much right away. Can't find anything negative to say about this one, another cracker!
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Masters of the Universe - Another game I wasn't expecting too much of, but to my surprise I spent quite a bit of time here, the main sprite is recognisable as He-Man and all the characters are there. It controls really well and has a real exploration angle, it made me happy anyway!
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Monster House - This plays very much like the 'Zelda' games , it didn't really grip my attention I have to admit. I found it quite cumbersome to control and it just seemed to lack excitement. The graphics did try and capture the characters but again it just seemed to be lacking in depth. Not one I will be returning to I'm afraid!
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Monsters, Inc - I am a great fan of this movie, so I was really surprised by how good this game is, characters are easily recognisable, plot is influenced by the film but not a direct copy of the script. Nice controls , plenty of exploration , found this to be great fun ( but then again I loved the film!)
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Muppets- Licence to Croak - Lots of text in this game, but the game play (when it happens) is really smooth with lovely graphics. But what I really do love about this game is the high quality music. The game itself is nice and simple for younger players and carries the Muppet humour very well.
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Muppet Pinball Mayhem - Great music, nice graphics and really lovely ball physics. Really do like this game, the flippers sound nice and heavy and there seems lots to do. Another high quality Muppet tie in game.
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Barbie as the Island Princess - Another great collection of mini-games to get a youngster used to controlling a Gameboy, beautiful graphics, lots of positive encouragement and a really nice relaxing vibe to this one.
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