Day 35 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Pokemon Red and Blue

Like many other 10-12 year olds in the late 90's I was sucked into the Pokemon craze that pretty much dominated the gaming landscape. The marketing campaign was extremely aggressive with dedicated magazines being published long before the game arrived, TV adverts were playing constantly throughout children's viewing hours and not to mention the cartoon series itself. Nintendo spared no expense to make sure that every kid knew Pokemon was on the way, and with the UK release in time for Christmas, Pokemon Red/Blue was guaranteed to be beneath most trees on Christmas morning.

I remember picking up the magazines before the game had hit the shelves, looking at all the monsters I could collect and it seemed so awesome. Assemble a squad of monsters, train them up and then trade and do battle with your friends. No matter where you turned there were kids glued to their Gameboy screens, unaware they were also walking billboards advertising Nintendo's cash cow.

I got Pokemon Blue (my sister got Red), in Christmas 1999 and I had beaten the Elite Four by New Year and collected every Pokemon by August 2000. My starting Pokemon was Squirtle and the last Pokemon I had to catch was Tauros and it was a pain in the arse, I must have spent months trying to capture one before I succeeded.

A friend of ours went to a Pokemon event to receive Mew, the special 151st Pokemon that could only be obtained by attending a dedicated event, but my sister had figured out the Pokemon duplication glitch so we made a Mew army. I still remember the looks of disbelief when showing up to battle and having 6 Mew's in my squad.

Do I still play Pokemon? Not really.

I have picked up the other games in the series, including Pokemon X, but due to the sheer number of Pokemon to catch I think it's just become insane. 151 Pokemon seemed manageable but I haven't got the time to be hunting over 700 of the bloody things. And personally I don't think there's been much innovation to the series as it's progressed, Pokemon X is the first in the series to be in true 3D, but it wasn't as much of a game changer as I hoped it would be.

Who knows, maybe I'm just getting older, but I still have the fond memories of being a victim of the most ruthless advertising campaign in gaming history. ^_^

Day 27 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Weird Games

The reason why hunting for games 'in the wild' is more fun when compared shopping on eBay, is because you never know what you're going to find. One of the things that I enjoy discovering is bootleg or hacked Gameboy titles as they come in all shapes and sizes. I mainly encounter dodgy Pokemon titles when I look around flea markets, but then there's the strange specimen in the photo above.

Super 150 in 1 is just a bunch of popular Gameboy titles crammed onto one cart; it features Super Mario Land, Pac Man, Alleyway, Lock and Chase, and many more. It doesn't actually contain 150 games however, as the programmer has cheekily added the previous titles at different points in the game; for instance if you wanted to start Super Mario Land on the final stage the option is there. What makes this special though is the extraordinary design of this game.

When plugged into a Gameboy it sticks out like a sore thumb, as it's two Gameboy carts stuck together, but the designer was thoughtful enough to include a reset button at the top so you can switch games more easily. 

This is by far the strangest item in my collection, let me know yours in the comments and I'll be back tomorrow with more Happy Gaming Days.  

Day 15 out of 100 Happy Gaming Days: LSDJ

Little Sound DJ is a music workstation intended for use with the original Nintendo Gameboy. The software was developed by Johan Kotlinski and is designed to make full use of the audio capabilities of the Gameboy and is used by many chiptune artists.

There is a slight learning curve due to the whole piece of software being controlled by the Gameboy's 4 buttons and a D-Pad, but if you persevere for a few hours you should be able program a piece of classical music with relative ease. Included is an in-depth sequencer, arpeggiator, a nice selection of samples from various drum kits samples from machines such as the TR-808 and the ability to sync two Gameboys via link cable for added polyphony. 

Obtaining the software isn't too difficult, just wander over to the LSDJ website and pay for a license to use LSDJ. This however, only gets you the file as Johan no longer flashes the ROM onto Game Paks, so you'll need to find someone offering this service unless you know how to do this yourself. I used kitsch-bent and they were awesome, got the cartridge over to me very quickly for a reasonable fee.

Alternatively you can use plugins like the Magical 8bit Plug from YMCK, that can be used with most popular DAW's, or Rhythm Core Alpha 2 on Nintendo eShop for 3DS which is pretty much based on LSDJ and is a great title to have installed on your console for when you're feeling creative.