Latest news with #GameBoyAdvance
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kojima has a mind tomb: a USB stick filled with ideas for his staff to use after he dies 'kind of like a will'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. As a 31 year old, I think constantly about my imminent death. After being assassinated by terrorists while rescuing a baby who is also the president from a burning building, how do I want people to remember me? Fortunately, my contract stipulates that I will be embalmed and lie in state like Lenin in the centre of the PC Gamer offices until the end of time, but others don't have that luxury (we're short on desk space as it is). Hideo Kojima, for instance, is achieving immortality by cramming a USB stick full of ideas for his staff to use after he concludes his tenancy on Earth. In a chat with our comrades at Edge magazine, Kojima said a serious illness during the Covid-19 pandemic reminded him of his mortality: "Until then, I didn't think I was old, you know? I just didn't feel my age, and I assumed I would be able to create for as long as I live." Sickness disillusioned him of that. "I couldn't create anything. And I saw lots of people around me passing away at that time. I was confronted with death." Though Kojima recovered and is now full-swing on putting out Death Stranding 2, the experience stayed with him. He began to wonder how long he had left to keep doing creative work—"Perhaps I would have 10 years?" It's that confrontation with mortality, says Kojima, that produced the pitch for Physint, but it produced something else, too: a USB stick filled with Kojima-brand ideas for his staff to pore through after he's gone. "I gave a USB stick with all my ideas on it to my personal assistant," said the man himself, "kind of like a will. "Perhaps they could continue to make things after I'm gone, here at Kojima Productions… This is a fear for me—what happens to Kojima Productions after I'm gone. I don't want them to just manage our existing IP." To be honest, I can't think of anything more Kojima than games still coming out with his name over the title sometime in 2150. If anyone deserves this kind of intellectual preservation, it's the guy who got a Game Boy Advance game made with a solar sensor built into the cartridge. You reckon the idea for a game where you get old, die, and forget how to move is on there? Hopefully Kojima's assistant backed it up, in any case. 2025 games: This year's upcoming releasesBest PC games: Our all-time favoritesFree PC games: Freebie festBest FPS games: Finest gunplayBest RPGs: Grand adventuresBest co-op games: Better together
Android Authority
06-05-2025
- Android Authority
Miss the GBA SP? This new handheld will fill the clamshell-shaped void
TL;DR Anbernic announced the RG 34XXSP, a new handheld inspired by the Game Boy Advance SP. A follow-up to the RG 35XXSP, it now has sticks and perfect 3x integer scaling for GBA games. No word on pricing yet, but tariffs may prevent retro gamers in the US from buying it. Anbernic has been mostly quiet this year, with only one new retro gaming handheld so far in the powerful RG 557. Today, the company announced the Linux-based RG 34XXSP, a Game Boy Advance SP clone with a few significant upgrades from its predecessor. The video above is all the information we have so far, but judging by the name, it's a clamshell version of the RG 34XX from last year. That device was the spitting image of a classic Game Boy Advance, with a 3:2 screen that enables perfect 3x integer scaling for GBA games. The RG 34XXSP will use the same screen and will likely use the same H700 chipset. Compared to Anbernic's previous GBA SP clone, the RG 35XXSP (yes, it uses a bigger number), the RG 34XXSP has one more significant design change: joysticks. There are now two small inset joysticks tucked at the very bottom of the device, which may improve compatibility for certain systems. For example, the screen enables 2x upscaling of N64 and PS1 games, which should be more comfortable to play with sticks. However, there will be thin black bars on the sides, and they kind of kill the GBA vibe. The RG 34XXSP has perfect 3x integer scaling for GBA games, plus two sticks. The new devices also have new colorways, with different buttons for each one. The video above shows four unique colorways: Yellow, black, retro gray, and GameCube purple. They aren't quite a match for the original GBA SP colors, and the translucent options from its predecessor are nowhere to be seen. It competes with the likes of the Miyoo Flip, which has a similar GBA SP design with two added sticks. However, early adopters of that device have reported frequent squeaky or broken hinges, which is something to look out for in the RG 34XXSP. We still don't have pricing or availability for the RG 34XXSP, but if it's like its predecessor, it should be around $50. However, the company has halted direct shipments from China to the US due to tariffs, except for products already in its US warehouse. The situation may improve before launch, so stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Metro
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Nintendo reveals reason for Switch 2 summer launch and it sounds a bit weird
Nintendo has explained the rationale behind the Switch 2's release date, but the actual reason might be more complicated. If the Nintendo Switch 2 is a somewhat predictable upgrade, one of the more surprising aspects of the console is its summer release date. Video game consoles are traditionally released in the run-up to Christmas or, like the original Switch, somewhere around March. However, the Switch 2 is set to drop on June 5, 2025, when most people are thinking about visiting the seaside rather than Mario Kart tournaments. But it turns out, Nintendo is hoping to take advantage of that, and that the Switch 2 will be a companion on your summer escapades. Or at least that's the official reason… When asked in an interview with NPR about the Switch 2's June release date, Nintendo of America president, Doug Bowser, said: 'We like to think that the year is a year and that there are no specific time frames when you should or must launch video games. And so, as we looked at the games that we had prepared and ready to launch with the hardware, we thought June was a very good timing. 'It's the start of the summer season, and obviously, with a Nintendo Switch 2, you have a device that you can both play at home and play at home docked like a gaming console, or you can take it out of the dock and take it on the go. So it's a perfect game for summer travel.' While this feels like a thin reason to base an entire launch strategy around, Nintendo has some history with releasing hardware within the same timeframe – specifically with handhelds. The Game Boy Advance launched in Europe and the US in June 2001, while the original Game Boy arrived in the US at the peak of summer on July 31, 1989. The latter date was an anomaly though, with the system launching in Europe and Japan in September 1990 and April 1989, respectively. While it's nice to think Nintendo is concerned about your downtime on your flight to Spain, the actual reason is probably more complicated. Rumours last year claimed the Switch 2's launch was pushed back to bolster its launch line-up, and Nintendo has been open about stockpiling enough units to meet demand – so it's perhaps more likely these factors contributed to the summer release date. More Trending There's also the looming presence of GTA 6, slated to come out in autumn 2025, which might have been another consideration in Nintendo's launch plans for the console. Nintendo likely don't know when it'll be out, but everyone can be pretty certain it won't be early June. Despite these preparations though, Nintendo is already struggling to meet demand. The company has apologised to customers in Japan for 'failing to meet expectations', after 2.2 million people signed up to a pre-order lottery on the My Nintendo Store. In the US, meanwhile, Nintendo has warned it might not be able to guarantee delivery on June 5, for those who have registered interest through Nintendo's website. Many retailers across the UK and Europe have sold out already as well, although stock does seem to reappear sporadically. You can check out the best places to pre-order here. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered price cut already available for PC MORE: Games Inbox: Is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 GOTY 2025? MORE: The secret to how I pre-ordered a Nintendo Switch 2 bundle – Reader's Feature
Forbes
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Lunar Remastered Collection Review: A Modern Classic For JRPG Fans
LUNAR Remastered Collection Lunar has always been one of the more interesting JRPG franchises out there. Everyone who played them seems to remember them quite fondly whether it be the original Sega CD releases, or the remakes across Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and PSP. But despite that fandom, they've been out of reach for modern audiences for decades even with so many re-releases. Until now. Finally, it's easy to say that Lunar is a must-play for any JRPG fan. For those unaware, Lunar: The Silver Star, the first game in the series, debuted on the Sega CD peripheral for Sega Genesis back in 1992 (or 1993 in North America) featuring high-quality CD-ROM sound, full motion anime-style video cutscenes, and lots of voice acting. For the time, it was revolutionary. The sequel, Lunar: Eternal Blue, was released on Sega CD as well in 1994 (or 1995 in North America), and pushed the CD format even further in all areas with a more mature storyline and even grander adventure. If you really want to trace the lineage and timeline of the series you can totally do that, but let it be known the first game has been ported and remade a ridiculous number of times and each version has its own brigade of defenders. For the sake of clarity, this collection focuses specifically on the PlayStation versions of both games dubbed Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete. In my opinion, these are the best and most balanced versions. LUNAR Remastered Collection With the Lunar Remastered Collection, we're finally getting both games together for the very first time in widescreen, at higher resolution, with remastered audio, new voice acting, and a few quality-of-life improvements like the ability to speed up combat and customize auto-battle parameters. Additionally, the classic versions of both games are also included, so you can play those versions instead if you really want to. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder All in all, this is a very solid collection that modernizes the games in subtle ways without stripping away what made them feel special. All too often remasters and remakes of games from this era dramatically change things, but that wasn't the approach here. In fact, unless you look at the two versions side-by-side, you'd be hard-pressed to spot major differences beyond the widescreen resolution and a few visual flourishes here and there. To me, that's the trademark of a great remaster: it looks precisely how my memory thought it did all along, while also still sticking true to the core of its identity. LUNAR Remastered Collection Even though the games are just loosely connected, I recommend starting with the first game. Not only does it take place first chronologically in-universe and in terms of the actual release order, but Lunar 2 also generally builds on the first game's mechanics and presentation so it would feel like a step backward to play the original afterward. Thankfully, both are wonderful adventures with incredible music, gorgeous visuals, and charming characters so you can't go wrong. The first game is the shorter of the two with a slower ramp-up narratively, so it's a solid entry point in that regard as well. You take on the role of Alex, a young warrior who dreams of being a hero like the ones from the stories he's always heard growing up. He's from the same small town as Dyne, one such legendary warrior, and what begins as far-fetched fantasies eventually become a reality as you're thrust into an epic world-spanning story full of danger and heroism. What I like most about the first Lunar game is that it feels like JRPG comfort food. There's a wonderfully animated cinematic introduction with excellent music, a cozy small-town introduction, and a wide cast of characters that each feel distinct and opinionated. To put it to a specific example, near the start of the first game you set out on your adventure but eventually turn back home due to the children being too scared to carry on. Every now and then you're reminded these heroes are very young and they don't mature overnight. I really appreciate the small little touches like that because, when you consider the time period this game was released in originally, the amount of lore detail, dialogue depth, and character progression was relatively unheard of even in the RPG genre. It's a pretty by-the-numbers hero's journey for the most part, but keep in mind it was originally released in the early 1990s and admittedly is part of the early wave of games that established the very tropes we all know and expect. In the sequel, things get underway immediately and overall it's a slightly darker story with a more mature tone. There are still moments of whimsy with some silly jokes, as expected, but it feels like the target audience is a little bit older than the first game. LUNAR Remastered Collection Lunar 2 takes place 1,000 years later as you take control of a new main character named Hiro with a fresh cast of characters aiding him in his journey. Once you meet Lucia, you get mixed up in her mission to stop an evil being from destroying the world. There are a handful of returning locales, characters, and other elements that tie the adventures together in some surprising ways. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it feels like one continuous game by any means, but together they're an engrossing collection of games absolutely worth playing for any fan of JRPGs. While there are a handful of great quality-of-life changes like being able to speed up battles by up to three times speed, I would have liked to see a little more work in this department. For example, characters tend to repeat themselves in combat. A lot. And speeding up combat does not speed up the voice lines, so you're going to hear Luna sing her, 'La la, la la laaaaa' jingle after every spell over and over and over again for dozens of hours. Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice and beautiful melody, but I would have loved being able to turn that off or something. Combat in Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete Remastered On the one hand, I love that they've made it extremely easy to automate and speed up all of the simple fights and grinding that happen in games like this because it certainly helps sidestep a lot of the tedium. But on the other hand, it begs the question of why this sort of game design was ever popular in the first place. If the developers feel the need to provide a way to shortcut through a massive chunk of the game experience to the point that I can watch TV while mashing auto-battle over and over to progress to the next plot point of interest, is that content really compelling in the first place? I'm not sure I know the answer to that question because, as I said, it's a lot like comfort food to me. Longtime fans of JRPGs often enjoy mindless grinding, or at the very least don't mind it very much, so it's not fair to use Lunar as a soap box since it's far from being one of the worst offenders. The fact of the matter is that you can zip through most fights extremely quickly, the animations and music are fantastic so it's a pleasure to witness even on 4x speed, and all enemies are visible during exploration with zero truly random encounters, so it's not a massive intrusion. But it's still worth noting that if you never liked the frequent fighting and grinding of old-school JRPGs, consider that even though it's alleviated a lot here, those elements are absolutely still present. At least the grinding requirement isn't bad at all. You can mostly critical path your way through both games with little trouble, only needing to stop and grind before a boss occasionally. Combat in Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete Remastered Lunar Remastered Collection doesn't change a whole lot about either game mostly because it doesn't need to. Since this collection is based on the PlayStation versions, which were already remakes of the original games, it had a great foundation to build from. As far as I've seen all of the dialogue is identical, despite the actual voiceovers being new, and many elements still feel fresh even all these years later. To that point, the anime cutscenes in both games are absolutely superb. With a little bit of upscaling, they look sharper than ever and add so much depth and complexity to the narratives. It's worth noting that, as far as I am aware, not many JRPGs have this amount of quality animated cutscenes like this—even today. Fully rendered 3D cutscenes of course take center stage in many modern JRPGs such as the Final Fantasy series and event-driven dialogue scenes are the norm in most other franchises, and then you might get a handful of animated cutscenes as very rare treats in a few other games, but the Lunar series is really in a class of its own in my opinion. Each game features over an hour (if my math isn't wrong?) of fully animated scenes which may not seem like a lot, but when you realize each scene is quite short and spread out across the entire game, it feels like you get at least a few scenes per play session. It's almost like a little reward for progressing the main story, especially since many of the game's biggest moments are included in these animations. Don't skip the fantastic songs or sections with actual lyrics! I am careful about throwing around recommendations like calling something a must-play, but I genuinely believe that if you're a fan of JRPGs, especially the early to mid 90s era of roleplaying games, then you truly owe it to yourself to experience Lunar despite the ways it can show its age at times. Neither of these games will feel groundbreaking to play when measured against modern RPGs and they do require a bit of grace and nostalgia for the time period to fully appreciate, but even outside of all that they have a secret sauce that's difficult to replicate. What Lunar lacks in gameplay complexity it more than makes up for in wonderful animations, captivating characters, and riveting music. You'll absolutely feel the surge of excitement as you set out on these adventures, letting the whimsical charm sweep you away. Prior to the Lunar Remastered Collection, I had not played either game in well over two decades, but I still found myself looking up the introductory animations and various music tracks for background sounds while working. These are the kinds of games that stick with you and you'll remember them for a very long time. Platform: PlayStation 4 & 5 (Reviewed), Xbox One & Series X|S, Switch, PC Developer: Ashibi Co., Game Arts Publisher: GungHo Online Entertainment Release Date: April 18th, 2025 Price: $49.99 Score: 8/10 Disclosure: A representative on behalf of publisher GungHo sent me a download code for an NA digital copy of Lunar Remastered Collection on PlayStation 4 (played on PlayStation 5) for the purposes of this review.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
I loved the Nintendo Switch, but the Switch 2 looks like every other console now: A worse PC with a few exclusive games
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. I'm a PC evangelist through and through, but there are a few consoles that have stolen my heart over the years: The Game Boy Advance, the GameCube, and, in 2017, the Nintendo Switch. After skipping out on the 3DS and Vita, it reminded me how magical portable gaming can be. The Switch transmuted some hand-me-down mobile/tablet tech from the mid 2010s into a gaming juggernaut through singular hardware design and great games. The Switch made me excited about Nintendo again, an enthusiasm that has steadily dwindled once more in the face of the company's belligerence toward emulator developers and out-of-touch, consumer-unfriendly practices like subscription-based emulation of its classic games library. I don't know what the company's follow-up console could have been other than an iterative upgrade to the original Switch, one of the greatest successes in its long history, but on watching Nintendo's debut presentation for the console, I found my worst fears for it were realized: The magic is gone. The original Switch gave me something I couldn't find anywhere else in 2017, while the Switch 2 joins the most recent two generations of PlayStation and Xbox consoles in failing to offer anything I can't find in more open, PC-based platforms, save a smattering of exclusive games—the stick of console exclusivity rather than the carrot of a truly desirable device. When the Switch 1 launched, Nintendo was an extreme underdog whose hardware business was in jeopardy. It released a handheld console into a market with virtually no competition, with some wondering if dedicated handhelds were on their way out in the face of smartphone gaming. Much like how tablets failed to kill the PC in the early 2010s thanks to their inability to match or exceed PC functionality, it turns out phones aren't a one size fits all solution for on-the-go gaming. Mobile gaming is the largest segment of the industry today, but on the back of experiences tailor-made for a touch interface. Console or desktop-style games curdle in the face of that awful little touchscreen controller facsimile you always see, and attempts to port triple-A games to new iPhone models that lap the Switch several times over in terms of processing grunt continue to flop. Thanks to its USB-C dock, the Switch found a unique niche as a sub-par home console and superb handheld. With the recent flowering of handheld PCs, spearheaded by Valve's Steam Deck, the Switch 2 is launching amid much stiffer competition. I have no doubt that a Switch 2 sales "failure" would still dwarf the entire handheld PC market in terms of units sold, but as a critic and enthusiast, the product doesn't, well, enthuse me. Nintendo's first party games aside, the promise of on the go, triple-A gaming on the Switch 2 sounds just as compromised as on PC handhelds. The Switch 2 distinguishes itself from the competition with a thin, svelte frame, and even though it's an LCD, its 120hz HDR screen sounds like it could trade blows with the category-leading Steam Deck OLED. Otherwise, though, Nintendo seems to be hitting the same hard limits with current tech as handheld PC manufacturers. The quoted battery life of two to six and a half hours is standard in the field, and its 256 GB onboard storage only sounds impressive in the face of the original Switch's downright miserly 32. In terms of graphics and gaming performance, early reports remind me of the original Switch: Some truly dark wizardry with the hardware from first party Nintendo devs, with third party standards upgraded to "passable" from the original Switch's dreadful, muddy ports. I can't deny I'm impressed by Retro Studios' 4k 60 fps (or 1080p 120 fps) work on the gorgeous Metroid Prime 4, but that will surely be as much of an outlier as the Metroid Prime Remake's perfect 900p 60 fps on the original Switch. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reported from a Switch 2 preview event that Cyberpunk 2077 ran at 40 fps in its performance mode while docked—superior to its Steam Deck performance, but handheld would be more of an apples to apples comparison, and this figure doesn't inspire confidence. Nintendo's first party games aside, the promise of on the go, triple-A gaming on the Switch 2 sounds just as compromised as on PC handhelds: The games will look and run "fine" while rapidly chewing through your battery. But I've never seen taking worse versions of graphically intensive new (or six month to five-year-old) games on the road to be the true draw of the Switch or PC handhelds. For me, there were three pillars to the Switch's appeal: Nintendo first party games, ports from the Xbox 360 era or prior, and indies. The Steam Deck is a superior machine for handling the latter two categories, and I've rarely dusted off my Switch in the past few years except to enjoy Nintendo's own offerings. I recall waiting for months for ports of Dark Souls and Hollow Knight to finally land on Switch in 2018. Meanwhile, with some exceptions, even obscure indie oddities like Betrayal at Club Low, Lunacid, or FlyKnight work on Steam Deck with little fuss. Ditto for lower-intensity triple-A games from 10+ years ago like Metal Gear Solid 5, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, or Mass Effect—all games that would have been a great fit for the Switch. Nintendo's insistence on squandering its library in an insulting subscription emulation service is an utter abomination to me. Not having to wait for a port of a game to play it on a handheld PC touches on something truly critical for me: The PC's nature as an open platform with unbroken continuity back to its earliest games. Console ecosystems like the Switch leave us at the mercy of publishers for what games we can access to a far greater extent than on PC, compartmentalizing gaming history in a way that those publishers exploit to resell us games we've already bought in order to play them on more accessible platforms. Old games coming to GOG or Steam, or otherwise getting remastered by someone like Nightdive, is always a good thing. But I could hook a USB disc drive up to my desktop or even Steam Deck to take advantage of my physical PC games that managed to survive the years, various moves, and one particularly tragic basement flood. Thanks to emulator developers, I can do the same with ISOs and ROMs extracted from my console game collection. By contrast, Nintendo's insistence on squandering its library in an insulting subscription emulation service is an utter abomination to me, while original Nintendo Switch back compat still seems to be a bit of an open question: Digital Foundry has pointed out that many third-party Switch games have documented issues already acknowledged by Nintendo, with many more appearing to require additional testing. I fully understand the plug and play appeal of consoles, something that has increasingly vanished in the face of ubiquitous online services and day one patches. I'm staunchly against Windows handhelds, whose degraded, crappy user experiences trigger a similar revulsion in me as those touch screen simulated gamepads. But SteamOS and the Steam Deck represent to me the sweet spot of a console-style, user-friendly frontend with no compromise on user control: I can load up ROMs, 20-year-old physical PC games, or even games from competing digital storefronts on my Steam Deck with minimal technical know-how. Similar freedom on a launch Nintendo Switch requires jailbreaking the system with a positively medieval method where you physically short the Joy Con rail with a paperclip. Cost is always something I want to be cognizant of as a barrier to PC gaming, but despite the current derangement around graphics card pricing, low to mid-range hardware provides more mileage now than at any point in the history of the hobby—the 10-year-old GTX 970 still shows up in some triple-A games' minimum specs. Best of the best 2025 games: Upcoming releasesBest PC games: All-time favoritesFree PC games: Freebie festBest FPS games: Finest gunplayBest RPGs: Grand adventuresBest co-op games: Better together And that's before you even consider the $400, entry-level LCD Steam Deck, a cheaper alternative to the Switch 2 that offers a perfect starting point for the boundless world of PC gaming, as opposed to entry into an ecosystem tightly controlled by a company whose handling of mods, emulation, and its own back catalogue betrays a disrespect for its own customers and the history of the medium. I am very much looking forward to playing the cross-gen Metroid Prime 4 as a last hurrah of sorts for my 2017, OG model Nintendo Switch. Maybe the siren song of an exclusive FromSoftware game will be enough to tempt me to buy a Switch 2 next year, though Duskbloods is "a multiplayer thing." I'll end on a kudos for Nintendo, though: I genuinely love that you can flip the new Joy Con on its side and use it like a mouse. It reminds me of the Hori Tactical Assault Commander, one of the greatest controllers ever designed. More seriously, it's the one flash of creative lateral thinking I crave from Nintendo the toymaker—the Nintendo that gave us the original Switch—that I clocked in the Switch 2's big debut.
