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The Lost Culture of Handhelds

I got my Gameboy Color for my birthday in 1999. It was a bit late as far as that handheld went with the Game Boy Advance just a year or two away, but it was not an uneventful time. Pokemon Gold was coming out soon, Link’s Awakening DX was released the year prior, and Nintendo was riding high after notable titles, especially The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in ‘98. And as is often the case for a late comer, I had an extensive library to choose from for my Xmas and birthday lists, from Mega Man Xtreme 1 & 2 to Bionic Commando.

But even at the time I did not realize the impact that birthday gift would have in the years to come. I am the youngest of three brothers, and we were close in age. As a result, while I did still enjoy my console games, we were still dividing TV time between the three of us. So, when the TV was occupied, my gameboy was readily available. While the middle child also got a GBC, handhelds were always more my thing than anyone else in the household.

By its name, Game “Boy” has a rather diminutive connotation. This wasn’t for the big games, surely. This is the stuff on the side, while the bigger games were doing their bigger graphics and bigger presentations. Where there was Ocarina of Time, the handheld had the smaller Link’s Awakening.

In a manner of speaking, this was sort of true. There were a lot of side stories and spin offs on the hand helds. The aforementioned Mega Man Xtreme 1 & 2 was typically forgotten in the main line Mega Man X games (except for X6, of all games), and Link’s Awakening was carrying on Zelda’s tradition of weird spin offs to their main event games (such as Majora’s Mask). And, of course, these games were made at lower costs than anything on consoles.

But this was not just the diet coke version of gaming. Pokemon was strictly a hand held title, save for some addons like Pokemon Stadium or spin offs like Snap!. Several series were exclusive and expected to be handheld. This was not the usual casual game you see on phones nowadays. The GBA would have Boktai, a game specifically designed to be carried outside in the sunlight as part of its core gameplay.

In fact, the Game Boy Advanced is where, for myself at least, things really got off the ground. This is where Castlevania continued its Metroidvania style games (and which introduced me to the series). A whole sequel series to Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero, was released on this platform. The west was more formally introduced to Fire Emblem through Eliwood’s game on here. There was Golden Sun, an RPG which mixed turn based combat and Zelda like puzzles, and even had a system to carry on levels, inventory and other information to its sequel, much like a Bioware game. Metroid’s main series was carried on through Fusion. And, because I would not forgive myself if I forgot, we had Ninja Five-O, a great game that was in stores for about two minutes before being pulled from shelves.

Besides Golden Sun and Ninja Five-O were these mainline games in their respective franchises? Well, that’s an interesting question. Two Castlevania games were released on the PS2, but are often considered inferior to their GBA counterparts. Mega Man X on the PS2 suffered a similar legacy, next to Zero and Battle Network. Fire Emblem would have Path of Radiance on the Gamecube, which was well received, but the series would continue to shine on handhelds, through the 3DS era and into Three Houses. Metroid Prime is often considered superior to Fusion, but Prime is also in a weird position of spin off/separate continuity.

But on the other side of the coin, the GBA would break a lot of traditions from the main line series. Only one of the three Castlevania games would star a Belmont, and none of them played like the original games. Mega Man Zero was an action platformer, but is far less defined by the classic tradition of stealing a boss’s powers. Fire Emblem on the GBA had nothing to do with Marth or the other areas around Archenea.

So, while it would be unfair to brush these handhelds as “side content”, they were often breaks from form. They were a lot more experimental within the already established franchises that were released on these platforms. And not just the established names either. The aforementioned Boktai did things only a handheld could do.

But it’s not just experimentation that defined this subculture of gaming. With the push to 3D in the PS1 to PS2 era, allowing for more cinematic presentations (such as Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid), the GBA was still using 2D gameplay and graphics. While the GBA was a graphical improvement over the GBC, they were still not where the biggest budget was going toward. So, with less time and effort toward cutscenes, the hand helds were very gameplay focused.

This is telling in Golden Sun. This game was meant to invoke the RPGs of the SNES, but it does not take long at all to get to the meat of the game, between its puzzles and its combat. Mega Man Zero basically throws you into the action after a very short cutscene. The Castlevania games take a precious few moments to exstablish setting and characters before your first enemy encounter. While Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry, and Final Fantasy were spending a lot of time with their cutscenes, the Game Boy Advance often cut to the chase.

The lower costs also led to a larger library and more frequent releases. Mega Man Zero had an overarching story across four games with yearly releases. Each of the three Castlevania games were released fairly close to each other and had their own twists on the formula, and three more would be released for DS. Across three handheld platforms (GBA, DS and 3DS), Fire Emblem had 8 releases. Fire Emblem Fates (that mess) had three whole game length scenarios and was released only a year before the much superior, more narratively consistent Fire Emblem Echoes. Meanwhile, the Switch only had one, and there is talk of the console being retired soon. And these are just the ones I was into. I haven’t even mentioned the many Mario, Yoshi and other properties that were released here. The turnover rate for quite a number of series’ was remarkably quick.

This mix of lower costs, freedom to experiment, and immediacy granted handhelds their own culture in the gaming world. Before the indy-game market took flight, this was the place to find the smaller titles that were low on presentation but dedicated to their gameplay loops. While 3D graphics would be introduced a generation later, this culture carried on. The DS would introduce a touch screen, exploring more avenues for controls and options. Castlevania would carry on through this platform, and Mega Man Zero would get a sequel series in ZX. While the Wii had an overall mixed legacy, the DS was still carrying on what we loved about hand helds.

And then things started to change during the 3DS era. Now, let me start by saying that some of my favorite titles are on this platform. While I did get Eliwood’s game when it came out, it wasn’t until after playing Awakening did I go through the whole series and fell in love with it. Fates sullied that a bit, but Echoes redeemed that so fair’s fair. I loved Shinobi 3D, it introduced me to Monster Hunter, and this is where the series would get a lot of its success.

But here’s where things changed. The 3DS was also a major system for remakes and rereleases. Two Dragon Quest games were rereleased. We had the remakes of Fire Emblem Gaiden and Metroid II. Xenoblade Chronicles would get a release here after its Wii tenure. And there was also a very active Virtual Console (and the rerelease of many much older games) on this system through its store. A lot of ports, but not a lot of new exclusives. Castlevania really went downhill during this time, and Megaman basically imploded due to a lot of internal drama, resulting in the suddenly cancelled Megaman Legends 3. Those are two major forces that had made the handhelds fun with very little to show during this generation. There were the first party games, but the third party I fell in love with had little to show.

Now, I loved Dragon Quest VIII, the rereleases and so much about the 3DS. The immediacy was still there. But it was a point where things started to converge. Suddenly, there was very little limiting a handheld as graphical fidelity became more accessible on smaller systems. More and more gaming was digital only, and the divide was slowly melting away. I used to think that the DS was a transitional period, but, no, that honor went to the 3DS.

And then we had the release of the Switch, and the two worlds had truly met. There was no more divide between Nintendo’s main line and the experimental. The line is two blurred with the switch acting as both console and handheld. This begs the question: Has the culture truly been lost?

Before I try to answer this, I am trying not to be a nostalgia blinded downer. There are games I am looking forward to, of today and yesteryear and I don’t think the medium will ever truly die. It has its ups and downs, like all other mediums.

The immediacy has remained intact. Breath of the Wild is notable for cutting through console-Zelda’s endless tutorials and throwing you into the action. As did Metroid Dread. But Fire Emblem: Three Houses has added a lot of unnecessary fluff and I not would call it a step forward. But overall, I feel that the massive wad of tutorials and long intro cutscenes had been downsized in favor of more immersive, elegant ways of easing a player in.

With the indy game market now the way it is, the Switch does have a larger third party than a number of its predecessors. The Switch store is becoming like steam with the number of indy titles that come in. And, yes, they are gameplay focused, lower budget affairs.

But what really changed is what the major publishers are doing. And this does not just apply to hand helds. The major publishers are not as willing to do smaller projects as before. There are indy projects and major releases, but the middle class is basically gone.

Example: While Breath of the Wild has a sequel on the way, I do not see another Link’s Awakening, Link Between Worlds, Phantom Hourglass, Minish Cap or other small experimental game coming to the series anytime soon. Yes, Majora’s Mask was one of the more interesting Zelda titles, but there was still a difference between that and Link’s Awakening. Too much money goes into a release from a major publisher to indulge the weirder projects.

But it would be unfair to say that the current audience is deprived. It’s not so much that games of these sizes are gone. Instead, its more that the landscape has changed. The barrier to access for indies has basically diminished. Where you would need a major publisher before, all you need is knowledge and expertise to get something out there. It is a flooded market, granted and the meritocracy has its ups and downs. But search long enough for a given genre and you’ll find something you’re looking for.

And while Nintendo might not be as interested in small projects, the middle ground budgets are not entirely vacant. Kickstarter has had a mixed history, but things like Bloodstained captured that era very well. While the times are fraught with looter shooters, skinner boxes, and the toxic side of gaming, there is still a demand for various other genres. So, no, the culture is not lost, just transformed. Like how the internet has dispersed cultural norms from what was being enforced by TV, it has done the same to gaming.

It is hard to describe in words why I feel the end of the classic hand helds when, objectively, access to games has never been easier. Yes, I will admit it is mostly nostalgia. But the point of this article is not to decry the downfall of gaming (even if I have my own gripes on the current state of things). Rather, it is to give a perspective on a specific subculture in gaming history. It is to give light upon a era that the youngest of us had never even seen. And, perhaps, give a little context for the path of how gaming got to this point now. I could go over the whys and hows, but those are subjects in and of themselves.

There’s probably a number of kids in the back of their parents’ cars, on a switch with a brand new game they got for Christmas. And they’re hopefully not going through it with the same stigma against them as my generation. And, honestly, good on em!

Thank you for indulging me on this nostalgia trip. Happy Holidays!

#game boy #game boy advance #Castlevania #metroidvania #Metroid #Mega man #Mega man zero #Mega man ZX #Ninja Five-O #Fire Emblem #Nintendo DS #nintendo switch #Zelda

Ninja Five-O - 2003 (Gameboy Advance)

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Ninja Five-O ya está a la venta con grandes dosis de acción

Konami Digital Entertainment ha anunciado que Ninja Five-O, lanzado originalmente para GameBoy Advance en 2003, ahora está disponible en PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch y PC. Los jugadores podrán utilizar todo el poder del Ninjutsu a través de Joe Osugi, un detective de la ciudad de Zipangu decidido a librar las calles de una cruel organización terrorista. Los jugadores pueden…