Rodland - Super GameBoy - Advent Countdown - Day 18
0I hope you are all healthy and safe wherever you are in the World right now and whatever challenges you are facing.
I thought I'd do a countdown to Christmas 2022 with a GameBoy Cartridge themed advent calendar. I'd hoped to make the videos a little more slick but this is a rough and ready proof of concept really to see if anyone wants to countdown to Xmas with 24 different GameBoy games - one each day!
The footage is genuine cartridges running on a SNES via the Super GameBoy. As a Xmas gift feel free to use the footage in your own videos (just give credit or link to my channel)
This is Rodland (or Rod-Land) a platformer with some neat mechanics that was originally a Jaleco Arcade game. Similar to many Taito classics this was a single screen game set in RodLand where you play as a Fairy armed with a Wand. This Wand allows you lasso enemies and bop them back and forth to turn them into a weapon to dispatch more enemies. However if you collect all the flowers the enemies change form and defeating them now reveals a Bonus Letter - Collect E, X, T, R & A to be granted an Extra Life. It is a nice Risk/Reward mechanic. Beyond that this is a platformer with NO JUMP BUTTON - rather you can summon a ladder (or dispel it) and this is the key to mastering the game.
I liked the game so much I actually own the JAMMA board. The arcade game though suffers from pretty bad slow down. It was ported (and in lots of ways improved) onto various machines with the Amiga port probably being the most popular. Apparently it also received an NES port which I'd love a copy of if anyone has a spare!
The GameBoy port is a fantastic conversion by Eurocom. The lower resolution means the single screen stages now scroll which can result in a few deaths that feel a little unfiar but otherwise the music, controls, graphics & presentation are top notch.
It is one of my favourites on the system and something of a "Hidden Gem" (to use that terribly over-used phrase) rarely being featured on any GameBoy game lists.
The Super GameBoy has always fascinated me and fans of my channel will know I love it when portable games can be played on the big screen! It still has the limitation of the GameBoy in that 4 shades can be used as the games need to be compatible and playable on the console - however some clever palette switching and game design means you can show more colours on screen by defining different palettes for different areas of the screen.
I play it here through the Super GameBoy in order to show the game a little clearer. For some reason my capture card always seems to struggle with the SNES (and therefore the Super GameBoy) not sure why as everything else pretty much works fine through it.
I'm also thinking of doing a series of videos on specially enhanced Super GameBoy compatible games - including the very clever game and programming designed to maximise the use of colour while remaining compatible with the original monochrome handheld, multiplayer modes, enhanced sound and even a hidden game. Let me know if you'd like to see this sort of thing.
As always if you enjoy this video let me know. As always this is running on original hardware in this case a SNES & Super GameBoy peripheral (one day I'll get a GBA Consoliser or Analogue Pocket!!!!) I do have my old GBA De Advance which was a mod to allow GBA games on TV so perhaps I'll use that to capture games too? Also let me know if there are particular games or systems you'd like to see.
As always this is uploaded under the Fair Use Policy - no money is being made from this video.
Stay strong, stay safe and stay healthy - Grey Fox
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