The Classic Portable Gaming Tribute Thread

[Frogacuda]

The Milton Bradley Microvision(1979) and Epoch Game Pocket Computer(1984) deserve nods for being the first programmable portable games systems. Unfortunately I have yet to play these but discuss them too if you want.

This thing was way ahead of its time. I've had 2 of them (1 survives to this day), and it might have been a clunker, but it was a real cartridge based handheld that came out in the 1970s. The games were really crude, but some of them were still enjoyable. The cartridges were almost as big as the system, which tends to elicity a laugh from most today.

[MarkRyan]

I didn't have many Game Boy games, but one I really liked was SolarStriker.

[Frogacuda]

Battlezone 2000(Lynx)

Interesting story behind this one. Hand-made actually made a completely different game for this project, which was a much deeper, more complex experience with a sprawling map with 2000 levels, filled polygons, a ton of enemies, bosses, tank customization, etc. Atari said the wanted something more closely resembling the original, so Hand-made went back and created the game as it was released. But they hid their previous design underneath the new one, accessible by a code. This is, to my knowledge, the only time an unlockable "minigame" has been substantially more complex than the main game. More fun, too.

http://www.ataritimes.com/lynx/reviews/bz2k.html

I agree that Warbirds is awesome. I like almost every 3d Lynx game. I think Cybervirus is the only one left I haven't played.

I can vouch for Cybervirus. It's not only a lot of fun, but it captures so much of what I like about those old Lynx 3D scalers. If you're a particular fan of those games, it's worth the money.

[galvatron]

I didn't have many Game Boy games, but one I really liked was SolarStriker.

I had that too...wasn't sure if it would be nostalgia making me list that one so I omitted it.

Another one I just remembered was Batman on GB. Sure, he shot a gun and the sprites were tiny, but WOW was that music awesome as were the cutscenes. Oh yeah, and the platforming wasn't bad either.


Frogacuda: I had no idea. I'll have to track that down...and a lynx

[kingoffighters]

I also hear good stuff about Turf Masters. Anyone play that on NGPC?

Turf Masters is awesome, I was addicted to it and finished it with all the different characters. Not very hard but so easy to pick up and play, a consumate portable gaming goodness! Now that I have a DS, any good golf game recommendation?

[RoleTroll]

Another one I just remembered was Batman on GB. Sure, he shot a gun and the sprites were tiny, but WOW was that music awesome as were the cutscenes. Oh yeah, and the platforming wasn't bad either.

I remember reading great reviews for that game, I think in EGM. (The Megadrive Batman got great reviews, too, and I believe that was eventually brought over. The PCE version was meh, running around in mazes.) I need to play that game some time.

[Jeremy]

Frogacuda, that Battlezone 2000 stuff is news to me. That's one heck of a hidden goodie right there. If we were counting the Nomad as a classic portable (which I do), I've got fond memories of playing Street Fighter II SCE, Slam Masters, and Virtua Racing on the go, and in each case, I'm amazed that such great games can be played anywhere.

[haohmaru]

I can't believe that no one mentioned any TG/Turbo Express games in this thread. Neutopia? Military Madness? Dungeon Explorer? I know they shared themselves with the console, but I burned a lot of hours playing the TE.

[kingoffighters]

I can't believe that no one mentioned any TG/Turbo Express games in this thread. Neutopia? Military Madness? Dungeon Explorer? I know they shared themselves with the console, but I burned a lot of hours playing the TE.

You burnt alot of batteries too teehee.

[NeoZeedeater]

Ok, quick obscure portable gaming question here:

Back in the early days of GameBoy there was this other handheld "competitor" that used to ads in EGM. I don't remember any of the games but something tells me they could've been Hudson games. The biggest thing I remember though was that they had this point system where you could trade for free games or something.

Any clue? (and no, it wasn't the Turbo Express, Game Gear or Lynx)

It looks like it could be the Gamate you put up there.

I definitely remember EGM having Gamate ads at that time. I don't recall anything else it could be.

I can't believe that no one mentioned any TG/Turbo Express games in this thread.

I was very impressed with the system from what I played in Compucentre. The screen was so much better than the other portables. I couldn't afford to buy one though and the main reason I played portables was for exclusive content anyway.