Re: Telefang in Large Game Boy Encyclopedia (2001)

Discuss anything about the wonderful GBC Telefang games here!
Torchickens(imported)
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Dec 28, 2010 11:25 pm

Re: Telefang in Large Game Boy Encyclopedia (2001)

Post by Torchickens(imported) »

Blaziken257 wrote:This thread is fascinating... it's amazing that even though Telefang is sometimes considered an obscure game, it managed to get two whole pages here. I'm curious to what the description says about the game (probably the plot and the basic game mechanics, I imagine), and what the categories are for judging a game (and more importantly, which three Telefang scored high in). It's also interesting that they judged the game positively while there is no shortage of English-speaking people who love to slam the game. Obviously this is due to lack of bias from the Diamond/Jade bootlegs, especially when they probably didn't even exist yet (given that the book was released before Crystal was, leaving a very short time frame). The game is better than what most people make it out to be, after all...

The photos of the GBAs are interesting with the odd colors, but I do remember seeing those photos back in the day. I always wondered why I never saw white GBAs with cyan or orange buttons, even though there were photos of them. Oh well. Then again, Nintendo showed five colors for the Revolution Wii initially, but there are only white, black, and red Wiis. What a shame...

I'm also curious about the Donkey Kong games. I imagine this includes Donkey Kong '94, the three Donkey Kong Land games, and the GBC version of Donkey Kong Country (and I noticed the latter is on the front cover). I'm especially curious about the Donkey Kong Land games, since those were some of the first games I've played. I'm curious to what the book says about all three games. Not to mention, the first game had planned characters that never ended up existing, and unused music. The third game also has an unused character, and unused music...

Finally, if you like difficult Mario games, I would recommend the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 (a.k.a. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels outside of Japan). It's part of the GBA Famicom Mini series. (Famicom Mini is known as Classic NES Series in the U.S. and NES Classics in Europe, but this game, like the original Famicom Disk System game, never made it outside of Japan.) It's somewhat difficult to find (years ago, I saw it go for as high as $140, but it's much lower nowadays), but it's worth it if you want a challenge. It's my favorite Mario game.
The pages seem to cover the plot and basic game mechanics like evolving Denjuu, battling with them and obtaining their phone number.


The categories are:

技能性 - Skill (Strategy?) Image


キャラクター - Characters Image


ドラマ性 - Drama Image

思考性 - Thought Image

(?)中性 Image

I couldn't recognise the last one, unfortunately, which is one of the categories Telefang is given top marks for.


The categories don't seem particularly relevant and I don't think that they're necessarily indicative of how 'good' a game is.

There is a puzzle game called Klustar in the Game Boy special selection. Since it doesn't have any characters, it doesn't score anything in "character", but it could be a fun addictive puzzle game.

It seems like the authors praised Telefang for its characters and 'thought'. I find this rather satisfying. I've always liked the monster designs and it's a change from some of the negative reception around Telefang as 'Pokémon Diamond and Jade'. There are also various other games that scored particularly well, but it somehow makes me feel that the scores were rushed. Telefang wasn't actually the only game that scored this way; as GB Harobots, Space Net, From TV Animation: One Piece, Cross Hunter and Grandia: Parallel Trippers scored exactly the same.

Incidentally, Pocket Monsters Crystal, the Zelda Oracle games and Momotora Densetsu 1-2 (interesting?) scored 'top marks' for everything.


The release dates of the games listed on 'GB Megahit Armageddon' were games with release dates between November 2000 and early 2001. Not every game from this period was covered, unless some games were released earlier than announced, but then according to this article, the years 1999-2001 had the most monster-collecting or monster-battling games, with around 90+ releases. That's a lot! (note that: I'm unsure whether he considers non-console RPG games like Tamagotchi and Monster Rancher as 'monster-collecting' games). This may explain why a lot of monster-battling games were covered.
wrote:The photos of the GBAs are interesting with the odd colors, but I do remember seeing those photos back in the day. I always wondered why I never saw white GBAs with cyan or orange buttons, even though there were photos of them. Oh well. Then again, Nintendo showed five colors for the Revolution Wii initially, but there are only white, black, and red Wiis. What a shame...
I thought that Game Boy Advance could have been a prototype design, but I might be wrong.

It would have been interesting to see all of the other colour Wiis released earlier.

The green Wii is interesting, I wonder why it was never released(?) I heard that when the Revolution was first revealed, it was the black console that was shown but then on a launch date, for whatever reason it was the white Wii that was first released. The black console was released later, and a red Wii was released as a pack-in with New Super Mario Bros. Wii to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros.
wrote:I'm also curious about the Donkey Kong games. I imagine this includes Donkey Kong '94, the three Donkey Kong Land games, and the GBC version of Donkey Kong Country (and I noticed the latter is on the front cover). I'm especially curious about the Donkey Kong Land games, since those were some of the first games I've played. I'm curious to what the book says about all three games. Not to mention, the first game had planned characters that never ended up existing, and unused music. The third game also has an unused character, and unused music...
Yes, the GBC version of Donkey Kong Country is featured in the 'Popular character analysis'. There are three whole pages about it. I'll upload some scans later.

Sadly, Donkey Kong '94, Donkey Kong Land (Super Donkey Kong GB) and Donkey Kong Land 2 (Donkey Kong Land) didn't get a mention, though these are mentioned on the pages listing downloadable Nintendo Power games.

Oddly, I couldn't find any mention of Donkey Kong Land 3 (Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong), but I know that the game does exist. I think it's interesting how some games that were first released outside of Japan were enhanced for the Game Boy Color but simply weren't released on cartridge. Donkey Kong Land 3 was enhanced and released on a physical cartridge, yet the enhanced version of Balloon Kid (Balloon Fight GB) was released for the Nintendo Power service.
RacieB
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Re: Telefang in Large Game Boy Encyclopedia (2001)

Post by RacieB »

Torchickens wrote:(?)中性 Image

I couldn't recognise the last one, unfortunately, which is one of the categories Telefang is given top marks for.
Is it 熱中性?
Torchickens(imported)
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Dec 28, 2010 11:25 pm

Re: Telefang in Large Game Boy Encyclopedia (2001)

Post by Torchickens(imported) »

RacieB wrote:
Torchickens wrote:(?)中性 Image

I couldn't recognise the last one, unfortunately, which is one of the categories Telefang is given top marks for.
Is it 熱中性?
Yes. I think you're right!

Thanks a lot. I'm an amateur with Japanese and usually takes me ages to look up the kanji if they don't have furigana next to them.

What do you think it means?
RacieB
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Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 4:27 am

Re: Telefang in Large Game Boy Encyclopedia (2001)

Post by RacieB »

I'm not sure, I'm okay at looking up the radicals with this http://jisho.org/kanji/radicals/ but I still have to rely on translators for any idea of what I'm reading... I would guess something like Excitement but that's probably wrong?
Torchickens(imported)
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Joined: Tue Dec 28, 2010 11:25 pm

Re: Telefang in Large Game Boy Encyclopedia (2001)

Post by Torchickens(imported) »

RacieB wrote:I'm not sure, I'm okay at looking up the radicals with this http://jisho.org/kanji/radicals/ but I still have to rely on translators for any idea of what I'm reading... I would guess something like Excitement but that's probably wrong?
Thanks for the link. I've been looking for something like that, since I've had to work around with lists and trying to draw them.

I was going to say 'enthusiasm', but I'm not sure if it really makes sense. I understand that kanji can be considerably more precise than kana, but I realise that the same kanji can have considerably meanings, like 千年 (sennen), which can mean 'a thousand-years' but could also mean 'focus'.


Edit:

For Blaziken257: Here are the pages that cover Donkey Kong Country (Donkey Kong 2001).

1, 2, 3.
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