Game Boy Archive: 2000

BASIC INFO:
Title ....... Dragon Tales: Dragon Wings
Players ..... 1
Genre ....... Platformer
Subgenre .... n/a
Platform .... Game Boy Color (2000)

STORY:
You have had a flying accident while picking dragonberries. In order to be allowed to fly freely again, you must retake flying lessons at Quetzal's School in the Sky.

GAMEPLAY:
You are given explicit goals to accomplish on each of 20 stages. You have a very short timer for each stage. Berries extend your timer, and also serve to show you the way through the stage. Some berries must be eaten in a certain order because that's how eating works. Stages gradually become more complicated.

MY THOUGHTS:
Here is an early example of a typical, mediocre platformer based on a children's license.

I can't imagine what the game makers were thinking when they added the extremely restrictive timers. These timers completely prevent any sort of exploration, killing any sort of interest I may have had in the game.

This is a platformer: half the fun of a platformer is exploring the world it's in. Some gamers explore for the scenery, some for secrets, others to devise the best or most interesting path through the stage--but in the end, most of us who play a platformer will explore it. Not only that, but this is a platformer based in the world of a children's cartoon show. You'd think that the children playing this game might have extra reason to want to explore stages.

The controls are slippery and bouncy, making movement near walls and obstacles a pain. The music is too simple and harsh for its time and platform.

I'll be generous and call the graphics stylistic. The game gets credit for allowing the player to choose a male or female character.

LEVEL STRUCTURE:
There are 20 levels in total.

CONTROLS:
D-pad .... move character; move cursor
select ... advance dialogue
start .... pause/unpause; skip lesson intro
A ........ advance dialogue; enter door
B ........ breathe fire; drop item

OPTIONS:
Choose between a male or female character (Ord or Cassie). Choose between 3 difficulty settings (easy, medium, difficult).

BASIC INFO:
Title ....... Mary-Kate and Ashley: Pocket Planner (North America, Europe)
Players ..... 1 (with limited multiplayer functionality)
Genre ....... edutainment
Subgenre .... organizer
Platform .... Game Boy Color (2000)

STORY:
None.

GAMEPLAY:
Upon starting the software for the first time (or everytime after the battery dies), you are prompted to set the date and time. Then, you are asked for your first name, middle name, last name, street address, zip code, city, state, phone number, birthday, favorite color. You can skip all of these except entering your first name.

In the main menu, there are 6 options:

Calendar: Look at the calendar, add and edit events.
Friends: Reveals a submenu with 4 choices -
- G-mail: I'm taking a guess here, but I think this is something that lets you send messages to friends with a copy of the game.
- Friends: Maintain an address book.
- About You: You can edit your details here.
- Match Up: Have a friend type in the same stuff you did when you first booted up the game. You will then be told how much you have in common.
To Do: Stuff that is on the calendar for you to do today.
Fun Stuff: Reveals a submenu with 6 choices -
- Games: Reveals a submenu with 4 choices.
  - Drop to Shop: Help MK and Ashley shoplift! Catch the goods that one of them drops, while avoiding mops.
  - Fash Machine: Slots. You aren't actually betting anything, though.
  - Sliders: A 4x4 sliding puzzle.
  - Match 'em: Memory. 30 cards are turned, face down. You turn them over, 2 at a time, trying to make matches. Matches are removed, non-matches are flipped back onto their face.
- Crush: A "Crush Indicator". You are instructed to point the Game Boy and press A, with the implication that you will find out whether or not the person you are pointing at has a crush on you. Apparently, my laptop has a pretty big thing for me (I love you, too, Lappy).
- Ask Ashley: Magic 8 ball, essentially.
- Clue: A pet sim. Feed and play with a dog named Clue.
- Sun Sign: A horoscope...thing. No, it doesn't tell you how your day will be in vague terms. It tells you how compatible you are with people of other signs.
- Pic Gallery: View pictures you unlock. Gamefaqs indicates that a new picture is unlocked for every 10k points you win in games, and that 16 pictures can be unlocked in this manner.
Tools: Reveals a submenu with 6 options -
- Stopwatch: It's a stopwatch. Does not show time until you stop it.
- Phone Dialer: Apparently designed to dial phone numbers for you by screeching into a handset. Kind of neat, if not entirely practical.
- Beam: Appears to be some sort of multiplayer connectivity.
- Clock: It's a clock.
- About You: Like the one above, it allows you to reset (or set for the first time) information about yourself.
- Help: A small, in-game manual.
Options: The option menu lets you adjust music and sound. It also lets you change the date and time, and shows you how much memory is taken up by all the stuff you've typed into the software. There's also a mysterious "color" setting, which has "on" and "off" options, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

This software is compatible with the Game Boy Printer. On the vast majority of screens, there is a print button, allow you to...well, print stuff, I assume.

THOUGHTS:
This is one for the collectors. I particularly like the Phone Dialer (haven't used a landline since I was a kid) and the in-game manual (still waiting for this to become standard).

The games are terrible. If you just want a fun game, don't get this.

LEVEL STRUCTURE:
There are levels in the shoplifting game.

CONTROLS:
D-pad .... move cursor
select ... main menu
start .... start screen
A ........ confirm choice
B ........ cancel

OPTIONS:
You can turn music on or off. You can turn sound on or off.

Game Boy Archive

1.24.2010

Dragon Tales: Dragon Wings

1.15.2010

Mary-Kate and Ashley: Pocket Planner