Handheld gaming isn’t a thing anymore. The Nintendo Switch has merged proper console home gaming on a TV with the ability to just run those games on the go in one device. It’s magic if you ask me. But companies making games for PlayStation always had different teams working on games for the DS or PSP, so in 2017 all of those artists and programmers had to sort of just combine to make games for the Switch, Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and PlayStation Portal.
But what about those IP trapped on older handheld hardware? Can they make a comeback? We’ve seen a new “Mario & Luigi” come out, it was okay, but maybe more titles can make the transition and make an old man happy. That’s me, I’m the old man.
‘Meteos’ (DS, 2005)
If it wasn’t for (*squints*) Japanese smartphone developer Mobcast, Bandai Namco would be pumping out new “Meteos” games on the regular. A luminary in the handheld puzzle space, “Meteos” was a launch DS game that involved your classic falling colored blocks, but connecting them would launch them into the sky, or space, like a little rocket ship. The more you had on your boosters, the harder it was to remove and score points, so you were incentivized to just keep going as fast as possible to clear the screen. Blocks would just rain from the sky filling up your board. It was brilliant.
I say all of this in the past tense because it seems like “Lumines” was the handheld puzzle game of choice that people glommed onto around 2005/2006, and “Meteos” got left in the dust. It needs to come back — it was a rad game that only got the rare spin-off, port, and a reskin with Disney characters.
Verdict: Remaster or Sequel.
‘Pokemon Pinball’ (Game Boy Color, 1999) and ‘Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire'(Game Boy Advance, 2003)
Nintendo was very into pinball games back in the day — taking their marquee franchises and thinking “what if we turned these characters into balls?” And since nobody has any fondness for “Mario Pinball Land” or “Metroid Prime Pinball,” the obvious one that worked the best was “Pokemon Pinball” and its follow-up.
Maybe the kids aren’t into pinball these days, and it’s only for men over 40 who used to hang out in bars and arcades. But these were fun for what they were! I say bring them back, and maybe don’t waste time making a new one because there are over 1,000 Pokemon now, and that sounds exhausting.
Maybe these games wouldn’t work today because modern screens are horizontal and not vertical. Unless you own a 3DS or they port this to smartphones…
Verdict: Bring these games to the NSO on Switch 1 and 2.
‘Mole Mania’ (Game Boy, 1997)
I remember being in a Toys ‘R Us in 1997, back when all games were behind that sliding glass door an employee had to open with a key. And I remember wanting a new Game Boy game, and the guy who I was talking to asked if I liked Mario. I, of course, said yes, and he said the creator Shigeru Miyamoto made a different game that was more puzzle-y. That game is “Mole Mania” and it’s a forgotten gem.
You flip a ball around each stage, using holes in the ground to your advantage, and have to get lettuce as the main goal of each level. Enemies move around to block you, but it’s like one of those cerebral ‘cars stuck in traffic’ puzzles but on steroids, if that makes any sense. Except you can go underground and pop up on the other side of the screen to help take out enemies or gain hearts. This needs to come to the NSO just so I can play it, it’s really clever and not at all like anything I can think of.
Verdict: Bring this to the NSO on Switch 1 and 2.
‘Boktai 1 & 2’ (Game Boy Advance, 2003 and 2004)
How in the hell is this series ever going to make a comeback is past me. Good luck to Hideo Kojima on how one would make this playable on any modern tech let alone emulation.
This was an action RPG that required a sun meter to soak up sunlight to influence the game. Now, I know nobody reading this likes actual sunlight, but a light sensor slapped onto a cartridge is some early 2000’s bullshit only Kojima could dream up. I’d love to play this and the sequel again, but I’m out of solutions to problems that only a few people have.
Maybe modern light sensors or cameras could be hijacked for a little Boktai action? I’m no developer.
Verdict: The hell if I know.
The entire ‘Golden Sun’ franchise
Camelot Software, an unsung hero in Nintendo’s repertoire of studios, has produced many excellent games that they don’t get enough credit for. The “Shining Force” games, the “Mario Golf” games, the “Mario Tennis” games, and, best of all, the “Golden Sun” RPGs people have been praying to make a comeback.
This is the closest any Japanese developer has come to making old school Square Enix “Final Fantasy” clones that were just as good, back when the art style and gameplay were closer to “FF Tactics” than what we have today (“Game of Thrones” knock-offs and “Kingdom Hearts” characters with too many zippers). I’d love to see what Camelot has to offer us that’s not just Mario sports titles that continue to get worse, with fewer modes and features and characters, every five years or so. Nintendo, let them make a real game!
Verdict: Just give us a new one please. Anything.
Image credit: Lander Denys
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