Soapbox: Is The Best Harry Potter Game On Game Boy Color? Quite Possibly

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We lately requested you Nintendo Life readers to charge your favorite Recreation Boy Shade video games, and as we’re getting ready to publish the Prime 50 outcomes, we’re having a look again at a handful of our favorite GBC video games. Right here, Kate remembers one explicit handheld Harry journey — the one the place the Thinker and the Sorcerer bickered about whose Stone it was…

There have been an terrible lot of terrible Harry Potter video games, from the janky, physics-bending Chamber of Secrets and techniques (“Flipendo!!” will proceed to hang-out my nightmares) to the downright disappointing Xbox 360 and PS3 video games. Contemplating the huge fortunes generated by franchise, it is truthfully wild that it is apparently been so troublesome for Warner Bros. to discover a studio that may flip the massively-successful Wizarding World sequence right into a half-decent sport that captures the magic of the books.

Now, I do not wish to tar all of the Harry Potter video games with the identical brush. The PS1 Potter sport introduced us Giant Hagrid, who’s sensible, and the LEGO Harry Potter video games are lovingly-made variations that do not stick slavishly to the flicks. Apparently, the PS2/GameCube Prisoner of Askaban is fairly good, too, though by that time I had been FLIPENDO-ed into by no means testing one other HP sport till the LEGO ones.

However, shining like a uncooked diamond buried in filth amongst all of the mediocrity lies certainly one of my favorite video games of all time: Harry Potter and the Thinker’s Stone on Recreation Boy Shade. Among the many readers proper now shall be two teams of individuals: the primary shall be pondering, “ah, certainly one of your favorite video games? That is nostalgia speaking, lassie”. The second shall be vigorously nodding their heads and weeping tears of pleasure within the data that I’m extraordinarily proper.

The story just isn’t groundbreaking, as a result of the story is roughly that of the primary Harry Potter guide — i.e. younger lad will get forcibly taken from his abusive adoptive dad and mom’ home and dumped in a boarding faculty stuffed with weirdos, the place he spends the 12 months trying to interrupt all the foundations to be able to get one creepy trainer arrested. After all, it seems to be the fallacious trainer, however he does not get punished. Except you depend being despatched again to his abusive adoptive dad and mom’ home.

There are a couple of additional plot factors, as a result of it is a online game guide adaptation, so each every so often Harry should combat rats within the library, or subdue a bunch of offended mandrakes within the greenhouse, which is greater than a standard ten-year-old has to take care of, however by and enormous the plot is fairly acquainted.

[turn-based battles] match so effectively with the Harry Potter theming that it is bizarre to see that they saved making an attempt to make the sequels into 3D platformers

However the battle mechanics, and the way the spells are built-in into the sport, are what elevate the GBC model of Harry Potter and the Thinker’s Stone above the remaining. It takes its cues from Remaining Fantasy and Chrono Set off, you see — a turn-based JRPG-style interpretation of the magical world.

Harry is supplied from the start with a primary wand and primary gear, every of which is able to have an effect on his stats. If he manages to gather sufficient cash, he can purchase new garments and a greater wand; if he ranges up sufficient, he can be taught new spells; if he makes use of spells typically, he’ll be taught extra {powerful} variations of these spells. It is a system we’re all extraordinarily accustomed to by now, I do know, and even again then it wasn’t revolutionary, however it match so effectively with the Harry Potter theming that it is bizarre to see that they saved making an attempt to make the sequels into 3D platformers. When did Harry ever do platforming within the books?

Flip-based fight was an excellent solution to painting the wizarding world, as a result of it put the give attention to the spells, even when many of the enemies had been… random rats (which had been apparently an enormous drawback in Hogwarts — far more than Voldemort). Significantly, there are such a lot of rats on this sport. However there are additionally stealth sections, collectibles, shortcuts, and mini-games, together with a Quidditch Flappy Hen predecessor, and a Wingardium Leviosa reminiscence sport.

There was even a wholly non-compulsory a part of the sport the place you could possibly accumulate Well-known Witches and Wizards playing cards, both by shopping for and consuming Chocolate Frogs, or by discovering the playing cards within the Hogwarts grounds. These playing cards may be mixed to make extra-powerful assaults, or they might simply be… collected, very like Pokémon playing cards (effectively, not in the intervening time — the Pokémon card scene is fairly loopy proper now). You possibly can even commerce with pals, in the event you had a Hyperlink Cable. And pals.

There have been secrets and techniques, too! Some spells can solely be realized in side-quests, or by doing issues in a selected order; there have been small deposits of cash, playing cards, clothes, therapeutic gadgets, and potion substances hidden throughout the citadel, as effectively. As somebody whose favorite Pokémon exercise is “utilizing the Itemfinder”, it was all I would ever needed.

Ebook and film tie-ins had been notoriously… not nice in these days. They had been oftentimes rushed by way of to coincide with film launch dates, and sure did not have a lot artistic management over the story, both. Loads of sport studios simply needed to make do with what they’d, so it wasn’t till the flicks had been already out that we obtained higher variations, just like the LEGO ones, that would take their time with growth. However, for no matter purpose, HP & The P Stone is simply… actually good. Even with out the Potter label, it is only a good sport. It is Remaining Fantasy, however about ten-year-olds. It is Chrono Set off with out the “Chrono” bit. Dragon Quest, however no dr—

Okay, no, Harry Potter does have dragons. It is simply magic, okay?

Do not forget you possibly can charge your favorite Recreation Boy Shade video games and assist us construct our reader-ranked Prime 50 GBC video games, to be revealed quickly. And if you wish to lust over some beautiful color variants of the GBC {hardware}, be at liberty to tell us your favorite Recreation Boy Shade hue, too.