A Look at 3D GBA Ports that Push the System to its Limits! - Port Patrol
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- Support the channel on Patreon for 24-hour early access on all future videos! / fraki
The GBA is primarily thought of as a 2D game system. However, some developers were never content with playing to peoples expectations and wanted to go beyond what was thought possible. This video is meant as a tribute to those hard working game developers, who would push the system to it's absolute limits and create impressive 3D GBA ports!
Hey so I'm dumb! Thank you for all pointing out how Asterix and Obelix is actually really popular in a lot of countries, I should have looked a bit more into it before writing how it's obscure :') They're not super duper big in the UK, like I know of them but have never like seen or read any of it, hence why I said it's kinda obscure, but yeah, my bad! Please forgive my bri'ish and poor persepctive on the series 😭
Maybe it was butthurting frogeaters?) But in Russia they are known. Not GBA game though but cartoon, sega games, movies and pc games is known. And why you post just now? You dig deeper in world of Asterix and Obelix?
Well tbh I thought I already pinned this comment when this video came out and the first batch of comments telling me I was dumb came out, but I must have only replied to individual ones. Now the video is randomly doing numbers again, I thought I would get ahead and just pin this to save everyone the effort :')
I think I remember reading them when I was a kid.
No need to apologize ;) But I must say that the original Asterix comics aged exceptionally well. Give them a try, you might be pleasantly surprised.
I remember reading a lot of A&O as a kid here in the US, it’s about as popular and widespread as the Tintin comics.
(Although there was a lot of both of those in my elementary school library, so maybe my perception is just warped)
Asterix and Obelix are so popular in France they have a whole theme park dedicated to the franchise
And not just in France, they're popular in Germany, Italy, Spain, and most of Europe.
Basically, only the UK is that close to foreign media, it's almost if they are little Americans, so much for multiculturalism...
@@souljastation5463 yes but they are by far the most popular in France where they originated and the series itself is very aimed toward a French audience
@@nitrosophelin I know that, but still, even if they don't know the comic most people know the movies: the classic animated ones that air on TV every Chtistmas, but especially the new live-action movies (the ones with Monica Bellucci and Gerard Depardieu). It seems like the UK is cut-off from the rest of the continent.
Yeah i was there thrice and it was great!
@@souljastation5463 No... Really? Not just since the brexit. XX
Asterix and obelix are not only famous is France but also in Germany Austria Switzerland Italy Spain ... And just to be clear, s lot of people care about these comics. They even have their own theme park. They are like the European Mickey mouse.
I'm from Poland and trust me that Asterix and Obelix are extremely popular here as well.
@@rafadydkiemmacha7543 nice, I knew about the prevously mentioned countries but beyond that I wasn't sure 😅
That was my childhood, I still have the Asterix and Obelix gba game and the books, I live at the french boarder in Germany .
Im from serbis and i have the asterix and obrlix snes cartridge i played it when i was a kid
@@davpro1792 are Asterix cartoons and comic books also popular in Serbia?
The funniest part about that last one is that the GBA version of Smashing Drive got the BEST SCORES out of all versions of the game.
I'd say Driv3r was best at pushing GBA to its limits; I mean it's a fully functional open world GTA style game in a 3D perspective where you can drive, swim and even use guns! How they managed to fit all that to a Gameboy is beyond me!
And yet Driver 2 had much better driving physics, not to mention cop chases with a GTA-like star system
That is what confused me after all these years; also, why couldn't GTA: Advance look similar to Driver 2/3 ...was it a design choice or harware limitations !?
If only Driver 3 on Nintendo GBA included all of the mainline missions and cities from the console Driver 3... it would have blown my mind. Seriously Atari could have added Istanbul to their port of Driver 3 on Nintendo GBA and removed some races or collection missions (surely there was still room in the cartridge ) !?
I love these hardware pushing games. They really show what the system can do
I know, it's absolutely insane what talented developers could do with the hardware! I live for this kind of stuff hahaha
100th like
@@benn6086 stfu
Yes its great
Yeah, that's the point of hardware pushing games.
😜
ayy good topic :)
Thank you!!! But seriously though, top 10 graphically impressive toes in video games when?
after i finally reveal my other foot maybe ??
@@minimme Tf
minimme YESSS PLS I BEG BRO
As a programmer with a love for graphics programming this really tickles my pickle. Very impressive stuff!
it tickles your pickle...
uhhh
@@337s Sex Tips
*tickle the pickle*
Sus
…
You all like how I couldn't shrink down the thumbnails in the end card to look good?
AND DO YOU LIKE HOW I UPDATED MY PROFILE PICTURE 3 WEEKS AGO AND IT STILL HASN'T CHANGED YET. REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
what's the name of the song?
The audio for Lil John sounds like it was recorded with a webcam and you can hear popcorn poppin
Damn I thought Simpsons Road Rage was impressive on the gba. Crazy shit
I mean Road Rage is still pretty damn impressive but... Yeah I guess these kinda blow it out of the water huh, haha
I thought that Mario Kart: Super Circuit was impressive
@@letsplay6796 Mario Kart Super Circuit? Really??? It was not even a 3D Game.
@@all-stargamer3333 it was still significantly more impressive than the SNES game and it was a launch game.
But fundamentally it was fun.
@@sloppynyuszi We talking about GBA Games which make the GBA to his limit, not about Games which was stronger than the SNES.
Would you ever consider covering the DS port of Need for Speed Underground 2? I have some cheeky nostalgia for that one and it also looks cool visually. Would collab even. There's also this really weird DS port of The Sims 2. That's not really a sims game, but instead a weird ass adventure game in a creepy desert town with cultists and aliens.
I was actually quite interested at looking at Need for Speed Underground 2 on the DS. I thought it was weird that, on the list of games Pocketeers made, that was the only DS one even though they kept making GBA games after? Might have to take you up on that offer sometime! ;)
The psp port of Sims 2 is also so god damn strange I kinda like it honestly. The ds version although restricted it's pretty interesting with the hotel management system
@@LEXXPortPatrol NFSU rivals on psp is also pretty great I can go as far to say it's one of the best racing games on the system although it's a western launch title
I still haven't finished Sims 2 DS cuz I was scared of the aliens lol
The Sims 2 on the PSP is also an adventure game.
I searched high and low and not a single person alive seems to be selling Asterix and obelisk for the gba
Obelix *
This stuff has a cult following in my country, and I read the comics in my childhood.
step 1 - by a New 3ds or New 2ds (NEW INT TITLE) ... step 2 - mod it for free ... step 3 - inject Asterix & any other game. step 5 - ENJOY
@@StevenMcFlyJunior what's the step 4
air guy Step 4. ???
It's not a port, but Banjo Kazooie Grunty's Revenge was actually really good to me. It felt like an actual Banjo game on the go!
Maybe I am just too starved of Banjo Kazooie to see it's faults 😅
On that 3rd one, I was expecting Crazy taxi, lol
Same lmao😂
I remember playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 and being blown away. It was not true 3D (isometric top down instead), but just about everything from the console version was there. It was playable, and still very cool.
I think it was a great decision to use that camera perspective and I heard that game got an 85% review
We love comics, movies and games with Asterix and Obelix, especially here in Europe (I'm from Czech Republic). The quotes from the movies (with real actors) are such a big meme in my country. Few days ago I was on a metal festival and everyone screamed that quote with decayed fishes. What a cult... Anyway, nice video, a I like these mini ports for GBA!
Sonic Battle was my first time seeing 3D on the GBA, but it was Spider-Man 2's hub world that *really* impressed me. Oh, but that was before I saw footage of that Asterix game. That game looks amazing.
Oh wow! I know a lot about 3D GBA games but I had no clue Need For Speed Underground existed! It’s so beautiful and amazing, I love it. The frame rate is really impressive for gba and the dithered graphics appeal to me in a weird way.
Back then, Need for Speed is basically ported to any device, even Java mobile phone.
There were also pretty famous Asterix and Obelix movies at the time...
They're quite good kids films!
absolutely amazing quality in very limited circumstances! I miss the days we were technically limited, creators were way more creative and sometimes genius!
"It's a superFX game on steroids"
Best description I've ever heard, sums it up perfectly!
Another good one you forgot to mention was the GBA port of Cars Mater-National Championship. Even with a DS version releasing alongside it, it looks really impressive for Pixar's last GBA outing.
I'm glad you're back.
Thank you!
I own a copy of the NFS Underground for GBA. I remember it blowed my mind to be able ti have those graphics on my GBA. Spy Hunter was a really fun game for GBA as well and in pseudo 3D.
wow out of all places i would have never expected to find the game i played on a arced machine inside a hotel in Ibiza 20 years ago i always thought it was crazy taxi but it was smash and drive wow
You played it in a hotel in Ibiza??? that is so cool
I enjoy these videos a lot, and you’ve made me aware of some great games I didn’t even know about previously. Thanks, keep it up!
Its. Just weird to hear someone talk about the early 2000's like it was an era..need for speed underground was my childhood. Final fantasy X, shadow of the collosus, wind waker too..and much more than that
StoneTheMason Music 2000 was 20 years ago
Dude Shadow of the Colossus was my JAM. Favorite game of all time, hands down. Crazy to think how long it's been
Crazy to think how time flies. 2000 was 20 years ago and I'm just 24 yrs old (almost 25)
Asterix isn't know in Britain? I wouldn't say it's super well know here in Australia but you can find the comics in a lot of book shops.
Yeah I grew up with a bunch of dubbed VHS tapes and 2 PS1 games on it.
It is super famous in spain as well
I mean, I wouldn't go as far to say it's completely obscure here. But it's definitely not as big as in Europe. You see their books occasionally in shops, but not guaranteed.
Im British and i know of it, they would play the movies on tv sometimes and schools had the comics
It IS known in Britain by people in their 30's and older, the comics were popular in the 1980's.
Love seeing games like this which really push the hardware to its limits :D great vid!
7:00 All the visual issues with Asterix and Obelix are most likely caused by there being no Z-buffer. Basically, the system has no way of knowing depth and just draws stuff in the order given to it by the CPU. The PS1 had the same thing going on. don't want to call it an issue though, it adds a lot of charm.
Great to see you back fam!
Like always, this video was really high quality and makes me the ultimate SAD when you only have 4.5k subscribers...
Awww thank you very much! I'm glad you liked it :> And hey, that subcriber count is growing every day! Gotta think on the bright side
Smashing drive looks unbelievable as a GBA title. Have to try this one for myself!
I think the Asterix 3D might have been done with affine sprites which is how Sega Saturn's 3D worked
I recently played the Driv3r port for GBA cos my mate has it. I was surprised at how similar it felt to the PS2 version
4 years late to this but glad I finally arrived to this channel
I absolutely loved the GBA - it reminds me so much of high school (graduated in 2004)- it’s one of my favorite gens/eras of any games/console ever
I love how Spiderman 2 for GBA has 3d free roam and yet Spiderman web of shadows for PSP is a 2d game.
விஷ்ணு கார்த்திக் Web of Shadows had a very VERY large map and PSP couldn't handle it
Oh man I had completely forgotten about those 3D missions! I always liked the FMV at the start though
@FreshBeats That's not true, PSP had SPiderman 2&3 which had free roam. I'm not talking about a straight up port of the PC version but a game made from ground up for the PSP.
🤣🤣🤣 The Crazy Taxi/ Smashin Drive bit was ACTUALLY clever hahaha
Quite impressive for GBA hardware.
Awesome vid. Pocketers used to have a very active forum on their website back in the day. The owner and lead developer was a guy called Matt, if I remember correctly. They were developing a prototype for a grand theft auto style game which was quite impressive considering the hardware. He was a very nice guy.
Lol underground got me on the "Trap Muzik" album by TI when I was a little jit 😂😂😂
The NFS port is just adorable, I love the HUGE polygons that you can count individually. It truly is remarkable what they pulled off.
7:36 That is insane the power that gba had to accomplish that
Instant nostalgia from the Gran Turismo background music, good video!
When I was a kid I always had a blast with the Tony Hawk Pro Skater GBA ports, and always felt like they stayed incredibly faithful to the console versions
Absolutely hooked on GBA 3D at the moment. Asterix and Obelix is one of the best games on the system ever and the 3d is so, so technically proficient that it pretty much looks like early ps1 graphics that it's mind boggling
It’s crazy how I’m 4 years late and I’ve been looking for a video specifically like this just uncovering weird times in gaming and graphics like these really stood out to me in a weird way compared to other generations of graphics, you get what I’m saying lol
The GBA took 2 of AA batteries. It was small to hold. It could have used two C-Sized batteries at either side (Left and Right) of the cartridge-slot to make "handles". This would have given enough power to drive two of the ARM CPU chips instead of one. More RAM would have been reasonable, but moreover, a RAM-expansion (like the 4Meg in the DS) would have been a good "add-on", like n64. Basically it would allow for pre-processing (3D, etc.).
I played NFS Underground on the GBA so much as a kid. Was my favorite game. Something I found out; even tho the game doesn’t have a open world mode where you could drive around thru the city. If you play the last sprint track (or maybe one before the last, not sure) in the quick race list and turn around at the start, the developers forgot a border there. So you could drive around the city freely. Was so proud of myself for finding that out myself. (And still am, otherwise I wouldn’t comment it here)
One of the most impressive feats of programming happened in 1982 with the release of 1K ZX Chess for the ZX81 home computer. As its name suggests it's a full chess program running on just 1KB of RAM, which includes an AI opponent. In actuality it was even less at around 700 bytes. That's 700 bytes for rudimentary graphics, rule set and all the AI routines to play the game
8:49 this is the port that Spyro ACTUALLY needed on the GBA...
Funny enough, i am pretty sure at that timestamp there is spyro music playing in the background
I had Need for Speed Underground 2 on GBA despite already owning the game on PS2 at the time and honestly I can verify you didn't miss out on much.
Ya know, I really liked the transformers game port to the Nintendo DS. It's not Gameboy, but it was a game that pushed the console to it's limits I suppose. It's also pretty fun in a cheap wholesome way.
My house got broken into back in the day by some neighborhood kids I used to be "friends" with, and I remember the only thing they ended up stealing from me was the at the time graphically impressive need for speed underground on my gba.
Did you get it back?
One game that I think needs to be mentioned alongside these games is the GBA port of Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction, based off Robot Wars in the UK. Not only is it incredibly faithful to the source material (well, as faithful as a GBA ports can get), but the robot customisations in the game give it a real edge in the obscure world of 3D GBA games.
Oooooh that looks way cooler than the Robot Wars game on the GBA I had as a kid!
I cant believe the GBA can pull of half of these, its like tossing 100 flat worlds on some 3d cubes, lag should be a way bigger problem, they really did good with it, nice video Fraki
I love this series
Hey, so many youtubers are returning from hiatuses lately. fraki, yuriofwind, and minimme.
Ha, funnily enough seeing Minimme slowly start to do more and more videos that I had ideas for is kind of what made me get off my ass and start making videos again before he gets to cover everything I wanted to do x3
RIP my GBA first person shooters video lol
Minimme never had a hiatus
Seeing as you almost mentiioned it, Crazy Taxi on GBA is 'interesting'. A bit of an acid trip, but recognisable as Crazy Taxi. Same for Sega Rally.
Ah yes... Smashing Drive on the GBA It's the game that I used to play SOOOO much on my GBA, I still have it.
The smw port is actually good! It also comes with super Mario (the old one, not super Mario bros) It’s called ‘super Mario world: super Mario advance 2.
That is some serious wizardry happening in I can't believe it's not Crazy Taxi! I bet it looks fantastic on the gba's tiny ass screen
I honestly couldn''t believe my eyes the first time I loaded it up. I still don't believe them now to be honest
I mean really if the resolution was higher and it didn't have any of the weird texture warping issues you could easily convince me that that was a ds game. I just can't believe they got that much out of the gba only to say screw it, we are switching god-damn 3d babiz! They got freaking shadows in this 3d gba game. Granted there are no real time shadows on the cars, but how the hell did they have enough power to model an entire 3d city with 3d cars and a surprisingly decent draw distance and they still had enough power to make some nice shadows! Before port patrol I thought that f-zero GP legends was the absolute max the gba could really do with 3d, how wrong I was
Astérix and Obélix XXL has a combo system during combat. It's more complex than just smashing B :)
What? No mention of Super Monkey Ball Jr? I was literally waiting for you to bring that one up XD
The graphics processing power of the DS really did help out racing games.
Tbh Raylight’s 3D Blue Roses engine was actually pretty damn capable, they even recreated part of Resident Evil 2 and 3D Street Fighter thing on the GBA and pitched it to Capcom, but they said no. Unfortunately Smashing Drive’s framerate is rather low, but it’s still awesome for the GBA.
Lego Drone Racer was also pretty impressive, no textures, but every polygon was so crisp EDIT: wow, you made an entire video about it!
This is just absolutely brilliant, so much nostalgia
Amazing video! Dial up the positivity and you’re up to something with your channel, congrats!
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam on GBA was also very graphically impressive, and Spiderman 2 had a fully 3D hub world
EDIT: Tony Hawk Underground 2 was also a fully 3D almost direct rip of its console counterpart. Including the same maps mostly intact and even some songs from the original soundtrack
Watching this on a 27 inch 4K display, all I saw at first was a bunch square confetti’s moving randomly around. I needed to step a couple of meters back to see the actual games.
I had never heard of that Asterix game. Thanks for mentioning it.
Ah yes, a fine addition to my collection.
That Gran Turismo 4 music is just perfect
I still have Underground Advance. Impressive little game. Not only are the graphics quite impressive for a GBA game, so is the vehicle simulation. It simulates wheelspin, airtime, collisions, lots of stuff. Only thing missing is you can't spin out from over-steering. As a result, drift events are literally just turning contests lol. Other than that, pretty cool game.
This pixelly rubbery 3D is kinda giving me fever dream vibes
I had NFS underground on gba sp and I loved it! The soundtrack was so pixelated. I just recently found the song I always heard in it. Static X- The Only. But man. And Smashing drive!!!! I always thought it was called Crazy Taxi. But yes!!!! I played the HELL out of it at a casino arcade growing up. Awww I loved this.
I have Need For Speed Most Wanted on gba. I couldn't believe how good it looked for a gba game. I played through that game so many times. Music is pretty decent too.
Bro this was literally the first video game I remember playing and I forgot what it was but i definitely remember it being this now
1:57 Oh NFS, i thought it was the ps4 version of cyberpunk
The taxi was overlooking the city like spiderman/batman would.
Oh that Shrek gba game at the beginning takes me back
Yes! I always love seeing a notification for your uploads :D
Phew, okay cool people are actually getting notifications for this then! Always that slight worry RUclips is going to decide to not send the video to sub boxes hahahaha
I kinda wish the Mario kart on this system was more 3d like this.
MK64 would fit on the GBA as a port
Honestly, that's disputable... Colin McRae 2.0 , V-rally, Payback are among the best 3D games for GBA. And, let's also consider RayLight Studios' GBA tech demos of Resident Evil 2.
I had and played Need for Speed Most Wanted and Loved the game. probably one of my favorite games on the gba.
I absolutly LOVE your video !
I have all the three games (including the entire serie of Need for Speed for the GBA) and i think that they are fantastic beause they show that the gba it's not only a "simple portable snes".
If you want, take a look at this little list of other 3d GBA games =
1) Tokyo Xtreme Racer
2) Killer 3d pool
3) Street racing Syndicate (Raylight)
4) 007 Nightfire
5) Driv3r (VD dev)
●) Asterix e Obelix XXL (VD dev)
7) Stuntman (VD dev)
8) Wing Commander Prophecy
(Raylight)
●) Smashong Drive (Raylight)
10) Kill Switch
11) Payback
12) SSX 3
13) Monkey Ball Jr
14) Ecks vs Sever
15) Duke Nukem Advance
●) Need for Speed (5 games)
17) V rally 3
18) Top gear Rally
19) Big Mutha Truckers (Raylight)
20) Monster truck madness
21) Atv Quad Power Racing
22) Crazy Taxy Catch a Ride
Ayyyy good to see you again! Told ya 3 of the games on that list would show up ;) I'll definitely have to have a look at some of these games sometime, especially those Raylight and VD-Dev games!
Fraki
Hi my friend !!
👍😁
That last Taxi game looks like a Sega Saturn game (: I wanna see someone port Night into Dreams onto the GBA (:
Asterix and Obelix XXL does look like an early PS1 release.
Once again, a great video with cool tech in it, and no Wing Commander: Prophecy in sight...
The Asterix franchise never really made it to the US. It's still very big in Europe. Mostly in France and Germany (where I live). Many of the comics actually were made into feature films. It's a long running cartoon series that's still going strong. It even received English dubs. You should check it out if you're interested. My personal favourites are Asterix the Gaul, Asterix in Britain and The 12 Tasks of Asterix.
Oh wow! I knew it used to be pretty popular in Europe, but I had no idea it was still that big. It's crazy how it never made it as big in the UK, like there's only a tiny strip of water serperating us.
I don't think the franchise is as strong since the 2000s though. The writer of the comics recently changed and the newest film experiments with CGI. There is still a strong fan base, but the majority isn't pleased with the changes and the "modern" esthetics. You know how it is. Same story as gaming fan bases. As for me, I'm just happy that the franchise is still alive and doing well. It changed, but not in a bad way.
I grew up with the commodore 64. If you are that old you will know how primitive graphics where back then. But it was still an awesome system and I am proud to be part of that generation.
instantly subbed when hearing that gran turismo 4 background music
Just noticed the background music for Need For Speed Underground is a song from Gran Turismo 4 and i love Gran Turismo so much
As a kid I love these Need for Speed games on the GBA
Man you got me hyped up about crazy taxi
Crazy Taxi also got a great 3D gba port
Driver and Tekken Advance looked really outstanding.
this is so surreal to see
I had Underground and freaking loved it.