『 EZ-Flash IV and GBA Homebrew 』

Nintendo DSi, stripped of backwards compatibility with Game Boy Advance, marked a definite end of an era. For me, this was a wake-up call of sorts. I've been planning on getting a new and better flash device for my Game Boy Advance for ages and now, and when all eyes are turning away from Nintendo's old handheld platform, quality flash devices at reasonable prices will become harder to get. After looking into what works and what doesn't I chose EZ-Flash IV. The device is of standard Game Boy Advance cartridge size and features a MiniSD card slot with capacity support for up to 2GB. No real time clock, but who needs it anyway?


Game Boy Advance might not enjoy the same amount of attention from homebrew programmers as Nintendo DS, but it has its share of shining gems and Motocross Challenge is certainly one of them. The game closely follows the gameplay model of Excite Bike, adding updated graphics and not much more, but it works. It's a quality product and from the start, this was supposed to be a commercial release. Sadly, Nintendo broke the contract with DHG Games, but the developers were kind enough to release their work to the public. You can get it from here, since the official DHG Games site is no longer available.


Everyone probably is, or should be, familiar with the next title on my play-worthy homebrew game list. I've already talked about the PC release of Another World, but you can't take your PC with you everywhere you go. Why not pop Another World into your Game Boy Micro and help Lester save his own skin? This is one of the best games I have ever played, so if you're not familiar with it, it would be best if you familiarized yourself with Eric Chahi's masterpiece immediately. The official Game Boy Advance port was done by Cyril "Foxy" Cogordan and is hundred percent freeware. Go grab the ROM here.


Last, but not least, some proper bullet hell, a rare sight indeed, especially on Game Boy Advance. Takayama Fumihiko has managed to create two top shelf titles, which thanks to their design aesthetic could easily be a part of bit Generations line-up. The first game is called BulletGBA and to play it, you'll have to change the screen orientation from horizontal to vertical, much like in some WonderSwan productions. The main objective here is not to shoot, but to dodge. You'll have a storm of bullets coming towards you and the only objective is to survive. Before you start your game, you can choose what type of bullet patterns you want to stand against. Both of Fumihiko's games use BulletML by Kenta Cho, a well known developer, famous for his amazing danmaku shooters. BulletML allows easy replication of bullet barrage from other games and thanks to these archives, patterns from many renowned shooters were added.


While still refining BulletGBA, Fumihiko released a second game called Vulkanon. This one is played horizontally and unlike BulletGBA, is not all about dodging. The player will have to destroy enemy ships while avoiding thousands upon thousands of bullets of all kinds. I couldn't tell you which one of these two games is tougher, but they're both addictive, especially if you're a shoot 'em up fan. Both of the games were developed using devkitPro and are open source. Another thing worth mentioning is that music was composed by a well known chiptune artist, Nullsleep. I have already linked to the games in their titles, but if you have somehow managed to miss it, go here. And that's it for today.