15th March 2005, 11:59 AM
Actually Final Fantasy Legends weren't ports of the console games at all. Actually, they weren't even Final Fantasy titles in all honesty. Square thought they would sell better in America with Final Fantasy slapped on the title. They were actually a whole different series, a series which would later have such titles as Frontier Saga and such.
Final Fantasy Adventure was a pretty fun game for the time. Sure the later games in the series were better, but at the time it was fun whether you were comparing it to existing portable games or console games.
Mario Land 3 wasn't actually a Mario game. It was Wario Land 1, the very first Wario game. I actually loved it as it introduced all the classic Wario gameplay. I wouldn't call it a pale imitation, it was something new and I for one enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed Mario World.
I really did like Donkey Kong Land. Donkey Kong Country was the first and is still my favorite of the series, but Donkey Kong Land was as good as any of the sequels they made in the series, to me anyway.
Metroid 2 is a game that I think was misjudged as much as Zelda 2 was... It was different but honestly, as I've said before, I really loved that game. I wouldn't call it the worst of the Metroid games. Metroid Fusion maybe, but even that one's pretty good and if that's the worst, then that says something for how good the series is. Megaman 5 is certainly not a pale imitation, except in the sense that every Megaman game recycles the old gameplay. It's one of my favorite Megaman games ever.
So in answer to your question, yes I can honestly say that most of the games I listed were not pale imitations of their console counterparts. The only thing I can add is that there is a reason that system sold so well, and a lot of the games we listed can be found in the libraries of pretty much everyone who owned that system. Most people would agree the Gameboy was a great system to own. I know, majority doesn't mean correct, but I mean, it's not like I'm trying to defend the N-Gage here, I really DO think that the Gameboy was popular because of the games available for it, the best reason for something to sell well. Oh yes, Tetris was actually better than the console version, because it had multiplayer. (For some reason Dance of the Suger Plum Fairies was taken off the song list though... that's still my favorite Tetris song, but oh well it still had good russian classical music, which needs to RETURN to the Tetris series!)
Final Fantasy Adventure was a pretty fun game for the time. Sure the later games in the series were better, but at the time it was fun whether you were comparing it to existing portable games or console games.
Mario Land 3 wasn't actually a Mario game. It was Wario Land 1, the very first Wario game. I actually loved it as it introduced all the classic Wario gameplay. I wouldn't call it a pale imitation, it was something new and I for one enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed Mario World.
I really did like Donkey Kong Land. Donkey Kong Country was the first and is still my favorite of the series, but Donkey Kong Land was as good as any of the sequels they made in the series, to me anyway.
Metroid 2 is a game that I think was misjudged as much as Zelda 2 was... It was different but honestly, as I've said before, I really loved that game. I wouldn't call it the worst of the Metroid games. Metroid Fusion maybe, but even that one's pretty good and if that's the worst, then that says something for how good the series is. Megaman 5 is certainly not a pale imitation, except in the sense that every Megaman game recycles the old gameplay. It's one of my favorite Megaman games ever.
So in answer to your question, yes I can honestly say that most of the games I listed were not pale imitations of their console counterparts. The only thing I can add is that there is a reason that system sold so well, and a lot of the games we listed can be found in the libraries of pretty much everyone who owned that system. Most people would agree the Gameboy was a great system to own. I know, majority doesn't mean correct, but I mean, it's not like I'm trying to defend the N-Gage here, I really DO think that the Gameboy was popular because of the games available for it, the best reason for something to sell well. Oh yes, Tetris was actually better than the console version, because it had multiplayer. (For some reason Dance of the Suger Plum Fairies was taken off the song list though... that's still my favorite Tetris song, but oh well it still had good russian classical music, which needs to RETURN to the Tetris series!)
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)