QA: 06-09-2003

As you know The GBA-SP uses a special rechargable battle rather than those money sucking double A's. My concern is lets say in the way future i wanna replace the battery like when the SP is far outdated, will i be able to do soo. I know they will have replacement batteries for several years... but lets say a decade from now... And God forbid nintendo is gone from the software industrym will i be able to go to a radio shack or a watch store to by a battery that will run in the SP? I'ld be pretty pissed if i wasnt able to due to the fact that i feel that this GBA is a timeless from of entertainment ( yes i still whip out my tetris that came with the bulky old school gameboy)
-Anonymous

Josh: The current situation is that the unit must be sent in to Nintendo for battery replacement. Whether this will change in the future is unknown, but I'd be willing to bet that this will be the setup for the forseeable future. If and when Nintendo withdraws from the business, the issue of GBA SP's battery will be addressed then.

Capcom Zelda?

It wasn't shown at E3, but it was reported back in February that Capcom was well underway with a new LoZ game for GBA. Did any of you happen to hear any new information on this game?
-james garlington

Josh: The Capcom Zelda is indeed underway, but we've not heard anything about the game since the initial announcement in February. Pressing questions like its release date and whether or not it will feature connectivity with the next GameCube iteration of Zelda remain unanswered.

Nintendo @ E3

Dear N-sider,
First off I want to say your site is great, I pay enough for DSL in that I don't want to pay access to the news. My biggest concern about E3 was that I was a little disappointed by the big N's showing. Who cares about those 2 Zelda games, they seem like either mini games or side quests, no real substance. There was no surprises, at least that I know of. There was no Mario 128, no too human, no killer ap, they showed MGS but I already played the same thing for the PS1 so there is nothing but updated graphics that are new. So my question comes down to is there anything to really be happy about with E3? All in all I am a lil disappointed, because obviously XBOX has Halo 2 in the wings and PS2 has Vice City still selling like hot cakes. Where does that leave the big N? Oh yeah where was Zoonami? Thanx in advance
-Ira

Josh: There's no denying that this year's E3 did not hold the same "shock and awe" factor for Nintendo as it often has in years past, and the primary reason for this, as you cited, is that there were no surprises. Nintendo revealed most of its big draws prior to the show; imagine if Resident Evil 4, the Metal Gear Solid remake, and Mario Kart Double Dash were debuted at the show, rather than beforehand. I think that this would've given the show a bit more "pop" that it was lacking.

Nonetheless, I think most would agree with you that there was no single "killer app" at this year's show that would make a non-GameCube owner sit up and say, "Hey! I need that game, so I need a GameCube." And let's face it: no Nintendo game shown has quite the mass appeal and hype as a game like Halo 2. Nonetheless, I think the rest of this year should be fairly kind to the already-existing system owners. F-Zero GX, Mario Kart Double Dash, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Pikmin 2, Soul Calibur 2, Rogue Leader 3, viewtiful Joe, Wario World, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, and Prince of Persia are all games worth at least considering to buy.

As far as Zoonami's whereabouts: good question. I suspect Game Zero was not quite ready for a public showing, as if it was, Nintendo would've certainly displayed it to bolster their lineup.

Game Boy Player multiplayer

Hey guys,
Of course I lust over your site on a nightly basis, you guys got something special here. Quick question gurus, are you telling me that if I purchased a Game Boy Player for my Cube that I could say, stick in Mario Kart Super Circuit or A Link to the Past/Four Swords in there and play the multiplayer games simply with my Gamecube controllers? Peace, love and sweet kisses.
-Oliver Klozov-

Josh: Thanks for the...uh...lusting, but I'm afraid that I only have disappointing news: Game Boy Advance games played through the Game Boy Player can not be played multiplayer simply by adding other GameCube controllers; you'll need additional Game Boy units for that.

Brenden:Hey, thanks for the peace, love and sweet kisses. Maybe a cookie next time too? I like cookies. Anyway, I recently imported a GameBoy Player (a modded GameCube or FreeLoader is required to load the boot disk each time you boot it up) and hooking up 4 controllers does not work at all. While it would be a novel idea, the GB Player does not support any form of split screen format. That isn't to say you can't enjoy multiplayer gaming with the add-on. It has your standard EXT port to connect the link cable to and it works just wonderfully. I highly recommend acquiring one when it's released on our western shores if you're sick of bending your neck over for those long periods of game time. The only downside on the multiplayer aspect is that everyone else can see your screen. Luckily, most of the time, they're too busy paying attention to their own screen to care.

GBA cart sizes

I was reading the article "Sony PSP - Friend or Foe" and noticed that the GBA medium is said to be "theoretically unlimited in size". I was wondering what that meant and if the meaning that first comes to mind is really possible.
-Jeff Breheny

Josh: This simply means that the GBA can read carts of any size, and that carts can be any size. It's just a matter of the cost and technology available at the time.

Sega Sports: MIA

Hello,
My name is Tyree and my question: is Sega still going to drop their sports line-up for my Gamecube. Thanks
-Tyree

Josh: Sorry, but Sega has dropped their sports line from the GameCube, citing lackluster sales as the reason. For the record, their decision was admittedly justified, as sports titles are notorious for having poor sales on the GameCube even with just EA producing, let alone with Sega in the mix.

Game Boy games to get

Great site, a have a couple of questions for you. I have never owned any iteration of the gameboy, but i am going to break that habit, by buying a GBA SP in the coming weeks. my question is what is the first game i should get for my gba sp? I already know im going to get both golden sun's eventually. But, i would like to know what is the next best action/adventure or rpg that i can get? Finally, i know i want to buy one of the GBA Castlevania's, but, out of the three, which one is the most worthy of my money? Oh, one more thing, ive already decided im not getting the GBA A link to the past, i already have beaten the hell out of it on my SNES. Thanks for your time,
-Jeff

Josh: Well, since you specified action/adventure and/or RPG, I'm going to resist the urge to recommend Advance Wars, though I strongly suggest you check it out if you're even remotely interested in the RTS genre; it's probably the best game on the system right now. You'll probably enjoy both iterations of Golden Sun, as long as you are okay with the slow story pacing and extensive emoting. As far as the Castlevania games, reports indicate that Aria of Sorrow is the best version to date, though personally I have only played Circle of the Moon so far (very enjoyable, by the way). As for other games, consider Super Mario Advance 2 (Super Mario World) and 3 (Yoshi's Island), Wario Ware, Metroid Fusion, and Sonic Advance 1 and 2 for starters.

PN03

I was just wondering if you guys heard anything about the upcoming US release of P.N.03. It got subpar import reviews and supposedly tanked in japan when it was first released. It was scheduled to be the first released of the capcom 5 but then it got pushed back to a september release behind viewtiful joe (which is awesome!). Aside from the earlier reviews no one seems to be talking about this title much but it looked to have a lot of promise. Is there any way that capcom maybe delayed the us release in order to rework the problems p.n.03 had and the u.s. release will be a lot better than the original?? i was hoping against odds this would be the case, but I'd appreciate any info.
-Albert Hsu

Josh: Most reports indicated that the game is nothing more than mediocre shooter, with irritating controls and bland repetitive environments. It may have been delayed to retool the controls a bit, but aside from an extensive reworking of the game mechanics and environments, I can't envision a drastic enough improvement to the game to warrant any significant attention.

Someone needs a dictionary...

I just read the PSP article and i was wondering why you guys say stuff like "Its not like Sega, Bandai, SNK, Game Park, and NEC had quite the same amount of power at the time of their respective handheld releases..."? Those systems deserve no respect. Why do you say "respective handheld releases"? Those handhelds suck. Ive been hearing that lately on alot of gaming sites, when people refer to something no matter how crappy or insignificant it is they give it respect. I think its just like a habbit or something but you tell me. Alsois there any word on a new Game Boy coming out from Nintendo too? I know the SP just came out but I suspect in late 2004 or in 2005 another one would come out.
-jordan

Josh: Respective simply refers to the fact that each one of the companies in question released a handheld at a specific time; it's nothing more than being grammatically correct. You're confusing the word with respectable. As for a new iteration for the Game Boy, Nintendo will likely ready something to compete against Sony's PSP in late 2004 or early-to-mid 2005.

Miyamoto phonetics

I was wondering exactly how you pronounce the name of the legendary games creator Shigeru Miyamoto? Maybe you could post an mp3 or something? cheers and great site!
~Darren

Josh: I've always pronounced it SHEH-GEER-OO ME-YA-MO-TOE. I'm not sure if that's right or not, but it sounds good to me!

Dean: Okay here we go

Shigeru: Sha-ge-ro (the She is like saying porche like por-sha)
Miyamoto: Me-Ya-Mo-Toe

And that sir, is the correct way! Josh is just plain ol' wrong. Well, 'cept for the last name.

Cory: You're both nuts. She-gay-ru Me-ya-mo-toe. With the "ru" pronounced as a conglomeration of "ru", "lu", and "du". Try sticking your tongue in the back of your throat before that syllable and half-rolling the r. Simple Japanese pronounciation, boyos.

Q&A By: Josh Righter.

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