my mum recently dug out all our old GBAs (two that used to belong to me and my sister, and also the GBA SP i got later) and the cartridges and gave them to me, mostly thinking I could find a way to sell them. I've been going through em and unfortunately most of the cartridges don't seem to run, no idea if it's because they're broken or because the gameboys are.
the main thing i'm struck by is, like, remember how games used to have wildly different versions on different consoles? like the GBA version of lego star wars was more of an isometric action game as opposed to the more puzzle platformer style console versions, or how the star wars episode 3 game was a side scroller on GBA and a 3D action game on consoles.
(fuckin loved that game as a kid lol)
i think the weirdest one for me when i was a kid was LOTR the Third Age. i remember renting the ps2 version as a kid and being caught off guard at how it was basically a final fantasy game set in middle earth.
the main reason i was confused was because i played the GBA version first and that was basically fire emblem.
like even the animations for when characters attack each other look like fire emblem animations lol
i guess there isn't much reason to do things like this anymore since handhelds aren't really a thing and most consoles are close enough in power to run the same game. still, it's neat and i kinda miss it.
also while i'm at it, i'll admit something. back when i was a kid, my parents took us overseas to bali a few times. while we were there we would often buy a lot of movies and games on the cheap. i was told a lot of times not to buy things at home if a trip was coming up because we'd be able to get them cheaper.
as an adult i realise we were just buying pirated copies lol
i have a bunch of cartridges that have like 30 games in them. most of them are GBA games but a lot were classic NES games too. that was how i played a lot of older games actually.
however, among all those, i also have this:
looking it up the name gets me a romhack called Pokemon Dark Cry: Legend of Giratina so that's most l likely what this is. I had no idea what romhacks were when i was kid so i suspect i might have been responsible for a few school rumours about pokemon because of this thing lol.
i don't really remember much about it though. shame i can't get it working. i could totally pretend to be in the beginning of a creepypasta story if i could