Month: October 2016

Review – BitBoy

Standard

Wander into any used game store across North America and there’s a decent chance that you’ll spot a couple Game Boy Cameras; a charmingly bizarre accessory/game released during the Game Boy renaissance of the late 90s. Equal parts tool and toy, the Game Boy Camera is the brainchild of longtime Nintendo composer/designer/programmer Hirokazu ‘Hip’ Tanaka. And if there’s anyone out there who would appreciate what the BitBoy can do for the Game Boy Camera in 2016, it would be him.

bitboy

Originally released in a limited 100-unit first printing in October 2015, the BitBoy is a third party device that has been created for the express purpose of extracting pictures from Game Boy Printer-compatible software and transposing it into a .bmp format that can be easily transferred to a computer. And once those pictures are on your computer the sky is the limit. The potential behind the BitBoy is virtually limitless and breathes new life into the Game Boy Camera — one of the most unique and versatile game peripherals of 90s.

Technically speaking the BitBoy is a cinch to use. Simply connect the little black box to your Game Boy of choice using a game link cable (generously included with the BitBoy, but your own cables from 20~ years ago will do the job) and use it the same way you would use a Game Boy Printer with any compatible software. That means your photos in Link’s Awakening DX, your high scores in Pokemon Pinball, and even your Pokedex entries from Gold and Silver are all extractable.

The BitBoy also comes with instructions that show you how to batch extract multiple photos from a Game Boy Camera at a time, making what could have been a patience-testing affair into a simple push of a button. Everything about the BitBoy is user friendly and designed to maximize ease of use.

The unit itself is a lightweight, minimalistic, 3D printed black box that could easily fit into a pocket – it’s so non-descript that it’s almost nefarious-looking. Both connector ports are easily accessed and the SD card is easily removed. It has LEDs showing power and transfer status – a feature that designers with less passion and talent would have easily looked over. And it’s these small details that make the BitBoy such a curious and exciting device. Having the monopoly on the Game Boy Camera transfer tool market means that the BitBoy could easily have been much less impressive and still been received by the market with open arms. That these standards have been set so high for such a niche product is kind of incredible.

panorama

Instructions, a game link cable, a USB charging cable for the BitBoy’s built-in lithium-ion battery, a 4GB SD card and the BitBoy itself are all included with price tag. A price tag that will seem prohibitive to some, but considering the number of items included in the package — and features included in BitBoy that streamline the process — 100 USD plus shipping isn’t the most expensive thing in the world. And for the relatively tiny market that this little guy is designed for, it’s a small price to pay for an item that by all rights shouldn’t even exist.

But with the advent of BitBoy it’s likely that market will only continue to grow as 90s nostalgia is reaching its zenith.

hashtag90skids

Small but passionate communities of Game Boy Camer photographers (not sure if I’m willing to appropriate the title of ‘FUNtographer’ just yet) have cropped up in the last few years. Facebook groups, blogs, and Instagram pages dedicated to exclusively Game Boy Camera photography aren’t taking the world by storm, but they exist and produce some remarkable work that would look right at home in their own gallery. It’s easy to chalk it up to nostalgia but there is something genuinely beautiful about good Game Boy photography – you want to see an artist push composition to its limits, give them only 4 shades of grey. My personal favourite is showcasing found photos on second hand Game Boy Cameras. Lo-res pictures of brothers and sisters and family pets, their anonymity protected by the sheer fact that no one can really make out faces on a Game Boy Camera to begin with. It’s a wonderful little world that I can’t wait to see grow in the coming years.

And none of this would have been possible without a way for people to extract their photos from the Game Boy Camera.

After its initial limited run of only 100 units, BitBoy is available again for purchase from gameboyphoto.bigcartel.com. I can easily recommend BitBoy to artists and photographers or fans of Nintendo’s bizarre history of accessories that can afford it. I can personally testify that a number of art projects I’ve been experimenting with lately just wouldn’t have been possible without BitBoy. I hope that others out there find the same joy and creative satisfaction that I have while using BitBoy to resurrect one of Nintendo’s strangest and most wonderful peripherals.

Timed Hits List 001 – Route 209 (Pokemon Diamond & Pearl)

Standard

Welcome to Timed Hits List; a monthly exploration of music from the world of video games. That may mean a song from a game’s soundtrack, it may mean an arrangement of a song that originally appeared in a game, it may mean a song inspired by a game, or it may mean something entirely different altogether! We play it pretty fast and loose here.

Featuring a song on Timed Hits List doesn’t necessarily mean I think it’s a ‘Top Whatever Song in Video Game History’ — in fact we’re going to try to stay away from some of the obvious picks — but each song will be something that has resonated with me in a way that made me feel like sharing and exploring it to the best of my ability. Keep in mind that that ability is limited — I’m certainly no music expert. If you have any corrections or further insight into the music I showcase feel free to let me know in the comments or on Twitter: @victorehunter. 90% of the reason I started Galuade is to talk to other people about the things I love so don’t ever hesitate to share your experiences as well.

Now let’s get started with something upbeat, light, a little odd, and with a hint of adventure to it…

This month’s song is the infectiously charming and surprisingly anthemic “Route 209” from Pokemon Diamond & Pearl.

Geographically speaking, Route 209 isn’t the most remarkable stretch of land in Sinnoh. It’s a short, L-shaped road with a few small points of interest, a smattering of trainers, and the requisite patches of tall grass. However, it ends up being a place that trainers will visit quite a few times if they’re interested in Pokemon breeding.

Beginning with Ruby & Sapphire, Pokemon Day Cares were regularly placed near long stretches of uninterrupted land to provide easier egg hatching routes. Sinnoh’s version consists of a dirt road stretching from Route 209’s elbow in the south, up through Solaceon Town (where Day Care Man can be seen by the side of the road), and north onto Route 210. Players can collect an egg from the Day Care, hop on their bike, and ride along this unbroken path back and forth until either their egg has hatched or they’ve seen that the Day Care has another fresh ovum to offer them; then it’s rinse, lather, repeat, repeatedly. The breeding/hatching cycle is a little grotesque when you think about it too hard — in which case I would recommend not thinking about it too hard.

“Route 209” is composed by longtime Game Freak staff member Hitomi Sato. Credited as a Planner and Scenario Writer from Pokemon Crystal (2001) onward, Sato’s first Composer credit would be for Diamond & Pearl. According to Sato herself in an interview on PocketMonsters.net, a position had opened on Game Freak’s sound team after a member had left. She says, “I had told them once that I could play the piano and when I was asked if I wanted to give it a try, I said yes.” It’s fair to say that ‘I could play the piano’ might be a bit of an understatement. Sato’s Diamond & Pearl compositions are quintessentially ‘Pokemon’-sounding while adding a flair and nuance that wouldn’t have been possible in prior generations due to hardware limitations. With Sato’s help the transition from GBA to DS was a sonically positive one for the Pokemon series and “Route 209” exemplifies this.
The song opens immediately with a snare drum straight out of a marching band and leads into the cymbals-crashing bombast of our first melodic line. Whether it’s a deliberate homage or not to ELO’s Telephone Line remains to be seen – the two songs go through tonal shifts that aren’t entirely dissimilar after all. Then almost as quickly, things de-escalate until around the 0:25 mark where we get a more laid back drum beat and piano line. Totally different melody from what we had before in our march. It has an inspirational “setting out on a journey” feel that Pokemon tunes so often nail – but if you listen closely there are some really killer drums fills going on in the background around the 0:40 mark. I can’t help but imagine the tiny drummer in my DS loving the hell out of this song. But don’t get lulled into thinking that “Route 209” has played all of its cards yet…

0:58 transitions into another melody, again with a completely different feel. Piano is traded out for flute, the cello has been replaced by bass guitar, and our little drummer boy has opted for a syncopated hi-hat. Swap the flute out for a horn section and you’d have a ska song from Hoenn.

And that’s it. The entire loop is roughly 1:14 with the track on the Pokemon Diamond & Pearl: Super Music Collection running 1:22.

Let’s be real here; “Route 209” isn’t setting the world on fire. It’s not going to go down in history as a classic. But it really represents a shift in Pokemon music. The leap from the GBA to the DS gave the sound team a lot more freedom to experiment – both with the complexity and number of samples as well as the range of emotion that can be conveyed in any given area. “Route 209” has 3 different musical sections complete with different instruments and a couple bars that segue into those sections with a unifying sound. It’s kind of magical if you can buy into the DS’s sound.

Hitomi Sato’s first composition for Diamond & Pearl was “Route 206”. It’s a piece that feels like it could have been from an earlier Pokemon generation yet doesn’t feel out of place next to the songs that set Diamond & Pearl apart like “Route 209”.

“Route 209″‘s life didn’t end with Diamond & Pearl; an arrangement has appeared in the Smash Bros. series as background music for Pokemon-themed stages. The Smash Bros. Wii U sound test – being frustratingly opaque with its credits – lists Shogo Sakai (Composer for Mother 3) as ‘Arrangement Supervisor’, whatever that means. I’ll include links to the Smash Bros. version, the Nighttime version from Diamond & Pearl, and a jazz arrangement by Youtube channel ‘insaneintherainmusic’ (which I beg you to check out) below.

And that’s about it for the first installment of Timed Hits List. Hopefully something in here either piqued your interest, gave you a bit of insight, or at the very least sent you down a musical rabbit-hole that took you to something you DO find interesting. If you have any further information about this month’s song or composer, or just want to say ‘hi’ don’t hesitate to contact me on Twitter @victorehunter. See you next month!

Further Listening:

WELCOME TO GALUADE

Standard

Nestled in the mountains of the nation of Gindra, the fortress of Galuade is a non-canonical spin-off remake of a videogame blog with a focus on the sights, sounds and feelings of videogames that we refuse to let be lost to the flow of data.

Regular updates are scheduled for Fridays in a monthly rotation but are subject to the whims of a cold and uncaring universe:

Timed Hits List – 1st Friday
A moment to appreciate a piece/pieces of music from, about, inspired by, or tangentially related to a game. Can range from a breakdown or analysis to a simple re-listen to a tune.

Editorial/News – 2nd Friday
Maybe current events, maybe old events, maybe non-events.

Every Pixel Perfect – 3rd Friday
Take a look at a visual element from/of/surrounding a game — whether that be in-game assets, an iconic screenshot, a piece of key-art, a famous advertisement, or a stage design, etc.

Review/Retrospective – 4th Friday
Let’s look at a videogame and see what’s going on with it. Chances are this isn’t going to be a recent release. Exploring games that are few years old but not old enough to be retro, finding the good in games that are otherwise dismissed, and exploring

Wild Card – 5th Friday
Who put this day here? Hmm. Sneaky, God.

If you have any questions, comments, corrections, input, ideas, recommendations, or just need a friend to talk to about Klonoa, get a hold of me on Twitter: @victorehunter.