85-693: The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is an action-adventure game and the twelfth entry in The Legend of Zelda series. Developed by Capcom and Flagship , with Nintendo overseeing the development process, The Minish Cap was released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan and Europe in 2004 and in North America and Australia the following year. The Minish Cap serves as a prequel to Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures , telling
170-627: A fantasy " setting. Tutankham , debuted by Konami in January 1982, was an action-adventure released for arcades . It combined maze, shoot 'em up, puzzle-solving and adventure elements, with a 1983 review by Computer and Video Games magazine calling it "the first game that effectively combined the elements of an adventure game with frenetic shoot 'em up gameplay." It inspired the similar Time Bandit (1983). Action Quest , released in May 1982, blended puzzle elements of adventure games into
255-446: A joystick -controlled, arcade-style action game, which surprised reviewers at the time. While noting some similarities to Adventure , IGN argues that The Legend of Zelda (1986) by Nintendo "helped to establish a new subgenre of action-adventure", becoming a success due to how it combined elements from different genres to create a compelling hybrid, including exploration, adventure-style inventory puzzles , an action component,
340-571: A monetary system , and simplified RPG-style level building without the experience points . The Legend of Zelda series was the most prolific action-adventure game franchise through to the 2000s. Roe R. Adams also cited the arcade-style side-scrolling fantasy games Castlevania (1986), Trojan (1986) and Wizards & Warriors (1987) as early examples of action-adventure games. Games like Brain Breaker (1985), Xanadu (1985), Metroid (1986) and Vampire Killer (1986) combined
425-767: A subgenre of open world action-adventure video games in the third-person perspective . They are characterized by their likeness to the Grand Theft Auto series in either gameplay or overall design. In these types of open world games, players may find and use a variety of vehicles and weapons while roaming freely in an open world setting. Metroidvania is a portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania ; such games are sometimes referred to as "search action", and are generally based on two-dimensional platformers. They emphasize both exploration and puzzle-solving with traditional platform gameplay. Survival horror games emphasize "inventory management" and making sure
510-465: A white noise channel with volume variation. The motherboard of the Game Boy Color contains a 32 KB "work" RAM chip, four times more than the original Game Boy. The Game Boy features a D-pad (directional pad), four action buttons labeled 'A,' 'B,' 'SELECT,' and 'START,' and a sliding on-off switch on the right side of the device. The volume is adjusted by a potentiometer dial on
595-412: A "high-speed" mode that could operate up 64 times faster than the original Game Boy. The Game Boy Color added an infrared communications port for wireless data transfer, which was supported by a small number of games; the infrared port was not included on the later Game Boy Advance line. Games are stored on cartridges called Game Boy Game Paks , using read-only memory (ROM) chips. Initially, due to
680-412: A "unique" and "previously unheard of" line of successful third-party games, including Dragon Warrior Monsters , Metal Gear Solid and Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories . Ashley Day of Retro Gamer noted that the handheld had an "overlooked" status, stating "the Game Boy Color (has) an unfair reputation as the one Nintendo handheld with few worthwhile titles, but this simply isn't the case...returning to
765-560: A 2 KB "bootstrap" ROM which is used to start up the device, 127 B of High RAM that can be accessed faster (similar to a CPU cache ), and the Audio Processing Unit , a programmable sound generator with four channels: a pulse wave generation channel with frequency and volume variation, a second pulse wave generation channel with only volume variation, a wave channel than can reproduce any waveform recorded in RAM, and
850-545: A choice of what to say. The NPC gives a scripted response to the player, and the game offers the player several new ways to respond. Due to the action-adventure subgenre's broad and inclusive nature, it causes some players to have difficulty finishing a particular game. Companies have devised ways to give the player help, such as offering clues or allowing the player to skip puzzles to compensate for this lack of ability. Brett Weiss cites Atari 's Superman (1979) as an action-adventure game, with Retro Gamer crediting it as
935-442: A color Game Boy, but only when technology limitations could be addressed. Internally, a team led by Satoru Okada , who played a key role in the original Game Boy's design, was experimenting with color displays. Their early-1990s prototype, codenamed " Project Atlantis ," featured a color screen and a powerful 32-bit processor from Sharp. However, the team was not satisfied with the outcome and shelved further development. Despite
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#17328009246881020-474: A combination of complex story elements, which are often displayed for players using audio and video. The story is heavily reliant upon the player character's movement, which triggers story events and thus affects the flow of the game. Popular examples of action-adventure games include The Legend of Zelda , God of War , and Tomb Raider series. There is a good deal of controversy over what actually constitutes an action-adventure game. One definition of
1105-448: A complex text parser and no free-moving character. While they share general gameplay dynamics, action-adventures vary widely in the design of their viewpoints, including bird's eye , side-scrolling, first-person, third-person , over-the-shoulder, or even a 3/4 isometric view . Many action-adventure games simulate a conversation through a conversation tree . When the player encounters a non-player character , they are allowed to select
1190-452: A custom 8-bit processor made by Sharp . The American English spelling of the system's name, Game Boy Color , remains consistent throughout the world. While it received positive reviews upon its release, the Game Boy Color was seen as more of a transitional upgrade of the original Game Boy rather than a completely new device. It would have a relatively brief lifespan, being supplanted by the Game Boy Advance after less than three years on
1275-585: A custom system on a chip (SoC), integrating the CPU and other major components into a single package, named the CPU ;CGB by Nintendo and manufactured by the Sharp Corporation . While the CPU CGB was a new design for the Game Boy Color, the technology inside was largely an evolution of the then ten-year-old DMG-CPU SoC used inside the original Game Boy. Within the CPU CGB, the main processor
1360-517: A game with a mix of elements from an action game and an adventure game , especially crucial elements like puzzles inspired by older adventure games. Action-adventures require many of the same physical skills as action games, but may also offer a storyline, numerous characters, an inventory system, dialogue, and other features of adventure games. They are typically faster-paced than pure adventure games, because they include both physical and conceptual challenges. Action-adventure games normally include
1445-526: A hat which allowed Link to shrink in to the size of a gnat . The game contains a developmental in-joke to the Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons titles in an optional side-quest which sees the player aiding three females travelers from distant lands who are looking for a place to stay. These characters are Din, Nayru, and Farore, from the Oracle titles. The player will only able to provide housing for two of
1530-535: A living breathing city with people going about their ordinary lives. This combined with Link's ability to shrink in size allowed for unique angles on the perspective of a "safe town", turning the town itself into a dungeon of sorts for the player. Aonuma was reportedly impressed by what the development team was able to achieve with Hyrule Town, particularly given the restrictions of a 2D game, commenting that it even surpasses Clock Town in Majora's Mask . The game's gust jar
1615-590: A magical hat, who decides to accompany Link and grants him the ability to shrink to Picori size. The Picori, who call themselves Minish, then task Link with retrieving the Four Elements, magic stones needed to restore the Picori Blade. During the journey, Ezlo explains that he was once a Minish sage who created the Mage's Cap, a hat capable of granting wishes, but his apprentice Vaati stole the hat and became
1700-463: A monochrome handheld, considering competitors like the Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear boasted color screens. However, while these color displays were visually impressive, they led to criticism that the rival devices had poor battery life and were bulky. The Game Boy, in contrast, offered superior portability and longevity, propelling it to immense popularity. Publicly, Nintendo pledged to develop
1785-789: A new hat as a parting gift, and departs through the door to the Minish Realm as it seals itself for another century. After Capcom and its scenario writing subsidiary Flagship had finished developing Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages for the Game Boy Color , they began work on a new Zelda game for the Game Boy Advance. Work on the title was suspended to allow the teams to focus on Four Swords , but in February 2003 Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma revealed that development of what would later be called The Minish Cap
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#17328009246881870-665: A powerful sorcerer. Fascinated by evil and seeking the Light Force's power, Vaati used his new abilities to trap Ezlo in his current form. Meanwhile, Vaati brainwashes King Daltus and takes control of Hyrule Castle. Link eventually retrieves the Four Elements and infuses them into the reforged blade, which becomes the Four Sword. Link and Ezlo also learn that the Light Force is passed down within Hyrule's princesses. Vaati, who has been spying on them, overhears this and begins siphoning
1955-521: A processor that can operate twice as fast, and four times as much memory. It retains backward compatibility with games initially developed for its predecessor. While the handheld was slightly thicker, taller and had a smaller screen than its immediate predecessor, the Game Boy Pocket , the Color was significantly smaller than the original Game Boy. As with its predecessors, the Game Boy Color has
2040-482: A relatively short lifespan, being on the market for only two and a half years before being succeeded by the Game Boy Advance in 2001. The successor finally brought the 32-bit processing power envisioned in Project Atlantis. Despite the new arrival, the Game Boy Color remained in production, serving as a budget-friendly alternative. The last units were reportedly sold by March 2003. The Game Boy Color uses
2125-461: A roadside accident in 1997 before the WonderSwan's release. Faced with mounting pressure, Okada revisited Project Atlantis. Prioritizing speed to market over processing power, he dropped the 32-bit chip for a faster version of the existing Game Boy's 8-bit processor that would allow for a quicker launch and maintain compatibility with the existing library of Game Boy games. The Game Boy Color
2210-655: A selection of 32,768 colors. When an Original Game Boy Game Pak is inserted into the device, the additional memory is disabled. Certain games such as The Fish Files , The New Addams Family Series and Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare use a programming trick to display more than 2,000 colors on-screen at once. The display itself is a 2.3-inch (diagonal) thin-film transistor (TFT) color liquid-crystal display (LCD), measuring 44 millimeters (1.7 in) wide by 40 millimeters (1.6 in) high. The screen aspect ratio and resolution remain identical to
2295-711: A side-scrolling platformer format with adventure exploration, creating the Metroidvania platform-adventure subgenre. Similarly, games like 005 (1981), Castle Wolfenstein and Metal Gear (1987) combined action-adventure exploration with stealth mechanics, laying the foundations for the stealth game subgenre, which would later be popularized in 1998 with the releases of Metal Gear Solid , Tenchu: Stealth Assassins , and Thief: The Dark Project . The cinematic platformer Prince of Persia (1989) featured action-adventure elements, inspiring games such as Another World (1991) and Flashback (1992). Alone in
2380-400: A single avatar as the protagonist . This type of game is often quite similar to role-playing video games . They are distinct from graphic adventures , which sometimes have free-moving central characters, but also a wider variety of commands and fewer or no action game elements and are distinct too from text adventures , characterized by many different commands introduced by the user via
2465-541: Is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , released on November 15, 2002. In Europe, the last game released for the system is Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite! , on January 10, 2003. Beyond officially released games for the platform, there is an active online community creating new games for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color through the use of tools like GB Studio. One such example is Dragonhym (originally Dragonborne) which
2550-604: Is a Sharp SM83 , a hybrid between two other 8-bit processors: the Intel 8080 and the Zilog Z80 . The SM83 has the seven 8-bit registers of the 8080 (lacking the alternate registers of the Z80) but uses the Z80's programming syntax and extra bit manipulation instructions, along with adding new instructions to optimize the processor for certain operations related to the way the hardware
2635-678: Is an action game that includes situational problem-solving. Adventure gamers may also be purists, rejecting any game that makes use of physical challenges or time pressure. Regardless, the action-adventure label is prominent in articles over the internet and media. The term "action-adventure" is usually substituted for a particular subgenre due to its wide scope. Although action-adventure games are diverse and difficult to classify, there are some distinct subgenres. Many games with gameplay similar to those in The Legend of Zelda series are called Zelda clones or Zelda -like games. Popular subgenres include: A Grand Theft Auto clone belongs to
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap - Misplaced Pages Continue
2720-485: Is now available for download for the Nintendo 3DS 's Virtual Console by Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors . In Europe, the game was available either as a standalone packaged game , or as part of a special pack, which included one of only 25,000 limited edition , Zelda -themed Game Boy Advance SP . The Triforce SP is matte gold in color, with a Triforce logo stamped on the lid, and the Hyrule royal family crest printed on
2805-455: Is the best-selling game compatible with Game Boy Color, and Pokémon Gold and Silver are the best-selling games developed primarily for it. The best-selling Game Boy Color exclusive game is Pokémon Crystal . The last Game Boy Color game ever released is the Japanese exclusive Doraemon no Study Boy: Kanji Yomikaki Master , on July 18, 2003. The last game released in North America
2890-543: The Uncharted franchise, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Ark: Survival Evolved . Game Boy Color The Game Boy Color ( GBC or CGB ) is an 8-bit handheld game console , manufactured by Nintendo , which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy , the Game Boy Color features a color TFT screen rather than monochrome ,
2975-558: The 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards , the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated The Minish Cap for " Handheld Game of the Year ", which was ultimately awarded to Nintendogs . Action-adventure game An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, classical adventure games have situational problems for
3060-651: The WonderSwan . The project was led by Gunpei Yokoi , the engineer who led the development of the Game & Watch series and the original Game Boy. Yokoi had left Nintendo in 1996 following the commercial failure of his final project, the Virtual Boy . His departure caused a stir, with investors dumping Nintendo stock, forcing a temporary halt on trading at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Yokoi was killed in
3145-469: The Zelda series. He continued to comment that "it's an idea that's so well-conceived that I'd love to see worked in the series' 3D designs somewhere down the line". The Minish Cap won the 'Best Game Boy Advance of 2005' by GameSpot over such finalists as Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones and WarioWare: Twisted! ; GameSpot labelled it as "the Game Boy Advance game we remember the most". In March 2007,
3230-707: The best selling-video games of all time . Sales of the Game Boy Color were strong at launch. Nintendo of America reported a sale of one million units from launch to December 1998, and two million by July 1999. Retail chains in the United States reported unexpectedly high demand for the console, with executives of FuncoLand reporting "very pleasant and unpredicted" sales and Electronics Boutique stating "the entire Game Boy Color line just exploded, including accessories" upon release. Faced with high worldwide demand and competitive retail pricing, retailers such as CompUSA sold out of Game Boy Color stock in
3315-484: The best-selling game console of all time . In later years, its sales were surpassed by the Nintendo DS , PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Switch , making it the fourth-best-selling console the second-best-selling handheld of all time, as of 2024 . Sales of the device were in part driven by the success of Pokémon Gold and Silver and Pokémon Crystal , with combined sales of 29.5 million units, making them one of
3400-818: The "first to utilize multiple screens as playing area". Mark J.P. Wolf credits Adventure (1980) for the Atari VCS as the earliest-known action-adventure game. The game involves exploring a 2D environment, finding and using items which each have prescribed abilities, and fighting dragons in real-time like in an action game . Muse Software 's Castle Wolfenstein (1981) was another early action-adventure game, merging exploration, combat, stealth, and maze game elements, drawing inspiration from arcade shoot 'em ups and maze games (such as maze-shooter Berzerk ) and war films (such as The Guns of Navarone ). According to Wizardry developer Roe R. Adams, early action-adventure games "were basically arcade games done in
3485-413: The 62nd best-selling game of 2004 with 196,477 copies, and had a total of 350,000 copies overall in the country. In North America, The Minish Cap sold 217,000 copies in its debut month of January 2005, being the fourth best-selling game of the month. It remained among the five best-selling games in February and March. The Minish Cap closed the year as the seventh best-selling game of 2005. By March 2005,
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap - Misplaced Pages Continue
3570-490: The Dark (1992) used 3D graphics , which would later be popularized by Resident Evil (1996) and Tomb Raider (1996). Resident Evil in particular created the survival horror subgenre, inspiring titles such as Silent Hill (1999) and Fatal Frame (2001). Action-adventure games have gone on to become more popular than the pure adventure games and pure platform games that inspired them. Recent examples include
3655-406: The Game Boy Color for making the Game Boy library of games "look better than ever – everything is crystal clear, bright and in [color]". Writing for GameSpot , Chris Johnston stated that the display was "crystal clear" and free of motion blur, stating that Tetris DX was the "killer app" of the launch titles on the platform. Milder reviews included those by Arcade , who said that while that
3740-518: The Game Boy Color had a reputation as a "legacy machine" that found success mostly due to its backward compatibility, as "few wanted to lose all the Dr. Mario and Pokémon cartridges they had amassed over the years." Quoted in Retro Gamer , Blitz Games Studios developer Bob Pape acknowledged that although "backwards compatibility more or less defined (the) Game Boy Color", the handheld "ticked all
3825-420: The Game Boy Color launched with a large playable library. The system amassed a library of 576 Game Boy Color games over a four-year period. While the majority of the games are Game Boy Color exclusive, approximately 30% of the games released are compatible with the original Game Boy. Most Game Boy Color games released after 1999 are not compatible with the original Game Boy. Tetris for the original Game Boy
3910-549: The Game Boy Color while allowing the hardware to retain backward compatibility with existing games. The CPU CGB incorporates the Picture Processing Unit , a basic GPU that renders visuals using 16 kilobytes (KB) banks of Video RAM , twice as much as the original Game Boy. Games developed exclusively for the Game Boy Color could take full advantage of the additional memory to add more effects and display up to 56 colors simultaneously out of
3995-469: The Game Boy Color, these cartridges feature the full-color range (56 colors simultaneously out of a palette of 32,768) and benefit from the increased processing speed and memory of the Game Boy Color. Because of this reliance on newer hardware, these games are incompatible with the older monochrome Game Boy models. Nintendo had seen success selling colored variations of the Play It Loud! Game Boy and
4080-558: The Game Boy Pocket, so the company released the Color in several case variations. The logo for Game Boy Color spells out the word "COLOR" in the five original colors in which the unit was manufactured: Berry (C), Grape (O), Kiwi (L), Dandelion (O), and Teal (R). Another color released at the same time was "Atomic Purple", made of a translucent purple plastic. Other colors were sold as limited editions or in specific countries. Due to its backward compatibility with Game Boy games,
4165-494: The Game Boy system. Some cartridges include up to 128 KB of RAM to increase performance, which can be battery-backed to save progress when the handheld is off, real-time clock chips can keep track of time even when the device is off, and Rumble Pak cartridges add vibration feedback to enhance gameplay. The Game Boy Color has backward compatibility with all original Game Boy games. Three main Game Pak cartridge types for
4250-444: The Light Force from Zelda. Link returns to the castle and confronts Vaati, who uses the extracted Light Force to become all-powerful, but Link overcomes Vaati and restores Zelda to normal. Vaati transforms into a demonic form, only to be vanquished by Link, restoring Ezlo to normal. Zelda retrieves the Mage's Cap and uses it to undo all the damage done by Vaati, destroying the cap in the process. Ezlo thanks Link for his help, giving him
4335-662: The Mole Mitts (allowing Link to dig through earthen walls), the Gust Jar (which sucks up enemies and other objects), and the Cane of Pacci (which flips objects upside-down). In certain areas, the player can create multiple copies of Link; although The Minish Cap is a single-player game, this ability is inspired by the multiplayer-focused Four Swords games. The player can also collect "Kinstones", artifacts that are broken into two fragments. Finding matching Kinstone pieces can progress
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#17328009246884420-533: The Picori Festival. The festival's sword fighting champion, Vaati, destroys the Picori Blade and opens the chest, releasing monsters across Hyrule. Not finding the Light Force he seeks, Vaati turns Zelda to stone and leaves. As only children can see the Picori, King Daltus orders Link to find them so that the sword can be reforged to stop Vaati and restore Zelda. Traveling to Minish Woods, Link encounters Ezlo,
4505-442: The backlit screen required that the user be in a well lit area. Commentary on the legacy of the Game Boy Color has been shaped by the perception that the handheld was as an incremental and transitional upgrade of the Game Boy rather than a completely new device, and had a relatively brief lifespan, being supplanted by the Game Boy Advance after two years, five months on the market. In a history of Nintendo, author Jeff Ryan noted
4590-543: The colors were "very impressive" they were "not as eyeball-popping as you might have hoped for [...] it's mostly seaweed greens, rusty browns, timid yellows and the like". They concluded that "nothing about [the Game Boy Color] is very radical" but said the device was "Game Boy as it always should have been". Reviewers pointed out other drawbacks including that the system was still using an 8-bit architecture when competitors had moved onto 16-bit handheld systems and that
4675-511: The game already had sold 1 million units worldwide. In the United States alone, The Minish Cap sold 680,000 copies and earned $ 21 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 37th highest-selling game launched for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable in that country. The game ended up selling 1.76 million copies worldwide. The game received critical acclaim. IGN praised
4760-430: The game for continuing the legacy of the successful series, while GameSpot also praised the game for this aspect, saying that "classic Zelda gameplay and flavor will please fans". The graphical style especially—which continues the whimsical style of Wind Waker —was welcomed by most reviewers. The music of the game was commended by most sites; GameSpy stated that "even the music is outstanding, featuring some of
4845-462: The game or award other prizes. Within the Zelda chronology, The Minish Cap takes place between Skyward Sword and Four Swords , making it the second story in that timeline. As a prequel to Four Swords , The Minish Cap tells the backstory of Vaati and the creation of the Four Sword, which both feature in Four Swords and its sequel Four Swords Adventures . Centuries ago, Hyrule
4930-561: The game was ranked as the 20th best Game Boy Advance game by IGN . In the acknowledgement, IGN commented that "the inclusion of the ability to shrink and grow was explored to some really good results". The game was ranked 47th in Official Nintendo Magazine ' s "100 Greatest Nintendo Games" feature. The Minish Cap received an average score of 90 percent from GameRankings , a site that compiles media ratings from several publishers to give an average score. During
5015-599: The game was released in European territories before North America. The main cited reason for this was the Nintendo DS : with the European DS Launch scheduled for Spring 2005, Nintendo of Europe pushed to make The Minish Cap its handheld Christmas " killer app ". Conversely, Nintendo of America held back on its release so not to "cannibalize" the DS market. The game is included in the list of Game Boy Advance games that
5100-466: The game's six relatively short dungeons in about ten hours". There are also various other complaints from reviewers: IGN claims that the kinstone system is overly repetitive; Nintendo World Report criticises the game's visuals on a Game Boy Player , and RPGamer details the game's low difficulty level as a disadvantage. Despite this, IGN ' s Craig Harris liked the way that the ability to become tiny had been incorporated to create fresh puzzles in
5185-528: The game. The titular "Minish cap" refers to a new ability that allows Link to transform into "Minish size" using portals throughout the world. Link's smaller size changes his ability to traverse his environments. For instance, a small portal inaccessible to Link in his normal size can be used by Minish-sized Link. A puddle that Link can normally walk over will be too deep for Minish-sized Link to traverse. Along with items common to Zelda games (such as bombs and arrows), The Minish Cap introduces three new items:
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#17328009246885270-406: The gameplay still follows a number of adventure game genre tropes (gathering items , exploration of and interaction with one's environment, often including an overworld connecting areas of importance, and puzzle-solving). While the controls are arcade-style (character movement, few action commands) there is an ultimate goal beyond a high score. In most action-adventure games, the player controls
5355-480: The handheld were released: Original Game Boy Game Pak (Gray Case): The classic Game Boy cartridges. The Game Boy Color applies a limited color palette (often dark green) using four to ten colors to enhance games originally intended to be presented in four shades of gray. Many games were programmed to call for a default color palette. For games without a default, users can choose from 12 different palettes using button combinations. A dedicated palette option replicates
5440-448: The highest quality tunes to ever come out of the GBA's little speakers". Despite the criticism of the dungeon lengths, 1UP.com praised the dungeon design, proclaiming it as superior to that of other Zelda games. The main criticism of the game among reviewers is the length of the game. Eurogamer says that "it's too short", while RPGamer state that "the typical player can fly through
5525-507: The lack of color, consumer interest in the Game Boy remained strong. In 1996, Nintendo released the slimmer Game Boy Pocket and the launch of the Pokémon series that same year further boosted sales. But developers were losing interest in creating new games for the aging platform. Additional market pressure for Nintendo came in October 1997 when news broke about Bandai's new handheld,
5610-496: The left side of the device. The left side offers a Game Link Cable port for connecting to up to four Game Boy devices for multiplayer games or, notably in Pokémon series games, sharing files. This port can be used with a Game Boy Printer . The port used on the Game Boy Color is of a smaller design first introduced on the Game Boy Pocket, and requires an adapter to link with the original Game Boy. The Game Boy Color also offered
5695-600: The limitations of the 8-bit architecture of the device, ROM size was limited to 32 KB. Nintendo overcame this limitation with a Memory Bank Controller (MBC) inside the cartridge. This chip sits between the processor and the ROM chips. The CPU can only access 32 KB at a time, but the MBC can switch between banks of 32 KB ROM. Using this technology, Nintendo created Game Boy Color games that use up to 8 megabytes of ROM. Game Paks can provide additional functionality to
5780-594: The lower right face. As a launch promotion, Nintendo Europe also produced seven 24-carat gold plated Game Boy Advance SP consoles, with six given away to people who found a golden ticket inside their Triforce SP package, and a seventh as a magazine promotion. Thirty were autographed by Miyamoto himself at the opening of the Nintendo World Store in New York. The Minish Cap was the best-selling game in its debut week in Japan, selling 97,000 copies. It became
5865-445: The market. The Game Boy Color is part of the fifth generation of video game consoles . The Game Boy and the Game Boy Color combined have sold 118.69 million units worldwide, making them the fourth best-selling system of all time . Its best-selling games are Pokémon Gold and Silver , which shipped 23 million units worldwide. When the original Game Boy was first introduced in 1989, many questioned why Nintendo had chosen to develop
5950-425: The original Game Boy at 160 pixels wide by 144 pixels high in a 10:9 format. Like the original Game Boy and Game Boy Pocket before it and the Game Boy Advance after it, the screen is passively reflective, with a surface behind the screen that sends light back through the liquid crystal pixel elements to the viewer. Because there is no backlight , the device can be hard to use in dark environments. The SoC contains
6035-513: The original Game Boy's grayscale experience. Color enhanced Game Boy Game Pak (Black Case): These cartridges can use the full-color capabilities of the console (56 colors simultaneously out of a palette of 32,768) while remaining compatible with the original Game Boy where they are presented in four shades of gray. This compatibility comes at the expense of not being able to utilize the handheld's increased processing speed and memory. Game Boy Color Game Pak (Clear Case): Designed specifically for
6120-525: The origins of the titular Four Sword and the villain Vaati . The game retains many elements common to previous Zelda games, especially top-down predecessors such as A Link to the Past , and includes new features and mechanics. Chiefly, the protagonist Link acquires a magical talking cap named Ezlo, who can shrink Link to the diminutive size of a Minish . The Minish Cap was well received among critics. It
6205-489: The player has enough ammunition and recovery items to " survive " the horror setting. This is a thematic genre with diverse gameplay, so not all survival horror games share all the features. The Resident Evil franchise popularized this subgenre. Action-adventure games are faster-paced than pure adventure games, and include physical as well as conceptual challenges where the story is enacted rather than narrated. While motion-based, often reflexive, actions are required,
6290-473: The player to explore and solve to complete a storyline, involving little to no action . If there is action, it is generally confined to isolated instances. Classical action games, on the other hand, have gameplay based on real-time interactions that challenges the player's reflexes and eye-hand coordination . Action-adventure games combine these genres by engaging both eye-hand coordination and problem-solving skills. An action adventure game can be defined as
6375-470: The right boxes with regards to size, battery life, reliability and most importantly backwards compatibility". Positive assessments of the legacy of the Game Boy Color has focused on the merits of its game library, particularly for its third-party and import titles. Travis Fahs for IGN noted whilst "the Game Boy Color's life was relatively brief", it "built up a small library of excellent games", including Wario Land 3 and Pokémon Gold and Silver , and
6460-430: The term "action-adventure" may be '"An action/adventure game is a game that has enough action in it not to be called an adventure game, but not enough action to be called an action game." In some cases an action game with puzzles will be classified as an action-adventure game, but if these puzzles are quite simple they might be classified as an action game. Others see action games as a pure genre, while an action-adventure
6545-408: The three women, and although their landlord makes reference to building a third house for the third woman, this never occurs in the game. The description given for Farore on her in-game Figurine also mentions that people take advantage of her which makes her upset. This relates to the third planned Oracle game surrounding Farore, Oracle of Secrets , which was scrapped. A first in the Zelda series,
6630-482: The weeks before the 1998 Christmas season. Reception of the Game Boy Color was positive, with critics praising the addition of color and improved clarity of the display. Affiliated publications such as Total Games praised the handheld for its "bright, colorful picture that can be viewed in direct light", backward compatibility features preserving the "vast catalogue of original Game Boy games", and improved technical performance. Computer and Video Games praised
6715-460: Was "well underway". Nintendo launched a website for The Minish Cap in September 2004, showing concepts of Link's shrinking ability. The game had a cartoonish art style similar to The Wind Waker , as it has a fairy tale setting similar to said game, within "the world of tiny fairies, a universal fairytale story". An effort was made to make Hyrule Town, the overworld's central city hub, feel like
6800-493: Was announced in March 1998 and released in Japan that October. It received an international rollout throughout November (amid the busy Christmas holiday shopping season), reaching North America on the 18th, Europe on the 23rd, and Australasia on the 27th. Launching at a price of US$ 79.95 (equivalent to $ 150 in 2023), the Game Boy Color ultimately outsold the WonderSwan, which went on sale in March 1999. The Game Boy Color had
6885-421: Was arranged. The Sharp SM83 also powered the original Game Boy, where it operates at a clock rate of 4.194304 megahertz (MHz). Games on Game Boy Color exclusive cartridges can command the processor to operate in "dual-speed mode," doubling its frequency to run twice as fast at 8.388608 MHz. This allowed developers to get double the processing power out of the device when creating games exclusively for
6970-476: Was available for release on a physical cartridge which will be playable on the Game Boy Color. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color were both commercially successful, selling 118.69 million units worldwide: 32.47 million in Japan, 44.06 million in the Americas, and 42.16 million in all other regions. At the time of its discontinuation in 2003, the combined sales of all Game Boy variants made it
7055-586: Was inspired by a gourd that can suck up anything from the novel Journey to the West . Several other aspects of the gameplay were inspired or directly lifted from Four Swords and Four Swords Adventure , both of which Minish Cap serves as a prequel to. For example, the gameplay concept of shrinking to Minish size in The Minish Cap is a fleshed out extension of the function of the Gnat Hat from Four Swords ,
7140-596: Was named the 20th best Game Boy Advance game in an IGN feature and was selected as the 2005 Game Boy Advance Game of the Year by GameSpot . The game was re-released on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2014, and on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack in February 2023. The Minish Cap features gameplay similar to previous Zelda installments. Link must explore an overworld and complete multiple dungeons, acquiring new items and abilities throughout
7225-416: Was ravaged by evil forces until the Picori, a race of tiny creatures, bestowed a young hero with the Picori Blade and the Light Force, using both to trap the world's evils in a chest. The grateful people of Hyrule would hold an annual Picori Festival, with legends stating that a door between their worlds would open every 100 years, allowing the Picori to return. In the present, Link accompanies Princess Zelda to
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