Hyperkin Smartboy for Smartphones

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scotland
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Hyperkin Smartboy for Smartphones

Postby scotland » August 5th, 2017, 6:05 pm

Hyperkin has brought real buttons and a D-pad to mobile gaming. The $50 Smartboy fits on some Android phones, and plays actual GB and GBC cartridges. It will also opens up playing Gameboy, NES, SMS and other gaming systems via emulators and find-them-yourselves ROMs.

http://hyperkinlab.com/smartboy-mobile-device-for-game-boy-game-boy-color-hyperkin/

Image

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pacman000
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Re: Hyperkin Smartboy for Smartphones

Postby pacman000 » August 5th, 2017, 7:30 pm

Looks good, tho I still want to see a gaming smartphone w/a built in d-pad.

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Atarifever
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Re: Hyperkin Smartboy for Smartphones

Postby Atarifever » August 5th, 2017, 7:37 pm

pacman000 wrote:Looks good, tho I still want to see a gaming smartphone w/a built in d-pad.


It was called the N-Gage. It had real good exclusive games (Rifts, Pathway to Glory, One, Glimmerati, Pocket Kingdoms, Mile High Pinball, High Seize, The Roots: Gates of Chaos, etc.) and was way ahead of the handhelds at the time. It had online, anywhere multiplayer in 2003. I tried to get everyone and their dog to buy one. No one did because they were all lame, and so we're stuck with this horrible, sad, bloated, fifth rate touch market instead. Still a sore spot for me.

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Atarifever
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Re: Hyperkin Smartboy for Smartphones

Postby Atarifever » August 5th, 2017, 7:43 pm

For people interested, here's an NGage arcade racing game from 12 years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkzdRKy9lXg

Here's an NGage fighting game from 12 years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUVJlgV4C9Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8S31NH0EAU

And here's an NGage strategy game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK2zIgJKMUg

Oh yeah, we were sooooo lucky that didn't take off and continue to advance for the last more than a decade. Instead, we could end up being pestered for micro-payments from match three games forever. Way to go gamers. :roll:

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scotland
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Re: Hyperkin Smartboy for Smartphones

Postby scotland » August 5th, 2017, 8:08 pm

Atarifever wrote: I tried to get everyone and their dog to buy one. No one did because they were all lame, and so we're stuck with this horrible, sad, bloated, fifth rate touch market instead. Still a sore spot for me.


A sore spot indeed, but I have a few myself.

However, we are where we are, and mobile phones are little mini computers many of us never leave home without and are like our little 'puppet masters' - they keep us in constant contact with social media, we have forgotten those things called 'maps' and listen to our GPS navigation, use those pretty good 'snapshot' cameras, hope on the internet to check out a retro gaming review site, an e-reader, a comic book reader, play some games and download a thousand and one apps you never knew you didn't need but are in the digital storefront and Arnold Schwarzenegger likes them.

Given where we are, this little device is a good step. I would prefer built in (slide out) d-pad and buttons, but I doubt we'll see that on the major brands. They seem to just want a few models, and to roll out new editions each year of those.

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Atarifever
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Re: Hyperkin Smartboy for Smartphones

Postby Atarifever » August 5th, 2017, 8:22 pm

scotland wrote:
However, we are where we are, and mobile phones are little mini computers many of us never leave home without and are like our little 'puppet masters' - they keep us in constant contact with social media, we have forgotten those things called 'maps' and listen to our GPS navigation, use those pretty good 'snapshot' cameras, hope on the internet to check out a retro gaming review site, an e-reader, a comic book reader, play some games and download a thousand and one apps you never knew you didn't need but are in the digital storefront and Arnold Schwarzenegger likes them.



This is true. However, I can at least say I am consistent. I got rid of my Smartphone a year ago ( I have an old flip phone from work that gets great reception almost everywhere. :) ). I will do my best to never have another one. I also use social media very sparingly. When I had to go on Facebook to cancel a volunteer commitment, I was asked for feedback from Facebook in a survey. My feedback was "I hate it. If i did not have to use it for volunteer commitments I would not. It actively, literally makes the world worse. If it had never been invented, the result would be a net positive." :)

mbd36
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Re: Hyperkin Smartboy for Smartphones

Postby mbd36 » August 6th, 2017, 4:54 pm

pacman000 wrote:Looks good, tho I still want to see a gaming smartphone w/a built in d-pad.


Not a phone, but I've seen gaming tablets with built in dpads.

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scotland
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Re: Hyperkin Smartboy for Smartphones

Postby scotland » August 6th, 2017, 4:55 pm

Really - got any photos and information? I might be interested

djc
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Re: Hyperkin Smartboy for Smartphones

Postby djc » August 6th, 2017, 8:41 pm

Okay I own an N-Gage (two actually) and a number of games. The games look great in screenshots and videos but on the device itself, they play terribly.

The issue is two-fold. First the phone is severely under-powered and running the (even then) sluggish Symbian 2 OS. Second, the controls on the phone (d-pad/buttons) are too firm making them hard to press. Factor that in with a faded/low-res screen and it's easy to see why it failed as both a phone and a game system.

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Atarifever
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Re: Hyperkin Smartboy for Smartphones

Postby Atarifever » August 7th, 2017, 5:46 am

djc wrote:Okay I own an N-Gage (two actually) and a number of games. The games look great in screenshots and videos but on the device itself, they play terribly.

The issue is two-fold. First the phone is severely under-powered and running the (even then) sluggish Symbian 2 OS. Second, the controls on the phone (d-pad/buttons) are too firm making them hard to press. Factor that in with a faded/low-res screen and it's easy to see why it failed as both a phone and a game system.


I could not agree less. First, the games look in videos exactly like they look. Thus, I completely disagree with your contention there.

Second, which games do you own? I find it hard to believe any of the many strategy games, or any of the second run gaes at all, run poorly or aren't built to suit the controls of the system. I am not assuming all you have is first run stuff like Tomb Raider and Sonic, but if it is, I would certainly suggest getting any of the strategy games for the system (there are lots), System Rush, Glimmerati, or a number of later releases.


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