Jurassic Park 3: Island Attack (GBA)

Tell us about games you are currently playing. "Quick hit" reviews.
User avatar
VideoGameCritic
Site Admin
Posts: 18110
Joined: April 1st, 2015, 7:23 pm

Jurassic Park 3: Island Attack (GBA)

Postby VideoGameCritic » June 17th, 2012, 11:52 am

I was reviewing Island Attack and thinking, "this isn't a bad little game, but I wish I could play it on a bigger screen!"  Then it occurred to me that I had that Gameboy attachment on my GameCube!  Duh!

Anyway there are three Jurassic Park 3 games for the GBA, and I'm reviewing all of them.

Shogun1
Posts: 119
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Jurassic Park 3: Island Attack (GBA)

Postby Shogun1 » June 17th, 2012, 6:05 pm

If you can find yourself a Hori Game Boy Player Controller you'd be in business. It is built like an SNES controller and it is really cool to have. It was only released in Japan though and they can be a little expensive. I bought mine for $50 and that is probably the most reasonable price I could find one. I also use the controller for old school compilations like Sonic Mega Collection and Mega Man Anniversary Collection.

Leo1
Posts: 2325
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Jurassic Park 3: Island Attack (GBA)

Postby Leo1 » June 17th, 2012, 8:42 pm

The Hori pad was released here through a retailer (I think it was one of the big rental chains).

I own one but it's not perfect for all games. Platformers in particular where you'll often be wanting to hold a run button while using the jump button at the same time are problematic with the GCN button layout (Which the Hori pad copied to a tee).  

Best solution I've found was picking up a cheap model 1 GBA and using the GBA to GCN link cable (Like what Four Swords came with) to allow me to use it as a dedicated controller for my Game Boy Player.

No button mapping issues now.

snakeboy1
Posts: 1446
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Jurassic Park 3: Island Attack (GBA)

Postby snakeboy1 » June 18th, 2012, 5:53 pm

If you already have a Super NES controller, a cheaper alternative to the Hori pad would be this Retro Adapter.  It was made for the Wii virtual console but can also be used on a Gamecube.  It also has ports for an NES, Genesis, and N64 controller, but I've found that the SNES controller is the only one that works well with the Gamecube Gameboy player.

Leo1
Posts: 2325
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Jurassic Park 3: Island Attack (GBA)

Postby Leo1 » June 18th, 2012, 8:52 pm

The problem with such adapters and the Game Boy Player is button mapping.

Game Boy A & B are rigidly mapped to A & B on the SuperNes pad to match the letters, which makes for a very uncomfortable layout for any game where you'll be routinely using both buttons together (Imagine running and jumping in a platformer using A & B on a SuperNes controller).

And it's also not a very natural layout even for games where you'd only be using 1 button at a time since most gamers would be used to the two primary buttons in a game being mapped to where Y and B are on a SuperNes pad.

Idealy, you'd want Game Boy B mapped to Y on the SuperNes pad and Game Boy A mapped to B. Thankfully the old Super Game Boy adapter took this into account with a button layout that did just this (As well as an option for the button lettering to match), but no such luck with adapters like this which makes it less than desirable in some games.

They're great for playing SuperNes games on the Virtual Console though.

Adamant1
Posts: 2088
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Jurassic Park 3: Island Attack (GBA)

Postby Adamant1 » June 19th, 2012, 8:52 am

[QUOTE=Leo]
Game Boy A & B are rigidly mapped to A & B on the SuperNes pad to match the letters, which makes for a very uncomfortable layout for any game where you'll be routinely using both buttons together (Imagine running and jumping in a platformer using A & B on a SuperNes controller).

[/QUOTE]

I remember that was how Ninja Gaiden Trilogy was mapped. Terrible decision.


snakeboy1
Posts: 1446
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Jurassic Park 3: Island Attack (GBA)

Postby snakeboy1 » June 19th, 2012, 4:53 pm

Well, I decided to hook up the Gamecube and try out some Gameboy games with the SNES controller again.  Admittedly, I don't really use the Gamecube Gameboy player much, but the last time I did, it seemed as though it worked quite well with the adapter.  I tried it with the GBA port of Super Mario Bros., and something felt a little off - and it had nothing to do with using the A and B buttons (which is only a slight annoyance for me). 

Actually, the problem I was experiencing was lag, which was odd, especially since I wasn't playing on a HDTV.  It was pretty slight (in fact I didn't even notice it on other games before), but it was enough to make a game like Super Mario, where you need precise jumping controls, pretty much unplayable. 

So, all in all, this is pretty disappointing.  However, as Leo pointed out, the adapter does work very well for the virtual console.

Leo1
Posts: 2325
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Jurassic Park 3: Island Attack (GBA)

Postby Leo1 » June 21st, 2012, 3:35 am

You're not the first person that has noticed a bit of input lag with the Game Boy Player. I've seen several other people say similar things over the years.

Here's a thread I recall from AtariAge a few months back that discussed the issue. Thankfully for most people (Including myself), there's no noticeable issues with it.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/187627-gameboy-player-kind-of-sucks/

I'd be curious if you noticed it elsewhere. It's possible Nintendo's GBA NES emulator was causing the slight bit of input lag you noticed rather than the GBP.


Return to “Now Playing”