Reviewed by Colin Polonowski The Reservoir Gods return with their new release - Godboy, a Gameboy emulator for the Falcon. There are currently three releases available - Bubble Bobble, Bomb Jack and the immortal Super Mario World. Each one requires its own special version of the emulator. I'll take a look at each game in turn... Bubble Bobble This is the Reservoir Gods second version of the timeless Bubble Bobble to be released on the Falcon, the first being the excellent Double Bubble 2000. Obviously there are some significant differences! As Godboy Bubble Bobble is a conversion of the Gameboy version, it doesn't have the same graphical flair as its 32bit counterpart. Even so, the graphics in this version are an improvement over the Gameboy in that they are in colour! This isn't the only thing, Reservoir Gods have added their own version of the background tune - an improved version of the original along with a number of high quality sampled sounds. The game can be controlled via either the keyboard, or Jaguar Joypad. And both have been implemented well. One thing I did notice is that the game felt slow - maybe it is the same speed as the Gameboy version but it would have been better if it had been just a little bit faster. All in all, Godboy Bubble Bobble is a good conversion of the Gameboy original and with the enhancements it does make good use of the Falcons features. Bomb Jack To be honest there is not much of a difference between this and Bubble Bobble in terms of presentation although this does feel faster. Once again, the graphics have been improved over the Gameboy originals and once again there is a catchy background tune. The in game samples are also good and fit in well and the control system is the same as before! The only problem with Bomb Jack is that it doesn't match the playability of Bubble Bobble and therefore may not grab the same sort of attention. This is not a fault of the Reservoir Gods but of the original game. Godboy Bomb Jack is once again a good conversion! Super Mario World This is the latest and most advanced of the Reservoir Gods' conversions - it'll also be the one most people will want! Quite literally, Super Mario World was the biggest game of the late eighties and now Mario is becoming very popular again with the Nintendo 64 version (aptly titled Mario 64!). As with the previous conversions, this version of Mario has enhanced sound and graphics. In fact the only problem Super Mario World has is the speed - it isn't as fast as the original Gameboy version and this does detract somewhat - it also makes the game a bit too easy! If it was a bit faster, Mario would be a must. Even so, it is still an excellent conversion and deserves to do well! All the games have a Trainer mode added which allows you to cheat - such things as infinite lives and invulnerability are available! If you liked the Gameboy then this will bring back some memories, and even if you've never used one before then you should get this just for the novelty value. What have you got to lose? after all it is free!
Godboy | Gameboy emulator | 80%
Reservoir Gods | Freeware
Falcon030, RGB or VGA
Contact Details | e-mail leon@powys.tec.org.uk URL http://www.acs.bolton.ac.uk/~msglccs/maison.htm snail-mail Leon O'Reilly Cwm Isaf Abermule Montgomery Powys SY15 6JL