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Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Without GBAs?
arxmage writes "A group of my students went to extremes to play the GameCube ARPG Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles in multiplayer mode with wireless controllers, and without using a Game Boy Advance [as a Gamers Europe review explains, the multiplayer mode 'requires each player to have a Game Boy Advance and a GameCube link cable'.] You basically get a GameCube with FF:CC in it, then get 4 more GCs with attached GameBoy Players. Link each of these 4 GCs (using GBA link cables) to the main GC, and plug each of these 4 GCs into its own small tv. The small TVs act as each player's 'GBA screen' and the main TV is where everyone plays. Finally, plug a WaveBird into each of these 4 GameCubes and you're good to go." The resulting cable mess is a joy to behold.
I wonder if you could do the same thing with GBA emulators and some hacked cables.
Ok i am betting that there are at least a dozen people that are going to rush this board with something to the effect of "duh thats stupid kuz it is more work than just getting GBAs". Never mind that nerdy rush some of us get for stuff like this.
But this isn't a stupid idea or impracticle at all if you remember that you don't need to put all 4 people on cubes. Last weekend I was out at my brothers, and there were 4 of us that wanted to play CC, but there was only 3 GBA's between us. Had we known about this, we could have dragged the small TV out of the basement, gotten ahold of another link cable and used a Gameboy player to get that 4th person in. All it would have taken was a $5 purchase of a used link cable from the local gamestop and a little bit of lifting.
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
"I further explained that I wasn't planning on giving in to Nintendo's marketing scheme by going out and buying a GBA."
Yea, Nintendo really needs to use the awesome GameCube to prop up the ailing GameBoy Advance platform! I mean, it's not like the GBA sells itself, or is even close to outselling any other platforms...
Oh-fucking-wait, it's outselling the PS2 on its own merits!
I really wish people would grow up and realize that Nintendo is inovating, not trying to sell you a 99$ USD controller. The GBA is not a high-margin device, that's the software's job. That's why companies are always cutting hardware prices. People just try to justify anything they don't like by making it a part of some EVIL CORPORATE PLOT (TM) to SELL MORE EVIL or some such.
Nintendo probably makes more on the GBA player, since there's no screen, battery, or anything else to include beyond a small DVD and the plastic case around reclaimed non-SP GBA guts.
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
There's a second reason why it's meant to be a GBA and not another TV - people can glance at the other TV's in the room, but if someone can only see their special map, etc, on their GBA, the other players must address that person directly and ask them what is on it. This fosters teamwork.
The workaround described on the webpage defeats that.
--Moo.
I've played both ways, and while admitedly the gba-multiplayer is more fun than the single player, I question the wisdom of a game like this dragging it's fans "kicking and screaming" as you put it.
If the gba-multiplayer gameplay is superior people will play it. Cutting off multiplayer to people who don't have a GameBoy (or don't know anyone else who owns GameBoys) was not a good idea, especially on a top-tier title like Final Fantasy.