How Graphics worked on the Nintendo Game Boy | MVG

[@ModernVintageGamer]

My math(s) was incorrect at 2:29. 160x144 for a 2 bit palette is a 5.7kb framebuffer not 22kb

[@AlexOlsenpang]

Do mode 7 next time

[@Crazy-qi1gw]

@@AlexOlsenpang About that... kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXe5f5KQmpyVsNk He has an entire series talking about the SNES.

[@Un_Pour_Tous]

Modern Vintage Game,Yes more videos plz

[@gianluca.g]

I didn't immediately catch the error as I'm so used to think about an 8bit palette. Then I realized that the Gameboy uses only 2 bit per pixel :-)

[@rajann44]

Np

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

I feel like these ultraoptimisations to deal with seemingly-insurmountable hardware constraints are becoming somewhat of a lost art.

[@rpavlik1]

Graphics programming still has plenty of crazy tricks. They're just not as easy to explain. (And, demoscene is still an active thing)

[@Diggnuts]

It is. Today we have insane speeds and massive amounts of memory and everything is abstracted away, making us lose touch with the actual iron or necessitating creative hacks. I mean, there are frameworks to build games with in a canvas element using Javascript that runs in a browser on machines 10 years old. (I Know, I'm building such a framework!).

[@pyxelpub8251]

It's not just the power of the machines and the tendency to abuse them, but the fact that most people are learning or working on languages not strong enough to make games on older systems. By strong, I mean close to metal, C can work on consoles like the N64, GB, even the NES for a reason; it can communicate with these machines, whereas C++ would be much slower, and not close enough to the machine to get results. Heck, even with C on a system like the GB and NES, you'd still need to write somethings in Assembly to get the best performance. Now, languages like C# and Java don't even use pointers, meaning you can't tinker with memory addresses, which you'd need to be comfortable with to run something on such limited hardware like the PS1 et al. I believe that's one of the reasons these consoles are an attraction for talented programmers. Google Sonic Z-treme for Saturn, guy by the name of XL32 (if I recall), you'll be blown away by the few vids he uploaded for what he's done on a Saturn thus far.

[@OH-tj4qn]

It’s still a necessity in blockchain smart contract development. You’re forced into it not by hardware constraints, but by financial requirement. Every computation you make comes down to a miner’s transaction fee, which is a bill someone has to foot; as opposed to relying on having X basic system requirements that pretty much everyone has now that we put supercomputers in our pockets. With blockchain dev, you’re out there trying to find the most optimal way to balance safety and speed with minimal resource use in even really simple stuff most modern programmers take for granted, like even literally just generating a random number. And if you do it right you can make millions in a couple heartbeats. If you do it wrong you go straight to jail. Super fun stuff.

[@junehanabi1756]

@@pyxelpub8251 C++ has many features that can cause slow performance but you don't have to leverage all those features. I've used C++ many times on older or slower hardware just fine. The trick is to not go around turning on and leveraging every feature out there for C++ but to instead be careful and conservative. Also, it's a bit of a myth that writing pure assembly is always faster. Don't get me wrong, I love assembly and it's one of my favorite languages. But the reason why writing assembly was faster was because compilers, well... sucked. They were pretty crappy lol and spat out horrible assembly code. In 2019 modern compilers produce assembly better than most any human could ever hope to write.This was tested many times by having expert assembly writers write the same code that was compiled by a compiler using C. The result in any situation that I observed was that the compiler generated code was equal to or faster than even some of the top assembly writers. This lines up with people who create compilers, they'll tell you the same thing. Writing assembly is only ever suggested for older compilers that quite frankly were really bad. The compilers for Gameboy were one such compiler that's way better to not use and to instead write assembly by hand. ---- I think people still thinking that hand assembly is always faster stems from the disbelief and dislike of the idea that a computer can generate better code than a human. It's almost a bit nerving and easily dismissable as a "no way" kind of thing. But I mostly agree with you, I hate super high level languages that abstract everything away from you and i especially hate languages that run in a virtualized or interpreted setting like Java, Javascript, or Python. Actually I hate python more than anything on Earth lol. But all just my opinions, I'm super old school when it comes to programming.

[@pyxelpub8251]

In my free time I tinker with the Gameboy and just wanted to say that because the system was so underpowered that it couldn't do 16*16 sprites head on, so they pasted two 8*16 sprites next to one another. To give you perspective, EVERY sprite of Link in Link's Awakening fits exactly in the 16*16 limit (including the ones with the shield), meaning all of the sprites were following the 8*16 technique. Extra objects like the sword had to be drawn on top of Link, and they also had to dedicate specific code for the sword as well to make sure it was always on Link when holding the sword button to charge. This also affected how they drew or not draw weapons. If you recall, most of Link's weapons weren't actually drawn on him (boots, power bracelet, feather, and so on). They gave you abilities to enhance gameplay but never added more objects on the screen than they had to. Finally, a word regarding what I said about drawing 2 8*16 sprites. The bosses in Link's Awakening are massive, some being as big as 32*32. Some of them were different objects linked together (I believe there was a massive worm boss if memory serves), but other were probably drawn up to FOUR times and more next to one another. I once made a 32*32 character, while moving left it flickered like crazy, so Nintendo had also make sure that the game didn't suffer from that effect through smart programming and resource management. You can still run into flickering frequently (the field where you chop grass in the main town is prone to this the most, especially when dashing with the sword), but it was very minor and still didn't break how amazing it all connected. Conclusion: not only were developers able to make games despite such limited hardware (most games were written in Assembly, mind you), but limitations led to stripping all this useless 'flash' we see in modern games and provided many games with pure genuine substance. In terms of gameplay mechanics, Link's Awakening has a strong claim for the most revolutionary Zelda game of all time, and if you think I'm affected by nostalgia, I bought the game this month to study it and just played it for the first time. I never thought a Gameboy game could be this revolutionary. Anyways, just wanted to share how much respect I had for devs of that era, to be this talented to make games under such constraints required programming and level design genius that's not as common these days due to how powerful machines became and how devs now lean on the strength of the machine more than on their own strength.

[@bened22]

I think people that doubt the greatness of Links Awakening are blinded by nostalgia for A Link to the past, not the other way around. Links Awakening is definitely my favorite Zelda game. (Ironically it doesn't even contain Zelda as a character.)

[@pyxelpub8251]

@@bened22 I definitely see where you're coming from. Link's Awakening is actually one of the few Zelda games where Miyamoto didn't really bother much with it, which is why it ended up being as unique as it did. Case in point, one of the leaders (Takashi Tezuka) of Link's Awakening worked on LttP and wanted to have weapons switched between buttons, but Miyamoto insisted that one button would always be assigned to the sword. Sometime later, Takashi saw one of the programmer's tinkering with the GB devkit and joined him in messing around with it, a few people joined in later and eventually, that side project became Link's Awakening. Because of that they were able to add the mechanics they wanted and avoided the triforce plot completely. That's why Link's Awakening and Majora's Mask are as powerful as they are; they don't follow the old conventions and as a result, have nothing but new ground to explore.

[@mjc0961]

Yep! Link's Awakening is a masterpiece and a technical marvel. Then you look at what they did to it on the Nintendo Switch, and... 🤮🤮🤮

[@AlphaFox78]

I bought the game a few months ago too, never tried it as a kid!

[@bened22]

@@mjc0961 What did they do?

[@victortachiquin4965]

I love it when people really take their time to explain to me exactly how this stuff works in the absolutely simplest terms possible... And I still don't understand how it works...

[@mynamo12]

Victor Tachiquin haha same

[@Binary_Deviant]

@@mynamo12 I would suggest taking a look at 2 things online. How a flat panel TV works Pixels, resolution, etc, and I would look up how a graphics card works. This may help you understand it easier if you do not know about them.

[@BlackFantasy470]

The explanations are really well done but unfortunately you still need some pre-knowledge to understand them.

[@mynamo12]

Ryan McCardle Thanks, I’ll do that

[@edstercw]

The sources in the description had more detail by the way

[@The8BitGuy]

Great video!

[@stylisthicc7873]

Hello Mr 8 bit man. Cool videos

[@BayEmirkiYT]

Oh hello David!

[@Redbikemaster]

Programming was such an art back then. There truly is beauty in simplicity. I'm also a car guy and I see this in older cars.

[@Lackingx]

God you're such a fucking moron

[@alinepiroutek8932]

Now: hey, let's make anything with zero optimization, it will run on Xbox One X anyway

[@Sterling20073]

@@Lackingx Nice of you to spread some joy

[@Lackingx]

@@Sterling20073 You're welcome loser

[@Lackingx]

@@alinepiroutek8932 Hey moron fucking moron you do know the xbox one x has trash fucking hardware right

[@michaelc5019]

I remember going to Toys R US and getting my Gameboy Color and loving it so much. Falling asleep with it in my hand and playing Pokémon. Trading with my friends in 5th grade with the Game Link cable. Sigh such great times

[@OswaldBeef]

Michael C it was hours of solo Metroid in the car backseat during car trips for me. Wow

[@michaelc5019]

Shawn chef / and I still have my jungle and fossil base set cards. Pokémon literally was my life back then. Wake up Saturday morning and watch the show. All 52 episodes of the original show are on Netflix btw if you want some nostalgia to take you back

[@NathanChisholm041]

Fun times!

[@grahamkelly8662]

Michael C every time I hear or see anyone talk about how great Pokemon is, I always wonder, why am I not at all interested. I’m not bashing people that love it but I actually feel like I’m missing out on something special. I know I must not be the only 1. You have the Pokemon games, tv shows, toys and loads of other shit. Actually, I randomly came across a Pokemon KZbinr, only last night. Was a bit sad to be honest. Basically, the vid was him saying bye to KZbin community . He’s been doing it for around 8-10 yrs and he was like, I put so much time and effort in my vids but don’t get the views in return. Loads of people was asking him to stay. i felt bad for him.

[@michaelc5019]

Graham Kelly / You missed it or it missed you. It's nostalgia from my childhood and alot of others.

[@jedewitz]

I remember seeing the Batman TAS intro for the first time as a kid and being blown away by how smooth the animation was and how close it felt to the cartoon. I think the first game I got as a kid to really blow me away was Marioland 2, with thise giant sprites and detailed backgrounds. After playing SMB, Wheel of Fortune, Tetris and Double Dragon for years, getting SMB2 was just an entirely new experience on that hardware.

[@xorinzor]

"uploaded 47 seconds ago" - Boom! Absolutely loving these series about the consoles :D

[@SpinnerSpite]

No

[@drd5455]

Great videos aren't they :)

[@MegaU]

AlphaDefaultB0y bruh what u mean ‘no’ that’s his opinion

[@ElfenCried]

Gotta go fast!

[@drd5455]

@@SpinnerSpite you clearly dont have a passion for all things gaming lol

[@awilfox]

"The LYC register". Shivers down my spine, having written a cycle accurate DMG emulator. Great video and great explanations man!

[@Zardox-The-Heretic-Slayer]

I remember being amazed as a kid that you could move "off" the screen "like a real console", all the LCD games I'd ever had until seeing this had a static background painted onto the LCD reflector. those games sell for a fortune on eBay now but they were so crap - I think they're rare because most people flung them at the wall for being crap.

[@zuccx99]

Oh tiger electronics...

[@Stego27]

pop station

[@ChristMetalMayhem]

Tiger Electronics Baseball, Soccer and Thunder Blade were my most played.

[@gwishart]

Early LCD screens were susceptible to screen rot if not stored correctly, so I imagine a lot of the handheld games spent a few decades in the attic slowly turning into a brown goo.

[@Kalvinjj]

@@gwishart hell even Game Boys have had their LCD polarizers damaged from the sunlight of their prime time gaming on the sun. Had to refurbish my own GBC's LCD in fact, maybe not so common on colder climates but here in Brazil at least you see a ton of GBCs and GBAs with a ruined LCD, thankfully repairable (albeit not for the careless types...)

[@Qwinn03]

I’ve been subscribed for a while and have always found your videos to be super interesting but this Gameboy video was utterly fascinating. I love how you broke this down and revealed some of the “movie magic” behind the limitations of this awesome device. I’ll be hopping on the Patreon bandwagon to help support this sort of work.

[@TheSuperQuail]

The GameBoy was mindblowing back then and after watching this it's blown my mind again

[@mikatu]

I loved Game Boy. Even today I am able to play games using an emulator and still have a blast. The games were all about having a great time, unlike today where the games are more worried about graphics and less so on the whole game experience.

[@jess_n_atx]

There is a lot of incredible, ground breaking, beautiful games that have been created in the last 20 years. Its not all about graphics.

[@deadname569]

​@@jess_n_atxsadly if a game cares more about graphics instead of gameplay people will choose it over the games that care more about gameplay therea people who want the gameplay more still

[@jaywolfenstien]

Metroid II : The Return of Samus is still one of my favorite games to this day. I spent a lot of time in the hospital when I was young, and remember being immersed in planet SR388 with Samus for hours on end hunting metroids. Medical conditions be damned.

[@wishtheworldwasdifferent8235]

You made it. Well done.

[@captaintitusultramarine]

Love metroid 2, hell i love metroid in general. But metroid 2 is a really good game considering the hardware its on.

[@theexiledv2323]

For me it was final fantasy legend 3

[@dougmasters4561]

You should check out 'AM2R' Another Metroid 2 Remake

[@naswinger]

the shoot'em up "Chikyuu Kaihou Gun ZAS" used the lag of the original game boy screen to create some parallax scrolling effects. basically, every other frame it rendered one of the two layers and since the lcd screen was slow to refresh, the previous frame would stay visible long enough that you see a composite of both layers. some emulaters have a problem with this and some have an extra option to enable this effect

[@KarlRock]

As someone who studied COMPSCI, I really enjoy these graphic walk through. Even though I dropped out of the 3d graphics course, 2D looks much easier 👌🏻

[@BatataKarambas]

KARL ROCK IN AN MVG VIDEO?!?!?!?!? WHAT

[@Osai1234]

i love how for each video with each topic, you always have a matching console layout in the background to accent exactly what it is you’re talking about (i.e. Xbox original for Xbox og hdmi, gameboy tv for gameboy, etc) a true modern vintage gamer and i love it.

[@evanmurray5032]

This was a great video explaining the graphics. There are so many things going on behind the scenes I didn't realize. If you haven't already, I recommend making a video like this for how sound works on the Gameboy Advance! There are not a lot of sound videos out there, and the GBA has two Direct Sound channels in addition to the original 4 Gameboy channels which might be something worth talking about. Keep making awesome videos like these!

[@user-yr1uq1qe6y]

Love these inside tech breakdowns of the retro systems. I did my 8-bit twiddling deep dives with the Commodores up through the early 90s. My day job had me burried in x86 land about then, so I really missed out on the Nintendo / SEGA tech at the time. I really appreciate the trips back in time and looking under the hood!

[@yjk_music]

7:58 That interrupt feature reminds me of VIC-II(which was video chip that C64 used)’s raster interrupt. In fact, both can trigger interrupt on beginning of the specified line, then programmer can change any register to create stunning effects(on C64, drawing image outside usual 320x200 area(which is screen border) is possible with this method).

[@fradd182]

Yes, seems like many things inside gameboy are inspired by c64 hardware, including scroll registers, visible viewport, raster interrupts, tile graphics = c64 character mode.

[@yjk_music]

fradd Actually that was exactly what I was thinking!

[@johnsimon8457]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ppLJgJ1vftenq7s same idea here, effects done per-scanline can be combined to deliver impressive results.

[@glenndoiron9317]

Yep, as he was explaining it, I was "... looks like a Commodore 64 with a larger pan register and more/smaller sprites".

[@natecw4164]

These videos are so calming and informative that I could legit watch a TV network called MVG.

[@Julzilla]

Bloody great content. I had no idea how lacking in specs the GB were! Crafty programming always prevails, something modern game programmers should look back to! Always look forward to your uploads!

[@wxNicxw]

The effort and detail you put into these videos is very appreciated. Excellent work!

[@Acer0Cool]

I remember when my mom gave me her original game boy and I took it to school and everyone basically looked at me like I was a weirdo because the Gameboy Advance SP was basically the most popular thing at my school and my parents could never afford it. I still loved it though and my favorite game for it was Kid Icarus. Unfortunately I would lose it to a teacher who confiscated it 3 years later.

[@SunnyZ]

So... You got robbed by a teacher? Hectic man...

[@ThatTomshow]

pretty sure teachers cant actually take things from you permanently

[@belstar1128]

@ThatTomshow Not anymore.

[@AmyraCarter]

You mean the 'teacher' _stole_ it. Confiscation == Theft.

[@petman515]

@@ThatTomshow yeah they used to beable to take things perm that changed mostly do to modern electronics and a few butt kickings in court.

[@thebillington]

There's a slight misnoma at 1:05. Whilst the SHARP LR35902 is technically a mix of the Z80 and 8080, the Z80 instruction set is actually a complete superset of the 8080, with only minor backward incompatibilities from the Z80 to 8080 caused by the additional instructions added on the Zilog chip. The additional instructions on the Game Boy CPU differ both from the original Z80 and 8080 instruction sets, being completely unique to the LR35902, meaning it isn't technically a mix of the 2 processors but a completely new instruction set entirely, being backwards compatible with neither the Z80 or 8080 due to an incomplete 8080/Z80 instruction set and the addition of entirely new opcodes. Regardless this is a great video and the effort put in is amazing. I've always loved your attention to detail, particularly on your 360 emulation videos!

[@OrinSorinson]

Coming up with all this trickery as a dev must have been like learning magic.

[@gblargg]

It was pretty standard stuff by then, which is why they had this interrupt in hardware. If MVG ever does a video about Atari 2600 graphics and the tricks they used, you'll see the era where this stuff began.

[@sumez4369]

@@gblargg Yeah by '89, having a scanline interrupt pretty much means you get a free pass to do all the stuff that *actually* required programming trickery on older platforms. :P

[@Twenty_Six_Hundred]

@@gblargg Exactly! As an 2600 homebrew developer i can vouch for this. It's all about thinking outside the box. Creative thinking is what i call it and as many tricks are well known, there is always many more discovered on a daily biases. It's what makes programing for these systems so fun and rewarding. I find my mind always thinking of new ways and tricks to achieve effects to give that wow factor. Having two eight bit sprites a ball and two missiles - 128 bytes of RAM - 4k of ROM - restricted to horizontal colour banding - zero VRAM and zero frame buffer it's challenging. One would thing anything more complex then Pong would be impossible yet with enough creative thinking nearly anything is possible to an extent. I love coding for the 2600

[@gwishart]

It helps that it was very similar to the NES, so there were already plenty of experienced developers available.

[@windhelmguard5295]

programmer job description: "solving problems you didn't know existed, in ways you don't understand." sometimes also referred to as "wizard" or "magician"

[@ZPdrumer]

great video. There's a lot of people talking about older systems, but what sets you apart is the technicality. As someone who used to code and do homebrew you give much more detailed insights on the hardware/memory/code and thats what I really like, seeing the system and how it was architected and how it operates together. That's far more interesting than video game reviews. So keep doing videos like this. i'd love to see the sound ones you mentioned

[@DougHolmes]

You should've seen the version of Elite my friend and I got running on it. It was 10fps, full 3D and the whole universe. No publisher wanted it...

[@BlueCardinal33]

You have the source still? Or ROM? That sounds pretty amazing, and I'm sure the community would LOVE to see it!

[@ModernVintageGamer]

i would love to play it sometime. still got the code? ;)

[@poisonouslead85]

That would be pretty amazing to see. I'm still shocked that Elite was on the NES, Elite on a Gameboy would be mind blowing.

[@CataclysmicCharizma]

That actually sounds pretty cool. Especially knowing the limitations of the system. As somebody who for the longest time sat with a below minimum spec PC and played Doom on the 3DO, 10fps is still better than a slideshow XD Would love to see your port :>

[@DougHolmes]

@cybernaab Sorry. NO the source disappeared years ago. I was the artist on it, so don't have any of the assests.

[@deadpoinsettia]

Metroid II: Return of Samus was always my favorite Gameboy game. Great vid!

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

Last time I was this early, all my friends were attempting to shove their Game Boys into their pockets.

[@wzr3293]

And it will take a whole 15 minutes before breaking their pockets.

Remember, we had baggy, 90's jeans

[@jmullentech]

@ What was that shit? Rocawear?

[@Michael18751]

Yeah I can slide a new 3ds xl in my sport shorts just fine! 👍

[@obvfw]

Jacket pockets for me. Even in summer sometimes.

[@christopherwilliams7905]

Fascinating!! I have zero background in any of this but you described what tactics were used and how in a way that anyone can understand and still enjoy. Wonderful!!

[@zabique]

This time, No mistakes were made.

[@Ziggurat1]

Just as I thought you had depleted all your series, you make a brand now How X worked on the Y series. This is great! While I expect I wont learn much I hadn't herd before, I still low to see your presentation, and how this really "dry" material can be presented in a memorable, interesting and entertaining way. Please continue doing what you do.

[@RandomiusBronius]

3:24 "Tiles are resuable" Sounds like something Nintendo would actually do.

[@Liam3072]

All developpers did on all machines, really.

[@xureality]

@@Liam3072 still do to this day. Textures are reused. The same furniture in most buildings. People wears identical clothing.

[@RandomiusBronius]

@@Liam3072 I know about reused assets. The joke is in the typo.

[@NesrocksGamingVideos]

@@RandomiusBronius Thanks I totally missed it hah

[@TheCrazyStudent]

Seems like they are trying to keep the planet green and clean by reusing tiles instead of immediately throwing them away. How resourceful.

[@betasequence4885]

Even as a programming novice who doesn't quite understand everything you were talking aboutI love this video and I'm getting closer everyday to understand how these wonderful of machines work please make more and thank you very very much for your wonderful videos

[@jamesherman3750]

You just explained why Mario can't go backwards in his original games, It was actually quite informative

[@gwishart]

In the case of Super Mario Land, the reason for the single direction levels wasn't actually linked to the video hardware; it was due to the limited ROM space. SML only used a 64K cartridge, so the levels used a form of run-length encoding to compress them, which only works when the data was read from left-to-right.

[@Kylefassbinderful]

Great video! You have a great way of explaining advanced tech. I thought playing Mario on my Gameboy was much better than playing it on my NES when I was a kid. I got a Gameboy in 1995 for my 9th birthday and I remember playing Centipede/Millipede for hours. I also still have my Gameboy Camera and Gameboy Printer both in box with extra paper that I got for Christmas in 1998.

[@dangr3957]

Anyone here finished the original 1994 Donkey Kong on Game Boy?🙈 That hame is a piece of art! And its sooo freakin long!!!

[@BesomeTube]

I found you channel only a few months ago, it was a video about how you made emulators and stuff on the original Xbox. This video was awesome! I love that because you're making an emulator yourself you can show more in depth stuff about how the gameboy renders. I would LOVE to see more videos like this for other systems or emulators you wrote. Im an amateur game developer and I have a lot of appreciation for this,

[@alex283d]

6:11 - "It wouldn't be a game system without sprites." ZX Spectrum - "Am I a joke to you?"

[@gwishart]

You could generate sprites on the ZX Spectrum, but they were software sprites, rather than hardware sprites.

[@Michael-im5mq]

@@gwishart and it was supposed to be a computer not a game system

[@TiogshiLaj]

@@Michael-im5mq Tell that to this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZvZhWuNbrSXg5Y :)

[@TheCrazyStudent]

I absolutely love these videos explaining how the hardware in retro game systems works. I hope to see more of this for other 8 bit and 16 bit systems as well.

[@PlantedWave5190]

Favorite game on Game Boy: Kirby's Dream Land

[@bened22]

Also the sequel. Epic games!

[@dominik94rausch]

Thanks for the earwig.

[@farhanyousaf5616]

Your presentation style is right on the money. Can't wait for more. Every time I see a video of yours, especially the "Mistakes was made", it is the highlight of my day,

[@yt_consistency]

An interesting game i'd love to see broken down is Mortal Kombat 3, one of my favorites It constantly slows down, especially when someone throws a rocket or freezes someone, that game looks like it pushes the gameboy's hardware to the limits without sprite flickering (most of the time)

[@muckersTGN]

Great video, this was really interesting! One particularly cool "manipulation" effect I like from the OG Gameboy is how the "Pikachu" voice recordings were converted and replicated on this basic hardware. I can't remember the exact technical details around it, but remember reading about it a while ago - super fascinating.

[@decretumdeluxe9670]

The Legend of Zelda : Link's Awakening , Super Mario Land 2 : 6 Golden Coins and Tetris, played those 3 a ton

[@mainstreetsaint36]

Those made the Gameboy a legend!

[@connor1642]

Same man, brings ya back

[@TijlDaelemans]

You didn't pkay mystic quest 😱?

[@dguy0386]

I got a original gameboy with super Mario land 2 off of eBay last month and i love it! greetings from a 16 year old that likes old games :D

[@ramrodbldm9876]

​@@TijlDaelemansno 🤡, he obviously didn't "pkay" mystic quest 😱

[@RollerMatt]

I had a blast developing Lemmings 2 for the 8-bit handhelds. The Game Boy was comparatively underpowered to the SMS and GG, but Nintendo made some smart hardware optimisations with their "sawn-off Z80". It was fun seeing just hard you could push the limits of the machine, especially if you were trying to do anything non-character mapped. If you want a good example of just what the Game Boy is capable of, check out the port of Hard Drivin' - it's a stunning achievment.

[@drd5455]

Super mario land 2: 6 golden coins was my favorite! I used to sit by my window to use the light from the sun to see the screen haha the good days

[@rickfeith6372]

The fatal flaw of the GB.

[@Kalvinjj]

And nowadays you can't have any light on the screens or else it has to battle against it with more brightness... Damn I miss the days of transflective screens, the true best of both worlds.

[@Kalvinjj]

@@rickfeith6372 In all fairness, in the late 80s and early 90s there really wasn't any feasible way to light up the screen, it would either be expensive and drain your battery, or bulky and drain your battery.

[@nerychristian]

@@Kalvinjj The Game Gear had an illuminated screen.

[@Kalvinjj]

@@nerychristian yeah, and just like said, the Game Gear has all 3 negative points listed

[@calvinmack6988]

Love the channel. I probably had all of the Game Boy accessories as a kid growing up and thought the camera and printer were super awesome back then.

[@FlameRat_YehLon]

*See Gameboy image* *See the MVG logo* Oh, the video must be "how the Gameboy security have been defeated" Wait a second...

[@PanosGeorgiadis]

Hands down and by **FAR** one of the best explanations I've seen about the GameBoy on KZbin.

[@James-Sutherland]

One of my favourite GB graphical tricks was when developers used the image persistence to double up sprites or backgrounds. The LCD was so slow that you could flicker between two background sets every frame and it'd look like they were blended together. Falls apart when you use an emulator (or the GBC even). Great example here, about 8 minutes in: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZzdpmaMgZySaZo

[@eduardoalvarez2497]

Congrats on the video, it have seen videos about the h-blank but the intro of A Links awakening using both vertical and horizontal scrolling was mind blowing.

[@DovesDamage]

Miss old-school Tetris and old school Pokemon

[@drd5455]

Play them again there's plenty of gameboy emulators available

[@arziel340]

You look sweet,do you want Play with me👻

[@fony09]

@@arziel340 you dumbass

[@BeryAb]

@@arziel340 Creep

[@VitalikButtring]

eBay.

[@junehanabi1756]

It's a great video. I owned all the gameboys growing up, brought back so many memories. I remember getting so excited over the newest ones when they came out. The gameboy pocket that could fit into my pocket, the color that could display more than black and white, the advance and then the foldable advance then onto the DS lines. I had to beg my parents on every new one but was so happy I could get my hands on them. there were lots of people I could use the gamelink cable with, practically grew up using the gamelink cable. So many memories ^_^

[@shane3478]

Really guys? A thumbs down on an informative video?

[@elone3997]

Great video - it's only when you understand the limitations of something that you can truly appreciate the artistry involved in getting something that looks better than the average (in whatever it is your interested in). The Zelda intro is a fantastic example of what looks like a nice intro on face value into the pure voodoo territory. It blows my mind how cunning some of these seemingly simple things were to pull off. Thanks MVG!

[@Horos_de_Vega]

Great video but there is a mistake at 0’ 21’’. You say that “Nintendo’s philosophy was never to be a leader in technology”. This is true now but it was NOT true in the 80s and 90s for the home consoles: - the Famicom was clearly ahead of its time in 83 (compare it with the SG-1000 which came out the same day for instance) - the Super Famicom was the most advanced 16bits console (if you ignore the NeoGeo which was an arcade system and not really a home console) - it can be argued that the N64 was technicaly superior to the PS1 and the Saturn. - and even the GameCube was one of the most powerful console of its generation. Nintendo gave up the technical leadership race only after the GameCube: with the WII.

[@Don-h4d]

Exocet NES was not that impressive for 1983 from a hardware point of view being built around an 8Bit CPU released in 1975, but its decent software surely made the difference. NeoGeo was designed from the beginning to be both an arcade and home console system, hence it is the most powerful 16bit console of all times. But the SNES went very close close to bring the full arcade experience home. The most powerful Nintendo console at the release date was the N64. I agree they quit the performances race eventually, and that was a wise move cause it confirmed their unique identity, giving a great lesson to the competition: hardware can surely help a game but it's the software that need to wisely take advantage of it.

[@Horos_de_Vega]

᚛ Vyper ᚜ I think we basically agree that, more or less, up to the GameCube, Nintendo was in the technical race. And the big U-turn was the WII. Regarding the NES: i agree with your facts of course. But, at the same time, there is no other console or personal micro-computer, in 1983, which can have scrollings the way the NES does. But anyway, i think we agree with the idea. Cheers.

[@donwilson]

This video is exactly why this channel is one of the best channels on KZbin. Please more like it

[@lumapcat]

The Gameboy is the best console ever

[@harrylane4]

@@BamonBoy no the DS is

[@lovebirdrica22]

@@harrylane4 no gamecube is

[@motionbasti]

No, switch pro is. :)

[@gwishart]

You've obviously never used a Bally Astrocade.

[@NobleEinherjar0]

This was a fascinating video and I would love to see more about other aspects of the GameBoy you mentioned like the sound, or maybe what sort of hardware changes allowed for things like the GameBoy Color to work. The original GameBoy was such an important piece of tech for me growing up and I appreciate it even more now than I did when I was a kid, thanks in large part to videos like this.

[@WhoIsLudwig]

I'm currently conducting a technical overview of the Game Boy for my own use, and even though I saw this video when it was released, it's even more interesting now that I have a better technical background of the system, and it definitely will become quite handy along the way. Thank you for that !

[@McTroyd]

Love deep dives like this! Would love to see more of the subsystems broken down. (And I would love to see a modern developer convince a Game Boy developer something is "too hard" or "impossible.") Still have my red Game Boy Pocket -- my preferred unit, as it has most of the battery life of its larger predecessor, but a higher-contrast screen, and actually fits in a pocket! Outside of the Nintendo classics, favorite games are Lemmings (for single player) and Battleship (for 2-player).

[@GearSeekers]

This is one of the best videos you've ever made. Thanks for making this! I learned a lot!

[@CDubya.82]

Fascinating. Didnt want this video to end. Wanted to see and know how all my favourite games were done.

[@zaxbit]

Super interested in more videos like this! Keep it up!

[@fensoxx]

Jesus this was my fav video yet. Please cover the NES etc...as in, how their graphics systems worked. Your insight is so interesting.

[@MichaelButlerC]

I love your videos about the internal mechanisms of all these systems. Thanks for doing them!

[@BlackFantasy470]

I never thought about how fascinating some effects were when I played Game Boy games when I was a child but after listening to your explanation I see them in a different light. I would really like to hear more about this topic and it would be really interesting to hear what and how changed with the Game Boy Color.

[@SMASHINGblargharghar]

I would love an even deeper explanation on some of these tricks. The nerdier, the better. Videos like yours inspire future programmers, thank you

[@kicknotes]

As 30+ year developer w/ experience doing console work, really enjoy your channel.

[@BlizzCCCP]

Very, very cool video! There is no limit to the amount of videos like this I would watch. Awesome work!

[@weak1ings]

Its interesting to see the approach Nintendo has work so well, "Take current hardware and make it cheap" vs making a expensive device based on next-gen hardware.

[@onurbaykal4789]

This concept for explaining older systems are very cool. Please make more videos like this.

[@donwilson]

This video is exactly why this channel is one of the best channels on youtube

[@discoRyne]

This is such dope content. Keep it up, channel deserves WAY more love

[@jhfoleiss]

Awesome stuff! I am working on a GB emulator just for fun and your video about the PPU came just in time! Thanks and keep it up!

[@ktrout2020]

This was an awesome video. It's fascinating how tricky developers had to be back then in order to get the most out of the hardware.

[@hgbugalou]

I was never a Gameboy kid as I stuck to the consoles, but as an adult I find these programing tricks devs managed to pull off fascinating. I could just imagine the buzz in the office when so and so pulled off some impressive visual feat via clever programming.

[@chrisw1634]

You already masterfully dissected the intro to my favorite, Link's Awakening. Really interesting to see how Nintendo was able to create some of these effects!

[@Nightshft42]

I know a little about Amiga graphics processing and stumbled across this. It's really extremely well visualized, thanks.

[@Rijads]

This is the best kind of videos you make, keep it up! EDIT: you are one of 3 channels that I have notifications on, for.

[@EriolGaurhoth]

Fascinating stuff. So much artistry is borne of the limitations of a medium, and Nintendo’s hardware simplicity always seemed to bring the best out of game designers, especially in the early days.

[@acur665]

Appreciate the attention to detail in this video, please do more! Sample code snippets would be cool too :)

[@joshmartimez2235]

Played the original grey game boy on launch day. My dad still has our family game boy and it still works. I have a Game Boy Color and GBA SP and thats how i get my GB fix. Great in depth video.

[@Metalvain4]

Great video! I’ll never forget getting my GameBoy and copy of Centipede and DKL on Christmas of ‘95! More vids like these for sure 👍

[@GoTeamScotch]

Fantastic video as always, MVG! A somewhat complex topic explained with simple visuals and explanations. I love it.

[@westonhecker]

Seriously my favorite channel on KZbin

[@Darieee]

awesomely done video! loved the manipulated simulations - the really helped bring the point across beautifully

[@iragination]

The coverage of these low-level old-school techniques is very interesting. I am always looking forward to learn how to pull these tricks with limited hardware.

[@dralithi]

Really enjoyed the in-depth explanation with all of the visual references for each example. Well done!

[@DarkD33p]

Thanks for an in-depth look into how graphics work on the Game Boy. That's really interesting.

[@darkreaper72jp]

Awesome Video! I'm always incredibly impressed by what is possible on such minimal hardware

[@LuisMederos]

This is top-notch material, beautifully written and executed. Well done, sir 🤘🏻

[@Marco_Onyxheart]

Once you know how to do those tricks, it's surprisingly easy to use them, too. We had to do an FPGA project for school, and basically used some of these tricks to build Snake. Took us about half a week. Although no viewport shenanigans.

[@jasondanforth3140]

Brilliant video. Quite edifying from a technical standpoint. We have it so easy as developers today. The old ways should be taught to foster appreciation of our present.

[@EJayNine]

Great video dude, I shared it on the Gameboy FB page I admin on, I'm a simple pokemon man myself but Solar Striker would be my 1 recommended game to play to anyone, cool music and a fun little shmup.

[@willynebula6193]

This is a great video. I can now see and understand basically how evey video game is made! Seriously thank you.

[@Verillak]

This is great! Showing how it would look without that clever tweak was a great idea!