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I'd like to collect the names of games that exist for NES and Game Boy that are basically identical as far as this is possible. You know, games that have the same look and feel on both consoles, even though the Game Boy screen is of course smaller.
I'm not talking about mere ports. They really have to feel alike. For example, "Double Dragon" not only has different graphics, but the gameplay is different as well. The movements work differently etc.
I'm talking about games that feel like the same code was used (even though this isn't true).

Please only list games for the classic Game Boy.

The games that I've found so far:

Paperboy
Star Wars

Do you know of any other games that are that similar?

Does the NES game have to have been released in North America or Western Europe, or are Famicom games acceptable as well? If the latter, Balloon Kid and Hello Kitty World.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Duck Tales 2 is very close.
Galaga is very close
Gauntlet II is nearly the same.
Aladdin seems to be the same as the crappy PAL version.
Pugley's Scavenger Hunt is pretty close.
Alfred Chicken is almost identical.
Bugs Bunny is somewhat close.
Darkwing Duck is very close.
Extra Bases is similar to Famista 90.
Hook is almost identical.
Milon's Secret Castle looks very close.
Monopoly is very close.
Krusty's Fun House is very close.
Yoshi's Cookie is very close.

I've heard that Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle for Game Boy is basically the same game as the FDS Roger Rabbit game. I don't know whether they are completely identical in gameplay and level design (and look and feel) though, as I've only played the FDS version.

There's also Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle for NES, by the way.

They're very similar. They have all the same elements/characters, and all the same music. The levels and order are slightly different between games. The level design is not very interesting though, so it hardly makes much of a difference.

I thought Crazy Castle used different level layout, sprites, controls, etc? I know they're based on the same design, but they feel like they were implemented in isolation. It's been quite a while, but I was unfortunate enough to own both as a child.

The levels are different, I think the gameboy's different screen size may have forced that. None of the levels are memorable in any way though, so it might as well be the same. It's just busywork for the kid playing it.

Looks like there are a bunch of nearly-identical games.

Yeah, "Bug's Bunny's Crazy Castle" isn't really what I was talking about. I didn't just mean games where the premise is the same. I was actually talking about identical graphics and identical gameplay (minus the screen difference). For example, Bugs Bunny walks quicker in the Game Boy game, so it's different physics.

"Gauntlet II" was the one that I had in mind as well.

And I think "The Lion King" could be identical.

"Duck Tales" would have been the same if they had used the same level layout. The game mechanics seem to be identical.

I haven't tried Darkwing Duck, but wasn't it released for both?

What about games that were ported to a bunch of platforms, like Battletoads, Micro Machines or Marble Madness?

This thread seems to have dissolved into describing similar rewrites... I thought it would be things more like the originally mentioned Balloon Kid GB and Famicom Hello Kitty World...



Not quite the right system, but NGPC Pacman seems actually to be a port of the arcade game as opposed to the very off previous remakes.

tokumaru wrote:What about games that were ported to a bunch of platforms, like Battletoads, Micro Machines or Marble Madness?

Sure. If they are basically identical on NES and Game Boy.

mikejmoffitt wrote:This thread seems to have dissolved into describing similar rewrites... I thought it would be things more like the originally mentioned Balloon Kid GB and Famicom Hello Kitty World...

Nah, it's o.k. It doesn't have to be the same from a point of view of the programmer, only of the player. If games are alike in the same way "Paperboy", "Star Wars" and "Gauntlet II" are, then they count.

mikejmoffitt wrote:This thread seems to have dissolved into describing similar rewrites... I thought it would be things more like the originally mentioned Balloon Kid GB and Famicom Hello Kitty World...

I guess there are too few cases like Balloon Kid/Hello Kitty, so there wouldn't be much to discuss... Also, the OP asked specifically about games that look and feel very similar to each other, without necessarily being based on the source of the other version.

DRW wrote:Sure. If they are basically identical on NES and Game Boy.

I checked Battletoads and Micro Machines... not very similar.

Battletoads for NES == Battletoads in Ragnarok's World for Game Boy