Does playing the GBA games on an actual Gameboy significantly better?

[Junkhead]

I'd imagine it would be. Having had first started playing FE, on a GBA emulator, it's relatively underwhelming. For one, you're usually want to make the screen a bit bigger on the computer (I never go full screen, but I do increase it a bit). And that, of course, messes up the graphics a bit. And then, there's that small little "touch" of getting to play it handheld, on the actual GBA.

I don't think it needs to much explation...I wonder how it would be to play it on the actual GBA. I still have mine.

[Lord of Gabriel Knight]

You could just increase the size using the aspect ratio, which won't mess up the graphics.

On the Gameboy, you can't savestate, speed up, slow down, or edit the game in any way.

And if you don't have an SP or a Gameboy light, you're out of luck.

I'm not one for sentimental crap, so using an actual Gameboy is significantly worse for me.

[Knight]

I personally like my Fire Emblem in my hands, about a foot from my face and having my legs spread over a couch. The Fire Emblem GBA experience, IMO, is much better than an emulator because it is portable and I don't mind the lack of turbo or save states. Besides which, my Fire Emblem cart was a special gift for me and I'm quite attached to it.

Edited May 26, 2014 by Knight

[Junkhead]

You could just increase the size using the aspect ratio, which won't mess up the graphics.

On the Gameboy, you can't savestate, speed up, slow down, or edit the game in any way.

And if you don't have an SP or a Gameboy light, you're out of luck.

I'm not one for sentimental crap, so using an actual Gameboy is significantly worse for me.

Those are the kind of things that, in my opinion, make it lose a bit of value, when played on an emulator. They just make it all handed to you on a silver platter. The games aren't necessarily very hard in their own right, but in the case of FE8 and FE7 (before HHM), just make it easier than it is...

And no, it's not exactly a "sentimental" thing.

I have an average GBA and a DS, but there is no problem with playing without having a backlight, like we did before GBA SP didn't exist. 8P

[bookofholsety]

i can't speak for the original gba carts/consoles since it's been a long time, but i do have a very high opinion of playing the ambassador fe8 on my 3ds. conversely, though, the idea of playing the gba and ds games on a wii u still strikes me as incredibly weird; it was already bizarre enough playing them on a modded wii emulator

[Nobody]

Do you have a smartphone? I only play the gba FEs on my iphone, which i imagine isn't that much different from playing on a gba (though having actual buttons must be good). It's certainly better than playing on a computer, though
I don't use save states anyway, but being able to speed things up is definitely a plus

Edited May 26, 2014 by First Impressions of Earth

[dondon151]

given how much i know about GBAFE's RNG, i can't play them anymore without the rngdisplay.lua script.

[CT075]

It definitely feels different; I wouldn't necessarily say "better", but "different".

Definitely felt really good to have the buttons etc in my hands instead of on my computer screen, but... I can't turbo on hardware.

[Thor Odinson]

FEDS + phaseskipping would be nice in a world without turbo

but otherwise once turbo, always turbo

[Ciarre]

I wouldn't mind no savestates but yeah, I need my turbo otherwise I'll get impatient

[kingddd]

It's all a preference thing really. I personally find playing with an emulator I have little to no motivation to play the game whereas playing them on the actual system I actually want to finish the game. It's an odd psychological feeling considering how I'm technically playing the exact same game.

Edited May 26, 2014 by kingddd

[Rehab]

Not sure why, but ^that kinda. I particularly like the tactile feeling of the buttons, the gameboy's feel more satisfying to push than my keyboard's.

Even when I have nothing to do/would be turboing through, I can just occupy myself by pushin buttons

Edited May 26, 2014 by Rehab

[YoungXehanort]

I just play FE on my 3DS (FE8 and FEA), my Wii U(RD), and my phone for 6 and 7. I vastly prefer using a handheld system over the phone or computers.

[Rainbow Skittles]

I can see why people would feel that a GBA is more "real" and all, but turbo saved my life.

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

The less devices and game carts/discs I have to keep up with, the better. Because of this (and other reasons), I'd rather play my games on emulator.

[LunaSaint]

I like the handheld style. Portability, being able to sit somewhere comfortable, and being able to play without the lure of savestates/turbo makes me enjoy the game a lot more. The tactile feel of buttons is great, too.

However, I need the aforementioned functions for romhacking. I couldn't survive playtesting without them. @.@

[Book of Ereshkigal]

Hm. Never thought about it. I have all the GBA FEs in physical and, ah "digital" format. I almost always play on a console (generally my DS). I just like buttons on my thumbs.

[Ϲharlie]

I'd much rather play just about any game on actual hardware instead of emulators.

[deleted35362]

fire emblem games just feel like they should be handhelds...it's a completely turn based game that autosaves EVERYTHING. you can always just drop the game without a second thought.

Those are the kind of things that, in my opinion, make it lose a bit of value, when played on an emulator. They just make it all handed to you on a silver platter. The games aren't necessarily very hard in their own right, but in the case of FE8 and FE7 (before HHM), just make it easier than it is...

well...once we graduate high school, most of us are already more careful about wasting time than we used to be. in middle school i would have tolerated training guy in the arena and dying...twice...but these days..."nobody got time fo dat" lol.

[Rehab]

I sometimes think I "don't have time for that," but I still basically spend whole days playing games and dredging the internet

I actually got time for a lot of shit

[LunaSaint]

Only FE game I'd say I don't have time for without Turbo is 4.

Well, also 10, but I'm out of luck in that regard.

[deleted35362]

I sometimes think I "don't have time for that," but I still basically spend whole days playing games and dredging the internet

I actually got time for a lot of shit

well, it's one thing to be mindful of our time and it's another to actually succeed in using our time wisely x3

[Loki Laufeyson]

I vastly prefer the hard copy on an actual GBA/DS Lite.

It just...feels better to me.

[Topazd]

It would probably feel significantly better to play the games on the actual handheld, but I've grown accustomed to using the emulator by now. I just made a custom skin that makes the game screen slightly bigger and fills the rest of the screen with a black background so that I might forget that I am playing on an emulator, haha. Also using a gamepad while playing on an emulator helps.

[Baron the Shining Blade]

I'm not sure if I have the right explanation for this (I've never used an emulator myself), but some tome animations (and probably other attacks) seem to go at a faster rate on than emulator than on an actual GBA or GB Player. For me, it is most noticeable with Fimbulvetr and Ereshkigal.

Watch Ereshkigal in this vid...

(Emulator)

and compare with this vid

(Game Boy Player) (Same results on an actual GBA)

I'm sorry if this has already been known about for a long time. I wanted to bring it up 'cause it's something I myself immediately noticed a long time ago when I started watching emulated FE vids on youtube.