In the second part of our special, we devote ourselves to Perfect Dark for the Game Boy Color. Nevertheless, the title has its charm of many.

• does not work, there is no!
• the hardware until the last exploit
• in a playful average in terms of play
• The history
• 3 things that you did not know about Perfect Dark (GBC)

Welcome to the second part of our special for the “Perfect Dark” series. Anyone who has read the first part now knows why the first game for the Nintendo 64 still has cult status these days. But at the same time as the first-person shooter, an offshoot for the Game Boy Color has also been published. However, the title never became the same media attention and Perfect Dark for the GBC was also behind the big brother. The game for the situation at that time is a technical masterpiece. Unfortunately, the product was only partially convincing in terms of play.

does not work, there is no!

Perfect Dark for the Game Boy Color was developed by Rare’s handheld team at the time, who also worked on Donkey Kong Country in parallel. However, despite the double burden, the team, which comprises around 20 men, has delivered a technical brilliant performance that has not yet existed in this form on the small handheld. Not only that software was written especially for the game that enables music to produce music in the 8-bit format, pretty much every technical gimmick was built into the 32-bit module that the Game Boy Color supports. If you put the game into the transfer PAK and connect it to the Nintendo 64, you can still unlock four cheats for the Nintendo 64 game.

The infrared interface of the handheld, on the other hand, is used to exchange or unlock multiplayer maps. Even the Game Boy Printer is supported. With it, character images and portraits can be printed out that you get for the successful completion of the missions and then of course there is a multiplayer mode that can be played with another player via the link cable. A variety of modes are offered from Deathmatch to King of the Hill to Capture the Flag, Air hockey and hostage liberations. There is also a rumble support. To do this, just a battery has to be inserted into the module and you can already feel explosions and more. Only a handful of games such as Pokémon Pinball also offer that.

the hardware until the last exploit

But the developers not only reached the limits of the system. The game itself also has some surprising tricks in stock. There are full-motion video sequences and even a voice output to promote history. This did not sound outstanding after the scales at the time, but the only fact that language came from the small speaker of the device was surprising. It’s just a shame that the title was more playful, even if the developers of Rare made a lot of effort into the replay value.

Basically, the game can be described as a third-person shooter with stealth sections. However, the makers have added an additional 12 minigames into the game, which the third-person gameplay keeps breaking. Sometimes a lock has to be cracked or the reactions at the shooting range are checked or you have to heat through the jungle with a jeep. As soon as you have successfully achieved one of the mini games, you can select the respective game individually via the menu and go to high score hunt.

in a playful average in terms of play

Perfect Dark playfully commemorates the Game Boy Color of Metal Gear Solid for the same system. The events are shown in the top-down perspective and when Joanna Dark does not shoot around with the well-known weapons such as the Falcon 2, she sneaks around opponents, opens doors and completes the minigames mentioned. At regular intervals, nasty bosses occur, which can only be defeated with special strategies. However, there are a few fundamental problems.

The control simply does not offer enough options and is sometimes very overloaded. In order to run, for example, the direction of control must be pressed twice, while the change of weapons only works via the menu. In addition, Joanna Dark is portrayed much too large and thus hides part of the screen, which is unnecessarily complicated. The downside of the medal: Joanna Dark is incredibly detailed and has many movement animations. There are also a few tips in the level of difficulty, some of which are extremely difficult for the game. Some of the boss opponents in particular are extremely difficult compared to the learning curve.

The history

Perfect Dark for the Game Boy Color is the Prequel for Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64. Joanna Dark is located in the last few days of her training as an agent of the Carrington Institute. She ends her training with the absolute top grade, which brings her the title Perfect Dark. But there is no time to celebrate. She is immediately sent to South America to track down Mink Hunter, who leads a cyborg factory there that needs to be destroyed. During the order, she observes the crash of a UFO and learns that the group wants to mount this. Of course, the Carrington Institute wants to prevent this and so a race against time begins. Among other things, Joanna visits some places to which reference is made in the Nintendo 64 game until it finally comes to the final in the institute itself and shortly afterwards the events of the popular successor begin.

3 things that you did not know about Perfect Dark (GBC)

• Perfect Dark for the Game Boy Color has never officially appeared in Germany.
• In Perfect Dark, one of the funny cows can be found during the first mission. The designers at Rare installed the cows as a joke in every game-boy color game.
• Perfect Dark for the Game Boy Color is the only game in the series with a release for young people.

Sources:
https://web.archive.org/web/2001041547/http://www.rareware.com/affa…
https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/09/06/perfect-dark

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