Soapbox: Is The Finest Harry Potter Sport On Sport Boy Colour? Fairly Probably

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Game Boy Color© Nintendo Life

We lately requested you Nintendo Life readers to charge your favorite Sport Boy Colour video games, and as we’re getting ready to publish the High 50 outcomes, we’re looking again at a handful of our favorite GBC video games. Right here, Kate remembers one explicit handheld Harry journey — the one the place the Thinker and the Sorcerer bickered about whose Stone it was…


There have been an terrible lot of terrible Harry Potter video games, from the janky, physics-bending Chamber of Secrets and techniques (“Flipendo!!” will proceed to hang-out my nightmares) to the downright disappointing Xbox 360 and PS3 video games. Contemplating the huge fortunes generated by franchise, it is actually wild that it is apparently been so troublesome for Warner Bros. to discover a studio that may flip the massively-successful Wizarding World collection right into a half-decent sport that captures the magic of the books.

Now, I do not need to tar all of the Harry Potter video games with the identical brush. The PS1 Potter sport introduced us Giant Hagrid, who’s good, and the LEGO Harry Potter video games are lovingly-made variations that do not stick slavishly to the flicks. Apparently, the PS2/GameCube Prisoner of Askaban is fairly good, too, though by that time I had been FLIPENDO-ed into by no means testing one other HP sport till the LEGO ones.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Diagon Alley with Hagrid
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Harry learns Flipendo

However, shining like a uncooked diamond buried in dust amongst all of the mediocrity lies certainly one of my favorite video games of all time: Harry Potter and the Thinker’s Stone on Sport Boy Colour. Among the many readers proper now shall be two teams of individuals: the primary shall be pondering, “ah, certainly one of your favorite video games? That is nostalgia speaking, lassie”. The second shall be vigorously nodding their heads and weeping tears of pleasure within the data that I’m extraordinarily proper.

The story isn’t groundbreaking, as a result of the story is roughly that of the primary Harry Potter e book — i.e. younger lad will get forcibly taken from his abusive adoptive mother and father’ home and dumped in a boarding college filled with weirdos, the place he spends the yr trying to interrupt all the principles with a view to get one creepy trainer arrested. In fact, it seems to be the mistaken trainer, however he would not get punished. Until you rely being despatched again to his abusive adoptive mother and father’ home.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Fighting rats in Diagon Alley
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: A big monster guards a chest

There are a couple of additional plot factors, as a result of it is a online game e book adaptation, so each every now and then Harry should combat rats within the library, or subdue a bunch of indignant mandrakes within the greenhouse, which is greater than a traditional ten-year-old has to cope with, however by and enormous the plot is fairly acquainted.

[turn-based battles] match so nicely with the Harry Potter theming that it is bizarre to see that they stored attempting to make the sequels into 3D platformers

However the battle mechanics, and the way the spells are built-in into the sport, are what elevate the GBC model of Harry Potter and the Thinker’s Stone above the remainder. It takes its cues from Remaining Fantasy and Chrono Set off, you see — a turn-based JRPG-style interpretation of the magical world.

Harry is provided from the start with a primary wand and primary gear, every of which is able to have an effect on his stats. If he manages to gather sufficient cash, he should buy new garments and a greater wand; if he ranges up sufficient, he can study new spells; if he makes use of spells usually, he’ll study extra {powerful} variations of these spells. It is a system we’re all extraordinarily accustomed to by now, I do know, and even again then it wasn’t revolutionary, nevertheless it match so nicely with the Harry Potter theming that it is bizarre to see that they stored attempting to make the sequels into 3D platformers. When did Harry ever do platforming within the books?

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Harry's school supplies (books, and a wand) in his inventory
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Harry and Draco race on broomsticks in a Flappy Bird-style minigame

Flip-based fight was a superb method to painting the wizarding world, as a result of it put the give attention to the spells, even when a lot of the enemies had been… random rats (which had been apparently an enormous drawback in Hogwarts — far more than Voldemort). Significantly, there are such a lot of rats on this sport. However there are additionally stealth sections, collectibles, shortcuts, and mini-games, together with a Quidditch Flappy Chook predecessor, and a Wingardium Leviosa reminiscence sport.

There was even a wholly optionally available a part of the sport the place you would accumulate Well-known Witches and Wizards playing cards, both by shopping for and consuming Chocolate Frogs, or by discovering the playing cards within the Hogwarts grounds. These playing cards might be mixed to make extra-powerful assaults, or they may simply be… collected, very like Pokémon playing cards (nicely, not in the mean time — the Pokémon card scene is fairly loopy proper now). You could possibly even commerce with buddies, in case you had a Hyperlink Cable. And buddies.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: The potion-brewing minigame, with a bunch of ingredients like Wolfsbane and Unicorn Horn
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Finding Cauldron Cakes in a secret cubbyhole

There have been secrets and techniques, too! Some spells can solely be discovered in side-quests, or by doing issues in a selected order; there have been small deposits of cash, playing cards, clothes, therapeutic gadgets, and potion elements hidden throughout the fortress, as nicely. As somebody whose favorite Pokémon exercise is “utilizing the Itemfinder”, it was all I might ever needed.

Ebook and film tie-ins had been notoriously… not nice in these days. They had been oftentimes rushed via to coincide with film launch dates, and certain did not have a lot artistic management over the story, both. Loads of sport studios simply needed to make do with what that they had, so it wasn’t till the flicks had been already out that we received higher variations, just like the LEGO ones, that might take their time with improvement. However, for no matter cause, HP & The P Stone is simply… actually good. Even with out the Potter label, it is only a good sport. It is Remaining Fantasy, however about ten-year-olds. It is Chrono Set off with out the “Chrono” bit. Dragon Quest, however no dr—

Okay, no, Harry Potter does have dragons. It is simply magic, okay?


Do not forget you’ll be able to charge your favorite Sport Boy Colour video games and assist us construct our reader-ranked High 50 GBC video games, to be revealed quickly. And if you wish to lust over some pretty color variants of the GBC {hardware}, be happy to tell us your favorite Sport Boy Colour hue, too.

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