Sometimes I think that the difficulty that handheld consoles face is less because of what they can or cannot do than because the game developers don't really know how to handle them.
Blizzard considered Diablo for GameBoy - Report
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Author of upcoming Blizzard book reveals "Diablo Junior" intended for Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance; would have been single-player-only prequel to original.
Blizzard Entertainment once considered bringing its Diablo franchise to Nintendo's GameBoy portable, according to David Craddock, author of the upcoming Stay Awhile and Listen series chronicling development of the iconic franchise.
An excerpt provided to Shacknews reveals that following the release of Diablo II, Blizzard North divided into multiple development squads. One immediately began work on the Lord of Destruction expansion, another was tasked with brainstorming new ideas, and a third began work on "smaller projects."
"One of those was given the working title Diablo Junior, a game tentatively planned for the Game Boy Color and/or the Game Boy Advance, depending on market share and other business-y factors," he said.
According to Craddock, Diablo Junior was planned as a single-player-only prequel to the original Diablo, and was even expected to resemble Nintendo's Pokemon series. Ultimately, the game was shelved due to "steep production costs" associated with handheld games, he said.
"Taking a page from Pokémon's book, the team wanted to release three cartridges, each packing a different hero in the warrior-rogue-sorcerer vein as well as items that players would have to trade for in order to collect," he said. "Heroes started in a unique town before heading into dungeons and wilderness zones."
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
89 comments
who the hell gives a sh*t, they considered it on the gameboy woopty freaking doo,
its 2012 why is this news coming now ?
this isnt going to be and never was made.. dont u people read the story?
y would they release a game for gameboy and gameboy advanced at this point? both of those hand helds dont have games made for them anymore.
this is just about the idea they had about it back in the gameboy and gameboy advanced days.
back then it would have been a great idea and game if they made it
I wonder if any videos exist of it in the prototype stage. Maybe it'll turn up on Unseen64.com sometime.
best games for the game boy were pokemon. Period. This game probably would have been just like many other games for the GBA or GBC trash. Blizzard is such a joke these days.
@Metallicwolf29 You should read the article one more time.. It was ment to be a gb/gbc title, which was when Blizzard was at it's best.
I really enjoyed Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance for GBA. I think the Junior could be top of the class. One thing I'd be worried about it the screen not being bright enough, as the game is rather dark so I guess it would be hard to see on the original gb or gbc.
that would have been alright back in the days of the gameboy and gameboy advanced. im sure i would have brought it. i hope they dont plan on doing anything like that these days though.
1 Like I see no reason why it would be single-player on a Game Boy Advance. Shining Soul 1 and 2 were excellent multi-player, real-time RPGs on the Game Boy advance. Diablo would have done it well...
@craigprime I was going to say the exact thing! Shining Soul worked out great for GBA! Diablo would have performed decently.
And they considered it for Mobile Devices too....just like they always will consider any and every platform available to put their games on. Whether they do or not, is up to how it will port...if not the same as the PC rendition, then it won't. But this is old news already. If they could successfully port to each, they would....otherwise, use what you get.
@enartloc hey bro how about you come on runescape and say that to my face in the wilderness!!!
@Albelnox0 @decoy1978 @kawaiiflonne @emperiox i'm not hating gw2 loser,i played all the content in it,i was merely remarking on the op calling d3 crap,while he plays gw 2 ,which has the same flaws:unfinished product,no endgame
@decoy1978 @kawaiiflonne @emperiox @enartloc Hating a game just to be cool. Omg this game is fun. Your friends, "you playing that crap. " you, " oh yeah it sucks." *secretly plays while no one is looking. I know how the world works peeps emeriox is a perfect example. Get minds of your own
1 Like @kawaiiflonne @emperiox @enartloc I had such high hopes for GW2. At the end of the day, it was decent... nothing remarkable that I haven't experienced in other MMO's. I went through the motions... and there was really no need to level up IMO. All the spells were readily available once you skill up a weapon. I'm not saying I'm disappointed, but it was an average game...
1 Like Daiblo Jr. would have been an appropriate name for the PC version as it failed to live up to D2.
GBA sure, gameboy colour? nah, no bloody way, and that 3 cartige thing sounds like a ripoff just like Starcraft 2 with its 3 campaigns.
I'm picturing a FF (OG 1-3) type of world. With only one player, it would have seemed huge, and back then, it would have been more than welcome.
if they made it nothing like diablo, and just a simple dungeon crawler, it might have worked.
its a shame they didnt try at all
i rather have a potentially crappy, potentially good game out, rather than none at all
People who find this an 'obvious bad idea' must be from a younger generation of gamers. Dungeon crawling wouldn't have to be in 3D at all, you could make it like the old Zelda games if anything. Where i think it ultimately would fail, would be the lack of content. I can only imagine old gameboy cartridges being able to hold so much! BUt then again, a zelda-esque kind of game in the Diablo universe. It would have worked.
1 Like "Blizzard considered Diablo for GameBoy" then quickly realize's what a terrible idea that would be!!
2 Like @deth420 hmm diablo is too big a game for a handheld during that time. If it were on 3Ds sure I can see ie especially after what Capcom and Square made for it. Then again is Blizzard able to utilize the graphical power of a system like those two companies can
1 Like "Diablo Junior: Son of Diablo" sounds fun, more like a little kid game though, I imagine Diablo Junior would have gone with the 'ol kindergarten "my dad can beat up your dad" argument when it came fighting the Jr.
I kinda have a feeling this would've worked , with zelda-like gameplay this would've been pretty successful i think
They should have made Diablo for the original Gameboy which was still in production until 1998 Diablo 1 came out in 1996 for the Original Playstation and PC. So a version for Nintendo Gameboy would have sucked, but fun just for the novelty.
Too bad, it would have been neat to see how this game fared. Maybe Blizzard would be different today, and the original Diablo Team still be around.
What they really meant to say is.
"Report: Blizzard has prepared Diablo for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3."
@TheArcade I would hate to see it on console, I don;t really play PC at all but leave it on PC.
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