tabor62gb (they/them)

First purchase of 2026 and it's an exciting one! At least for me. I've discovered a new movie ticket variant of a GBA game. Of course, there's always the possibility of information being buried in a corner of the internet or something, but here it is. Arthur and the Invisibles: The Game.

The sticker is on the plastic wrap of the game, which may explain why it's harder to come by. Even if you kept boxes back in the day, it's likely you threw away the shrink wrap on the boxes.

The only two movie ticket variants I'm missing are Monster House and (allegedly since I've never seen any photos of it myself) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But this only really says to me that there could always be more variants out there that just aren't very widely known or remembered and that's always exciting.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #GameboyAdvance | #ArthurAndTheInvisibles | #RetroGameCollecting | #GameCollection

Oh! I got distracted and forgot to post the ending.

Yep. That's it. You beat the boss, get 0 EXP, 0 gold, 0 items, and then the screen fades to black before giving you an end screen. No dialogue, no return to the kingdom, 0 use for any gold you find deep inside the last area of the game. Absolute cinema.

Sarcasm aside, it wasn't *that* bad of a game. It just felt like the difficulty of enemies scales up faster than it really should have and the EXP they give you didn't scale alongside that. And if that turns you off from wanting to play this game, that's completely understandable.

This is made me want to go back and try out another Tian Cai Xiao Zi RPG in the hopes that maybe, it'll be more like Final Fantasy: Unlimited Saga and less like Qing Huang Ba Ye (秦皇霸業).

And remember, stay funky fresh. 5/10.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

Finally, we've reached the final boss (which was actually tough unlike other plot related bosses). Lots of HP and could one-shot party members. It made me wish I grinded more, but the high HP of random enemies at this point combined with the minuscule EXP they provided just wasn't worth it. Instead, I employed the same strategy as with the weapon mini-bosses. I repeatedly revived whoever had died the previous turn cycle over and over again.

At first, I was confused when the final boss died and I got 0 EXP and gold. I don't care if it's the end, give me that EXP.

Instead, it transforms into a second form. It was more of the same really, just stall with reviving until it died and gave 0 EXP and gold *again*.

It then revealed a third form, which was the exact same with the same drops. At this point I was expecting a fourth form, but nope, I defeated it!

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

Well, here we are. The final area of the game. It has the same aesthetic as the place we were trapped in when we exposed the controlled king.

It's got two new enemies I haven't seen elsewhere too. A head with tail thing, and a red demon in a speedo. I had to go back and check if the demon had been a previous boss turned regular enemy but I've never seen it before.

Unfortunately, much like the aforementioned area there is *another* warp maze. I hate mazes in RPGs, not the same thing as exploration. Thankfully though there are only two parts to it and I got the first part done in a single guess. Unthankfully I tried every option but one before I got the right teleporter in the second part. It also doesn't help that the second part involved long winding paths for no reason other than to fill your life with random encounters.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

Ah, the second to last boss (I think), the person who revives the great evil big bad. They had little health compared to the previous four mini-bosses which really does continue the trend of story relevant bosses being weak for whatever reason.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

The second part of the ruins contains two swords which are probably the ultimate weapons for the warrior and rogue.

They are similarly guarded though I was sort of expecting one yellow dragon instead of two red ones.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

In the first part of the ruins, you find two staves which I assume are the ultimate weapons for the White and Black Mages.

Both are guard by dragons which are a serious uptick in strength compared to previous bosses. Those bosses certainly lulled me into a false sense of security. The good thing is that they only attack once per turn meaning I can just continually revive on person to not fall behind in human shields.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

Well, here it is, the final area of the game (probably). Found on a tiny island near the second town of the game totally surrounded by mountains forcing us to use the airship. We're supposed to prevent the dragon(?) from being resurrected aga... is that a Dimensional Shoyru?

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

So the game has you pick up a magical mirror before you pick up the last item needed to unseal(?) the evil(?) dragon(?). I must admit, I haven't paid *too* much attention to the story so I'm unsure.

Anyways, the king is revealed to be possessed by something evil and it eats you, sending you to another world. This area kind of reminds me of a combination of Moonside, Magicant, and The Cave of the Past from Earthbound as you walk around a desolate area with random teleports around that eventually lead to a boss fight with... whatever that is.

After his(?) defeat we are returned to the real world where the king gives us an item that allows us to unseal the presumably final area.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

Ran into another difficult trapped chest miniboss. The regular bosses are starting to catch up to them (or they're getting easier, I can't tell because I can't see damage dealt).

Also, the eleventh boss is the same as the tenth one.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

Fighting the tenth boss (which is just a recolored third boss >.>) yields great rewards! Specifically you get the airship (or as the translation seems to say, a spaceship) which is really cool and convenient. The only issue is that it treats you as if you are still "walking" or "sailing" when encountering enemies rather than having unique flying enemies (or none as I would have preferred).

Perhaps we have to go to the moon a la Final Fantasy IV? We'll see I suppose.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

The good thing though is that when you speak to the king here he blesses you (or the dragon god does or something? I thought we were trying to keep a dragon from being unsealed?).

The bad thing is that you still kind of suck.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

Finally visiting the castle that had a wall of light blocking the wall. I think they messed up with some of the stuff in the castle.

The first thing is that doors don't open when you pass through them, and the second thing is that when you go up the stairs to the throne room your character looks like they're in the wall because that's where the warp tile is set.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

Two winged kangaroos (I think) as the collective ninth boss. Just focus fire using your Warrior and Thief's special attacks on each and both go down super easy as unfortunately expected.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

Beating the eighth boss gives you access to the eye of a fire dragon which allows you to walk across the snow in this island. My best guess is that it keeps you from freezing to death as you travel. I was hoping to get a snowcraft like in Final Fantasy II but oh well haha.

Also, for some reason I only just realized my screenshots were lacking in color and brightness until I reached the snow area. I restarted my Pocket Dock and recaptured that particular screenshot but the rest are doomed to not look as good unfortunately.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga

Another trapped chest miniboss that's stronger than the actual bosses.

#Nintendo | #Gameboy | #BootlegGaming | #Sintax | #FinalFantasyUnlimitedSaga