I've got a small one

Getting new hardware is always exciting; but strange that I still got quite enthusiastic about a GB Micro considering I had a Game Boy Advance then Game Boy SP at launch. I'm kind of sad that way and have been since I were a boy.

I bought myself the GBM Famicom "Limited Edition"; I suspect that it's not that limited, as there seems to be loads of them kicking around. I decided I wanted a nice Japanese one rather than a UK one as I was getting it to play the Bit Generations games, and they're as Japanese as they come. Keepin' it real.

Game Boy Micro

I had seen the Micro in the shops and thought it looks pretty small and quite cool; but it's not until you get your dirty, stinky hands on it that you realise just how tiny it really is. My hands aren't that big, so I don't find the [lack of] size an issue, though I suspect that if you were born with shovels instead hands, you may have a problem.
My Famicom edition came in a nice box too, with pictures of Mario and stuff inside: it even thanked me for buying it. I love you too Nintendo (you money grabbing bastards).
Colouring is shiny gold and magenta; if I hadn't got this model, I think I would have gone for silver or something.
The D-pad and buttons are all as you would expect from Nintendo: quality. The shoulder buttons are a little hard to get to though, although special mention has to go to the Select and Start buttons which light up blue when switched on.
The screen does seem small; but not too small. I'm sure it seems smaller to me than the other Game Boy Advance screens, though I don't know if it's just my imagination.
Build quality feels good, it's metal, solid and reeks of class.

The future
The only future I can see for the Micro (and Advance) is a retro-future. It appears most support has now switched to the DS, and even Nintendo are leaning that way. I'm unsure what the release of Bit Generations means, is it the final curtain before Touch! Generations takes over (Japan, if not the world)?
I'd like to see the Micro continue for a little longer; but even if it doesn't, there's years worth of games in its back-catalogue to keep me going. Minish Cap? Keep the RPG's coming, I'm just getting started.

Bit Generations

I am currently playing Dotstream. I think I have been so pleased with my DS Lite, I figured I would give Nintendo some more of my money to support their less mainstream endeavors.

Old School barely covers the Bit Generations games; designed for the Game Boy Micro (or Advance if you really must), they don't even push that somewhat outdated hardware.

The best thing about certain Japanese games is that they have quite a bit of English in them, and when English is lacking, they often make up for it in simplistic easy to learn game mechanics. Nintendo are untouchable on this front. Jap games are also packaged better.

Dotstream

A likeness to the Tron lightcycles has been made about this game (hence my buying it first), and in some ways, it's correct. What Dotstream lacks in fancy graphics and orchestral sound, it makes up for with style, design, playability and packaging. You can also tell it's from Nintendo as each "Campaign" is made up of a number of courses, the later ones are unlocked as you progress; unlike typical Nintendo, it's pretty freakin' hard.

So, as you start the game (you can select which coloured line you wish to be), you and your rainbow hued competitors line up for the start of the race. As with all Old School racing games, you are left for dead on the line as the other dots shoot off, leaving coloured [dot]streams in their wake.

As you mutter the age-old-school curse "fuck'n dirty cheating bastards", it is up to you to catch them and crush them but good. So how do you do that then when the game looks more basic than Butlins holiday chalet?

You have two speed gauges at the bottom of the screen, the top one is your sort of normal speed, the smaller one below that shows your "extra" speed. You fill this extra bar by staying as close as you can to the other streams around you, stray too far and you begin to slow; go too close and you can be bumped into an obstacle and loose a life or valuable speed.

You are also given 2 extra lives at the start of a race; you must decide to keep them for when you hit something and die, or take a chance as they can be used to provide an extra boost. You can also pull into the pit-lane at the end of a race and fill up on lives; but while you slowly gain lives/boosts, your opponents are making a dash for it.

It's a good risk/reward structure.

You also have the extra Formation mode you can unlock in the main game, this kind of follows the gameplay of something like Snake on your phone. You race along, picking up blobs getting more dots to control.

The graphics and music are generally retro-fucking-cool.

Boundish

Yep, it's Pong. How's that for kick-ass retro?
Ultra-modern-cool Pong though. It sort of reminds me of Cosmic Smash a bit. Sort of.

It has 5 game modes, four of which are variations on the pongy theme, one is a juggling game like Nintendo's old Game & Watch game Parachute. They have dressed the mini-games up in minimalist style with enough gameplay quirks to give them some depth, plus you can play them in a two-player mode (although I don't know if you need two carts or not yet).
I wasn't sure about the game to begin with, but continued play has revealed some hidden depth and for some quick-fix junk gaming it's sweet.
Pool Flower
What you have here is two guys moving around their half of the screen hitting the ball to each other while big balls either help or hinder you.
Box Juggling
Juggle boxes. Simple.
Power Slider
Like a figure of eight where you can hit the ball at your opponent slow, fast or with plenty of spin.
Human League
Most Pong-like of them all, you have two "humans" on your side the back one moving slower than the front; but both controlled simultaneously. Simply get the ball past your opponents.
Wild Go Round
Like a wasted DJ, you hit the ball around the vinyl causing it to take some wobbly turns to win out in the end.

Not as good as Dotstream though.

Orbital

Another week, another Bit Generations. Orbital is a little more difficult to pigeonholed than the games above; it's not a puzzle game, not a racing game, not a sports game. You are a little star (or maybe planet) floating in a little galaxy, you can't shoot, turn, speed up or slow down as such; all you can do it use the gravity being generated by the larger stars around you. The only controls you have for this game are the A and B buttons. A turns you red and will pull you towards the nearest source of gravity, the B button turns you blue and pushes you away from the gravity source. You can also enter the orbit of stars in order to change direction. I don't mind telling you, it took me a good ten minutes to figure this shit out.

As you start the level, you are very small and are surrounded by red giants; your job it to find and absorb a blue star. Once you have absorbed a blue star, you get a bit bigger and can absorb correspondingly bigger stars until the "exit" is activated. The exit appears to be some sort of Yellow planet you have to snag in your own orbit. You can also build up bonus points by picking up smaller stars in your orbit and there is a small crescent moon appears towards the end of the level. The risk/reward here is: do you go for the exit, or stick around absorbing more stuff, getting larger and larger, leading to problems maneuvering and inevitable destruction?

The graphics are cool/minimalistic and the music is slightly hypnotic. Really good game, although I suppose there will be umpteen freeware PC items that have done the same thing before. Not on my Micro though.

Soundvoyager

Honestly, you can play it with your ears only (and a decent pair of headphones). Graphics take a back-seat in Soundvoyager, making way for varied (and short) soundloops employed throughout it game styles. The gist of it is that you navigate left and right in order to get the sound in the middle of the screen (where your little ball thing is); too far to one side and you can hear it through the stereo phasing.
It's a neat trick, and fairly easy and natural to put into practice.

Sound Catcher
This makes up the biggest portion of the game, and is also the most musical. All you do is cruise slowly along listening for new sound loops then navigating towards them; collect more and more loops and the "music" becomes more layered, generally producing quite a pleasing tune.
One thing to note is that the levels are branching and at the end of Sound Catcher you can either tune into the left or right sound to decide which direction to take. It took me a whole freaking day to realise this.
Sound Slalom
It's like skiing though stereo sound gates.
Sound Chase
Chase after a little tune while avoiding the oncoming car noises. Tense.
Sound Cannon
Rotate your cannon round to get the sound in your sights (so to speak), then shoot it dead. The last Cannon level was a bit scary with lions roaring, getting closer and closer with me spinning around firing off in all directions.
Sound Drive
You go down the five lane road from Sound Chaser, but avoid cars, or footsteps coming towards you. Again, this is a little frightening when you play it in the dark as you hear someone approaching, but can't see then.
Sound Cock
Catch an invisible cock (of the chicken variety) by faffing around in a big square.
Sound Picker
Again, just like the name, find the source of the sound on the field.

All in all: an interesting and enjoyable game. Especially if you is blind.

Dialhex

It's a puzzle games. Quite a good puzzle game; just not much more than that.

You have a hexagonal field that fills up with triangles, mach six of the same coloured triangles to max a hexagon and it vanishes.
Solo mode has you progressing with more and more colours to deal with as you complete each set. It reminds me of getting the "cheese" questions in Trivial Pursuit correct.
You can then unlock the Endless mode which is just that. You can probably unlock more too; but I haven't managed it yet.

Music is good. The game just isn't one of the best in the Bit Generations series.

Played it more and still not feelin’ it.