- This article is about the shoot 'em up game by Vast Fame. For the Game Boy Color game by BBD, see Harry Potter 2.
Harry Potter 3 (Chinese: 哈利波特3 神奇の光輪), named Harry Potter 2 in the English version, is a shoot 'em up game for the Game Boy Color released in 2002.
Despite the name, its plot is loosely based on that of Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone, with graphics in the introductory cutscene taken from the official Game Boy Advance game of the same name.
Gameplay[]
Gameplay screenshot.
The game is a horizontal shoot 'em up featuring Harry Potter flying on a broomstick. There are four different weapons, each of which can be upgraded twice by collecting the same type of power-up again. Unlike many similar games, Harry has a life bar and so can take multiple hits. Enemies drop power-ups at random, which may be a weapon scroll, a book (which acts as a bomb), a heart, or an extra life.
The game has 16 stages in total; the latter 8 use the same graphics as the first 8, but the layouts, palette, and enemy placement are different, and all 16 have a unique boss, each of which appear to be based on characters from the book. Normal enemies are more diverse - comparable to those in games such as Parodius or TwinBee - including octopuses, disembodied walking hands, mini horses that shoot lightning bolts and even the ghosts from Pac-Man.
Development & versions[]
This game shows signs of being developed by Vast Fame - leftover menu graphics from Zook Hero 2 are in the ROM. However, unlike other Vast Fame games, it does not use the Mega Man V sound engine; the sound engine, and all music in the game, is instead stolen from the Game Boy version of Konami's Parodius Da!.
The original version, which has a 2002 copyright date, is named 哈利波特3 神奇の光輪[1], which roughly translates to "Harry Potter 3: Mystical Halo". This version was released in Taiwan under the "New GB Color" brand name and in mainland China by Kongfeng. The former is undocumented and undumped, and the latter is dumped and is known to use no copy protection.
The English version of the game, named Harry Potter 2, was released by the "New Game Color Advance" company. It translates all narration text and level names into English, albeit poorly. Two revisions of the English version are known to have been released with identical packaging and cartridge labels: one uses copy protection and is currently undumped, and the other has no copy protection whatsoever and is dumped.
Harry Potter 3 2003 is a title screen hack of the Chinese version that originates from Li Cheng. The copyright date is removed and the eponymous hero's portrait on the title screen is laterally inverted.
Three of Vast Fame's known multicarts contain a shoot 'em up game based on Journey To the West called West Story. It uses the same gameplay engine as Harry Potter 3 as well as the same Parodius Da! soundtrack. While Harry Potter 3 predates West Story, the latter game's inclusion on a Vast Fame multicart does confirm that the aforementioned company was at least partially involved in the development of the Harry Potter game. This is supported by the fact that the art style for West Story's title screen bears a resemblance to the art style used by Vast Fame's game artist, Zhu Zhenxin.
Box Description[]
從小寄養在德思禮姨丈家的哈利波特，飽受姨丈一家人的歧視與欺侮，即將進入十一歲的他卻意外地收到來自法學院——霍格華茲的入學通知，哈利這才發現原來在這個地球上有兩個極端不一樣的世界，一個是麻瓜們的世界，而另一個世界 則有巫師、魔法等各種超乎人類想像的事物所組 成的魔法世界。
有股邪惡的陰謀在平静的霍格華茲裡悄悄地滋長著，石內卜似乎就是這一切的關鍵人物，於是哈利決定去探個究竟，阻止邪惡陰謀的發生。哈利這個葛來分多一年級的新生，究竟有沒有辦法阻止這個不為人知的邪惡事件發生呢？ 而隱藏再這邪惡事件的幕後，又是誰在操縱這一切呢？ 哈利波特第一年的學生生涯可否安全地度過呢？ 一連串緊張、刺激的冒險旅程，即將展開!
"Harry Potter, who has been fostered in his uncle Dursley's house since he was a child, suffered discrimination and bullying from his uncle's family. When he was about to turn eleven, he unexpectedly received an admission notice from the law school - Hogwarts. Harry... only then did he discover that there are two extremely different worlds on this earth. One is the world of Muggles, and the other is a magical world composed of wizards, magic and other things beyond human imagination.
There is an evil conspiracy quietly growing in the peaceful Hogwarts. Snape seems to be the key figure in all this, so Harry decides to find out and prevent the evil conspiracy from happening. Is there any way for Harry, a freshman at Gryffindor, to prevent this unknown evil event from happening? And behind the scenes of this evil incident, who is manipulating all of this? Can Harry Potter survive his first year as a student safely? A series of intense and exciting adventures are about to begin!"
Gallery[]
Game screenshots[]
Boxes and cartridges[]
Trivia[]
- The game was fan translated under the name "Harry Potter and the Mystical Halo".[2]