Software:Survival Kids

From HandWiki
Short description: 1999 video game
This page is about the 1999 video game. For the series, see Lost in Blue.
Survival Kids
North American box art
Developer(s)Konami Computer Entertainment Sapporo
Publisher(s)Konami
Designer(s)Hidenori Nishioka
Takashi Chiba
Shinji Moriyama
Composer(s)Atsushi Fujio
Yasuhiro Ichihashi
SeriesLost in Blue
Platform(s)Game Boy Color
Release
  • JP: June 17, 1999
  • NA: November 23, 1999[1]
  • EU: December 10, 1999
Genre(s)Survival, role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Survival Kids,[lower-alpha 1] known as Stranded Kids in Europe, is a 1999 survival video game developed and published by Konami for the Game Boy Color. The gameplay revolves around surviving on a deserted island, and features an open-ended structure that presents the player with multiple ways to progress. It is the first in the Survival Kids series in Japan, which goes under the name Lost in Blue in North America and Europe.

Survival Kids received its first official re-release on the Nintendo Classics service on May 23, 2025.[2]

Gameplay

The 2D view is characteristic of most adventure games of its generation such as The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon. The player must keep track of hunger, thirst and fatigue meters in addition to the traditional Health Points, which require the accomplishment of everyday tasks such as eating, drinking, and sleeping, as well as hunting, gathering, and finding a place to rest.

Another important aspect of the game is the item-crafting system. Many elements of the environment can be picked up and collected, although most objects serve no purpose in their original form. However, the game allows the player to combine two or three objects in order to form tools, weapons, and other items to assist in the player character's survival, known in-game as "merging". For example, a vine and a flexible piece of tree can be combined to form a bow; a stick, bird feather and pointed rock can be combined to form arrows; and a flexible piece of tree can be combined with a discovered line of fishing gut to form a fishing rod.

Many of the items, such as kindling, arrows and torches, degrade over time and ultimately break, making the building of additional items necessary. Foods, such as meats, can go rotten in just an in-game day, but the player can merge cooked meats with flora identified as spices in order to preserve them; although there are about 15 set types of flora in the game, their effects when eaten get switched around in every new game.

The game features a non-linear structure, giving the player the freedom to progress through the game without specific goals in mind beyond attaining the basic necessities of survival. While the gameplay is free and unrestrained by any real plotline, there are a host of different endings dependent on discoveries the player makes, what objects the player has crafted, the current situation after a particular amount of time has elapsed, and so on.

Plot

The background of the game's story is minimal. All that is truly known is that the player character, either a boy named Ken (Kou in Japan), or a girl named Mery (Nami in Japan) (the names are optional), has become stranded on a deserted island after a storm capsizes the player's boat, and must actively work to survive and possibly find a way to escape back to civilization. Interaction with other characters is scarce or entirely absent, depending on how the player chooses to progress throughout the game.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
GameRankings83%[3]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Game Informer7.5/10[4]
IGN9/10[5]
Nintendo Power7.6/10[6]

The game received "favorable" reviews according to video game review aggregator website GameRankings.[3] Retro Gamer included it on their list of top ten Game Boy Color games.[7]

Sequels

Main article: Software:Lost in Blue

A sequel, Survival Kids 2: Dasshutsu! Futago Shima ("Survival Kids 2: Escape the Twin Islands") was released on July 19, 2000.[8] Like the original, it featured multiple endings, but also added multiple openings and Game Link Cable support.[9]

The series was continued on the Nintendo DS with Lost in Blue (2005), Lost in Blue 2 (2007), and Lost in Blue 3 (2008) released worldwide. The Japanese versions of the game retain the Survival Kids title. A Wii game titled Survival Kids Wii was released in 2008 for the series pre-release in Japan, and Software:Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked for the North American release. A new Survival Kids game developed by Unity Technologies was released for the Nintendo Switch 2 in June 2025.[10][11]

References

  1. ↑ "Recently Released". http://www.gbstation.com/releases.html. 
  2. ↑ Romano, Sal (2025-05-23). "Game Boy – Nintendo Switch Online adds Gradius: Interstellar Assault, Kirby’s Star Stacker, Survival Kids, and The Sword of Hope" (in en-US). https://www.gematsu.com/2025/05/game-boy-nintendo-switch-online-adds-gradius-interstellar-assault-kirbys-star-stacker-survival-kids-and-the-sword-of-hope. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Survival Kids for Game Boy Color". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/gbc/575872-survival-kids/index.html. 
  4. ↑ Reiner, Andrew (September 1999). "Survival Kids". Game Informer (77). https://www.gameinformer.com/reviews/review_detail.cfm?ITEM_ID=3321. Retrieved January 6, 2016. 
  5. ↑ Cleveland, Adam (December 20, 1999). "Survival Kids". IGN. http://www.ign.com/articles/1999/12/21/survival-kids. 
  6. ↑ "Survival Kids". Nintendo Power 126. November 1999. 
  7. ↑ "Top 10 Game Boy Color Games | Retro Gamer". 3 December 2013. http://www.retrogamer.net/top_10/game-boy-color-games/. 
  8. ↑ "Survival Kids 2 - Game Boy Colour (English Translation)". https://www.coolspotgaming.co.uk/products/survival-kids-2-game-boy-colour-english-translation. 
  9. ↑ Allmon, Sam (26 November 2018). "Outwit, Outplay, Outmerge: Why you should play Survival Kids". https://jrpg.moe/survival-kids-outwit-outplay-outdated-hardware/. 
  10. ↑ "Survival Kids coming to Nintendo Switch 2". 2 April 2025. https://nintendoeverything.com/survival-kids-coming-to-nintendo-switch-2/. 
  11. ↑ "Unity Announces Development of Nintendo Switch 2 Launch Title Survival Kids in Close Partnership with KONAMI" (in en). https://unity.com/news/unity-announces-development-of-nintendo-switch-2-launch-title-survival-kids-in-close-partnership-with-konami. 

Notes

  1. ↑ Known in Japan as Survival Kids: Kotou no Boukensha ("Adventurer of the Solitary Island")
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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