You will probably need a light for your GBA if you want to avoid the anti-social experience of sitting with your back to the window just so you can play a game.

The GBA screen isn't as bad as some people make out, and if you use your Gameboy outside, or on the train, then you might be able to manage without a light, but even in good conditions a light will help.

The Glowguard fits along the back of your Gameboy, plugging into the multiplayer port. It has a pass-through port, so you can still play games with the light attached.

It is powered through the port, so it doesn't require any batteries, and the drain on the GBA is quite minor. You will still get quite a few hours of game play with the light on.

Although there have been criticisms about glare in some reviews, I don't really experience this. If you tilt the gameboy towards you the effect is minimized.

Problems

* The light is a bit blue-ish. It's not really a major problem, but it does make the experience not quite as good as playing in perfect lighting without the light.

* When closed the guard rests against the black area at the bottom of the screen. I don't see this as a problem. The only thing which is worrying about this is if you sat or trod on your Gameboy with a Glowguard attached, then you run a bigger risk of breaking the Gameboy's screen because it puts all of the pressure at one point.

* It's a bit bulky. It leaves a gap of about 2 cm between the screen and the cover. This makes the Gameboy a lot less portable.

* If the sun comes out, you can't switch the light off without pulling the Glowguard off. I think it would have been better if it had a switch.


The light is also availible in translucent blue, if you have a Glacier coloured Gameboy. If you have a white or pink one then as far as I know, you are just going to have to forget about being colour coordinated.

So...

Overall, I recomend the Glowguard. It has some problems, but it is far better than most of the other lights availible.

Recommended: Yes