A while back I wrote a review on the GBA when I was relatively a “newbie” hear at Epinions. Besides certain things about this product that I have changed my ideas about my review from before really wasn’t up to my standards so I’m reworking it. If you recognize this review then you may be one of the twelve people who read my original review. Congratulations and thanks for continuing to read my reviews. So you’re tired of my rambling, well onto the review.

Nintendo is the top manufacturer in handheld gaming and is basically the only manufacturer. Other companies have tried to compete but inevitably they get knocked down by Nintendo’s Gameboy series. Such systems like Sega's Nomad and Gamegear. Gameboy has slowly gone through a transformation the big bulky Gameboy, to the sleeker Gameboy pocket, to Gameboy color, and finally to the product I am reviewing know the Gameboy Advance.

I have recently received a Game Boy Advance, finally my mom found one it was very difficult with all the people snatching these systems up. I have managed to put it down for a while in order to write this review, it is great as far as I can tell so far. It has so many improvements over Game Boy Color I don't no if I will list them all but I will give a lot.

What makes this system so good?
Number 1: Game Boy Advance (GBA from now on) is a 32-bit system compared to GBC (Game Boy Color) which is an 8-bit system this is a great improvement. I have heard many people say it is in between a Super Nintendo and Playstation that you can carry around in your pocket. Personally I feel that it is basically a SNES and Nintendo probably will end up bringing a lot of the SNES games to the GBA I have heard rumors that they are bringing Super Mario World to the GBA.

Number 2: One of the best features on GBA has to be that it is backwards compatible with Game Boy games. This means you can play your Game Boy games on the GBA which will save you a lot of money in the long run considering most GBA games run for about $40 US currency. Great for someone who already has GB games or just wants to play some of GB quality titles on their GBA. The only thing bad about backwards capability is that it is run in a widesreen mode, this is basically seeing the game the same size as you would on a normal Gameboy. You can make the picture larger by using your L or R buttons ( which I will talk about later) to take up the whole screen, but you will have to pay the price it makes the picture a little fuzzy. But you can't expect everything to be great.

Number 3: Nintendo has increased the size of the GBA screen to a 2.9" reflective screen and 240x160 resolution, explains why you have to have your basic GB games in widescreen or fuzzy mode.

Number 4: The overall sound quality of this small handheld system is amazing for it's size, and you can improve this more by plugging headphones into the space provided. This is very convenient on a car trip while you can still listen to the superb music the GBA has and not distract the driver. This is great for me on those car trips to colleges this way my dad won't be telling me to turn it down and I will still be able to hear it.

Number 5: Another great thing that Nintendo did was improved on the multiplayer aspect of the system. For many games you will be able to connect up to 4 players with just one cartridge! This saves money, especially for GBA games. Of course you will have to buy the link between the systems will cost you under $10.

Number 6: 2 AA alkaline batteries will last you up to 15 hours and the power button represents how much life is left in the batteries. Green for plenty of life left, red for it is down to about 20 or 30% left and when the red is going dim save your progress as soon as possible and replace your batteries. I love the indication of how much battery time is left. While it doesn't give you an exact figure or anything it allows me to change them before they run out. Now I will no longer have my batteries run out in the middle of playing before I get the chance to save.

Number 7: Graphics are amazing for the size of the machine, the system offers limited 3D graphics it is mainly a 2D system, and lifts the color capability of 56 colors on screen from GBC to over 500.

Number 8: Ability to intergrate with the Gamecube. Not really sure how it will intergrate as of yet but I do now it will.

Now for the bad things:

Number 1: Is not backlit like laptops: which forces you either to always play under a well lit place at night or buy one of the light sources that can be attached to the system which equals more cash spent. Be careful on what light source you choose I have seen a lot of them on this site get poor ratings, research them and find the best one for you. I don’t find this that much of a problem, just sit under a light and play, but it would be a problem at night on a car trip. You might want to buy a light accessory for this, make sure you research some opinions first though I have seen some really negative reviews for some of the lighting products on the GBA.

Number 2: This isn’t really that bad, and it doesn’t bother me, but the way backwards compatibility effects the screen. If you want to play a GB game on the GBA it will either have the game show up the same size as it would on a normal GB or you can use most of the GBA screen but this will make it blurry.

Number 3: The position of the L and R buttons GBA is a wider but shorter version of Game Boy and Nintendo put the L and R buttons on the top sides like the N64 controller which is an awkward position at first but in time I have become used to them and using them has become second nature.

Number 4: A bit pricey: a new system will generally run you $100. ( my mom got me mine at K-Mart for $90, Wal-Mart has them for the same price) Then if you want GBA games they will cost you around $40, GBC $30. Pricing is one of the big cons in my opinion.

Number 5: Smaller game cartridges about half the size of earlier games. This means you can lose them easier, if you not the tidiest person in the world I suggest you always keep your games in the same area to try and prevent them from being lost. Too bad I don’t follow my own advice I couldn’t find Mario Kart Super Circuit for a week. Personally I had a hard enough time keeping track of my GB games before and now their smaller just great.

GRADES

Graphics: 9/10
You can't expect much more from a handheld system, 32 bits, semi 3D capabilities the graphics on this thing have great potential, but it really depends on the game you are playing.

Sound: with headphones 10/10 w/o them 7/10
How in the world did they fit sound capabilities like this in such a small system? The sound may not be that good just playing it normal, but when you plug in a pair of headphones this little baby has some really good sound effects and music. Man oh man was I rocking when I first listened to Castlevania on this thing, okay maybe I wasn’t exactly rocking but you get the point the sound is good on this thing okay.

Pricing: 5/10
This as you can probably tell from my rating is a part I was pretty disappointed in. The fact is that most handheld games are overpriced. A brand new Gameboy Advance will run you between $90-100 and GBA games can run you anywhere between $30-45 dollars. The general price I have seen for GBA games is $40. The thing that really disappointed me was the pricing of the games. I don’t want to spend $40 on a game that I’m not even going to play that much. The pricing gets an average score though because you can buy GBC games and other Gameboy games for less (new GBC games around $30)

Design: 7/10
Before I thought that I it would take some getting used to with the L and R buttons, but it really didn’t this is just like any getting a new controller or something you will adapt and it normally doesn’t take long. I was playing this thing like second nature after a day or two.

Games: 6/10
If it wasn’t for backwards compatibility I would be giving this about a three. So far I have not been all that impressed with the GBA titles that I have purchased and for the price they are I would like to get more enjoyment out of them. So far I have only bought two games: Mario Kart Super Circuit and Castlevania Circle of the Moon. I enjoyed both of these for about a week and then I simply didn’t play them all that often. I guess I’m not the biggest fan of handheld gaming.

There are more games that will be released, and a plus for them is that some will be able to be used in some way with the Gamecube, Nintendo’s next generation console. While the GBA doesn't have that many games as of yet there are tons available for it through the backwards capability. I have actually spent most of my time playing GB games rather then GBA games. I'm addicted to Dragon Warrior 3, look for a review on this product in the nest few months.

Overall: 8/10
A great handheld system with great graphics, improved features, and some great games that are either coming out or already are like a new Mario Kart, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, Mario's 1 and 2 improved and on the same game and more than 60 others supposedly by Christmas. If you don't know whether to buy a GBA or a GBC let me tell you get the GBA. It's only like $20 dollars more but it is much better in the long run. You can play any Gameboy game on the GBA so if you want a certain Gameboy game it will work on the GBA. Also Nintendo will probably stop making GBC games sometime soon and start to focus solely on their console Gamecube and GBA. Another great thing about the GBA is that it will be able to integrate with the Gamecube like I said earlier. I have heard that it could serve as a controller (useful for sports so they don’t see the pitch you are going to pitch, the play you will run etc.) I’m not so sure how this is going to work though because from the design of the Gamecube controller that I have seen it looks like the GBA has a lot fewer buttons. If your kids, husband, wife, whatever love video games and don’t already have a GBA this may be the holiday gift you have been looking for. Make sure you do some more research before buying though.







Recommended: Yes