Ok, for the record, first let me state that I am not a consumer lemming. I don’t go out and buy every new and advanced gaming system there is out there. If what I have is doing me fine then I see no reason to run out and buy and overpriced system that has a few advanced features.
But this new GBA (GameBoy Advance) is different. I love handheld gaming systems. They are portable, cheaper, and just as fun as console systems. So, when the news of the GBA hit I started saving up money. I even reserved a unit just to make sure I got one.
Well I did and let me tell you I am disappointed so far. It seems Nintendo thinks it can make a crappy product and people will buy it just because of name brand recognition. A few examples; the freakin’ thing has no ac adapter port. Nope, none at all. You have to buy a rechargable battery pack, which has the port, in order to play this from an outlet.
Second, the screen is dark as hell. At first I thought it was the lighting but it wasn’t. You need to have this thing right underneath a lamp in order to see the graphics properly. Pretty lame for a system that was touting bigger and brighter graphics. It seems to me that they (Nintendo) are trying to force people to buy their hokey little attachment lights in order to make more money.
Third, why didn’t they make the screen back-lit like the old Sega Game Gear (of which I still have one) so that you can play it in the dark? That would have kicked ass.
My conclusion? Don’t buy one, stay away from it. In fact buy a Sega Game Gear, they still sell them new in some toy stores, and show Nintendo what a real portable gaming system should be like. You’ll proably see my GBA up for sale on eBay if the store I bought it from doesn’t accept returns.
I am so disappointed, but glad I read your review! I was about to run out and get one- I’m a hand-held game-a-holic. I have my trusty Game Gear, which I have no idea why they stopped making. That thing kicks ass.
For what it’s worth, I played the Gameboy Advance at a software store last week, and the graphics looked great. Do you think that was because of the “store lighting?” I also thought the screen size was great. I was looking at some skateboarding game at the time.
For me the AC adapter isn’t much of an issue. I have one for the Game Gear, but I don’t think I’ve ever used it.
I guess I’ll sit on it a while and wait for them to come out with the next version, which hopefully will have all the features I thought this one had. All I wanted was a groovy system to play my casino games on and maybe something like Jeopardy or Monopoly. Oh, well. There’s always next year.
I haven’t really looked at the GBA very carefully–the last handheld I had was an Atari Lynx (now there was a fine machine). I suspect that the reason they didn’t include a backlight is the extreme battery drain that results. Any good backlight will suck the batteries in a GBA down pretty quickly. It’s not such an issue with a battery pack, but they were probably expecting to hit the Pokemon demographic–kids who play them everywhere except around power outlets, and who wouldn’t think to turn off the backlight if they had adequate lighting. My nephew (who is positively drooling over the GBA) never goes anywhere without his GB; I hate to contemplate the battery bill if it had a light.
Now, if I want a portable game machine…well, I have a laptop, don’t I?
I think store lighting does have a lot to do with the way it looks. That was one of the reasons I decided to get it. The graphics were so lush and bright. It sucks because everywhere you go isn’t going to have perfect store lighting.
I dunno, I have a GameBoy Color (which I got for free), and having tried the Advance in the stores, I’m ready to get one once the budget loosens a tad. The screen is a bit dim, but getting good lighting has always been a drawback of the Gameboys. And I can’t really fault the lack of an AC adaptor if two AA’s will last 20+ hours at a go – it’s easier to burn the darn batteries anyway.
And let me second Balance’s statement that the Atari Lynx was one major kick-ass machine. Hardware scaling and sprite effects, backlit screen, and eight-player simultaneous networked games. Its only real drawbacks were (a) heavy battery use, and (b) Atari’s inept marketing and skinflit policies under Jack Tramiel. I’ve still got my Lynxes and just about every game released for it (70+ titles)… sigh
Also, most of the games available on the Game Boy Advance are ports of games from the Super Nintendo. Great, games I have already played years ago are available again, but shrunk on a 3 inch dark screen. :o yawn
I played around w/ the Gameboy Advance at E3 (there’s a pic on my page here, between pics of the busty DOA girls), and I must say that I had the same issues with the lighting (though in the pic it looks great).
I think the reason they didn’t have it backlit was a) because it’ll go through batteries like a mofo (my Game Gear’s 6 AAs lasted about 1.5-2 hours, IIRC), and b) so they can sell a backlit GBA later as a special edition (a la, their “indiglo” gameboy, whose name I can’t remember.
That said, the games, once you can see them, look really frickin’ cool.
I played it two times at Electronics Boutique.The first time I couldn’t see much on the screen the second time it seemed to be plugged into a wall or something & it was bright enough. There was no store lighting on it at all…
The games? Already played most of themon the snes or nes.
I still use my Game Gear, and I don’t replace the batteries all that often. When I feel like playing, I usually go for an hour or two at a time. I still don’t recall using up an awful lot. I think I’d rather replace the batteries and be able to see well (or in the dark, for that matter!) then have to buy a light for it.
There has to be some sort of middle ground. I mean, the Game Gear and Lynx came out years ago. You’d think technology would have advanced enough to decrease power consumption by a small LCD screen.
Well, the Lynx was a proud and excellent hand-held game, but how is it that nobody has mentioned…
THE SEGA NOMAD!!
It was a backlit handheld that would play all of your Sega Genesis games! What a badass device. I spent many camp hours playing California Games on a borrowed Lynx, and many other hours playing Jungle Strike on a Nomad. I also played some badass, full color, backlit football. All in my hands, several YEARS ago Nintendo!! How the hell have you sold your damned Game Boys for this long anyway? You’ve been selling the same shit for 10 years!!
My ex-boyfriend begged me to go pick one of these things up for him. He was working 7-3 at one job, and 3-11 at the other, so he had no time to go to walmart to pick one up. He bribed me with $10 if I would go for him. Gotta love easy money…
I still don’t see what all the fuss is about. It’s just a game…
It’s not just a game. It has another version of F-zero, that’s really all that matters.
Anyways, Nintendo has always been against backlights. The reason that the color gameboy did not come out until 1998 was because that was when reflective color LCDs first became avalable (or so they say). Before then, Color LCDs had to be backlit. Nintendo has waited this long for a reflective LCD, why would they suddenly go backlit again?
Let me remind you that the GBA lasts around 15 hours on 2 AA batts (or so I’ve heard) while there is no way in hell the Game Gear would go more than 5 hours on 6 AAs, and the Nomad was even worse.
I’m collecting gaming systems, GBA will just have to be another on my long list. I’ll also have to get a Neo Geo Pocket Color, Lynx, Nomad, etc. one of these years. Oh, musn’t forget about the Wonderswan Color.
Oh, and while I’m on the subject, Damn you, Wal-mart. They had almost 20 GBAs in the display, and they were all reserved for someone else. They could have at least hid them somewhere behind the counter, but nooooooo. Instead of playing F-zero, all I get to do right now is stare at the cart. Oh well, I suppose I can find a GBA in a couple of days.
The indiglo Gameboy was called quite simply, “Game Boy Light”
The GBL did not have a color screen. It was just a Game Boy pocket with a switch to turn on the light. The only other difference was that the GBL took 2 AAs, unlike the GBP which took 2 AAAs.
Anyways, I’d hate to play on a color screen with a green background. It would really mess the colors up, if you know what I’m talkin’ about. (even if you don’t, play along)
Speaking of another hyped up Nintendo product that fell flat on it’s face: Virtual Boy. Now you can buy used ones for $5 and the games for practically free. I’ve never played with one, but I hear they really sucked.
Is GameBoy Color OK, though? I still have the very, very old GameBoy from 1989, and I’m deciding to move on up, so to say.
I thought I heard that Virtual Boys gave people seizures or something…
I’ve played 3D tennis on one, it was pretty fun, but it probably wasn’t worth whatever they paid for it. It was also a pain in the ass to move it around, set it up, etc. It was definitely not a portable system.
