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Yes the Game Boy Advance is fantastic. There’s nothing fatally wrong about it and so you should all set your worries aside if you had any. It’s been hyped, but not overly so and thus it’s surpassing people’s expectations – mine included. I’m pleased with my ninety pounds purchase. I opted for the clear Red version as it looked the most lively, the choice of just four colours wasn’t that great, they could have had a green, orange and black GBA, but I imagine Nintendo will want to bring them out in the future to help sales. Colours aside this is one mightily impressive mini machine.
I’ll get the negative issues out the way early on so the thought you leave with is the correct, positive one. Ok, so the screen has morphed from a standard screen of the Game Boy Colour and simple Game Boy to the wide-screen of the new Advance. It’s meant to be 50% bigger than the old handheld but I can’t see that much of a difference, however it is large enough. The bad point I have located and snarled about is the reflectivity of the screen meaning that it’s almost impossible to see what you’re doing when there isn’t a vast amount of light in your room. So, when you’re coming home from work on the train or bus and it’s not so bright, you won’t be able to see as well as you would have, almost making the “24:7” meaningless. You can’t play it all day for 24hours (you’d be mad to anyway), unless of course you live at the poles, in which case Glacier or Arctic would suit you. So that’s where they got their inspiration for the colour names!
So that’s the problem I’ve found so far, but do not worry! Nintendo and 3rd party people have made a worm light that fits into your Game Boy Advance’s ‘ext’ (extension) slot. This will allow your batteries to drain fast and make you look even more strange whilst walking round Tesco, but do not worry – it’ll help you see what you’re playing better! A cunning tactic to generate more money, or am I being a perfectionist? I’d say this tiny accessory would sell not by the bucket load, but by the 18wheeler articulated truckload! But then I could be wrong. Think of this oversight as nothing more than an oversight and you won’t hate Nintendo, how could we anyway! This is a piece of gaming heaven and you can own one today. No pre-orders, no set backs and not a height or age restriction in sight. The GBA is for anyone and everyone, including you.
You could get a Dreamcast or PlayStation or even the almost forgotten about N64 for the same money, approximately, but none of them have portability features – the Game Boy is a TV (for games playing only of course), a control pad as well as a social activity that will take handheld gaming to new heights. The Neo Geo 16bit console was actually quite good but you won’t remember it as it flopped like nobody’s business after being dubbed as the “must have of the year!” So the GBA is in an open market, much like the GB and GBC before it, so there is no way it can fail, not even earthquakes (heaven forbid) could deter the Advance’s rise to fame. Everywhere you turn, it’ll be there, and that’s no bad thing.
Plus points are pretty plentiful with perfect layout for optimum control. The game boy has new buttons in the style of shoulder pads with L and R being the chosen names, just like on the Dreamcast, PS2 and PSX controllers. As a Game Boy owner I can tell you that the leap in technology is a fantastic achievement. I never bothered with the GBC as monochrome suited me down to the ground at the time with Tetris and Mario occupying my Sunday afternoons like a treat. I have always been a Nintendo ‘fan’, but not to the extent that I’d rubbish other formats as I do not believe that’d be all that sensible (back-lashings from Sony and Sega devotees has never been a welcome thought). Anyone who can make a games machine and get it to sell over the 1million point is talented from where I stand.
So Nintendo have the market in their grubby (filthy rich) little fingers, just make sure your mates don’t grab your GBA after a game of football in the rain – not a good plan. Yes, as many people have found, and as I found before, the screen will get grubby and be awash with fingerprints, but you can dispose easily. It’s more athletic than the original game boy, but would be approximately the same size as the GBC if it were laid on its side, so it’s small. An A and B button accompany the start button, select, control stick (D-pad) and the aforementioned L n R. Easy to control – Ready 2 Rumble 2 has never been so much fun! Super Mario Advance is one of the best games I have probably ever played, as it happens I’ve only just managed to drag myself away from the aura surrounding the little 32bit wonder. It’s great, and yes you should get one.
Gameplay? Well it all depends on the games available, but rest assured Nintendo will be producing some more classics for your delight. The games that I’d recommend you get now are F-Zero: maximum velocity, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, Ready 2 Rumble 2 and Super Mario Advance which is quite frankly stunning. Some games are in 3D, some are in 2D – it doesn’t matter as long as the game plays well, and hopefully the majority of releases will play faultlessly. There were 700 games on the NES, around 400 on the SNES and probably close to a thousand on the Game Boy, so the prospectus looks exciting for the Advance. It’s not about quantity though, as we all want quality, but from the launch games alone I’d say it’s a safe bet that you won’t be disappointed.
So, are the sound/visuals good then? In a word: YES! In more words, yes they are, very good in fact. Able to display 32,000 colours simultaneously and offering Graphics that compare to the PlayStation (in my view), the game boy advance does exceedingly well. If it were a car, the GBA would be a MacLaren F1. Ahem. Sounds good as well with jolly beeps and music with the classic Mario soundtrack bringing back memories of delight. It’s brilliant.
The future brings many surprises, but Nintendo have already informed that the GBA will be able to link up with the Game Cube, much like the GBC can with the N64 (purely for Pokemon purposes!), so it looks like Nintendo are back in front and looking to claim the home console championship too. Game Cube is just around the corner!
~~~Look out PS2~~~
Backwards compatibility is a beautiful thing, as many PS2 owners will have found out after realising the launch line up wasn’t as supreme as they were lead to believe, and so had the option to resort to some old PlayStation favourites. Game Boy Advance owners needn’t worry about a lack of quality, but just in case you crave to play Pokemon or Tetris on your new machine, well, then you can! The GBA is backwards compatible with the GBC and GB but you cannot play GBA games on the older systems, if you know what I mean.
It’s a revelation in gaming and should be experienced by all. Fast and funky, it’s got my seal of approval!
Kuma
I’ll get the negative issues out the way early on so the thought you leave with is the correct, positive one. Ok, so the screen has morphed from a standard screen of the Game Boy Colour and simple Game Boy to the wide-screen of the new Advance. It’s meant to be 50% bigger than the old handheld but I can’t see that much of a difference, however it is large enough. The bad point I have located and snarled about is the reflectivity of the screen meaning that it’s almost impossible to see what you’re doing when there isn’t a vast amount of light in your room. So, when you’re coming home from work on the train or bus and it’s not so bright, you won’t be able to see as well as you would have, almost making the “24:7” meaningless. You can’t play it all day for 24hours (you’d be mad to anyway), unless of course you live at the poles, in which case Glacier or Arctic would suit you. So that’s where they got their inspiration for the colour names!
So that’s the problem I’ve found so far, but do not worry! Nintendo and 3rd party people have made a worm light that fits into your Game Boy Advance’s ‘ext’ (extension) slot. This will allow your batteries to drain fast and make you look even more strange whilst walking round Tesco, but do not worry – it’ll help you see what you’re playing better! A cunning tactic to generate more money, or am I being a perfectionist? I’d say this tiny accessory would sell not by the bucket load, but by the 18wheeler articulated truckload! But then I could be wrong. Think of this oversight as nothing more than an oversight and you won’t hate Nintendo, how could we anyway! This is a piece of gaming heaven and you can own one today. No pre-orders, no set backs and not a height or age restriction in sight. The GBA is for anyone and everyone, including you.
You could get a Dreamcast or PlayStation or even the almost forgotten about N64 for the same money, approximately, but none of them have portability features – the Game Boy is a TV (for games playing only of course), a control pad as well as a social activity that will take handheld gaming to new heights. The Neo Geo 16bit console was actually quite good but you won’t remember it as it flopped like nobody’s business after being dubbed as the “must have of the year!” So the GBA is in an open market, much like the GB and GBC before it, so there is no way it can fail, not even earthquakes (heaven forbid) could deter the Advance’s rise to fame. Everywhere you turn, it’ll be there, and that’s no bad thing.
Plus points are pretty plentiful with perfect layout for optimum control. The game boy has new buttons in the style of shoulder pads with L and R being the chosen names, just like on the Dreamcast, PS2 and PSX controllers. As a Game Boy owner I can tell you that the leap in technology is a fantastic achievement. I never bothered with the GBC as monochrome suited me down to the ground at the time with Tetris and Mario occupying my Sunday afternoons like a treat. I have always been a Nintendo ‘fan’, but not to the extent that I’d rubbish other formats as I do not believe that’d be all that sensible (back-lashings from Sony and Sega devotees has never been a welcome thought). Anyone who can make a games machine and get it to sell over the 1million point is talented from where I stand.
So Nintendo have the market in their grubby (filthy rich) little fingers, just make sure your mates don’t grab your GBA after a game of football in the rain – not a good plan. Yes, as many people have found, and as I found before, the screen will get grubby and be awash with fingerprints, but you can dispose easily. It’s more athletic than the original game boy, but would be approximately the same size as the GBC if it were laid on its side, so it’s small. An A and B button accompany the start button, select, control stick (D-pad) and the aforementioned L n R. Easy to control – Ready 2 Rumble 2 has never been so much fun! Super Mario Advance is one of the best games I have probably ever played, as it happens I’ve only just managed to drag myself away from the aura surrounding the little 32bit wonder. It’s great, and yes you should get one.
Gameplay? Well it all depends on the games available, but rest assured Nintendo will be producing some more classics for your delight. The games that I’d recommend you get now are F-Zero: maximum velocity, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, Ready 2 Rumble 2 and Super Mario Advance which is quite frankly stunning. Some games are in 3D, some are in 2D – it doesn’t matter as long as the game plays well, and hopefully the majority of releases will play faultlessly. There were 700 games on the NES, around 400 on the SNES and probably close to a thousand on the Game Boy, so the prospectus looks exciting for the Advance. It’s not about quantity though, as we all want quality, but from the launch games alone I’d say it’s a safe bet that you won’t be disappointed.
So, are the sound/visuals good then? In a word: YES! In more words, yes they are, very good in fact. Able to display 32,000 colours simultaneously and offering Graphics that compare to the PlayStation (in my view), the game boy advance does exceedingly well. If it were a car, the GBA would be a MacLaren F1. Ahem. Sounds good as well with jolly beeps and music with the classic Mario soundtrack bringing back memories of delight. It’s brilliant.
The future brings many surprises, but Nintendo have already informed that the GBA will be able to link up with the Game Cube, much like the GBC can with the N64 (purely for Pokemon purposes!), so it looks like Nintendo are back in front and looking to claim the home console championship too. Game Cube is just around the corner!
~~~Look out PS2~~~
Backwards compatibility is a beautiful thing, as many PS2 owners will have found out after realising the launch line up wasn’t as supreme as they were lead to believe, and so had the option to resort to some old PlayStation favourites. Game Boy Advance owners needn’t worry about a lack of quality, but just in case you crave to play Pokemon or Tetris on your new machine, well, then you can! The GBA is backwards compatible with the GBC and GB but you cannot play GBA games on the older systems, if you know what I mean.
It’s a revelation in gaming and should be experienced by all. Fast and funky, it’s got my seal of approval!
Kuma
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Dan2K1 wrote:
> Actually not even close - but I am honoured you'd think I could
> write that sort of a review. And I shall. I'll pop my GBA review on
> the FOG prime next week.
Ahh good Next week I am not here!
:P
> Actually not even close - but I am honoured you'd think I could
> write that sort of a review. And I shall. I'll pop my GBA review on
> the FOG prime next week.
Ahh good Next week I am not here!
:P
Nice review!
Was it Dan in disguise?
Was it Dan in disguise?
woa look at all that writing , but i must say that the worm lights aren't too great , they reflect the light back off the screen making it even harder to see , coz you get the reflection of the worm bit in your screen.
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