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Okay, here's a re-post of my Gameboy Advance review from the GBA forum...
It's true. I've finally played what will be the best console available in the UK this year (no, not the PS2) The Gameboy Advance. I was lucky to visit a friend who had his import GBA delivered today, along with Mario and Castlevania, and I was amazed that he let me even touch it!
So why is everyone getting so excited about a handheld console that doesn't seem to be much of a step up from the Gameboy Color? Well, I'll tell you.
Because it's fantastic.
The dimensions, as you now know, are not much bigger than the older Gameboy Color and this means that it will fit in to those nice black nintendo zip cases, great news for people who don't want to have to buy another case! The cartridges look like a gameboy cart that has been cut in half lengthways, so old gameboy games will poke out of the top of the console quite a way! The console itself has two fire buttons on the face, plus two shoulder buttons and the usual start, select and direction pad. The colour of my mate's GBA was the nice clear blue that appears in all the pictures.
The screen is lovely and clear, all the graphics are so much easier to see than the previous gameboys (just as well, as it doesn't have a contrast button) and this is even more evident when playing your old gameboy games on it. The sound is much improved as well, sounding even better than the SNES! Mario Brothers contains lots of speech and some lovely music and Castlevania's background music is just superb.
The console is so easy to grip as well, the A and B fire buttons on the right feel so natural, although the direction button could have been designed to be more analogue it does the job well enough.
Playing older games on the Gameboy Advance is a dream. The console immediately puts them in a higher resolution, while keeping them the same width as a normal Gameboy screen. Don't like that? Well, with a flick of the top left shoulder button you can make the game 'widescreen' and fill the GBA screen with the picture. This obviously distorts the picture slightly, but sometimes makes it easier to play a game.
So you can probably guess my overall opinion, it's a great piece of kit and when I eventually get my hands on my own one, it won't leave my side! I would really urge everyone to put in an order for one of these babies, it's the future of portable gaming and Nintendo have excelled themselves again. No wonder no-one else can beat them in the handheld market.
It's true. I've finally played what will be the best console available in the UK this year (no, not the PS2) The Gameboy Advance. I was lucky to visit a friend who had his import GBA delivered today, along with Mario and Castlevania, and I was amazed that he let me even touch it!
So why is everyone getting so excited about a handheld console that doesn't seem to be much of a step up from the Gameboy Color? Well, I'll tell you.
Because it's fantastic.
The dimensions, as you now know, are not much bigger than the older Gameboy Color and this means that it will fit in to those nice black nintendo zip cases, great news for people who don't want to have to buy another case! The cartridges look like a gameboy cart that has been cut in half lengthways, so old gameboy games will poke out of the top of the console quite a way! The console itself has two fire buttons on the face, plus two shoulder buttons and the usual start, select and direction pad. The colour of my mate's GBA was the nice clear blue that appears in all the pictures.
The screen is lovely and clear, all the graphics are so much easier to see than the previous gameboys (just as well, as it doesn't have a contrast button) and this is even more evident when playing your old gameboy games on it. The sound is much improved as well, sounding even better than the SNES! Mario Brothers contains lots of speech and some lovely music and Castlevania's background music is just superb.
The console is so easy to grip as well, the A and B fire buttons on the right feel so natural, although the direction button could have been designed to be more analogue it does the job well enough.
Playing older games on the Gameboy Advance is a dream. The console immediately puts them in a higher resolution, while keeping them the same width as a normal Gameboy screen. Don't like that? Well, with a flick of the top left shoulder button you can make the game 'widescreen' and fill the GBA screen with the picture. This obviously distorts the picture slightly, but sometimes makes it easier to play a game.
So you can probably guess my overall opinion, it's a great piece of kit and when I eventually get my hands on my own one, it won't leave my side! I would really urge everyone to put in an order for one of these babies, it's the future of portable gaming and Nintendo have excelled themselves again. No wonder no-one else can beat them in the handheld market.
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I can't see what all the fuss is about.It's like a portable PS with n64 Games.Don't "flame" me because it's just my opinion:)But then,I haven't actually played a GBA so I could be very wrong:(
Okay, here's a re-post of my Gameboy Advance review from the GBA forum...
It's true. I've finally played what will be the best console available in the UK this year (no, not the PS2) The Gameboy Advance. I was lucky to visit a friend who had his import GBA delivered today, along with Mario and Castlevania, and I was amazed that he let me even touch it!
So why is everyone getting so excited about a handheld console that doesn't seem to be much of a step up from the Gameboy Color? Well, I'll tell you.
Because it's fantastic.
The dimensions, as you now know, are not much bigger than the older Gameboy Color and this means that it will fit in to those nice black nintendo zip cases, great news for people who don't want to have to buy another case! The cartridges look like a gameboy cart that has been cut in half lengthways, so old gameboy games will poke out of the top of the console quite a way! The console itself has two fire buttons on the face, plus two shoulder buttons and the usual start, select and direction pad. The colour of my mate's GBA was the nice clear blue that appears in all the pictures.
The screen is lovely and clear, all the graphics are so much easier to see than the previous gameboys (just as well, as it doesn't have a contrast button) and this is even more evident when playing your old gameboy games on it. The sound is much improved as well, sounding even better than the SNES! Mario Brothers contains lots of speech and some lovely music and Castlevania's background music is just superb.
The console is so easy to grip as well, the A and B fire buttons on the right feel so natural, although the direction button could have been designed to be more analogue it does the job well enough.
Playing older games on the Gameboy Advance is a dream. The console immediately puts them in a higher resolution, while keeping them the same width as a normal Gameboy screen. Don't like that? Well, with a flick of the top left shoulder button you can make the game 'widescreen' and fill the GBA screen with the picture. This obviously distorts the picture slightly, but sometimes makes it easier to play a game.
So you can probably guess my overall opinion, it's a great piece of kit and when I eventually get my hands on my own one, it won't leave my side! I would really urge everyone to put in an order for one of these babies, it's the future of portable gaming and Nintendo have excelled themselves again. No wonder no-one else can beat them in the handheld market.
It's true. I've finally played what will be the best console available in the UK this year (no, not the PS2) The Gameboy Advance. I was lucky to visit a friend who had his import GBA delivered today, along with Mario and Castlevania, and I was amazed that he let me even touch it!
So why is everyone getting so excited about a handheld console that doesn't seem to be much of a step up from the Gameboy Color? Well, I'll tell you.
Because it's fantastic.
The dimensions, as you now know, are not much bigger than the older Gameboy Color and this means that it will fit in to those nice black nintendo zip cases, great news for people who don't want to have to buy another case! The cartridges look like a gameboy cart that has been cut in half lengthways, so old gameboy games will poke out of the top of the console quite a way! The console itself has two fire buttons on the face, plus two shoulder buttons and the usual start, select and direction pad. The colour of my mate's GBA was the nice clear blue that appears in all the pictures.
The screen is lovely and clear, all the graphics are so much easier to see than the previous gameboys (just as well, as it doesn't have a contrast button) and this is even more evident when playing your old gameboy games on it. The sound is much improved as well, sounding even better than the SNES! Mario Brothers contains lots of speech and some lovely music and Castlevania's background music is just superb.
The console is so easy to grip as well, the A and B fire buttons on the right feel so natural, although the direction button could have been designed to be more analogue it does the job well enough.
Playing older games on the Gameboy Advance is a dream. The console immediately puts them in a higher resolution, while keeping them the same width as a normal Gameboy screen. Don't like that? Well, with a flick of the top left shoulder button you can make the game 'widescreen' and fill the GBA screen with the picture. This obviously distorts the picture slightly, but sometimes makes it easier to play a game.
So you can probably guess my overall opinion, it's a great piece of kit and when I eventually get my hands on my own one, it won't leave my side! I would really urge everyone to put in an order for one of these babies, it's the future of portable gaming and Nintendo have excelled themselves again. No wonder no-one else can beat them in the handheld market.
Page: