Nintendo Game Boy Advance Gray Console

Before I get started, this isn't one of those, "I saw Game boy Advance at the store and it looks really cool!" reviews. I actually own the system. I'm looking at it right now. So this review is coming from the point of view of someone who's purchased the system and had some time to play with it outside of a store, without being pressured by the piercing stare of an video game store employee.

At first I wasn't really interested in the Game Boy Advance (GBA). I'd read reports here and there for the better part of a year now, and it looked cool, but it was still just another Game Boy. When I finally saw it in the store, with a shiny copy of Super Mario Advance, my opinion changed. Sure, it was just Super Mario Bros. 2, but with what great graphics! And digitized voices! On a handheld system, no less!

So, when it came out, I rushed to the store on my lunch break and got one, as well as Rayman Advance and F-Zero: Maximum Velocity. I got home, plugged in the included AA batteries (a nice touch, by the way), and prepared myself for gaming bliss. This is what I was presented with.

First off, the GBA is roughly the same dimensions as a Game Boy Color or Game Boy Pocket. The main difference is that it's oriented width-wise, with the controls on either side of the screen. (It's about time Nintendo got around to doing this; every other handheld since the original Game Boy has been set up this way, and they've all been much more comfortable to hold than the Game Boy Pocket/Color was.) It's also a bit lighter than the Game Boy Color, which was pretty light to begin with.

The first thing I noticed that surprised me is how small the GBA cartridges are. They're the same width as original Game Boy cartridges, but a little less than half the length, which is really tiny, because Game Boy cartridges aren't all that big to begin with. To some, this is great, because that means they can store more in a bag or carrying case. However, I'm something of a messy person, and it's very easy for me to lose things, so an even smaller cartridge is kind of a problem for me. I don't want to spend $40 on a game just to lose it under the couch.

So I turned on the GBA, and the intro screen alone impressed me; the Game Boy logo kind of flies in, with some visual acrobatics. It's not much, but it was more than the Nintendo logo scrolling up from the bottom of the screen. The games were even more visually amazing; Rayman moved more smoothly than some of the Street Fighter games on the Dreamcast did, and the scaling and rotation on F-Zero (not to mention the speed, without any slowdown that I noticed), were quite impressive. The sound was also actual music, rather than the tinny tones we've come to expect from Game Boy. Don't get me wrong; you won't be hearing CD-quality sound coming out of the GBA, but it was definitely pleasing to the ears.

However, with the pleasure, there was also some pain. Literally. Nintendo obviously designed GBA with smaller hands in mind; my hand felt kind of cramped when trying to press A and the right-hand shoulder button simultaneously. It's not awful, but I can see it causing "gamer's claw" sooner than it would have if the buttons were spread out a bit more.

A more serious problem was the screen. Like Game Boy Color, the GBA's screen is not backlit. With Game Boy Color this was not so much of a problem, because the LCD display was highly reflective, and easy to see in most light. Not so with the GBA; you need bright light from directly overhead in order to see everything that's going on. Otherwise, there's a lot of squinting and not seeing. While playing Rayman in average light, I lost several lives because I fell into pits that I couldn't see were there. Now, I know the rationale for not backlighting the screen; I had a Game Gear (which was backlit) way back when and it ate batteries like a sumo wrestler in an all-you-can-eat buffet. However, knowing that they weren't going to make the screen backlit, one would think that Nintendo would go the extra mile to make certain that the screen was easy to see in average lighting. It's a problem that's correctable by buying a Worm Light for $10, but that's $10 you shouldn't have to spend when you're already spending $100 for the system and $40 for the games.

So, is the system worth it? It's got very good points and very bad points, so the deciding factor is games, and Nintendo really has a good lineup for GBA. Just among launch titles are versions of Mario (of course), F-Zero, Castlevania, and Chu Chu Rocket. Given the outstanding games already available for the system, others coming soon (Mario Kart Advance, anyone), and the fact that it's backward compatible with all Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, the games make the system worth getting. (One note about playing older games on GBA; since the older games are bigger, GB and GBC games jut out half way out of the GBA. It's not a big deal, but it just looks kind of dumb to be walking around with a cartridge sticking out of your system.)

So, it's certainly not perfect, but GBA is worth the purchase. Given the promising launch lineup, this system has a bright future, and if Nintendo can milk GBA technology like it milked the original Game Boy, then a GBA is a system that will serve you well for a number of years to come.