Nintendo Game Boy Advance Gray Console

GBA is perhaps one of the coolest systems Nintendo has ever released. It packs some amazing sprite crunching graphics chip, a battery life that surpasses the old Game Boy and a reasonably sized color display. Top that off it has the standard built in speakers, can connect to the future GameCube and play old game boy games.

There are plenty of reasons I suppose why this system sounds great, and looks worthy of a purchase. But having owned a GBA for quite some time already, since May (I purchased an import), I have some long-term gripes about it. If any of these look like they would bother you, I?d suggest waiting a while before making the purchase.

Problem 1 ? Lack of buttons

First of all, I feel Nintendo really screwed up big time on the buttons. You have the standard A, B buttons and in addition you have L/R buttons. If the GBA is supposed to be an extra controller for the GameCube it?s sure missing a ton of buttons. While most side-scrollers and rpgs are perfectly good with two buttons, fighting games really take a bite. Street Fighter uses a standard six buttons, and performing combos with two buttons and L/R is just a pain. It was bad enough on the SNES, it?s even worse now. My feeling is that Nintendo could have added two more buttons to the GBA without any real pain, but they didn?t put enough foresight in looking at future games. As a result, some racing games, fighting games and side scrollers will take a beating because of the lack of buttons.

Problem 2 ? Dim-lit, ultra-reflective screen.

I see myself often times more than I see the game. As a travel-type of system this shouldn?t happen, but when the sun hits the GBA, most times you can?t see anything but reflective glare. I have no clue why Nintendo choose such an darned shiny screen. The plastic coverings on the old GameBoys did not produce this type of glare. For some odd reason the GBA has a tendency to pick up glare, and transform into a mirror when using sunlight as a light source. Artifical light is a tiny bit better but still produces a lot of glare. Nintendo should have picked a plastic of some sort that does a better job absorbing the light rather than reflecting it. The screen can get quite dark under normal lighting conditions and does not produce the contrast that you see in the screenshots released by Nintendo on the web. In simple terms, the web screenshots show bright, vivid colors. In reality, it?s actually somewhat dim and hard to see.

Problem 3 ? Where are the Games?

It?s been a couple of months and while the GBA has a pretty good lineup, one begins to wonder how long it?ll be before the next wave of games come along. There are a overwhelming number of up and coming fighting games like Tekken, Guilty Gear, King of Fighters and Street Fighter, but I don?t think they?ll be so fun due to the lack of buttons. Tekken is normally a four-button game, and while the GBA has four buttons, I don?t particularly like hitting my L and R to kick and punch.

GBA has a number of fun side-scrollers, but nothing that really quite blows me away. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is a great game, but the graphics aren?t too hot. I?m looking forward to the next Metroid game to hit the GBA in truth, but it?s so far off there isn?t even a release date. Mario Advance while also semi-fun was a rehashed Mario 2, and that isn?t going to get Nintendo any points. Rayman Advance, another cool side-scroller became easily repetitive despite the marvelous graphics. Overall there are some good side-scrollers, but nothing I think really worth chipping the pricey $39.99 for. I rather pick up the Playstation Rayman at that price.

When I saw the GBA, I really thought, whoa another chance for Nintendo to make an SNES-like dynasty. This may be true but it still has a long way to go. What Nintendo needs to do, and so far is not really saying much, is to get those darned RPGs over and a few of those great hits.

1) They need to get Magical Vacation, Golden Sun, and Ogre Tactics Gaiden here soon. These games are still a way to getting to the U.S. and I have total disappointment in that fact. Golden Sun and Magical Vacation have no U.S. release dates, but are steadily on their way to being released in Japan by Christmas. These rpgs are critical to the success of the GBA much the way Squaresoft made the Playstation a hit.

2) The release of Super Mario Kart and Wario 3 was a good first step in setting up the GBA. Now they need some truly fun side-scrollers and a few more Nintendo hits to make a GBA debut. Another Mario game in the flavor of Super Mario World, a new-GBA Zelda and a Super Metroid game would also make GBA a great system.

It?s not much to ask, but all this is a long way from happening. Most of what I described above is simply not moving along. Spaceworld 2001 did little to clear up the murky future of the GBA. Considering the GBA is pretty easy to develop for it should have tons of games and some old re-releases out now.

Bottom Line ? Be patient

The price is good, the game selection is growing, but the GBA needs some time before it becomes a real hit. The multiplayer games have been lacking, the real stars of the show are still in development and rpgs are wandering about in a dark cloud of oblivion. (The Japanese games look amazing but we don?t have any of them yet!!) Altogether, I believe the GBA will make a great system, but I would recommend the user to wait for some good games to come out. At $39.95 for new releases and $29.95 for Nintendo-releases it?s a pretty hefty price to pay when you can spend $10 more and pick up a GC or PS2 game.

If you do however enjoy the original Game Boy games and are in need of a Game Boy as I was, some great old ones are around. Zelda Seasons or Oracle and Dragon Warrior 3 have been making my day while I await better GBA games.


UPDATE - 11/13/01
I can't help but scream, GOLDEN SUN is out!! Unexpectedly and way ahead of schedule, the GBA now has a fantastic RPG to play, so go out and get one. It should last you until Metroid comes out ;P