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Finally!!! =o)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 25 / 25
Date: May 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I remember reading YEARS ago about "portable SNES" plans in Nintendo Power, but to my utter disappointment they never actually went through with it. When they released the Color Gameboy along with remake titles like Super Mario Bros. and Dragon Warrior, I thought, "Ok, they've finally made me my portable NES - now where's my portable SNES?"

Well, here it is, finally - SNES on steroids, at 1/5 the size. Does that make sense? Probably not. I just picked up an import console with Mario Advance for myself, so please excuse me if I seem a little incoherent. ...!! Shall I explain now? SNES was 16 bit, GBA is 32. More powerful? YES. And nearly the same size as a GBC. I've only had a chance to sample Super Mario Advance (along with all my older games), but so far I am thoroughly impressed. It looks and sounds just like SMB2 from Super Mario All-Stars for SNES, plus a few extras. Like the characters' voices. Hehehehe you read that right, they all have digitized lines, and they blow the SNES's digitized speech out of the water! Great visuals, great audio quality, the orientation of the console makes it MUCH easier to hold, and is it just me or is the screen easier to see? ;)

The biggest gripe I have with the system is the method it uses in stretching the screen for older GB games. You can play them in the normal square-screen format, or you can tap a button and stretch the screen horizontally to play in a funny squished "wide-screen" format. Unfortunately, it doesn't stretch the image vertically, so you actually do have those black "widescreen lines" at the top and bottom, as you do with, say, a widescreen DVD on a standard TV. I understand why (it has to do with the pixel resampling limitations), but it's kind of weird. Most side-scrollers will benefit immensely from this, as it gives you a better view of the screen (despite the squashed view of the hero). Games such as Metroid II and Castlevania Adventure (yeah, I'm an "olde-tymer", laugh it up) worked particularly well. It didn't revolutionize the gameplay, but it made them easier to see. A few others, notably Super Mario Bros. (GBC version), were playable, but not so well. Games like SMB rely totally on your ability to gauge distances and timing, and stretching the screen out can throw you off a good deal. At least until you get used to it :) Still others just don't work very well at all in widescreen format. Zelda and Dragon Warrior are two such games. Designed to be played in a square field, overhead-view games are thrown off-balance when stretched. It feels like Link zips from one side of the screen to the other, but getting from top to bottom drags. It's weird, but it's possible to adjust if you give it a little time.

The only other problem is that since the console has a new design, most of the old GB/GBC peripherals obviously won't work with the GBA. The gamelink socket is the same general shape as the GBC, so the gamelink cable itself should run fine. I tried my Nyko wormlight with the GBA and was pleased to find that with a little twisting, it would work with my older games. However when I tried it with the new GBA games, the light was noticably more dim, and the power light turned from green to red. I'm guessing this means something bad (since I can't read japanese). Will you have to buy new peripherals? Yep. That's ok, 'cause the GBA-specific lights/magnifiers I've looked at so far are pretty decent.

Despite this couple of little things that could have been done better, the GBA is a GREAT machine. Is it worth it? If you have a GB or GBC, that depends on whether you want to play the new games. Super Mario Advance is excellent, and I'm really looking forward to games like Castlevania and, eventually, Metroid and Zelda. These excellent titles make the ... price tag more than worth every penny. If you don't have a gameboy yet. . . WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? This is the one we've been waiting for, folks. . .

My portable SNES has finally come home to me. . . and I'm loving every second.

The best...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 17
Date: May 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Don't listen to the reviews below about how bad the Game Boy Advance is. They have no idea what they're talking about. The GBA is the worlds most powerful handheld console. This puppy has a whopping 32-bits, which easily crushes over the Game Boy Color and Super Nintendo(16 bits). Plus, multiplayer on this machine is going to be great. Four way multiplayer action, with games like F-Zero, Super Mario Advance, and Krazy Racers, it's going to be great. You might not like it right now, because it's only coming out in three bad colors, arctic(white), indigo(blue, sorry but it looks more like purple to me), and galcier(see through blue). All in all, This system has alot of power behind it so I hope you pre-order this now before it's too late.

GBA

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: June 08, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Get this!! The GBA(Gameboy Advance)is a great system. It plays old and new G-boy games and fits your hand perfectly! If you have a Gameboy of any kind and see those games that say ONLY FOR GAMEBOY COLOR then you should get this because they are coming out with ONLY FOR GAMEBOY ADVANCE games. You and your friends can play all toghether on one cartrage(up to 4 people)! they are also talking about being able to hook up the gameboy advance to Game Cube. If you want to stay ahead of your friends buy the GBA today!

GAME BOY ADVANCE

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 7
Date: June 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

COOL THIS IS MY FIRST REVEIW WELL LET ME SEE TODAY I BOUGHT THIS SYSTEM The North American VERSION OF COURSE WHY BECAUSE I HAVE CONNECTIONS AT A LOCAL DEPARTMENT STORE MY FIRST REACTIONS AFTER MY PURCHASE AND I WAS OPENING IT WAS OH MY GOD IT'S SO BEUTIFUL IT LOOK SO TINY BUT I KNEW IN MY HAND I HELD A MONSTER AND I WAS RIGHT I PLUGGED IN MY F ZERO CART AND OH MY GOD IT WAS BLAZINLY FAST AND I MEAN IT IT MIGHT A BEEN ONLY MODE 7 BUT IT WENT FASTER THAN GRAN TURISMO On Playstation THEN I PUT IN TONY HAWK I FELT LIKE CRYING BECAUSE THE GAME WAS SO BEAUTIFUL AND THATS IT

its the the new, next best thing, fromnuntendo!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: June 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

i think that this , new toy is the funest activity from nintendo!and that the new details are new and improve! yes,the only thing wronge with this is that there arent more coluers!

GAME BOY ADVANCE!

portable peice

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: June 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

It cracked on devlivery and was missing my Tony hawks pro skater 2. I was so mad, game boy advance gets a third degree BURN!

This thing is not fun at all!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Picked up the gameboy advance yesterday. Tried to play it last night but the screen is so dark its almost imposible to play the game. You have to be in perfect light to be able to do anything and even then you have to move the screen around to find the best view. I called the store where I bought it and complained and they said they would take it back so thats what I'm doing today. Very disapointed in this product as I had high expectations.

Not a review

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: June 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is not a review. I want to correct a misleading review by drumstick-.

The screen is NOT back-lit. It is frontlit meaning light is reflected off of the front making the screen visible. Even front-lit is a misleading term to use, The screen does not "glow in the dark" like say a laptop screen.

As for a my personal opinion, I can't wait for this system. But while making your decision, do not base it from a review by someone on an open forum (like this one). As you all may know there are children who are at war with each other over the video game company they support.

this is the best handheld!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 13, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is the best handheld ever. Some of the games on Game Boy Advance are even as good as PlayStation. Like Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2. I only played one game for Game Boy Advance which was Super Mario Advance. But I've seen screen shots from other games like Tony Hawks Pro Skater, and GT Advance Championship. The feel of the Game Boy Advance is almost perfect. The L and R buttons are really soft, you barely need to apply any pressure to them to press them. Some people might think that it costs a lot for a handheld. I think its worth it and I'm getting one. I think you should get one too or else you're going to miss out on a lot....

good game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: June 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The games are good the system is good everything is excellent. The only thing is that you can't use old acceseries with the new gameboy that is bad

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