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Twelve
years ago, Nintendo started the revolution in hand held gaming by
releasing the Game Boy. A comparatively weak system that, over the
course of the next decade, would morph into its current form: the
Game Boy Advance (GBA). I was lucky enough to get one of these systems
the day they came out and can truly say that hand held gaming has
finally reached an entertaining level. The unit is held in a fashion
similar to Sega's old school Game Gear.
In other words, Game Boy is now more of a
horizontal system. If you place GBA horizontally on Game Boy Color
(GBC), the only difference in size noticed is that GBA is a little
bit thinner. There are two shoulder buttons on top to make four
total game buttons plus a d-pad and start/select buttons.
The screen is 50% bigger, which is A LOT
bigger than it sounds. The system
initially looks too small for players hands, but once held everybody
finds that all buttons-minus start and select-are in perfect reach
for maximum control. Now that all of the readers have a perfect
picture of the GBA in their minds...let's move on to the games!
The game paks are half the size of the GBC
and older Game Boy paks. They simply slide into the back, much like
the older Game Boys. GBA is backwards compatible, which means it
plays all Game Boy games. The old black and white Game Boy games
even get color added to them! The colors are a little more vibrant
in the new system and the same is true when you play GBC games on
it.
The GBA games themselves might be half the
size physically, but pack twice the entertainment. The two games
I got with it are Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 and Mario Advance. THPS2
should be noted as the first hand held game in true 3D and mario
is a remake of Mario Bros. 2 with the multiplayer game, Mario Bros.
You can read more about those games in their respective reviews.
The fun does not end with the games either! A lot of other uses
are planned or are already out there for the GBA.
The old Game Boy Camera and Printer can be
used on it and several peripherals are planned including a mp3 player
and a pak that makes it a PDA. Mad Catz even put out a roll cage
for the system to protect it from drops and shakes.
There is one flaw though, Nintendo did not
include a self lit screen so people have to either play during the
day or buy a light. Hopefully next time Nintendo will get that problem
taken care of but that flaw is not enough to make the system not
worth it. If you want a power house that could fit into your pocket,
then you can feel safe buying a Game Boy Advance!
list of major games coming out soon:
ADVANCE WARS
BANJO-KAZOOIE: GRUNTY'S REVENGE
BREATH OF FIRE
DARK ARENA
DIDDY KNOG PILOT
DK COCONUT CRACKERS
DOOM
FINAL FIGHT 1
LEGO RACERS 2
MARIO KART ADVACNCE
MATT HOFFMAN PRO BMX
MEGA MAN BATTLE NETWORK
NFL BLITZ 2002
PAINTBALL
SABREWULF
SILENT HILL
STAR WARS JEDI POWER BATTLES
SUPER MARIO 3
SUPER MARIO WORLD
SUPER STREET FIGHTER 2 TURBO REVIVAL
STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 3 (RUMORED)
TETRIS WORLD
WARIO LAND FOR GBA
YOSHI'S ISLAND
YOSHI'S STORY
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