- Backward compatibility for Game Boy and Game Boy Color games.
- Bigger screen and as compact as the Game Boy Color.
- The addition of L and R shoulder buttons add increased control.
- Classic 32-bit handheld video game console.
Product description
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Good condition, but may show light wear. Includes matching
battery cover and screen in good shape. Guaranteed functional or
replacement.
.com
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The Game Boy platform (which includes the original unit, the
Game Boy Pocket, and the Game Boy Color) came to market when most
video game consoles had a life expectancy of just a few years.
More than a decade later, the system is still going strong. How
did the Game Boy successfully compete--and in some cases bury--an
onslaught of faster, more powerful handheld and home console
systems? Let us count the ways: affordability, a huge library of
games that consistently made the most of the hardware's
limitations, smart power management that extended battery life,
and uncluttered controls. But perhaps it was the system's
ultraportable design, which allowed devotees to play video games
around their schedules, making it the must-have system for kids
and adults alike.
Now the Game Boy Advance (or GBA as its already being called)
comes to us with power that would have been unthinkable back in
the day. The portable's 32-bit RISC CPU runs circles around the
former's 8-bit workhorse, allowing it to process program
instructions much faster. What that means to everyday gamers is
more intricate visuals, more simultaneous movement on the screen,
and better sound. In fact, the often-annoying beeps and boops of
old-school Game Boy titles are being replaced with digitized
stereo sound. The extra processing muscle also means you can
network up to four Game Boy Advance units together, via the
communication cable, for multiplayer fun on one shared cartridge.
Only two Game Boy Color units could link together, and each unit
had to have a copy of the game.
What's not being replaced, however, is the wide selection of
Game Boy games. Since the Game Boy Advance system is backward
compatible, it will play its own line of colorful games--like
such launch titles as Super Mario Advance, F-Zero: Maximum
Velocity, Army Men Advance, High Heat Major League Baseball 2002,
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2--as
well as all the monochrome and color games that have already been
released for the previous Game Boy systems (nearly 500 of them in
total). Players can view the older games in their smaller,
originally square dimensions or, with the touch of the shoulder
button, expand the game to fit the GBA's larger screen. We tried
enlarging the screen on a Game Boy Color edition of Tony Hawk's
Pro Skater 2 and found that Mr. Hawk was much easier to see.
When you first pick up the system, you'll wonder how they got it
to be so incredibly lightweight. At a little less than 5 ounces
and a little larger than a deck of playing cards, the system
easily fits into a shirt pocket without any sag. The GBA's wider
shape fits better into a wider range of hands. The former design
too often pushed the left and right thumb knuckles together
during game play. The new layout should be comfortable for all
ages, and the center screen orientation makes it easy to see.
Game Boy Color owners will find the GBA's larger screen somewhat
darker than they're used to, but that's because the screen is
outfitted with antiglare technology. Like the old Game Boy Color,
the color LCD is not backlit, so you need pretty good light to
play by. Unlike that system, though, you won't be craning your
neck and tilting the unit to see around the hot-spot reflection
of the light bulb in your screen.
But you'll also notice the graphics. Sporting what's basically a
redesigned SNES technology, you'll see things on the GBA that the
big consoles do, such as scaling (making objects larger or
smaller) and rotation effects--technological advances that will
affect the look of everything from crossing a finish line to
throwing a touchdown pass to crawling through a dungeon.
Some might argue that Nintendo could have tried to put even more
power into this Game Boy Advance. After all, the 32-bit video
game had its heyday more than five years ago. Perhaps, but after
handling this new handheld, we're inclined to think that Nintendo
wisely struck a balance between size, price, and power
consumption. And considering how well the old 8-bit system
weathered the decade's technological storms, we think the Game
Boy Advance is here to stay, and we're glad. --Porter B. Hall
Unit Specifications
* CPU: 32-bit RISC CPU with embedded memory
* Screen: 2.9-inch reflective TFT color LCD
* Display Size: 1.6 x 2.4 inches (40.8 mm x 61.2 mm)
* Resolution: 38,000 pixels in a widescreen aspect ratio (10,000
per square inch)
* Colors: 512 simultaneous colors from a palette of 32,768
* Size: 3.2 x 5.6 x 1 inches (82 mm x 144.5 mm x 24.5 mm)
* Weight: Approximately 5 ounces (140 g)
* Power Supply: 2 AA alkaline batteries
* Battery Life: Approximately 15 hours continuous play