Game Boy Advance Console in Glacier

Now the Game Boy Advance (or GBA as people are already calling it) 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 even network up to four Game Boy Advance units together, via the communication cable, for multiplayer fun off of one shared cartridge. Only two Game Boy Color units could link together, and each unit had to have its own copy of the game.

What's not being replaced, however, is the wide selection of Game Boy games. Because the Game Boy Advance system is backward-compatible, it will play its own line of colorful games--including 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 of the monochrome and color games that have already been released for the previous Game Boy systems (nearly 500 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 be amazed at how lightweight it is. At fewer 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 gameplay. 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 by 2.4 inches (40.8 by 61.2 mm)
• Resolution: 38,000 pixels in a wide-screen aspect ratio (10,000 per square inch)
• Colors: 512 simultaneous colors from a palette of 32,768
• Size: 3.2 by 5.6 by 1 inch (82 by 144.5 by 24.5 mm)
• Weight: Approximately 5 ounces (140 grams)
• Power Supply: 2 AA alkaline batteries
• Battery Life: Approximately 15 hours continuous play

There is an aftermarket upgrade out there that fixes this problem. It's called the Afterburner and is made by Triton Labs. You must install it inside the GameBoy and it works beautifully. It completely lights up the entire screen with a brilliant, even light. But it's not perfect either. The installation takes about 4 hours and is an EXTREMELY stressful and difficult procedure. I ruined my GameBoy trying to install one.

I suggest buying a GameBoy with an Afterburner pre-installed from a PROFESSIONAL. I bought mine ...and it works beautifully. Now I can play my GameBoy in complete darkness and can see every detail. It's awesome. I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT!


Good but don't be cheap   September 6, 2003
34 out of 39 found this review helpful

This is an excellent system but the GBA SP is now on the market and it is much better. The original GBA needs large amounts of light to play while the SP of course is lit. I have tried to take good care not to scratch the screen on mine but one or two annoying scratches were inevitable. If you are considering buying a GBA system make it the SP since it is lit and has the protected screen.


Great Graphics, poor visability.   October 19, 2001
William J. Fox (NY USA)
26 out of 32 found this review helpful

The graphics for the Game Boy Advance are outstanding, and there are a lot of really good games for it too, but I do have a few problems with it.

The major thing that really annoys me is the lack of backlighting. Why haven't the people at Nintendo figured that one out yet? I know it would probably add about 50 to 100% to the price, but the system is cheap right now, and I would be more than happy to pay the extra money to be able to see what I am doing. And don't tell me to buy a Worm Light, they aren't the solution.

My Second complaint is the configuration. I know The GBA was designed with child sized hands in mind, and not for me, but that still doesn't exuse the fact that it is somewhat uncomfortable to try and play a game for any period of time (especially when you have to hole it at a certain angle to be able to see anything).

The Third and final complaint is that there are not enough buttons. A lot of the games for GBA are adapted versions of old Super Nintendo games, but that is just it, they have to be adapted because there are not enough buttons on the GBA. There is plenty of empty space to fit at least 2 more buttons, but for some reason they are just not there.

All in all, GBA is a great system, with amazing games and graphics. So until Sony comes out with their own handheld (yeah right) with Final Fantasy X on it (in your dreams), I guess we'll just have to settle for GBA. Maybe that's what they need is a little competition, they haven't had any since Sega's virtual flop that didn't last more than a year, and is impossible to find anymore.


A few steps from perfection   August 3, 2002
Stephen Morrison Lewis (New England, USA)
26 out of 34 found this review helpful

I remember the original Game Boy like it was yesterday. Prone to long car trips, my father bought me one when it first came out. Each set of batteries could provide more than 10 hours of cheap entertainment.

I never replaced the original system. Through the game boy pockets and colors, I stuck to the original. That hardware was meant to last, and saw action through more than a decade of changes. I never though I'd want or need to replace it.

Well, out with the old and in with the new. Game Boy Advance is high powered hardware at a reasonable price, offering many options that make it well worth it. The 32 Bit processor gives it the same power as a PS one. This is a huge update from the older models, which had roughly the same processing power as the original NES.

The larger, full color screen is great, but also has the flaw of being really dark. Even playing in well lit areas or with game lights, some games, such as Castlevania, will still appear too dark. The gamelights offered can as much as half the battery life of the system as well.

The library of games includes many retro 16-Bit SNES titles carted to the portable format. In addition, new titles aimed specifically for the tecnology of the GBA are being released all the time. You can even play your old Game Boy and GB color games.

One quick downside is that six button games such as The Street Fighter 2 cart don't translate well to the four button system. This is only a problem with some games, but can be frustrating.

Many games for the GBA are great fun, and feature addictive gameplay. The compact nature of the system, it's long battery life, and gameplay will make it fun for a long time.


It exceeded all my expectations.   March 16, 2002
Ben Rowland (Toronto, Ontario Canada)
25 out of 26 found this review helpful

The GBA is the newest wave in handheld video games, and a sound investment for those who love the old SNES games and the ability to take them anywhere with you. It also comes in verious colors, but I prefer the Glacier.

As most others already mentioned, the display is not backlit. But either my eyes are exceptional, or other people's are really bad, but I can see the games crystal clear. It is a trade off, not having a backlit screen means that your batteries go further. Anyone who remembers the Game Gear from Sega surely can remember how it gobbled batteries up like mad. Given a choice, I would rather go with the non-backlit screen. The old Gameboy and Gameboy color did fine without backlit screens, so the GBA doesn't suffer by not having one.

The best thing about the GBA is the gameplay. Despite the small size, you get amazing depth to your games. With Super Mario World (a handheld version of the SNES classic), every apect of the original is preserved, and the controls are like second nature. The graphics are 32-bit, but on the small screen, they have the look and feel of 16-bit. This is not a bad thing, mind you, but you can't expect Playstation quality on a screen less than 5 inches tall and wide. The graphics are impressive enough, but the sound quality blew me away. The music is amazingly audible, and comes through with excellent clarity.

With an ever expanding library of games, the GBA is likely to live up to it's older brother, the Gameboy, and dominate the handheld video game market. Despite the other complaints about the non-backlit screen, I think you will be suprised at the quality of this little system. If you can afford it, buy the battery pak. You'll save money in the long run.