I got my GBA SP over a year ago, i still have my old game boy colour and didnt bother with the first GBA that nintendo brought out for us. I wasn't too fussed for it, to be honest.
Once i did get it for £80 with a game included, i actually couldnt put the thing down for hours on end.
So, thats how i got mine out the way, lets get down to the review.
Big? Small? - The gameboy advance SP is around the same size as the old gameboys in length, and square in width. There is 2 panals, one is with the buttons and the other is for the screen. The buttons consist of the old style D-pad, start and select, buttons, the A and B buttons and the light on/off button. Both panals are pretty thin in depth supported by a henge for easy opening and closing.
There is also 2 buttons on the top right and left of the held panel called the R1 and L1 buttons, your more then likey have to use these in any game.
The buttons are also easy to press and gives off hardly any sound, they are smoothed with a good quality plastic for ease on the fingers.
The held panel also has 2 lights, one is to indicate the power is switched on and has life left in it, which is Green. This also changes to Red when you have little time left before you have to charge. The 2nd light
that is underneth the 1st, is to indicate that the gameboy is charging, ive not charged mine up for a while, ill edit this if needed but im sure the colour for that is Orange. Once the gameboy SP has fully charged, it stops charging for you and the light goes out. Which means you can leave it on overnight without the fears that your gameboy is being over charged.
Once closed, it looks like a small box, with the Nintendo name and logo on the top, on the sides it includes the main on and off button and a volume slide. The speaker in the GBA SP is good, you CAN hear the sounds of games quite clearly and with help from ingame settings and the volume slide, you can find your prefered sound level.
Unfortunatly, its not all good in this small game processer, there is NO headphone socket, unlike the other versions of the gameboy, even the very first one that came out ages ago, this one decided it wasnt needed. Oh they were so wrong. I find when playing infront of people, maybe watching t.v i like to hear the sound a bit, if moaned at, i would normally look for a pair of headphones, plug them in and listen to it with the comfert of anything outside those headphones, cannot hear the game at all. Huge disapointment.
At the back of the held panel there is 2 sockets, one is for the charger adapter to fit to and one is for linking up with other gameboy SP's.
The screen is a rectangular shape, fitted in the 2nd panel of the GBA SP, and is also supported by the built in light which can be turned on or off by pressing the simple light button featured on the held panel. The screen also comes with a clear plastic that can be pulled off, but best to leave on to protect the screen from any scratches or harmful dust. The light is a great add to the gameboy for ease of playing in the dark, the light is not harmful to the eyes as its built behind the screen and the screen itself is very viewable.
The GBA SP comes with a large battary thats automatically fitted into the back, the package also comes with the charger. Come to think about it, the charger has a wierd shape to it, it looks like a normal phone charge but with a bit, at the top that sticks out away from the plug socket, that probably wont harm you unless your a charger collecter :)
The battary lasts for a LONG time, when playing with the support light on it lasted me a solid 17-18 hours, with the light off it lasted around 27 hours. Unless you play all day, you will find you will only need to pull out the charger every 3-4 days, Varies of how much you use it.
Lets start reviewing the games.
The games used for the GBA SP are very small, just a tiny bit bigger then a pack of Rizlas, great eh? Very handy for carring about and fits neatly in the front of the held panel. Although, all good things has to have a bad side, the problem with this is you CAN play older games but since the GBA SP has fitted it so the small cartridges fit neatly, the big old bulky ones stick out, alot. I wasnt too fond of it, just imagine, you have your flashy GBA SP, watching ur lighted screen... And you have something big sticking out, i for one, wasnt too amused.
The games are fun, but unfortunatly, most were under developed. I remember i bought 2 games for it, Phantasy star and a FPS. The games itself was good, but the graphics were HORRIBLE, the quality of some games for the GBA SP are at the same standard as the old retro consoles, thats right, 30-40 years ahead and still not update the old graphics.
Most games has good solid 3D graphics, you just have to watch out for those where the picture looks good on the front and back, but ingame is horrible.
Ive never read an instruction booklet for a electronic in my life, why? because i like finding out what things does, but i quickly glanced through it for this review and its reader friendly, the booklet includes different languages to suit you, the writing and how its written is very clear and understandable and even offers a complete page full of phonenumbers if anything goes wrong, compliments/complaints etc
On a last note, the case comes in many colours and can but customised, such as stickers etc, these WONT harm your GBA SP.
I think ive reviewed this the best i can, now for my verdict.
If you travel, and like games then this is a must if you can get it for cheap it WILL pass the time and keep you amused for hours on end. Or maybe you cant sleep at night, turn it on play for an hour or even if your just plain out bored. Although, if your willing to spend out a bit more, i would buy a console, why? because you know how good the graphics will be for the modern consoles. Unfortunatly, some game producers failed to even break into the shell of full filling the maximum potential of this handheld.
Hope this review has helped in any way, if ive missed anything or something needs to be changed, let me know :) Thank you for reading.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
(+) Plenty of storage space, for media. Good Games, Great for partys, with singstar. Very Reliable. (-) Sometimes the optical drive, breaks; but not very likely, my 60gb still working after 2 1/2 years.
Thanks for the feedback guys.
Scream - When i said 30-40 years, i ment about the commodore 64(sp?) i didnt bother searching when it actually came out...
But yea, the FPS game i got, its like 10 pixels lol.
scream4bruce 27.10.2006 16:57
30-40 years ahead!? Battery life seems well good I'll consider getting this when it gets even cheaper!
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MotoAthan 07.03.2005 (07.03.2005)
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