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What was your experience with Game Boy Advance, then and now?

Boss Doggie said:
Whoops, that's what I meant. It lacked backlight :P

With that said, SP doesn't use backlight? Never had one but I thought it was the version that remedied being unable to play stuff on certain lighting.
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SP had a backlight, just a terrible one. It later got a better backlight. That model is the AG101.
 
I owned this starcraft like game on the GBA, but it was like a Mecha version of it. You could build robot dogs and shit, game was class. Cant remember the name of it now.
 
How many of you first experienced the Mario games and SNES ports on the GBA?

I think that's pretty cool. It was great that Nintendo gave a new generation a way to experience those classics.
 
Boss Doggie said:
Whoops, that's what I meant. It lacked backlight :P

With that said, SP doesn't use backlight? Never had one but I thought it was the version that remedied being unable to play stuff on certain lighting.
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SP AGS-001 had a frontlight, which allowed it to be played in places that aren't as bright as the surface of the sun but also severely washed out the picture. The AGS-101 SPs from 2005 had a proper backlight like the DS, though.
 
maxcriden said:
FWIW, rumors of fake carts for games other than Pokémon are kinda exaggerated. I buy plenty of dirt cheap GBA games on eBay and Amazon and have never gotten a fake.
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I disagree. I bought a bunch of them on Ebay that were fake-ups. Ended up having to rebuy just about every one. This was a long time ago, though.
 
The lack of a backlight really ruined my opinion of the system. It had some great games, that I only really got round to playing on DS, but my memories of actually playing on the GBA mostly consist of struggling to see because my surroundings weren't bright enough to see without a backlight or too bright and getting glare.

And something has to be said for a Nintendo system that didn't get an original Mario and instead got 4 ports.
 
electroshockwave said:
The lack of a backlight really ruined my opinion of the system. It had some great games, that I only really got round to playing on DS, but my memories of actually playing on the GBA mostly consist of struggling to see because my surroundings weren't bright enough to see without a backlight or too bright and getting glare.

And something has to be said for a Nintendo system that didn't get an original Mario and instead got 4 ports.
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It was Wario's time to shine.

He got some great games on it, both WarioLand and Warioware, which debuted on the GBA.
 
Bought a GBA SP, black & silver because my friend had one with a flash card with roms. I thought that was pretty cool, but I ended up only playing a bit of the physical copy of SMB 3 and shelving it. I still have it to this day, pretty good condition since it basically went unused and stayed in a soft case. It still has a charge even though I haven't charged it for like 5 years.
 
Didn't play much GBA, didn't even own one until the end of its life. My sister had one and i played some Rayman but mostly just played Smash and Diablo 2 at that point, as I was living out of country. I eventually stole hers and played Pokemon platinum. Overall, don't feel like i missed out on that much, as much as it is heralded. Played Bok Tai and the Golden Sun games on my DS.
 
I had an OG GBA, the purple one. Lack of backlight was an issue, but it was amazing to beable to play snes games on a handheld. Also, it had Advance Wars, which remains fantastic to this day.
 
Overall, the GBA is my favorite portable. When it came out I tried playing a friend's for a few minutes and gave up. No backlight just killed it for me. It wasn't until I got a DS that I started getting into GBA games and found out how many good ones there were.

Metroid, Castlevania and Final Fantasy all had great games/remakes on the GBA. I even came to appreciate Minish Cap after seeing the gimmicky garbage that was made for the DS. Out of all those series, the only I felt was better on the DS was CV. The GBA slot on my DS was occupied 99% of the time by Castlevania Double Pack or Zero Mission.
 
electroshockwave said:
And something has to be said for a Nintendo system that didn't get an original Mario and instead got 4 ports.
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You know, people say that, but the DS got NSMB which was incredibly mediorce. I'll take the spiffy ports of SMB2/3, personally.

I'm also of the opinion that Nintendo's output on the GBA is clearly superior to their DS work.

-Zelda: Minish Cap >> two DS Zeldas
-Metroid: Fusion/Zero Mission >>>> Hunters pinball
-Wario: Warioware Microgames/Twisted/Wario Land 4 >>> Touched/Master of Disguise
-Advance Wars: 1/2 > 3/4
-Mario vs Donkey Kong >> weird Mario Lemmings thing
-GBA Fire Emblems > DS Fire Emblem
-Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga > or = Bowser's Inside Story >> Partners in Time
-Two solid F-Zeros > NDS' grand total of zero F-Zeros
-Pokemon Gen 3 > Pokemon Gen 4
-GBA didn't have a Star Fox, but DS had Command and that sucked, so going 0-0 is better than 0-1

Only thing I think the NDS has a clear advantage on vs the GBA is on the Mario Kart front and Kirby cuz Canvas Curse and Superstar Ultra.
 
The original GBA was the first console/handheld I bought with my own money. Loved it. Got the SP as well which I also loved. Great system.
 
I was at the airport with my mum and our flight was delayed for hours. She then bought me a GBA and a game(Creatures?) from the duty free shop.
 
100860_212jya.png
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This white colored GBA of mine got me through many gameplay sessions and boring days. Between Super Mario World, Final Fantasy, F-Zero, Golden Sun, and Tony Hawk I was never bored. Sadly, the lack of a backlit screen meant I retired this once the DS game out, although I still used it from time to time due to it's better form factor layout.
 
ViewtifulJC said:
You know, people say that, but the DS got NSMB which was incredibly mediorce. I'll take the spiffy ports of SMB2/3, personally.

I'm also of the opinion that Nintendo's output on the GBA is clearly superior to their DS work.

-Zelda: Minish Cap >> two DS Zeldas
-Metroid: Fusion/Zero Mission >>>> Hunters pinball
-Wario: Warioware Microgames/Twisted/Wario Land 4 >>> Touched/Master of Disguise
-Advance Wars: 1/2 > 3/4
-Mario vs Donkey Kong >> weird Mario Lemmings thing
-GBA Fire Emblems > DS Fire Emblem
-Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga > or = Bowser's Inside Story >> Partners in Time
-Two solid F-Zeros > NDS' grand total of zero F-Zeros
-Pokemon Gen 3 > Pokemon Gen 4
-GBA didn't have a Star Fox, but DS had Command and that sucked, so going 0-0 is better than 0-1

Only thing I think the NDS has a clear advantage on vs the GBA is on the Mario Kart front and Kirby cuz Canvas Curse and Superstar Ultra.
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Nice summary.

I still have to play many of Nintendo's GBA stuff. The DS had better 3rd party games for me. Although not Nintendo, Mega Man was also better on the GBA, with both Zero and .EXE.
 
I got my original white backlight-less GBA at random one day but no GBA games to play with it, so it just became my Pokemon Crystal/Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 machine. But then I got Golden Sun and Mariokart: Super Circuit and my head nearly exploded from the visual upgrade.

Many afternoons were spent adjusting my seating position to move along with the sunlight so I could see what the hell I was playing. Eventually I bought a clip on light/screenshield thing for it.

Then the SP came out and I never looked back. I used to take that thing EVERYWHERE with me.

Nowadays I don't have AS MUCH love for the GBA. I only have a fraction of my collection remaining (maybe about a dozen games) but it's still a good system overall.
 
Hmm Sonic advance 1-3(tiny chao garden, sonic adventure 1 and 2 transferring, easy rings via advance 2)
Sonic Battle. (where's my 3ds game sega?)
Mario and luigi superstar saga
Kingdom hearts chain of memories
Mario advance 1 and 3, yoshi island, and Alttp
Crash bandicoot
Mario vs Donkeykong

Fun times overall
 
OP we share a similar history. I was also in college when the GBA came out. Didn't have alot of time for gaming either. GF at the time bought it for me as a Christmas present. I didn't even make it 2 hours into using the thing, before I went out and bought one of those worm light attachments. It sort of fixed the issue but added tons of glare. In the end I shelved it. Never got more than 10 hours use.

Fast forward to the DS release. My past experience with Nintendo handhelds taught me to wait for the revision. Bought a DS Lite and got caught up on all the GBA games I missed out on. I have the DS to thank for getting me back with Nintendo.

My GameCube collected dust and I wasn't a huge fan of the N64. It was the DS with it's backward compatibility that brought me back to the good old days of the SNES.
 
With that said, the SNES port of the games are kinda... eh? I think the only game that felt properly ported was ALTTP
 
Boss Doggie said:
With that said, the SNES port of the games are kinda... eh? I think the only game that felt properly ported was ALTTP
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The slightly lower resolution and weaker sound chip were the biggest culprit.

The FF ports suffered greatly because of this.

Yoshi's Island had extra levels with was nice.
 
I remember my handing cramping when sitting on the table. I only had a few selection of games on with Pokemon Ruby. Even though I put a huge amount of hours into it, It was disappointing. with features being removed from last gen.
 
I bought one on launch day here in the UK. It was fucking incredible. Even so...

Then:

TN_GBA_indark_w_LEDs2.JPG


Now:

F0pEJfO.jpg


Not my console, I havent got an image of it on my phone right now - but mine is backlit like that!
 
I was graduating high school, missed out on the N64/PS era, was kinda "grown up" and not into video games any more, but would occasionally dabble on my OG 4AA Game Boy once in a while. I started working in college when the GBA SP was announced then saved up for one since the clam shell design appealed to me (also the BC with my collection of GB games).


Pretty much used it as a Super Game Boy since the only games I did buy for it were WarioWare Twisted, LoZ:MC, the whole NES Classics Collection, Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission.


Metroid Fusion convinced me to get a GC for Metroid Prime for the connectivity, which turned out to just be a skin (and I always wanted to drop a ton of hours on Smash Bros since I would always play it at a friend's house). l got hooked back into Video Games. Bought a Wii and 360 and a crapton of games last gen.

So, although I did not get a ton out of the GBA, it was an effective gateway drug to get me back into this hobby.
 
Rich! said:
I bought one on launch day here in the UK. It was fucking incredible. Even so...

Then:

TN_GBA_indark_w_LEDs2.JPG


Now:

F0pEJfO.jpg


Not my console, I havent got an image of it on my phone right now - but mine is backlit like that!
Click to expand...

The original had superior ergonomics. Shame it was never backlit from the start.

Although the clamshell design was genius for kids. Thing was a tank.
 
entrement said:
The original had superior ergonomics. Shame it was never backlit from the start.

Although the clamshell design was genius for kids. Thing was a tank.
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I'm currently moving house and I found a GBA SP in the attic I haven't used for over ten years.

IT STILL HAS FULL BATTERY
 
entrement said:
How many of you first experienced the Mario games and SNES ports on the GBA?

I think that's pretty cool. It was great that Nintendo gave a new generation a way to experience those classics.
Click to expand...
When I was 12 or so, my first opportunity to play mainline Final Fantasy came through the Advance remakes for IV and VI. IV was kind of disappointing because I was so excited to finally play a mainline Final Fantasy game, VI on the other hand, blew my mind and made me a FF fan.

The GBA had a lot of other great experiences in my mind, including the GBA Fire Emblems, FFTA, Minish Cap, Sword of Mana, and Kingdom Hearts were all games I played a lot as a kid and I think most of them still hold up.

Also another thread reminding me I need to play Advance Wars also lol.
 
I got my first GBA for my birthday, and my parents surprised me with the Suicune-themed one that came out of the Pokemon Centers. First game was the Mario 2 port, and man was that an interesting game to start playing. It was awesome after that, and that GBA still lives in great condition in my collection.

Best game was Metroid Fusion, hands down. It was just plain perfect.
 
Wasn't really into handheld gaming back then but my little brother had the original. The graphical jump over the Gameboy color was nice. I didn't really play it though.

I was surprised how bad the missing backlight is when I tried to play the GBA some years ago. The PSP homebrew helped me experience some GBA games in a more enjoyable fashion though.
 
entrement said:
The slightly lower resolution and weaker sound chip were the biggest culprit.

The FF ports suffered greatly because of this.

Yoshi's Island had extra levels with was nice.
Click to expand...

Yeah the music is the main offender. They don't sound as good as they were in SNES.
 
I got a purple one way back in the day, and the only game I really remember having was the original Golden Sun. I remember my friend really tried to get me to play the Tony Hawk GBA game, but I wasn't having it.

I later got an blue SP and that with Metroid Fusion and Aria of Sorrow were Godsends when I'd get some free time when I was in the Middle East.

I bought a 25th anniversary Game Boy micro like...last year? It's cool and all, but it just too small for me to use comfortably.

I'm still wanting to buy Zero Mission eventually. I tried before but the seller on Amazon flaked on me and I just got a refund and haven't bothered trying again.

I still play a red GBA SP everynow and then with the Castlevania GBA games, even though they work on my DS Lite.
 
It was the last 2D bastion.
Even only taking original games for it, it has a quite good library.
Series on a downturn like Sonic and Megaman got some great games for it.
Tactical RPGs got well rappresented (FE, FFT, TO) but for standard RPG it was a bit weak (Golden Sun was goid but nothing earth shattering and I was expecting the second coming of SNES RPG).
 
My fondest memory of my GBA SP (NES edition) is using it with the GameCube to play Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles with my sister.

I wish they could adapt that game to the Wii U virtual console, maybe using the extra screen space for the GBA screens...

Besides that, and using it to play Link's Awakening DX, it was basically my Pokemon machine.
 
I had one when I was ten, but I think I lost it pretty quickly. The only game I had for it I think was Yoshi's Island.
In recent years I played Final Fantasy V Advance on it since the Anthology port I had would freeze anytime I'd attempt to save my game. V is a great entry in the series and apparently the Advance version is the best version. I also played Drill Dozer and that game is mediocre from start to finish. It's forgettable. Advance Wars is fucking hard! I can't remember the last time I played a game that hard.


Hiltz said:
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - one of my favorite games now in portable size!
Metroid Fusion - My first metroid game I completed and most played Metroid title
Metroid Zero Mission - I regret not getting this game sooner, got it during last generation
Advance Wars - Enjoyable, but I wasn't that good at it, never did beat the final boss
Golden Sun 1-2 - Loved both of the games, too bad the third one kind of sucked
Phalanx - I bought it on a whim, loved it, but it is pretty hard
Gradius Galaxies - My first experience with the franchise
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - My first Castlevania experience, loved it
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - It was okay, but it came with Aria of Sorrow double pack at a discount price!
Breath of Fire - I enjoyed it for what it was, but didn't find it memorable
Pokemon Crystal - My most played Pokemon game and one of the first games I bought for GBA
Yugioh: Stairway to the Destined Duel - Ah, my secret love. This game's card battle system was so intuitive and fun, I couldn't stop playing it. Probably my most played GBA game.
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Man, Sturm can eat a truckload of dicks!
 
the original gba was probably the most comfortable handhelds ever. I'd love to get a new one and stick an SP+ screen in there, but it seems really hard to find one that hasn't been stained and scratched to hell at this point. my ds lite and micro will continue to be my go-to gbas for the forseeable future. still my favorite handheld of all time with the best startup logo/chime ever. the only real downside is that a lot of games had crappy sound quality due to the lack of dedicated audio processor.

metroid fusion, rockman zero 1-4, wario land advance, tetsuwan atom, mario+luigi rpg, game boy wars advance 1+2, final fantasy tactics, rhythm tengoku, fire emblem, mother 3.... just amazing.
i mean, sure, the ds has a much bigger library of quality games in comparison, but the best ds games can't beat the best gba games. it's the best.

the BEST.
 
I got the arctic color with Super Mario Advance on launch day. I wanted glacier, but that was all they had.

It was a great little handheld that relied a bit too much on ports for my liking. Still, it had a set of great new franchises and brought some old ones across the ocean. It also had Zero Mission and the best Wario, and that's good enough for me.

I still have that Arctic GBA, along with a backlight modded GBA (One of Wiggy's), a flame GBA SP, and a GB micro.
 
My mum got me one on launch, I was 8 at the time, with mario advance and rayman. Upgraded to an SP in 2004.


Its funny, I missed so many of the big games at the time, they went straight past me. I missed both metroid games, link to the past, golden sun, the castlevania games, advance wars, fire emblem, etc. It was pretty much a pokemon machine, maybe with a couple of yugioh games. I only played minish cap cos it was cheap.
 
Rich! said:
I bought one on launch day here in the UK. It was fucking incredible. Even so...

Then:

TN_GBA_indark_w_LEDs2.JPG


Now:

F0pEJfO.jpg


Not my console, I havent got an image of it on my phone right now - but mine is backlit like that!
Click to expand...

If I remember right the mod was named afterburner. Always wanted to do it but never got round to it.

Original Advance was much better than the SP. Ergonomics are much better which is a must for a handheld.

The clambshell advance had it perks though.
 
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