Game Boy Advancessories Special @ Gaming Target

Written by Kyle Williams on March 07, 2003

Special: Our Stance on Enhancing the Advance!

Nintendo made a fantastic piece of hardware with its Game Boy Advance. Fantastic, but not perfect. Sure, it packed a lot of playing power into a portable package but you could hardly see what you were playing unless you were in the best of lighting situations. A lot of people asked, "Why doesn't the damn thing have a backlit screen?" Several companies tried to help players out with do-it-yourself backlight upgrade kits, but unless you knew what you were doing you were as likely to damage your GBA instead of making it better.

Fortunately, Nintendo heard the cries of fans and redesigned the portable powerhouse. In fact, they redesigned it twice. Kinda. Over the next couple of months we will see both the next portable hardware release and a GameCube add-on that will finally get those tiny little cartridges onto your big screen TV.

Game Boy Advance SP

This month sees the true successor to the Game Boy Advance hit shelves. Okay, so the GBA SP is more of a version 1.5 than a total 2.0, but it is everything that the original wasn't. For starters, the GBA SP is the true definition of portable. At a diminutive 3.33" by 3.23" by 0.96" (when closed) and weighing in at approximately 5 ounces, the GBA SP will truly go anywhere with you. The playing screen itself hinges open when you are ready to play and the overall layout feels a little more natural than before. The new design is sleek & sexy where the original was like the girl next-door, homely but a good find.

The new feature that really has everyone's heart pounding is the self-lit playing screen. To pull this off, Nintendo is integrating a 2.9" reflective TFT color LCD screen with a low power front lighting system. What this means to you and me is that you will be able to play your GBA anywhere, regardless of the light conditions.

One of the arguments against lighting the original GBA screen was that battery life would be significantly compromised. Nintendo has circumvented the relatively short life of AA batteries by including a rechargeable lithium-ion battery in the GBA SP. The new battery will allow you to play your GBA for a full 10 hours on only a three-hour charge, even longer if you have decent light and can turn off the internal light!

The GameCube GameBoy Player

In May we will see the latest add-on module to the Nintendo GameCube. A one inch tall platform that will sit beneath your existing GameCube, the GC Game Boy player will allow you to play more than 1,000 Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games to be played on your television, using the GameCube as an intermediary.

This new direction for the Game Boy library will open several new ways to play your portable games. With the new Game Boy Player you will be able to control the action with your favorite GameCube game pad. You will also have the option to connect your GBA to the system (using the GC/GBA Link Cable) and use your GBA to play the games. Of course, since the GBA has been compared to being a portable Super Nintendo System, you might want to check out the upcoming SNES style digital control pad that is being released overseas by Hori. That combination is sure to bring back memories of a simpler, some might say better, age of gaming.

The GameCube Game Boy player will also open up new doors for multiplayer action. Again utilizing the Game Boy Advance Link Cable, you will be able to hook up to three GBAs to the unit allowing four-player interaction with only three Game Boys! Player one will watch everything go down in style on the television while his unfortunate compatriots will have to rely on their tiny little GBA screens.

The Bottom Line
Both the Game Boy Advance SP and the GameCube Game Boy Player will take your Game Boy games in a new direction. The question is "Which option is right for you?" Each has its advantage and drawback. You can take the GBA SP on the road with you and see the screen wherever you go, but it is going to run you another $99.99 come March 23rd. On the other hand, the GC GB player costs a mere $39.99 when it comes out in May, but you probably won't want to haul your TV and a generator around to use it on the road. Since either option taps into the wide array of games already released for the Game Boy series of systems, the choice is up to you, unless deciding on both is something you can do.