Game Boy Advance

"An excellent system that anyone can and will like."

GameBoy Advance, just recently released on June 13 in the USA, is truly a wonderful system with a few flaws. It's 32-bit, has a nice, wide screen, and it can run all GameBoy and GameBoy Color games! It's MSRP $99.99, and is worth every penny. Best part is, the launch games are excellent, as you have Super Mario Advance, F-Zero, ChuChu Rocket, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, GT Advance, and many more to choose from. Only problem is, they're on average $40 more that GB/C games. Note that this review was typed right after GameBoy Advance was released in the USA, so the only GBA games available for it right now are launch games, so I'm talking about the launch games in my review; I dunno about the future games...

Ho-hum...

Graphics/Screen

Think of the graphics as low-end Playstation quality. This little wonder machine can support polygons. Not very good quality polygons *coughTHPS2cough*, but polygons none the less. The in-game graphics, while being a little dim, look quite clear. Not only that, but when you play a GameBoy/Color game on the GameBoy Advance, the brand new L and R buttons let you switch from full screen, where the image is stretched, to regular screen, in which the GameBoy Advance screen looks the size of the GameBoy Color screen. Sounds too good to be true, right? It is. First of all, the game screen always looks dim for any game (even GameBoy and Color games that would normally appear bright)if you don't have the exact amount of light, in which can be found outside or in the bathroom (usually), causing you to have to buy a light. Overall, it looks great, but with a big flaw, causes me to give the graphics an 8.7/10.

Sound

Not much of a change here from GBC to GBA.... GBA does have better sounds than GBC though (obviously), but when using the built in GB/C emulator, some of the sounds are a bit scratchy, but no real problem there. Overall, the sounds get a 9/10.

Controls

The GameBoy Advance has 2 new buttons, the L and R buttons that sit atop the machine. Since the system is held sideways with the screen in the middle, it may take some time for GameBoy/Color users to get used to having the Start and Select buttons on the left side of the machine, and on top of each other for a change. So far so good, right? Heh... That's what you think... Older gamers with bigger hands might get mad at the way the GBA's L and R buttons are small and kind of a pain in the ass to push... But nothing very bad. Another complaint of mine is that they should of added X and Y buttons, so they could fully emulate SNES games... Overall, I liked the controls on the Advance, so I'll just go give it a 9.8/10.

The Games

Well, like I said before, the games are only launch titles so far, so they can't be very good, right? Your dead wrong. The games are excellent, and will drain yo' wallet faster than a 400lbs. fat man can eat 10 White Castle hamburgers. Ranging from great games like Super Mario Advance to Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 to ChuChu Rocket!, you'll have quite a hard time choosing which game to get. Just in case, I got Super Mario Advance and ChuChu Rocket!, if your having a hard time choosing. Overall, the games are fun. I can already sense some true classics on the way that are going to get a 10 from me. I'll just give the games a 9.9/10.

Well, that about wraps my review up. I'll just give GBA a 9/10. Have I convinced you to get the wonder machine, AKA Game Boy Advance? I hope I have... Anyway, thanks for reading!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/14/01, Updated 06/14/01