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Gameboy Advance US Launch Details
GB Fanatic was one of many people to send this: "I've seen Game Boy Advance news here before so I thought perhaps some of you would be interested in this. Nintendo has announced the full line-up and price range for the launch of Game Boy Advance. GBStation.com has the details. Oh, GBStation.com also has a list of classic SNES and N64 titles that will be released for Game Boy Advance, including Super Mario Bros. 3." There's also a CNN article which has a bit more information. I don't know, I think I've outgrown the Gameboy, but judging from the number of people I've seen playing the snake game on their cellphones, handheld games are still pretty popular.
Might I suggest a dictionary. Very useful book.
Not just cell games though. My collection of TI-85 games was the only thing that kept me from stabbing myself in the eye with a pencil during high school math class.
* The original, with the screen of spinach green.
* The "Pocket", with a gray screen and much improved size (smaller) and battery life (longer).
* The "Color", with which the main change was the addition of color.
In addition to these, I own a Sega Nomad--this is a portable Genesis with a backlit screen and horrible battery consumption--and a Neo Geo Pocket Color.
Out of all of these systems, I like the NGPC the best. The Nomad's 2-hour battery life condemned it from the start, even if you can play Toejam & Earl on vacation. The Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Color were nice when they were all I had, but I honestly haven't played any of them since I got my NGPC. The main advantages it had was it's better screen (both in size and colors available IIRC... I also seem to remember it having a little bit more in the CPU department, but I'm not sure). That, combined with one of the overall highest-quality software lineups around made it my favorite from the first time I picked it up.
However, the almost complete and utter lack of 3rd party support drove it (And SNK as a company) out of the picture.
All of this brings me to my point, which is incidentally the only thing so far that will address the article at hand.
The GBA is going to be like having these three general platforms I've described rolled into one. It will have:
* The Gameboy's userbase and marketing power/brand recognition, plus a lot of software, much of it decent.
* The Nomad's whole "play your console games on the go" thing. GBA will be able to have many SNES games ported to it, with F-Zero and Super Mario Kart already done/being worked on.
* What the GBC looked like next to the NGPC, the NGPC will next to the GBA. It's sort of the next level of handheld graphics.[1] So it's similar in that respect to the NGPC. Plus, I expect much quality software from Nintendo for this (like SNK and the NGPC.... ever played SNK vs Capcom: MotM? Best handheld fighter, ever.)
The current version of GB, Game Boy Color, is really just a Game Boy done up with color as the name implies. Sure, it has a little more horsepower etc, but it's not that much of an improvement.
Nintendo has essentially stuck with the same handheld for around a decade or more (assuming that my memory serves me right and the GB was a mid- to late-eighties release). The GBA brings a long overdue update to Nintendo's handheld juggernaut.[2]
--Psi
[1] No, the Virtual Boy didn't count. I still own mine, though. Dropped it a while back, and now it gives you [more of] a headache [than before].
[2] Just so you know, kids, the Game Boy was big even before Pokemon!
Max, in America, it's customary to drive on the right.
Might I suggest a book. Very usefull time killer. :)
Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.
With as much competition as there is between video game systems and companies constantly expanding new tech and new hardware, the gameboy must be the longest lasting console!
:)
The gameboy is over 10 years old, and with only minor updates, it is still going strong. I would LOVE to see one of the newer systems be able to boast of that.
I don't really play that many games, so I won't buy one, but I must admit that the industry and its evolution is very interesting. I just like that a portable mini-system can outlast the heavyweights of the industry. But to be fair, software support always makes or breaks a system too, which is why the handheld brethren of the Game Boy (Lynx, Virtual Boy, GameGear, and TurboExpress) are all in their respective coffins now.
Maybe I'll get one as a gift to my teenage sister so she'll stop wasting her TI-89 with those cruddy little calculator games