Game Boy Advance Designer Talks Handhelds

Thanks to Gamepro for posting an in-depth interview with the man behind the Game Boy Advance SP, Kenichi Sugino. Interestingly, he mentions that seeing the Afterburner third-party backlight for the GBA "..reminded us of exactly how many users really wanted to see some kind of light in their Game Boy Advances. It was an impetus for us to devote the time to figuring out how to finally just do it." Also, asked about Sony's new PSP handheld, he offers: "As I mentioned before, a portable system isn't about features as much as it is about balance - the balance between capability and price."

Comments

Yah, the SP is great...but

[thgreatoz]

Yes, the SP finally gives us what people have wanted since the original Game Boy- a backlit screen. So Why, oh WHY did they leave out the HEADPHONE JACK this time?
Leave it to Nintendo to take a potentially perfect system and give it a near fatal flaw. :-P

GBA SP And The PSP

[Iammadmak]

I don't own a GBA but it does look appealing, with some games I would love to play, while the PSP seems to have only its hardware specifications to go on right now. I see no games yet, battery life, and launch titles. The N Gage looks awful to me because of how it loads games and the potential for 18 buttons for all games. Though I think the PSP doesn't have much to go on regarding software, I do believe that Nintendo shouldn't be complacent and be ready for the PSP.

Game & Watch

[Traderdot]

The designer says:
That was where the basic flip-top design came from. It's something that's never been done with game machines before, so I liked the idea right off.

Anybody remember the Game & Watch?

Re:Product Management

[matlokheed]

That and I'd imagine that those 80 gram adapters get lost fairly easily.