New GameBoyAdvance Announced!

**wizer** · 7th January 2003

i'll be getting mine from JAP I think.... unless they're like �80 from JAP

ABCMan · 7th January 2003

i assume port is on the back? the slot underneath will be ok for genuine gba games but its going to be bloody awful for the bigger flashcards and gb/gbc games and can you imagine the fun to be had trying to play it with an e-reader plugged in?

dont like the sound of the battery life either li-on gives 10 hours, so thats about 4 hours on a set of duracells if its even possible to fit them, if not what happens when the li-on dies?

i think the square shape is going to be a real "hand kiler" and wont the weight of the screen overbalence it away from you? (after all with the cart port at the front the battery will have to be at the back or behind the screen)

as someone said it looks too much like a neo geo pocket with a flip up screen

it looks from what others have said that it will sell, but i think i'll pass until gba 2 finaly crawls out (or the supposed gc portable). after all i can have more fun with the gba player on the gamecube than with this.

**Arcolite** · 7th January 2003

The more I see the photo of the silver GBA-SP the more I like it.

I'd feel much happier having it in my pocket now that the screen is protected due to the foldup design.

I was never a fan of the original GBA design. I found the button layout cramped and after afew minutes of Castlevania I used to get hand ache. This old GB Layout seems much more practical.

Secondly as good as the Afterburner is, you can never get a 100% perfect install (no dust), with Ninty's resources the backlight on this new GBA should hopefull be better and cause less 'blue wash-out' than the Afterburner.

As soon as Lik-Sang have them on pre-order I'll be grabbing one from JPN.

Hmm....Silver, Metallic Black or Metallic Blue?? GAH, I hate making choices!!

**Arcolite** · 7th January 2003

Here's a shot of the back of it.

Can't wait to get my mits on one!!

**wizer** · 7th January 2003

eugh look how small those shoulder buttons are

**Sobtanian** · 7th January 2003

BLUE definitely!
and I will preorder one also, but not from liksang cause customs will **** us, I'll wait for the import guys here to bring it

the cartridge goes in beneath the D-pad, ie on the edge of the GBASP that faces your body, i just hope the bridge works, not that I'm selling my old afterburned GBA.

and for those skeptics about hand pain and weight etc, I remember clocking AGES on my Donkey Kong game and watch without a single pain....

ABCMan · 7th January 2003

two ports on the back? one is the link port, i assume the other is the new power/headphone port, just a quick comment but that means no power (except batteries) if you are using a gba link cable, those tiny shoulder buttons too

the more i see/read the less i like it and how much are these new headphone chords and power adaptors going to cost? those planning on importing remember if it has a lion pack you will be getting a heavy parcel as it must include a recharger then dont forget to buy a 240-110 stepdown (more weight and expense) it'll probably cost you less to wait till march and just buy one here.

**monsta** · 7th January 2003

ABC good point about the weight, hadnt thought of that at all, and yes those shoulder buttons suck, but as a mate pointed out to me .. "have to wait an see, nintendo think about this stuff, an gb is there biggest product, so they are hardly likely to release a shit product" .. and i had to agree so fingers crossed (im getting into practice for the cramp)

**maltloaf** · 7th January 2003

i want one NOW

silver for me i think... or perhaps black... hmmm

**Arcolite** · 7th January 2003

Originally posted by ABCMan
two ports on the back? one is the link port, i assume the other is the new power/headphone port, just a quick comment but that means no power (except batteries) if you are using a gba link cable, those tiny shoulder buttons too

the more i see/read the less i like it and how much are these new headphone chords and power adaptors going to cost? those planning on importing remember if it has a lion pack you will be getting a heavy parcel as it must include a recharger then dont forget to buy a 240-110 stepdown (more weight and expense) it'll probably cost you less to wait till march and just buy one here.

One is a link port the other is a Utility port. Not sure where if or where the power port will be.
From what I've read the Headphone Adapter will come with the GBA-SP. As the old GBA does't have this port does that mean that there will be some games/products in the future that wont be usuable with the Original GBA

Good point about the Charger, I'd completely forgotten about the need for a stepdown thingy.
The only thing I still need confirming is if you can use normal batteries OR the Li-On Battery. Would be better if you could hotswap the two if you know what I mean.

**Sobtanian** · 7th January 2003

damn that downstepper thing I totally forgot about that

guess I'll just wait till march, and with super monkey ball 2 then also, it's gonna be a cool month

just one thing about the ports, one is the standard extension we all have, and the other is both power in and audio out? or ?

finally, looking at the design again one good point is that speaker now lays between your thumbs and not underneath one of them, making it much better than this GBA we have.
all in all a great product IMHO, and as stated above Nintendo think alot about their designs and the shifts won't be that crappy. Unless ofcourse it's as crap as the Z-button on the GCN controller.. I'm panicking now

**Arcolite** · 7th January 2003

Here's the Recharger or AC Adapter, not a very long lead on it, perhaps the Li-On Battery is removeable so you can recharge it seperatly. Either that or the length is soley for the mockup picture.

**Arcolite** · 7th January 2003

Hmmm....OK my sources let me down on the headphone thingy

One slight downer is the rather inexplicable lack of a headphone socket. Further investigation revealed that a further purchase is required if you want to plug in and shut out the real world. A spokesperson for Nintendo told us: "You will need an additional adaptor to use headphones, which will slot in the same socket as the power adaptor." The spokesperson cited reasons of space on the reduced hardware for the lack of this important feature. We're not convinced, but there you go.

Ah well, shouldn't expect it costing more than afew quid.

If anyones interested there's a Hands-On review at CVG now, including noew comparison pics and movies.

**leefart2** · 7th January 2003

This is sweet news,i love the look of this
i just hope that my flash card works ok?

**PowerCow** · 8th January 2003

All flash cards have somesort of ID embbeded in them that tell's the linker what type of card they are... I guess it would be pretty easy for nintendo to look for the ID's of known flash cards and then not boot them :-/ all speculation of course.

Also I really hope it does TV out with an additional lead like the headphone one, why cant nintendo see that this feature would just be pure kick ass?

**wizer** · 8th January 2003

Still no confirmation about the use of AA batteries.. looks like its not going to be possible, there would have been a comment by now.

Its availible to Pre-Order on Lik-Sang, but its $129 = �80.55 PreShipping. Thats Very Steep! Its on the DCSLinks site but no price as yet. I have emailed DCSLinks for a price. The Step Down Converter on LikSang is only about �5

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?cat...ducts_id=2401&

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?cat...ducts_id=2401&

http://www.dcslinks.com/gba/hh_gbasp.htm

**Yazmon** · 8th January 2003

You will of course be able to use the step down convertors we all have for out import GC\PS2\etc...

**Arcolite** · 8th January 2003

hmmm....I'm starting to think it might be better to wait for the EU date...havig to use a stepdown on a portable console is a pain

**Sobtanian** · 8th January 2003

yeah me too.
I mean it's not that it's a totally new hand held to warrant an import that would end up 1 and a half times the price of it here after customs. and by the time it reaches us it would be just 3 weeks before we get it in .uk, not 3 months or so.
guess I'll just keep drooling till 28/03.
in the meantime, I'll rip my hair out with kururin paradise