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The Game Boy has been a favorite of game players for sometime. The color improvement of the GBA has brought portable gaming to a whole new level. But the poor lighting on the screen was always a weak factor. Staring at any game for any extended period was no fun. But the GBA was still pretty amazing. The quality of the games today is amazing. I’ve had one for a long time, though most of the games have now been passed along to my nephew.

Game Boy Advance SP open

But I knew that the big downside with the original GBA was its poor screen resolution. It was difficult to see images as the screen was relatively dark. Giving a GBA to a 6 year-old is not exactly the greatest gift given the amount of time that they play with it. So I knew that when an upgrade was announced, especially one with a new, much brighter screen, it was going to be a welcome buy.

Form

The updated GBA is a brilliant foldable design. I like this because it does a good job of protecting the screen when not in use. Things like the GBA tend to go through quite a bit of abuse. I also really like the colors. I chose the black model even though my favorite color is blue because both the blue and silver colors were just to sharp and seem to distract from the screen. I chose the black because it was the most subdued. It’s now a very brilliant box-like form which fits in any bag, pocket, or case. I like it!

Game Boy Advance SP front

Function

It’s a Gameboy! Just awesome, usually silly fun – what more do you want? The games make the machine and GBA has a ton of games for all kinds of players. One really strong aspect of the new GBA SP has to be the built-in battery. I think that’s a great idea for heavy users like my nephew since the thing can always be charged up for him. (Though you’ll need a rechargeable battery pack for long extended trips, like on a long road trip for example.)

Game Boy Advance SP front

Of course, the major improvement is the new brilliant screen. What can I say – it’s infinitely better. I’m extremely happy that the screen is so much brighter now, although I wonder why it took so long for them to do this. I bought my nephew the old GBA with the afterburner add-on sometime back. Still with this new design and the battery, it was a clear no-brainer upgrade.

Factor

Game Boy Advance SP buttons

I decided to keep this review extremely short because there isn’t much to say. If you already have a GBA, you know how much fun it is and you definitely need to go out and buy the new GBA SP machine. Not only does it make games so much better to play/see, but it will definitely save your eyesight in the long-run. If you don’t have a Game Boy (in any of its incarnations – from B&W to color), where have you been? The original GB was one of the pioneering gadgets, and even in monochrome, it was a lot of fun. It can quickly pass time on long commutes or waiting periods. The new GBA SP is the perfect reason to get one if you don’t already have one and it’s even good enough to upgrade if you have the older GBA version. An improved screen, built-in battery, it just doesn’t get much better than this ESSENTIAL buy. Now my only problem is how to stop my thumbs from hurting from trying to do those darn fireballs on Street Fighter Zero.

Game Boy Advance SP side